In 1984 – almost forty years ago – Eduard Veniaminovich Limonov, also known as Eduard Savenko, wrote the book “The Disappearance of the Barbarians.” It was a pamphlet included in Limonov’s collection of stories. The plot can be described quite briefly: suddenly Russia ceased to exist. Not the Soviet Union, not any other form of government, no, just overnight, Russia did not become a territory inhabited by the Russian people. What came of this? Nothing is good. As it is written in that book – “The world began to adapt to a life without Russians. And in the process of adaptation it turned out that everyone needs Russians. Again, this was written forty years ago. What has changed in these forty years? And nothing and almost everything.
For example, this week in Latvia, the Dozhd TV channel was canceled (the organization was included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice). There was such a television channel in Latvia. Before that, he had been in Russia for 12 years. And in Latvia it only existed for 4.5 months. Because if you need to cancel something in Russian, you have to cancel everything at once. And a conditionally dissident channel in relation to the Russian authorities and a monument to Alexander Pushkin.
In this unstoppable rage, everything that connects the Baltic republics to the great land that is Russia to them, in one way or another, must burn. But it works a little differently. Latvia does not gain subjectivity by canceling Russia, including the licensing of the Russian-language channel, it remains a region without a culture that can be quoted and disseminated. Can Russian culture exist without Latvia? no doubt. Would Latvia exist without Russian culture? Probably. But what is this entity?
Even the famous Riga sprats are good only because they are sold in Russia. What is the demand for them in France or Portugal?
Our common problem right now is the lack of a planning horizon. No one can say with certainty what the world will look like in two years, in a year, or even in a day. But we can safely say that in the world that will come tomorrow, Latvians, Russians, Ukrainians and Sicilians will be exactly the same. Nobody is going anywhere. Unfortunately, someone will die, but cultures and ethnic groups will remain.
Why am I writing about this? Yesterday I came across the article of a friend of a man who could be called a liberal. He is not a liberal in the original sense, that is, a person trying to expand personal freedoms, but a liberal in the modern sense. Those who think everything is great. Everything except Russia. Everything is right, good, and understandable everywhere, but not here.
And this man cited his correspondence with a Latvian journalist as an example. And the Latvian journalist wrote that for Europe in general and the Baltic States in particular, the complete disappearance of Russia from the World would be a good scenario.
And this liberal-minded person answers him: Do you understand that this will never happen? What do you dream of instead of Russia? Black hole? Or the twenty independent states who are completely incapable of negotiating and hostile to others in one way or another? Perhaps a place for the extraction and processing of natural resources? And who exactly will you extract and process them and what will you do with the people who are already doing it? And why do you think Russia would allow you to deprive it of subjectivity?
Yes, we can all be skeptical about what is going on in our country, this is normal and even desirable. But can we imagine and accept the possibility of Russia disappearing from the Universe? I do not think that a world without Russia is not only unthinkable, but unlivable. Yes, there have been and will be different periods in history – friendship, enmity, war, kiss on the gums, colonization, liberation, independence, Re-conquest. But these phenomena, considered archetypal, will never disappear from the world. Russia is one of them. And if I’m wrong, let me, I’m not sorry. If there isn’t something I like, then it won’t be me, it won’t be my opinion, and in general all this will no longer matter.
And here I have to mention Mikhail Bulgakov. Or rather, a few words from his “White Guard” and at least a hundred years ahead to clarify that he was right.
“Aleksey: That’s it … Myshlaevsky is right. Then the captain mentioned the word “Russia” and says – no more. You see… What is this?
Nikolka: The card table.
Alexey: Quite right, and whatever you do with it, it’s always a card table. You can turn it upside down, flip it over, cover it with money like stupid Vasilisa with her legs, and there will always be a game table. And more than that, his time will come and he will come to a normal position, because it is unusual for him to keep his legs up … “.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.