From Navalny to Right Sector

A couple of years ago I left the SOVA center for a long vacation, blissfully ceasing to follow the details of political and criminal life Russian nationalists. I turned into an expert sympathizer layman: on the one hand, I have neither the strength nor the time to delve into all this gone, but on the other hand, the former interest remained. As such a layman, I I can say that in the last book "Owls" are both boring for uninitiated things, and "cream" - expert reasoning about the very interesting and painful: about Navalny, about the distortion of history, about connections Russian and foreign nationalists. And about Ukraine, about it, about those very Ukrainian Nazis, who allegedly started it all.

Collection of articles edited by the director of "Owl" Alexander Verkhovsky is declaratively fragmentary and does not claim to be exhaustive. description of Russian nationalism in all its manifestations. Articles are divided into several thematic blocks, the last of which is dedicated to Ukraine. His center "Sova" calls to consider "not as an application, but as a way of understanding the situation of nationalism in Russia."

It is interesting to speculate what was meant by the name Russia is not Ukraine. I will not pretend: I, of course, asked and Verkhovsky, and the editor, and the authors. There is no clear answer: everyone understands that Russia is not Ukraine (and whoever does not understand, he himself runs the risk of falling into objects of interest of the Owl Center), but in this opposition itself there are recognition of the fact that everything is very complicated, that there is a subject of conversation here.

I suggest that those who wish to familiarize themselves with the table of contents ; I won't go into detail on each article.

So, skimming the cream, I want to draw the attention of readers to the following articles in the collection.

Here about Navalny

Political scientist Emil Pain in the article "Modern Russian nationalism in the mirror of Runet" comes to the conclusion that lately the ideological delimitation became more acute not only between conditional leftists, liberals, nationalists and pro-government traditionalists, but also within each of these groups. One example of intragroup disengagement, of course, serves the case of Navalny, nationalism which caused very heated debate within the liberal camp. payin finally did something that will help to bring into these subsided for the time being disputes at least some numbers. Analysis of 1,315 posts by Navalny on LiveJournal over the period from June 2010 to June 2013 shows that his nationalism is sporadic character plus exists only within the framework of his dislike for corruption. According to the researcher, ugly statements Navalny to the Georgians, which he allowed in 2008, so everyone sunk into the soul precisely because they are unique. Peak it nationalist statements account for the events at Manezhnaya area in 2010 and at the beginning of 2011. After the elections in Opposition Coordinating Council (October 2012) share nationalist discourse is greatly reduced in favor of a general civil topics.

The author contrasts the case of Vladimir Milov with Navalny. If the first, by reducing by 2013 the intensity of nationalist statements twice, goes, according to Pain's assumption, towards not accepting nationalist discourse liberals, then Milov in the same period is actively increasing the share of nationalist statements on compared with general political ones and illustrates a “very typical shift from the pragmatic use of ethnic nationalism to infecting them like a disease.

Here about violence and about what awaits us

It is impossible to ignore the article by Alexander Verkhovsky "The Dynamics of Violence in Russian Nationalism". To the general reader it is not seems exciting. Hate violence is one of the those from which an ordinary person rather wants to somehow psychologically defend yourself. Nevertheless, there is a large circle of people - experts in related topics, journalists, politicians - to whom this article will be very useful both as an analytical material and as a reference, because it covers a long period of time - from the late 80s to the present day and because it was written by Verkhovsky, the expert on the subject. In addition, the author makes a cautious, but no less pessimistic forecast: in the near future we can expect an increase in violence in political ground involving radical but loyal subjects nationalists. They will be attacked as their direct opponents, and simply opposition-minded citizens.

Here about how exactly the media lie to us

Ethnologist Viktor Shnirelman in the article “Media, the fight against “ethnic crime” and cultural racism” with examples, in detail, with shows in numbers the methods by which journalists create and impose a negative image of migrants on society. This article can inserted into the textbook of the faculty of journalism. Here are the ways to create migrant-phobic sentiments that Shnirelman lists: naming the ethnicity of the offender (unless Russian criminal), manipulation of criminal statistics (use of unverified figures, direct distortion of figures), double standards (“foreign” do not forgive misdeeds, which are easily overlooked in "their own"), alarmist headlines of articles (in the headline they write about the displacement of indigenous citizens by Muslims, and in the article - that the number of Muslims in the city increased from 3 to 4 percent), the involvement of radical nationalists in as commentators on the migration issue. The author mentions the responsibility of those from whom journalists often take an example: status officials and politicians - both mainstream and opposition (and again Navalny was mentioned).

Analysis of 1,315 posts by Navalny on LiveJournal over the period from June 2010 to June 2013 shows that his nationalism is sporadic character plus exists only within the framework of his dislike for corruption.

Here about Dugin, not proboneheads

Article by George Washington University Professor Marlene Laruelle, Russian Nationalists and the Far Right and Their Western Connections: ideological borrowings and personal interaction”, unfortunately, dedicated to non- subcultural ties . It talks about notable people: about Alexander Dugin, Alain de Benois, Alexander Sevastyanov, David Duke, on the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church. Regret due to the fact that the study of grassroots and cultural contacts has long been demanded, but has not been undertaken at a serious level. Naturally, this reproach does not apply to the author, and not to the compiler. It is rather a wish aloud that some carriers of such knowledge (this applies primarily to antifa) finally formalized it in readable form.

Laruelle's article not only gives an insight into the history of relations Russian Eurasians and scientific racists with the New Right in Europe and America, but also shows how the change in the vector of domestic policy in Russia has led to the demarginalization of figures such as Dugin and subsequent their influence on the country's foreign policy. As the author notes, "Ukrainian the 2014 crisis allowed these groups to explicitly propose Kremlin its Western European connections”, a vivid example of which is the fact that most of the European observers who came to referendum in the Crimea, turned out to be from the extreme right organizations.

Here about entertaining conspiracy theories and about what it results in

Elena Strukova, historian and expert of the SOVA Center, in the article “Smoke of the Fatherland: Plots of Russian History in Texts and Sayings modern Russian nationalists" examines the historical publications that are more reminiscent, in the words of the author, "entertaining conspiracy theories. The works of several ultra-right figures: Alexander Dugin (where without him), who sang neooprichnina; members of the Rodina party; Nikolai Starikov - ideologist "Great Fatherland Party"; Yevgeny Fedorov - Deputy of the State Duma from "United Russia" and the founder of the organization "National Liberation movement"; Vladimir Zhirinovsky. All these figures are loyal in one way or another. in relation to the existing government. All of them in their writings make systematic substitution of the usual question for historians “Why is this happened?" to the question "Who is to blame?" The fault is external and internal enemies inevitably denounced on the pages of the books in question, is to hinder the independent historical development Russia. Correct the existing state of affairs most of the authors offers by creating organizations of active supporters of power. On one can shudder at this place and, as Elena writes at the end of the article, take a fresh look at Dugin's nostalgia for the oprichnina.

Višenka on cakes and must-read

The title article of the “Ukrainian” block of the collection “The Right sector” and others: national radicals and the Ukrainian political crisis late 2013 - early 2014" by Vyacheslav Likhachev - Head of the Monitoring Group for the Rights of National Minorities in Ukraine — published on the Owls website and on Polit.ru . This, of course, is the icing on the cake and a real must-read. for everyone who wants to reinforce (and possibly correct) their emotional attitude to the events in Ukraine more rational arguments. Given the availability of text on the web, it makes no sense to retell here even the main conclusions, but the main one is still necessary bring: any dangerous in the sense of nationalism political Likhachev considers the populist Oleg Lyashko, who is gaining popularity, to be a phenomenon, capable of bringing national-radicals into the new Rada. At the same time, the main the growth factor of his popularity is the military threat from Russia; so Thus, it turns out that Russia, having accused the new Ukrainian government of commitment to radical nationalism, she herself catalyzes it rise in Ukrainian society.

Two other articles from the Ukrainian section are devoted to more private issues: Anton Shekhovtsov, a researcher of the extreme right, writes about the rise and fall of the "Svoboda" party (article "All-Ukrainian Association "Freedom": from success in elections to failure in the revolution"), and the expert center "Sova" Vera Alperovich in the article "Ideological battles of Russian nationalists on the Ukrainian fronts” traced exactly how it affected Russian nationalists, the split that we are now seeing in all areas of society, and sometimes in their own families.

***

“And yet why, why should I delve into all this? - Maybe, asks the reader who has reached this point in the review. - Well, what do I down to the details of the existence of crazy fanatics?”

The fact is that the topic of nationalism has long been not marginal. Let's leave aside that the scale of violence has reached such a level when this should be of interest to all "decent people". The problem is broader and simpler at the same time: all sections of our society are so saturated with nationalism and racism, that people who avoid it are already a minority even among the "good" ones. In such a situation, it is no longer enough to simply be against: one must to be actively and qualified against, to own the facts - and simply work on yourself so that, God forbid, not to succumb to general clouding mind. Then, perhaps, the question of (non)identity of Russia and Ukraine will cease to appear to us in such a frightening reality as war.

Sources

• Rozalskaya M. From Navalny to the "Right Sector" // Colta.ru. 2014. October 14.