This is something, I tell myself every morning and repeat many times throughout the day. Despite pain, anxiety, fear and stress, I have to keep speaking about what I know about the war in Ukraine, often with those who seem to be living in a different universe, repeating as a refrain that we have to stop it.
"Don't be silent" is something many Russian cultural, social, political, media and other leaders keep telling their colleagues and everyone in the country. And I know a lot of people who are using all their verbal pyrotechnics, knowledge, skills, arguments and common sense to deliver the image we see here in Canada, and in the rest of the world, but millions of Russians don't.
But for this column, I didn’t want to address to those Russian people, but to everyone else who is not living under the propaganda dome. To all of you, who have access to information, please, keep talking to people you may know in Russia.
In the first week of the war, the Russian government shut down the last few independent media outlets, which even before were working under extreme pressure and restrictions. The censorship is real and official now, even though it is still prohibited by the constitution. Last week, the Russian government shut down Meta's products, namely Facebook and Instagram.
I understand the sarcasm when people make jokes about Russians losing their entertainment while millions of Ukrainians are losing lives, homes and everything they had. But the entertainment and even the source of income for millions of families is not what the problem is.
The problem with the government shutting down Facebook and Instagram is that Russians now lost almost the very last sources of alternative information. There are one independent newspaper and opposition messenger channels, none of which has as much coverage and reach as the state-regulated media or controlled social media.
Millions of Russians are against the war. They speak up, many hit the streets, even though it's almost like suicide in contemporary Russia. (Public protests are de-facto prohibited and in most cases are considered a crime that may get you imprisoned for years, so I think of those thousands that did partake in protests as many people. And besides its direct punishment function, repressions such as those also serve as a sign and a way to break people, make them fear even more and shut them up.)
Millions of Russians write letters and sign petitions, leave the country as a protest or stay to protest. All of it is still not enough, and I understand the anger as every day more and more civilians are killed and homes destroyed in Ukraine. But if the world silences Russians out, especially those that currently support the ongoing war, it will be the biggest favour you can give to Putin's government.
Please, if you have friends, family, colleagues or acquaintances in Russia, keep the dialogue going even if it's extremely hard. Don't shut the doors, don't break relationships, don't silence Russian specialists, or those who are part of any kind of international unions and organizations. Even if you feel they are enemies, if they weren't and we break all connections, they will become such.
In information isolation, brains rot, and all the myths fed to people by Putin's propaganda machine become the only reality they'll know. And if they are supporting the government, with no alternative information there is hardly any chance they'll ever change their mind.
Please try to talk without fighting because fighting never helps. When you're fighting, calling names or blaming, people shut down and start fighting back. Try to develop a dialogue in which the other side may hear at least one per cent, 10 per cent, 20, anything.
Yes, life is choices, and a lot of Russian citizens are making their choices now. But are those informed choices?
I'm not saying it out of pity. I'm not trying to defend or justify what Russia and many Russian people are doing. I'm just trying to describe what's happening in that country in parallel with the war. The last sources of independent information, second opinions, the last sources of realistic views are gone. Many people in Russia live in an enormous information bubble. It's hard to imagine in the 21st century, but so was imagining a real war, and that's the case.
All they hear is a myth – big, unrealistic, absurd. But a lie repeated over and over again starts to feel like reality. A huge lie wrapped up in some realistic or real details broadcasted by all media sounds like truth.
This war is about everyone for many reasons. The world came together fast and, as many experts note, unexpectedly united and became strong in the face of a threat. But when cornered, even a mouse becomes dangerous, and Russia isn't a mouse.
I sincerely believe that the Russian people can change a lot, but they need the information to resist the insanity. And that information needs to come in a way, which people would hear.
You may hate Russians and it comes naturally these days out of loss, fear and all the ugliness of everything Russia is doing in Ukraine, but unfortunately, that will only serve Russian propaganda, which keeps repeating over and over that everyone hates Russians and is against the people.
The Russian government got rid of anything that could have been restricting them within the country. They are deciding if they should postpone (read "cancel") the upcoming elections. So if anything to affect their positions can come only from outside the country as direct actions or through people and communication.
So please, keep talking.
