The article in the New Yorker -- freedom of speech in Russia

Fri Feb 2 18:03:35 UTC 2007

Please do not forget that some 20 years ago the very concept of journalists who are being harassed and even murdered today did not exist in Russia, nor could it exist. Nor was there possible variety of printed opinion on display at the stands in the metro. There was one official, media, if you remember, one opinion, one line. People were mumbling criticism at home, having put a pillow upon the telephone. Dissenters, a few that there were, found themselves quite soon chopping ice in Siberia or drinking tea in New York. All this has changed! There is no political exiles from Russia too! Opposition to whatever regime there is now is quite vocal, and as vocal as it wants or dares to be. Look: even Limonov is free! Even Misha Verbitskii is not in a nuthouse! Even Letov is a superstar and not an exile!
In 1993, I remember, Yeltsin was the Devil for young Russian opposition. Now it is Putin. There will always be an opposition to any regime. Especially if it is democratic (even to a degree).
Indeed there is nationalism in Russia. Some of it finds its forum in rock music. Some of it is non-belligerent like the one occasionally emanating from Boris Grebenshchikov,  Rada, DDT, some is bizarre like Letov’s, and Zharikov’s, some is lunatic like Mongol-Shuudan, or Koroziia Metalla. (As a scholar of Russian rock I have to say, however, that it is within nationalist rock of all shades you find most interesting Russian music today.) But there is nationalism in every country, and some of it is belligerent and some is not. 
There is also Russian new left and new right, there are ecco-anarchists, anarcho-syndicalists, there are pagans, monarchists, Goths, and Hare Krishnas, and you name it, and off course there are ugly boys with shaved heads – skins. And then there are other fascists and crazies there who are vocal, and even violent. But this is how things are in a free country. You can not expect people to have freedoms and then to like all practical displays of that. Some will be ugly and not to everyone’s taste.
But what was pointed out in this discussion and what is crucial: Putin and the gang have no ideology, no creed. They have greed…
As long as no ideology is being pushed down the throats of young generation Russia is OK. Once new quasi-religion will take it over (if it will) that is when feathers will fly for real.

Mark Yoffe
Curator, International Counterculture Archive

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Denner <mdenner at STETSON.EDU>
Date: Friday, February 2, 2007 4:02 am
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] The article in the New Yorker -- freedom of speech in Russia
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU

> Since it seems we are on the subject:
>  
>   
>  ?????? ?? ????? ????? ???? ?????
>  ?????? Freedom House ?????? ?????? ??????? 
>   
>  There is something, well, postmodern about the press in Russia 
> reporting on the lack of press freedoms in Russia. I tried to explain 
> it to my students today, and I realized that I sounded a little like 
> Lewis Caroll...
>  ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
>  Dr. Michael A. Denner
>  Editor, Tolstoy Studies Journal
>  Director, University Honors Program
>  
>  Contact Information:
>  Russian Studies Program
>  Stetson University
>  Campus Box 8361
>  DeLand, FL 32720-3756
>  386.822.7381 (department)
>  386.822.7265 (direct line)
>  386.822.7380 (fax)
>  
>  
>  ________________________________
>  
>  From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list on behalf 
> of Alina Israeli
>  Sent: Thu 2/1/2007 12:53 PM
>  To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>  Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] The article in the New Yorker -- freedom of 
> speech in Russia
>  
>  
>  
>  Some commentary is necessary, I think:
>  
>  On Feb 1, 2007, at 10:48 AM, Andrey Shcherbenok wrote:
>  
>  >
>  > More than that, at any newsstand in a subway station in St. 
>  > Petersburg you
>  > can buy Kommersant, Novaya Gazeta, Argumenty i Fakty, Zavtra, 
>  > Izvestia, etc.
>  > The scope of opinions expressed in these sources is MUCH WIDER than 
> 
>  > those
>  > you can obtain from a newsstand in New York subway.
>  
>  That is indeed so, but the print media is dying in the US. While in 
>  the North America almost 70% of the population are Internet users 
>  (, in Russia the number 
>  is at 14% ( so there 
>  is higher reliance on print media there.
>  
>  So in all fairness one has to compare Russian newspapers with the US 
> 
>  TV land and the Internet landscape.
>  
>  As for the freedoms themselves, there are freedoms from and freedoms 
> 
>  to. The 1st Amendment protects the freedom from government's 
>  involvement. If the government will prevent KKK from publishing their 
> 
>  rubbish, I will donate money to the ACLU to sue the government and to 
> 
>  reinstate their right under the First Amendment. But I will not 
>  support KKK's right to publish their hateful literature.
>  
>  So in order to see the spectrum in the US, you have to search the 
>  Internet for a few minutes, really not that much, and you will find 
>  the far left and the far right, and everything in between.
>  
>  
>  >  Have you ever seen some easily available media
>  > source in the US describing the US military in Iraq as a gang of 
>  > bloody
>  > murderers? In Russia you can read such a description of Russian 
>  > military in
>  > Chechnya in a newspaper purchased for 10 rubles in your local 
>  > newsstand.
>  
>  Same deal here: what's easily available is what would reflect a 
>  seizable majority who do not perceive US Army as a gang of bloody 
>  murderers. I am sure there are some people who do and you are sure to 
> 
>  find this on the Internet.
>  
>  But it is American press that by and large uncovers all scandals 
>  revolving around the US military (and there were a few over the 
>  years), and what's most important this information is taken seriously 
> 
>  by those whose infractions are being uncovered. In Russia the press 
>  may write, no one cares. I think the establishment's attitude is best 
> 
>  described ?????? ???? - ????? ?????. How many times has it been 
>  written about dedovshchina? Now everyone knows the name of Sychev, 
>  but will the practice stop? Are there any guarantees?
>  
>  
>  Alina Israeli
>  LFS, American University
>  4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
>  Washington DC. 20016
>  (202) 885-2387 
>  fax (202) 885-1076
>  aisrael at american.edu
>  
>  
>  
>  
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