Maxim EdwardsMay 30, 2023

Yurchak on how not to understand Russians' popular support (or lack of, or ambivalence towards) the war on #Ukraine.

"It’s not my job to comfort you. In fact, this is a catastrophe, including a moral one, we are all participating in a moral catastrophe. The catastrophe is not that everyone in Russia is fooled and supporting the war, but that people are simply powerless, they cannot mobilize against it, at least not yet."

https://postsocialism.org/2023/05/23/alexei-yurchak-the-present-moral-catastrophe-the-ussr-and-putin/

Alexei Yurchak: The present moral catastrophe, the USSR, and Putin

Postsocialism
Show threadkravietz 🦇

@maximedwards

It is a catastrophe, but it’s almost entirely self-inflicted. I was in #Russia plenty of times since Putin got into power: I was there during second war in #Chechnya, war in #Georgia, I was there when the first Internet censorship laws were introduced, during Bolotnaya protests, during #Euromaidan, war in #Donbass etc. All I heard from majority of Russians was continued justification of Putin, continued contempt and hatred towards everyone who dared to disagree and, most importantly, continued excuses for continued limiting of their own rights. They are powerless today because they wanted to be powerless in 2011-2012 when they happily delegated all their lives to Putin and childishly believed he will take them to the stars.

Akkoma

May 30, 2023 at 12:20pmWeb
Show threadkravietz 🦇May 30, 2023

@maximedwards

Just to be clear, I wrote about majority and that’s based both on my personal experience and what polls indicate e.g. after annexation of Crimea. This does not imply all and every single Russian must have this attitude and I also know plenty of Russians who disagree - but majority is still who ultimately determine the country’s policy 🤷‍♂️

Show threadKevin LeecasterMay 30, 2023
@kravietz @maximedwards
A nation's citizens cannot completely shirk all responsibility for a nation's actions which is why the low voter turnout in the USA is so despicable.
Show threadMaxim EdwardsMay 30, 2023
@kravietz i don't think this is an excuse for their passivity but an explanation for it. we need explanations if we are to develop messaging which sticks. 'they don't have the truth' is simplistic and doesn't engage with the very complex heuristic methods people develop to actively resist receiving uncomfortable information they may even suspect to be true
Show threadRixt LotheinMay 30, 2023
@kravietz @maximedwards
It is not for nothing they are called "SLAVES" . Mentally they still live in their impoverished "isba's" waiting for the priest, the master or his overseer to tell them what to do .
Show threadkravietz 🦇May 30, 2023
@Rixt

Ukrainians, Poles etc are also Slavs ;) The name comes from "slovo" or "word" in proto-Slavic and many modern Slavic languages. The English word "slave" may originate from 8th century Latin, where it was used to describe prisoners taken in wars with Slavic tribes, or may not as other possible origins are proposed.

@maximedwards