Mikhail Shishkin refuses to represent 'criminal' Russian regime (6)

[Yevgeniy Slivkin]

In addition to what Elena Gapova wrote, I would be curious to know why Shishkin initially agreed to be a part of the Russian writers’ delegation heading to New York and then suddenly made a statement that he refused to participate due to his disgust for Putin and his government. What happened during this short interval of time in Russia that Shishkin suddenly “прозрел” and saw the regime in its true light?

 Yevgeny Slivkin


________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Elena Gapova [e.gapova at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 9:06 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Mikhail Shishkin refuses to represent 'criminal' Russian regime (6)

Politkovskaya does not belong with this discussion: she was directly involved with politics in her professional life and made her position clear at all times, while this conversation, I believe, focuses on a kind of "intellectual privilege" specific to (some) artists, writers, producers, directors etc.

I constantly see anti-Putin intellectuals taking a political stand regarding the "regime" and its "brainwashing propagandistic media" (esp. TV) and, at the same time, living off the projects they do for these very media (TV series, entertainment shows, even their own "авторские программы"). This "delineation" between one's "political position" and "professional moneymaking" seems a real moral problem to me (not that I condemn anyone; my observations are of a general kind and were just spurred by Mikhail Shishkin's statement). A political position, in this case, is a very useful commodity: it exists "separetely" of one's real life and can be applied according to one's needs.

e.g.

2013/3/7 Robert Chandler <kcf19 at dial.pipex.com<mailto:kcf19 at dial.pipex.com>>
This is well said - thank you, Ainsley!

It is indeed wrong to suggest that anything short of the courage shown by, say, Politkovskaya, is false and pointless.

R.

On 7 Mar 2013, at 21:22, Ainsley Morse <ainsler at GMAIL.COM<mailto:ainsler at GMAIL.COM>> wrote:

> It's clear that Shishkin is not putting his life and career at risk (and maybe even helping the latter), but it's really cynical and fruitless to suggest that he should not have made this statement, or that it will not have any impact in the public consciousness. When successful mainstream public figures make strong critical statements against a government that is openly and persistently decreasing quality of life for most of its citizens (call it fascist or corrupt and oligarchic), we should praise them and hope to see more such figures speak out as well.
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