First comes Pushkin, then comes Pushky (russian word for guns) — Vakhtang Kebuladze
About Russian culture as an instrument of enslavement.
Our guest is philosopher, phenomenology specialist, publicist, translator, and professor at T. Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, Vakhtang Kebuladze.
«Russian culture – a terrible tool of enslavement»
Vakhtang Kebuladze: I noticed a tendency that people who do not know any language other than Russian cannot learn any other culture because they lack talent, inspiration, and skills. They somehow believe that Russian culture is great and without it, we will not survive in this world…
People who speak other languages, have experience living abroad, and learn things in civilized countries, consider Russian culture as:“Well, there is such a culture. » Every country has its own literature and music etc. and Russia is no exception. We need to be calm about this, but understand that today it is used as a terrible tool of enslavement.
- First comes Pushkin and then come, Russian “pushky” (guns).
Pushkin is imperial. How important and influential is he as a poet is another question. For me, Byron and Shevchenko are probably more important. For some, it may be Pushkin. However, he is used as a weapon as an imperial poet, and as a xenophobe. Therefore, it is quite logical that his poetry is used to enslave other nations.
“You must know the enemy”
After all, we are not at war with Putin. Putin is an organic product of Russian history, of Russian imperialism, specifically, the tradition in literature that dates to Pushkin. That is why we are fighting against Russia. Evil is not Putin alone or Putin as a collective, but all of Russia. All Russian culture is toxic today and that is why the decolonization of our streets is extremely important.
Also, when we say that our streets should not be named after imperial writers (not to mention political criminals like Lenin, Peter I, or Catherine II, who are our enemies because they killed Ukrainians), it is a different matter when we are talking about the study of Russian literature. I think it must be done; the enemy must be known.
For example, I am surprised that we still do not have a real Russian Institute that would not only teach Russian politics or propaganda but, ultimately, Russian literature, art, and so-called Russian philosophy, with all its xenophobic and anti-human appeals.
- I have this metaphor: «the pestilential barrack of history.» I would spread it to all aspects of Russian culture.
Specialists of philosophy and history should go there at the risk of their own mental health, and they should study the disorder that threatens not only Ukraine today, but also all civilized humanity.
All of Russia is a disorder. It hasn’t started today, and not under Putin, but from the beginning. I even had an aphorism that Russia is a symptom of a human disease. And so it happened that a perverted culture and a perverted way of life formed in the country. This should be investigated in the same way we investigate schizophrenia and syphilis.
Russia, as a political nation, never existed
When we are talking about Russia, we must understand that Russia really does not exist as a modern political nation. And it never existed.
- Russia was always a pack of criminals (whether it was Ivan the Terrible, Peter I, Nicholas II, Stalin, or Putin) – a pack of criminals who rule a vast territory and use the population as a resource.
So, ultimately, what is a «successful life» according to this reality? It is the ability to integrate into this hierarchy and to either be a criminal or a servant of criminals.
Therefore, those people who are brought up only in Russian culture, who read literature, who enter the world through these doors, have no idea of justice, human dignity, or fundamental values, which are important for all civilized people.
Since Russian culture retranslates other ideas of what a person is, it’s just radically alien to us. This culture is not only alien but also hostile. It is trying to kill and destroy us physically.
It is no coincidence that we called the 2013-2014 Maidan the Revolution of Dignity. Dignity is not an empty word for us. Russian “slaves” cannot understand how it is possible to get out and risk one’s own life and health for something intangible such as one’s own dignity. How can you die for it? They die for food, refrigerators, carte blanche abuse. Why? Because they are slaves.
