[spectre] Dispatches from Ukraine: Tactical Media Reflflections and Responses

[Rasa Smite]

Hello

Eleonore wrote: "My anecdote was in response to Rasa, to highlight that 
there are multiple perspectives and modalities for cultural 
appropriation (and rejection)".

With this war, we have landed in the situation, where its not anymore 
that easy to play with "multiple perspectives and modalities" before the 
ground is not clear and stable enough, before we are not on the same page..
I wrote already, in this situation there are only clearly two sides - 
either supporting Ukraine or being pro-Putin, there doesn't exist 
democratic "multiple perspectives and modalities" in this case as we 
don't deal with democratic country...

And your anecdote just shows that there are many misleading ideas 
around.. this is what I wrote in my reply to Heath: the problem is that 
most of the marxist-communist-thinking people in the West (who have read 
bit too much of French and Russian philosophy or literature) today have 
to revise their theories, notions and realise finally they have been 
following the wrong dreams (nightmares, trust me...).

So it's now your turn, dear people living in UK, and other wealthy 
Western countries, to put some effort in changing your thinking, your 
perspectives, and before joining the funny May day parades, and reading 
100 years old authors (who have no clue how the communism works in real 
life), or listen 92 years old capitalism critics (such as Chomsky) 
please re-think twice before you write something that naive as comparing 
America's Disney's land "propaganda" with Russia's aggressive invasion 
targeting civilians, killing children, raping women in Ukraine, which is 
happening there everyday.

So why not, please do so - change your way of thinking, finally! Please 
be so empathetic that you at least pretend to do so - for a sake of 
Ukraine's disaster... We, people here in Eastern Europe are used to 
switch our perspectives constantly, we have done it so many times that 
we now even cannot answer a simple question: "and how is your tradition 
(e.g. in Latvia) with the education, for example?" I am sorry, there is 
no such thing as "our way or our tradition!" we have been listening for 
almost 30 years British experts, we have learned from the most amazing 
Finnish school experience, and we have adapted exams from German 
"abitur", we have been trying hard, and still are one of the most poor 
countries in EU,
BUT - I wouldn't call it "colonising", and never ever would even think 
of going back to anything similar that was once called "the Soviet 
Union" - NB! btw- there never was such a thing as USSR, it was just an 
extended Russia'n Empire with unfairly and aggressively occupied 
neighbouring countries before and during WW2, who were forced to believe 
that Russians have "saved and freed us" and that "they brought the real 
culture" (making us feel lesser), but they didn't succeed, nobody inside 
of USSR believed in this bullshit... Just sadly I never realized that 
the communist propaganda was so effective beyond the USSR border, that 
some people in West and otehr parts of the world truly believed that 
USSR may be a better alternative to Western capitalism...

But talking about the "Soviet times", there was even big difference 
between Ryszard's and mine childhood, because Ryszard lived in Poland, 
but I lived in Soviet Latvia, which was a part of USSR, and this was 
such a big difference that for some time I even didn't realize that 
Poland, Yugoslavia, Chechoslovakia etc. belonged to the so called 
"soviet" block, because for us at USSR (with completely cut any 
information or culture coming from the West) - even Poland seemed like 
beautiful and shiny country "abroad", where everything was much more 
better then in soviet uni.

When I went to the school in 1970s, I had to participate in special 
military parade competitions every year couple of times; we were singing 
the hymn of Russia and the hymn of USSR, and when we won the competition 
in the school level - then we participated in the national level..., and 
singing all these songs (in Russian), marching, and shouting loud how 
much we love Lenin... while at the same time, we all - everybody of us: 
starting from the 1st grade children to the director of the school knew 
that all this are the lies, the total bullshit, but we were not allowed 
to question anything of that, we just did it, as we had to. And if you 
ever asked something or initiated anything (because all things around 
which I saw in my childhood were so wrong, so dirty, so terrible, and 
grey...), you were shut up quickly as you gradually realized that 
nothing ever can be done, neither achieved, nor succeded... the holes on 
the roads would never get repaired, the light in your corridor if once 
broken, would never get fixed either, your staircase in communal house 
of course was never cleaned, in the shops was only the seller herself, 
as nothing was available (e.g. from drinks - only birch juice, sweet 
with sugar, in 3l jars, from vegetables - stinky sourkraut...) but if it 
was (some piece of meet or sausage - unexpectedly appeared), there were 
so long cues.. - and I think it was done intentionally, this is one of 
the KGB strategies to "zomby" people by making them to live in ugly, 
non-comfortable, hopeless gray environment, and to feed them with lies - 
from the age of kindergarten... nothing was real, because the only thing 
soviet Russians were good at - was to make an other great lies to 
pretend, to make a 'facade' for the beautiful socialist ideas to whom 
only anti-capitalists in West or Latin America believed... we here 
didn't believe in anything they told us... yes, and soviets were bad 
even in toy production - awful light pink plastic doll or braun 
(everything else..) were the only colors they hardly succeeded to make, 
and I had to play with these very few badly made toys, it was annoying 
and humiliating - and you complain about the Disney! OMG - that would 
have been our dream...
Later, when I was in arts college in 80s, we had special trainings in 
air rifle shooting, and I was very good in it, and I also had to learn 
how to disassembly the Kalashnikov, which was quite a fun, as nobody 
really did manage to do it properly, so we were laughing, and making 
fun.. (really?)

and if someone, anyone, who thinks that it was bad as you were 
culturally "colonisied" by Disneyland in the 80s and therefore were 
dreaming of living in Soviet Union, I can only say one thing - please 
mind, this is a very very dangerous idea as you should now rather become 
aware of that you have been brainwashed by Russia's imperialism, who has 
been running a very sophisticated propaganda machine for almost a 
century long..

and if you still think, here can be "multiple perspectives", I also 
would recommend to apply for residency in Russia, could be an 
interesting and useful experience... But also coming to Poland or Baltic 
countries may 'heal'... it's quite an adrenaline living here in these 
difficult times, following the news on Ukrianan Telegram every day hour 
by hour, while reading Western intellectuals' messages full of 
unnecessary tolerance and critic, or utopian pacifism promotion.

Best,
Rasa


On 18/07/2022 00:26, xname wrote:
>
> Hello Ryszard,
>
> Thanks for your email, and for sharing your view and experience.
>
> I'd clarify here: my childhood desire was towards the unknown, that 
> which was not described, as no one was telling us what was really 
> going on in Russia, all we had was the fake American dream (which 
> included the commodification of female bodies) and literature from the 
> past. I am also aware that I was very lucky and privileged growing up 
> in a house full of any sorts of books, also having access to many 
> libraries.
>
> My anecdote was in response to Rasa, to highlight that there are 
> multiple perspectives and modalities for cultural appropriation (and 
> rejection).
>
> I am not disputing what was better or worse, or whose childhood was 
> happier. The idea was to acknowledge that also in the West some had a 
> curiosity or a wish that that which was not the status quo could be 
> better than the real they had to experience.
>
> And I am not at all saying that being under Russian influence is in 
> any way a good thing, I am simply saying that the game at stake is a 
> power game, it is unfortunately not about anyone's freedom, or better 
> interest, but profit.
>
> I am sorry if my email was unclear and you had the impression I was 
> trying to decide where to move to, it couldn't be further away from 
> what I was trying to express.
>
>
> Best wishes
>
> Eleonora X, PhD.
>
>
> On 2022-07-17 21:47, Ryszard Kluszczyński wrote:
>
>> Dear Eleonora,
>> let me quote you:
>> "During my childhood, in Milan in the 80s, I had an opposite 
>> experience than yours: my country had been culturally colonised by 
>> the US (cinema TV clothing etc), and they did think they were better. 
>> Most people did not notice at all they were colonised, because they 
>> had been brainwashed. As I happened to dislike American cinema and 
>> Disney's total animation, but I did read a lot of Italian and French 
>> and Russian literature and philosophy, I must say it did happen to me 
>> during my childhood to wish I was in the Soviet Union instead, hoping 
>> that that would be a better alternative from the dumb hypnotic 
>> imperialism that had subsumed my contemporaries."
>> During my childhood in Poland in the 60s, I was not so happy as you 
>> in the 80s. You could have decided what to read. The Soviet-Russian 
>> censorships deprived me of such possibilities.
>> You were happy to avoid the experioence what it really means to live 
>> in the colonised country, colonised society. But it doesn't mean you 
>> should not try to imagine and understand what it is really.
>> Anyway you can try to realise your desire from your childhood. You 
>> can move to Russia to become the resident. But resident not just 
>> visitor.
>> I understand if you don't decide to do it. A French famous film actor 
>> who did it once (to avoid paying taxes in France) is already back as 
>> I heard.
>> Good luck whatever you decide to do
>> Ryszard
>>
>> ......................................................
>> Prof. Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, PhD.
>> Chair of Department of New Media and Digital Culture
>> University of Lodz
>> 171/173 Pomorska Street
>> 90-236 Lodz
>> Poland
>> tel  +426655133
>>
>>
>>
>>> On 17 Jul 2022, at 18:00, xname <xname at xname.cc> wrote:
>>>
>>> During my childhood, in Milan in the 80s, I had an opposite 
>>> experience than yours: my country had been culturally colonised by 
>>> the US (cinema TV clothing etc), and they did think they were 
>>> better. Most people did not notice at all they were colonised, 
>>> because they had been brainwashed. As I happened to dislike American 
>>> cinema and Disney's total animation, but I did read a lot of Italian 
>>> and French and Russian literature and philosophy, I must say it did 
>>> happen to me during my childhood to wish I was in the Soviet Union 
>>> instead, hoping that that would be a better alternative from the 
>>> dumb hypnotic imperialism that had subsumed my contemporaries.
>
>
> -- 
> phantasmata and illusions
>
> @oracle666
> http://xname.cc
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