Stepping up against censorship

On 24 October, one of the most respected and popular personalities in Russia took the floor during the 7th congress of Russian Theatrical Professionals and delivered a speech against censorship.

Censorship now as bad as under Stalin
Actor and managing director of Moscow’s Satirikon Theatre, living legend Konstantin Raikin drew a parallel between modern Russian cultural life with that of Stalin’s Soviet Union.

In a strong call for professional solidarity, Raikin evoked the authority of his late father, the no less famous actor Arkady Raikin (1911-1987), a rare cultural leader that survived the Stalinist terror.

Raikin jr.’s message – that censorship is now as bad as during Stalin’s times, and that government financial support of culture should not imply government control over creativity – was pronounced against the backdrop of a series of recent forceful closures of exhibitions and plays as well as instructions from the political leadership in how to interpret Russian classics.

WHAT DID RAIKIN SAY?

• “These assaults on the arts, and on theatre in particular, are completely lawless, extremist, arrogant, aggressive, hiding behind all sorts of words about morality, ethical standards, and all kinds of good and lofty words: “Patriotism,” “Motherland” and “high morals”. […] To me, this is a hideous attack on artistic freedom and on the prohibition of censorship.”
• “It brings us back not just to the late Soviet Union, and but even to more ancient times – to Stalin’s time. Our superiors have begun to speak to us with such a Stalinist vocabulary, with such Stalinist rhetoric that one can hardly believe one’s ears!”
• “And our poor church, which has forgotten how it itself used to be hunted by the government, how its priests were murdered, its crosses torn down and churches were turned into vegetable stores. That church begins to act with the very same methods today.”
• “I think now we live in very difficult times, very dangerous times, very horrifying times; it is very similar to … I will not say what. But you know. We urgently need to unite and resist it in a very clear way.”

Raikin’s speech was relayed by many media, including independent TV Dozhd and independent news portal Meduza, and it spurred an intense debate on the intersection of culture and politics.

In response, President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Censorship is unacceptable, but one must clearly differentiate those performances and works that are are financed by government money from those that make use of other sources of financing”.

“When you start to learn to write, you learn to write propaganda”
Among the many who commented in support of Raikin was the famous film director Andrey Zvyagintsev:

“It is absolutely obvious that censorship is now in full swing in our country’s cultural life”, Zvyagintsev wrote in a comment published on opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s blog, and continues: “The prohibition of performances, the ban of exhibitions, the ban on the publication of texts – all of this is censorship. It’s amazing how easy it is has been for people to change their perceptions. Nobody even lifts an eyebrow anymore. We say: ‘This is censorship,’ they say: ‘It’s government funding’”.

Zvyagintsev also underlines the ties between censorship and propaganda:

“My son is only recently turned 7 […] We haven’t had a TV at home for many years. This September he started in school. After his first week I asked him what he had learned, and my son said: ‘In Moscow there is Red Square, the Kremlin and the zoo, and we also have President Putin, he is a good and kind.’ This is what government funding means: Instead of objective knowledge you get ideology, and when you start to learn to write, you learn to write propaganda”.

(Image: Meduza)