CULTURE
CASUALTY
WAR
OF
Is the blanket cancellation of Russian culture since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine either fair or sensible? Art writer IVAN LINDSAY argues that it won’t help win the war
ince Russia’s invasion of Ukraine there has been a mass cancellation of Russian culture in Europe and the USA. The motivation behind this appears to stem from a belief that, similar to economic sanctions, erasing Russian culture will somehow weaken President Putin’s grip on power and encourage the Russian population to turn against him. The more extreme supporters of this cancellation also believe there is a savagery embedded in Russian culture, and indeed the Russian soul, that can be found weaving a pattern through Russian art, music, dance and literature, and that this explains Russia’s behaviour in Ukraine. Ukrainian writers and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry have led this drive to erase Russian culture. In the Times Literary Supplement the Ukrainian poet Oksana Zabuzhko, best known for her 1996 feminist novel Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex, recently said that Russian literature represents, ‘an ancient culture in which people only breathe under water and have a banal hatred for those who have lungs instead of gills’ and that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can only be
understood by studying the work of Fyodor Dostoevsky, which she defines as, ‘an explosion of pure, distilled evil and long suppressed hatred and envy’. A website called cancelrussia.info provides a set of posters, in English, German, Dutch, French and Italian, advocating the cancelling of Russian culture which it encourages you to print off and paste on city walls. In explanation, it says: ‘Russian culture is expansionary and imperialistic in nature ... Withhold any funding, support, or even attention you once provided to Russian artists, writers, or musicians. There should be no room for their exhibitions, publications, or concerts. There should be no mention of them in the press ... Russian culture today is nothing more than the result of long-term theft of subjugated cultures by the state. Decolonisation of Russia is impossible without the complete cancellation of its culture.’ Oleksandr Tkachenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture, joined a group of film directors, musicians, artists and gallery owners calling for the banning of all Russian cultural activities. Early casualties were Russian participation in the Venice Biennale, Wimbledon, the Eurovision Song Contest, the Champions
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