Staying human.

人間であり続けること
2023年12月31日00:29

レオニード・ゴズマン
ノーバヤ・ガゼータ・ヨーロッパ特派員

英文化しました。

Leonid Yakovlevich Gozman (Russian: Леонид Яковлевич Гозман; born 13 July 1950) is an Israeli-Russian politician who served as the president of the Union of Right Forces.

31 December 2023 00:29

Leonid Gosman
Correspondent, Novaya Gazeta Europe

I cannot remember a New Year as gloomy as this one.

Religious holidays are linked to real or mythical events. And New Year's Eve is purely customary: the night between 31 December and 1 January is no different in nature. But there are traditions! - If not a plan for the future, at least an expectation.

To evaluate the past year, we need to compare it with something: what happened in 2022 and what happened in 2023? For example, 2022 gave me the title of foreign agent, I was not in hiding, but I was on the federal wanted list, it didn't matter to the Russian law enforcement system, I had a completely operatic criminal case, I was behind bars for a month for another case, they charged me with treason against my country I was charged with something like a crime, completely convinced that it was going to be a life sentence, and finally, I left, or actually fled the country, and 2023 was a less personally intense, but probably more difficult year, because I had to leave the country, and I had to leave the country, and I had to leave the country, and I had to leave the country, and I had to leave the country, and I had to leave the country. And at the end of the year, not to bore you, as many do, there was a new criminal case, this time quite serious, for defaming not only the army but also the country's leaders. I deserved it.

But it is for me.

And for all of us, 2022 started with fear, then turned to hope and ended positively.

In 2023, on the contrary, hope faded away, reinforced by the feeling that this nightmare would last forever.

One of the most unpleasant feelings is helplessness. We cannot influence anything. In the war, we are dealing with Ukraine and the West. By the way, even if they manage to cope, nothing is guaranteed to us anyway. The situation in the country looks utterly hopeless: a self-sufficient fascism. Before Buha there was Samasiki and East Prussia, before Mariupol and Mariinka there was Grozny. On the other hand, this is now commonplace. Many people believe that nothing will change after Putin's departure. People have settled down too well and comfortably psychologically in that part of the world where the stars are visible in the daytime. And here again, after all, nothing is up to us!

Of course, not much depends on any one person. But firstly, under normal circumstances, we can at least vote. In other words, we can have some influence, or at least the illusion of influence. Secondly, in times of peace, society will not occupy such a large space in his life as it does today. Today, socium is invading our personal lives and destroying both our immediate world and our future. Planning is impossible and calculated action for the future is problematic. We do not know what will happen tomorrow.

This is, of course, an existential situation. We are mortal, we are mortal, we are suddenly mortal. But even though we know it, we don't always think about it. And today it is impossible not to think about it.

The new world forces us to adapt in different ways.

It drives us into depression and alcoholism. We drink regularly and face the wall. Some of us have become that way. None of my friends, thankfully, drank alcohol (yet?), but I have to admit that it was a good thing that I did.

It drives them to migrate. You can sit in the countryside and plant flowers (alternative: sit in Europe, where it's quiet and comfortable). You are cursed anyway. But if you agree to it and spit on it, you are condemning yourself to life. For example, why did I spend my life teaching students, sowing what is reasonable, what is good, what is eternal? I didn't work for numbers, I worked for conscience. Was it all in vain?

And the world drives us to exuberance and constant hysteria. There is only war and regimes, every minute should be devoted to the struggle, joy for any reason is immoral. When it is the position of those on the barricades, fine (not fine, but okay). But they don't do anything themselves - can't or are afraid to? They don't play themselves, but live to watch others play. And they also become aggressive, arrogating to themselves the privilege of certain moral judgements and explaining what they can and cannot do.

All of this destroys each and every one of us:

Under the pressure of circumstances and all these demands, we lose ourselves and deteriorate.

And the challenge for each of us - including this year's challenge - is to remain human. No matter what!

To be honest, I don't have a clear answer to the question of what to do. But I have a few thoughts.

Do not succumb to pessimism, do not fall into the sin of discouragement. In fact, we understand very little about social processes and we cannot predict them. The February Revolution was expected, but it happened unexpectedly and, as Rozanov said, the Russian Empire collapsed in three days. The rule of Mubarak in Egypt and Chausescu in Romania seemed to last forever, but unexpectedly collapsed in a few days. When the Prigozhin uprising broke out, who could have predicted that no one would defend power?

Do not be afraid of your fellow citizens. They are mostly normal. It is just that the authorities have lifted everything from the bottom and hinted to them, and to all of us, that this is the colour of the country. It was the same in the days of Hitler and the Bolsheviks. Hitler's storm troopers were like the drunks and slackers in our villages, like the Poor People's Committees, who sat quietly in front of Hitler (and in our country, in front of the Bolsheviks). Ordinary people have come to the fore again. Our society has not really changed much. Like a hut on a chicken's foot, it has just turned its nasty side against us. But we can turn back!

Think about the future, preferably long-term, even beyond your own life. Even misfortunes, such as those that have happened to us and our country, must not destroy us completely. Life must go on. And if we want to make things a little better, even if not today, but in the future they will be - by raising our own children, by helping those in need, especially those who are fighting for us all, or by writing a book that may not be published now, but the manuscript will not be burned By writing a book that will never be published - despite everything, it will be easier for you today.

You are not personally responsible for any of this, even though you are not to blame. Neither Putin nor the war could have been prevented. You are only culpable if you were complicit in bringing this about.

But you have not contributed! So don't give up on the path you have been on and don't assume that your life is a mistake.

And keep enjoying your life. No poutine can cancel out your joy. Putin is trying to do so. Do not give in to him or to the moralists of the various bureaucracies and opposition parties. Read books, go to the theatre, drink, snack, fall in love, invent. This is all fun and this is what life is all about.

And on New Year's Eve, at your dinner table, of course, make the traditional toast: 'May he die! and understandably ask for Father Christmas, but make it a fun one. New Year's fun is a prerequisite for ending the nightmare.

Have a happy New Year!