By VK
Russian presidential elections are to be held in just over a week. The parliamentary elections, held last December, cause a wave of civic protests, demonstrations and a general outburst of civic activity. Experts and philosophers share their opinions on the reasons for these events and their implications.
Philosopher and political essay writer Viktor Aksuchits
What is going on in Russia? Is it, as the scientists say, a bifurcation point on the threshold of chaos or a new revival? The process is ambivalent. If the people hadn’t taken to the streets after the polls, the ruling party would probably become blinded by the pride of the unconditional winner. On the other hand, internal and external enemies always try to use any discord and confusion within Russia to their advantage. It is the law of the jungle. And we need to remember not only about today, but also about the past and future history of our state.
Film director Nikita Mikhalkov
As they say, in Russia everything can change in a decade and everything can remain the same in a century. We are standing on almost the same threshold as a century ago, in February, 1917. When hysteria and ill-conceived ideas seize the television, radio and so on, the wish to catch a break and think everything through is quite natural. There are a lot of different opinions and parties in our vast country, but I hope that common sense wins in the end. I don’t think there are many conscious partisans of chaos and decay. If chaos and anarchy take over in Russia the whole world would suffer. Is there anything that demands change today in Russia? Of course. But the problems should be resolved in a calm and reasonable manner, so that all the peoples of our country benefit from these decisions. It makes no sense to copy any foreign examples. We tried that many times and failed. The protest movement today isn’t just a protest for the sake of protest, it raises really important issues. But the demands should be formulated in the most friendly and constructive manner in order to ensure the widest discussion and fastest solution.
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin
Despite the relative stabilization of the past few weeks (the participation of all sides in the public discussion seems to be more balanced), certain dangers remain. Today great powers are at work against Russia, and they are not going to stop. It is a mistake to disregard this danger. Today we need to think of a way to protect society and ensure its right to express its opinion. Today the majority of the Russia population is left out of the political, informational and cultural process. In the 90's they used to say “the people are a political corps”. But today there are also many people who feel that they were deprived of the right to decide their own destiny. We need to find a way to change that. Every social stratum – farmers, military, workers, intellectuals – has its own ideal of Russia’s future political and economic development but doesn’t have adequate means to express it. These preferences should be formulated and presented for popular consideration. If the government drew its political course not only with the help of experts, but also according to the wishes of the people, our state would become truly stable and fit to meet global challenges and oppose our enemies, thus fulfilling its historical mission.
MSU Philosophy Department professor Valeriy Rastorguev
We are a united people. “Ukrainian”, “Belorussian”, “Great Russian” are ethnicities, while ‘Russian” is a super-ethnicity, a definition for all the nations inhabiting our great state. 20 years have passed since Russia and this super-ethnicity was artificially divided and broken – our worst enemies couldn’t have even dreamed about it, but it happened. When the newly-formed states try to develop a patriotic doctrine, they get an anti-patriotic doctrine in the end. For example, it would make no sense to bring up new Russian patriots in the spirit of hostility to Ukrainian and Belorussian, would it? It seems unconceivable, but due to our shortsightedness we could do that.
We should also remember that the majority of the Russian population is formed by the Great Russian ethnicity, by orthodox Christians. Of course, this ethnic group has a history of nationalistic ideas and movements. We need to remember that the majority of Russians belong to the low-income groups of the population. Mr Brzhezinsky recently said that the US could be destroyed by the enormous level of social stratification; that even this rich state won’t be able to support the poor and would implode. But Russia, which declares itself to be a social state, is in an even worse position. We don’t possess the funds necessary to prevent a social disaster. Why do we fuss over the minority so much? The minorities want to establish dialogue with the authorities and discuss compromises – in whose favor? This minority is a very thin strata of rich businessmen, who have a lot to lose and who generally support the ruling party but have started to doubt its competence, so try not to stake everything on one political player.
