The Russian authorities will have to live in a new information reality. And pretending that journalists’ investigations are the machinations of enemies will become more and more difficult

What is not allowed and what is possible

The work of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and OCCRP shows how much society is changing. Firstly, you can easily feel the scale of globalization: just some time ago it was simply impossible to think that Panama would be so close to Russia, China, Sweden, Iceland, etc. We are faced with a new reality of the global information world, and this is just the beginning.

Secondly, we saw that a variety of journalists from different countries can unite and work outside of various formalized organizations and public structures simply because they believe it is right to engage in an important common cause (more than 370 journalists from 76 countries of the world took part in the investigation) . At the same time, they can comply with all ethical standards: there were no leaks of information, competition, hints - everything was done with a very high degree of awareness that everyone is responsible for everyone. And this is also a milestone of the new reality, which brings us to the third point.

More and more, the fight against corruption, the fight against dishonesty of officials is becoming not an activity for show by some special bodies, but a request for value changes. Even for a value revolution. In many countries of the world, it becomes unpleasant for people to live next to those who violate basic moral imperatives and, at the same time, due to the presence of authority, also dictate how others should live, how society should live. There is a feeling that such investigations are increasingly being done not so much with the goal of putting someone in prison, but in order to develop a new global value standard: what is possible and what is not. Apparently, we are moving into a new era when, when electing a person to power, we pay more and more attention to his values.

Ethical image

I understand that in Russia talking about this now is somehow funny and stupid. Many will object: “Half the country has been snatched away somewhere, and you’re talking about values...” But it is with values that we need to work! If we install a watchman at every step, come up with a dozen more investigative bodies, create a new system of punishment, this will lead to nothing. All this has already happened in the past. But oddly enough, in those countries where corruption is not only managed (the latest investigation showed that no one is free from it), but its level can be reduced to a socially acceptable minimum, people tend to pay attention to things of value.

It seems strange to me to say that these values are not for Russia. Many people talk about the importance of spiritual bonds, but for some reason they imply that values such as honesty, decency, accountability, and transparency have nothing to do with this. But as far as I see, there are more and more people in Russia who have a (perhaps not yet conscious) request to live in harmony with these values. Proof of this is the sharp surge in unorganized charity outside foundations, through horizontal connections, such as social networks. The surge in the volunteer movement also speaks to this. These are all related things. Moreover, people increasingly come to us concerned about the ethical image of their business. They are interested in how to do business without bribes: they understand that in Russia this is practically impossible, but it is very disgusting.

With or against the current

While developing, humanity has gone through many ideological upheavals. Whether we like it or not, many things indicate that we are on the threshold of another. We can say that we (not only Russia, this is a global phenomenon) are in the embryonic stage of this process. This is a very fragile period when there is a possibility that maybe nothing will work out, but all the signs of progress are already there.

The way the Russian authorities react to information about the investigation, declaring , for example, that the purpose of the investigation is to “interrupt” in the information field the positive effect of the liberation of Palmyra, is the result of the established paradigm “they are against us.” We don't know whether this attitude will change. But you need to understand that no one in power lasts forever. One way or another, there will be a change of generations, and the new government will have to live in a new, increasingly globalized society, where it will be indecent to boast of wealth while in power. And it will hardly be possible to hide from the spread of the new reality, and China is an excellent example of this. The latest investigation, in which the Xi family also appears, demonstrated that you can build an arbitrarily high wall as much as you like, protecting yourself from global information exchange within the country, but sooner or later they will still climb over it and the wall will lose all meaning.

The problem is that resistance to change is not limited to those in power. Not the most reasonable socio-economic decisions of recent times, not the best education and health care system do not allow people to think about values now: they need to survive. Therefore, the task of the media - public opinion leaders - is to help people see the world from a different perspective, as well as to push the authorities to solve social and economic problems first and foremost. An underfed, undertreated, undertrained person will remain on the previous platform of history, and the train of a better future both for him and for the country will be stuck at that platform with him at that time.

This is exactly what the investigations of recent days are about - that in the future, the funds of each country will not have to flow into whose pockets it is clear, but will have to be invested in development, at the center of which will be the very values for which we are fighting, even if only a small one. albeit unnoticed by many, but an uncompromising struggle today.

about the author

Elena Panfilova Vice President of Transparency International The point of view of the authors whose articles are published in the “Opinions” section may not coincide with the opinion of the editors.

Value revolution: how corruption investigations are changing the world