Culture Clash

In an unusually frank speech, Konstantin Raikin, the head of Moscow’s Satirikon Theater, decried growing censorship of the arts in Russia. This led to a wider debate that has lasted for weeks, focusing attention on the role of the government in all things culture. But, instead of consolidating the arts community, it seems to have divided it.

Konstantin Raikin, speaking at a meeting of Russia’s Union of Theater Workers on October 24:

“I am very concerned, as I think you are as well, by the events happening in our life. These, shall we say, assaults on art, on the theater, in particular. They are absolutely illegal, extremist, aggressive, and are being cloaked in words about morality and other fine and lofty words like ‘patriotism,’ ‘motherland,’ and ‘high moral standards.’ These are small groups of ostensibly offended people who close down plays, close down exhibits, who behave very brazenly, and the authorities are very oddly neutral toward their actions, very hands-off. I feel that these are outrageous assaults on creative freedom, on the illegality of censorship.”

Nikita Mikhalkov, Oscar-nominated filmmaker and head of the Union of Cinematographers:

“I love Kostya Raikin very much, he’s a talented person.
But I would like to understand: how have his rights been infringed? What does he lack?”

Raikin’s speech even inspired reactions from some of the more outrageous and conservative supporters of the Kremlin. In this case “Patriotic biker” Alexander (The Surgeon) Zaldostanov:

“The devil always seduces with freedom… And pretending to fight for freedom, these Raikins want to turn the country into a gutter, so that everything filthy can flow through it. We won’t stand idly by, and I will do everything I can to protect us from American democracy.”

Zaldostanov’s outburst went too far, even for Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who nonetheless declared that the state has a right to set parameters for art that it is funding:

“I think this biker who offended [Raikin] must have been led astray by the devil, and I hope that he will make an apology… The main issue is this: bureaucrats are in charge of using the state’s money in the interests of the state. Put plainly, if the state believes that smoking harms people’s health, then the state is within its rights to tell people not to smoke in a film, if it is paying for it. But can this be called censorship? No, it can’t.”

Andrei Zvyagintsev, director of the Palme d’Or awarded film Leviathan, in a column in Kommersant:

“Bureaucrats have, with amazing casualness, deleted from their consciousness a simple and obvious notion, that this is not their money but ours. As long as you are fulfilling the will of the people, getting your salaries from public funds, as long as you are citizens of this country, just like us, go ahead and help free artists to do their work, and don’t bother them.”

Culture minister Vladimir Medinsky denied the existence of censorship, suggesting that Raikin was exaggerating to draw attention away from other problems (Raikin has struggled with financing for his theater, which is being renovated, adding expenses for rental of stage and rehearsal venues):

“There is no censorship in our country in any form. Though we can’t stop esteemed theater impresarios from talking about something that doesn’t exist… Some people have financial problems, some creative problems, and some family problems. And, as a sort of fetish, they bring up the problem of censorship. Which doesn’t exist.”

In the end, the controversy has been so distracting for Raikin that he appeared to regret having spoken out:

“I wouldn’t want to be transformed from a theater director into a crusader for justice; I prefer to pursue justice through my profession… It’s upsetting to see such distortions: immediately after my comments, people started suggesting that I said what I said because my theater is having financial problems… In fact, bringing this up was very much not in my interest. When someone is waiting for cash, he tries to keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, many people can’t conceive that someone would speak up out of conviction.”

The conversation seemed to end in a stalemate when President Putin weighed in, saying some control over the arts is needed to prevent… terrorism:

“It’s a very subtle thing, a very subtle line. It demands a sense of tact, from all of us: officialdom on the one hand and people in creative professions on the other… Those activists – I use the term loosely – at Charlie Hebdo’s offices, they came and shot people. The question is, did those cartoonists have to insult representatives of the Muslim faith?.. Officials often act not because they want to block something... many don’t want tragedies like in Paris to be repeated here. We should not forget this for even a second.”