By Vestnik Kavkaza
An anniversary meeting of the international discussion club "Valdai" will take place in the Novgorod region from September 16-19. The conference is dedicated to the subject of "Diversity of Russia for the modern world." Experts from different countries participating in the conference will discuss components of the national identity of the Russian Federation and will attempt to form a vision for Russia as a strong and successful country in the ever-changing highly competitive world.
“The given topic is very broad. Although we do not claim to be called a dialogue between civilizations, God forbid, but in fact we are an inter-civilizational dialogue,” Sergei Karaganov, the dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics of the HSE, says. “And the question of culture, different approaches, and different identities is always in the center, but at the same time in the background.”
“We have tried to choose a topic that would incorporate everything starting with the domestic problems of Russia and ending with foreign issues as well as provide the maximum number of sessions and forums as well as include most diverse members of the club and its guests whom we invite to these forums and panels,” Svetlana Mironyuk , editor-in-chief of RIA-Novosti, states. “There are 200 participants, including 76 from Russia, meaning that about 130 are our colleagues from other countries. From the geographical point of view, there will be 17 people from the UK, 10 from Germany, 8 from China, 20 from the United States, 12 from France...”
“We have some people from Malaysia and Singapore, and, of course, from Korea,” Karaganov adds. “We have 2 people from Iran and some from Arab countries. We were the first to begin to reflect the actual new world in the line-up of the participants, although at the first "Valdai" there were virtually only Russians and Westerners. And now, as you can see, a third and perhaps two-fifths of them are already from the new world.”
According to Nikolai Zlobin, the president of the Center for Global interests in Washington, DC (USA), “the club format of "Valdai" in particular consists of us spending almost a several days together on a ship. We will be in Valdai, somewhere else as well, there will be nowhere to go, because the conference goes on round-the-clock and it is important to find a topic that will really hit the mark. In this sense, the responsibility is huge. And secondly, I can say that also regarding the topic of the anniversary, you see, we are talking about very serious, very busy, very popular experts, politicians and opinion leaders, and if the subject is not the subject of the day, the theme of the year, they just would not come. So it is not only a formality to find a topic that sounds good in the media or to the Kremlin. The people who are coming need to actually discuss real things, they have a great demand for these people. They are choosing to come to the Valdai Club and spend so much time there! It is not normal for any conference. If you encounter such things... spending a week somewhere in a single company, discussing some issues, spending a week of your life, most of these people usually do not do such things. The fact that they do it every year with "Valdai" seems to me a great compliment to those people who choose the main theme of the discussions.”
The honorary chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, the dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics of the HSE, Sergei Karaganov talks about why it was decided to dedicate the anniversary meeting to the national identity of Russia and about topics that will be discussed during the meetings of the "Valdai" one of which is the issue of multinational Russia.
- We were considering several topics. But this issue has been around for a long time ago and is in the air simply because Russia can no longer develop, we are clearly at an impasse, and we cannot develop further without defining who we are and where we want to go. Unfortunately, this issue is not being solved either by the intellectual elite or the authorities. This is why we decided to push the intellectual elite and the authorities to search for the national idea and national identity more actively.
Twenty years have passed since we accomplished a revolution, and then, 20 years ago, we hoped that people would invent their own identity that they will work out their own idea. But in reality only the destruction of the old took place, we have not created anything new yet. Therefore, the duty of intellectuals, if they are worth something, is to create something new.
- How exactly will you be searching for this idea, which troublesome points and subjects are you going to discuss?
- I guess we will start with challenges and opportunities offered by the world. We need to decide what threatens us. Meanwhile, in my opinion, Russia, which has always, for a thousand years, been grounded in the national idea of "defense against a foreign enemy", at the moment finds itself in a unique international situation in which it is not threatened directly. In my opinion, in reality the actual competition, even despite the existence of very unpleasant military and political agendas, just look at Syria, look at Libya, nevertheless the real fight is going for the high quality human capital, the quality of people. And if we do not understand that the most important thing in Russia is to invest in people, invest in ourselves, that the main thing for Russia is the youth, then we are going to lose in the global competition and will gradually degrade. This has to be understood. And now all that we are doing is fighting against gays, on the one hand, and against America, on the other hand. America is not interested in us, because they have a lot of their own problems, that is simply ridiculous. We just need to figure out what to do.
- Will the issue of multi-ethnic Russia be discussed?
- Naturally, there will be a special session with papers delivered by people from different national republics. This is an issue which answers the question of who we are. Are we a conglomerate of nations or are we the great Russian nation which should dominate over everyone? I, for instance, think that multi-nationality is part of the genetic code of Russia. By inciting all the foreigners to be driven out or oppress them, we are destroying our genetic code. That is, we cease to be Russian. I am talking about Russians, because Russians and Russia, the Russian Empire, has always been a multinational country. And the Russian elite has always been multinational. We do not want to understand this. There's a problem of a split between us and the Caucasus republics, which need to be solved technologically, intellectually, politically and civically. The rest of the problems are solvable.
