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BORIS KAGARLITSKY, MOSCOW
RISE AND FALL IN ST PETERSBURG
Finally, we are through with it. The leaders of G8 have gone home. The Russian Social forum and the conference of Drugaya Rossiya (“A Different Russia”) have become the events of the past, all those arrested are being released. The nightmare is over.
The results, however, are only starting to loom in the distance. It’s easy to guess that the organizers of the events in St Petersburg wouldn’t stop praising the outstanding achievements made. But a closer look will tell us the exact opposite.
Let us begin with the actual G8 Summit. Apart from diplomatic grins and hollow proclamations, there are no worthy consequences left to talk about. Moscow and Washington were set to sign the protocol on Russia’s accession to the WTO, but they didn’t. The agreements, on the verge of reaching them, were thwarted at the very last second, or maybe it was due to the Russian officials who spread false information about the majority of the matters having been compromised. Both options maybe considered diplomatically scandalous, but this way both parties were saving face, assuring, there’s a step left… Meanwhile, the issue of Russia’s WTO accession is becoming more and more vague and detached: after Georgia dumped the agreement, signed by Moscow earlier on, they reached a deadlock. Georgia will not give way to this one until Russia stops boycotting its wine (which for Georgia basically equals to the economic blockade). Surely, Moscow is not intending to shamefully sheathe its weapons in front of Georgia. But in addition, there’s also Moldova, suffering a wine blockade of its own, and therefore capable of blocking Russia’s way to the WTO in a similar fashion.
Properly speaking, all these events may only be rejoiced at. The heads of the Russian enterprises from all over the country are praying for the sake of George Bush and his Georgian colleague Misha Saakashvili. And you have my word, it’s the first time when I am actually grateful to President George Bush. Thank you, sir honored guest, you gave us some breathing space!
On the energy issues, positioned as the key ones, nothing smart has been decided, either. Russia did sign the Energy Charter, compiled by the European Union, but it has no intention of ratifying it whatsoever, as this document, in case we actually obey it, would not let Gazprom blackmail Ukraine and Belarus by cutting them off the pipelines. As for attempts to handle the global corruption, they seemed nothing but a bad joke.
The participants of the G8 Summit could not conceal their acute disagreements almost on every point, starting from the Middle East and ending in the democratic rights in Russia, and smooth formulations of the final resolutions just once again point to the futility of these resolutions.
The only thing that’s more obscure than the collapse of the G8 Summit is the collapse of the alternative activities.
The first one to act was Russia’s “united opposition” which managed the Drugaya Rossiya forum. The name for the forum wasn’t just picked at random, it’s the name of the book by Eduard Limonov. These were the activists of the Limonov National Bolshevik Party (NBP), who took the floor at the forum: they were checking the journalists’ accreditations, maintained order, and in every little detail tried to display they are in charge. However, this domination had nothing to do with the ideological hegemony. On the contrary, the ideology was announced by the liberals, and what’s more, the most radical ones. Andrey Illarionov, who considers Yegor Gaidar and Jeffrey Sachs nearly communists, was the captain of the economic sector. The Russia’s major flaw, as we were told, was still clinging to the leftovers of the social security system; there are still areas, not entirely conquered by the market laws; and the state’s participation in the economy is still too excessive. We need to privatize everything, give it away, tear it into pieces, and destroy. The real action (along with breaking up the protest actions) will be handed over to the guys from the NBP.
Actually, Limonov’s ideas are a bit different from Illarionov’s. He, for instance, suggests eliminating cities, and substitute history by the “new chronology” of Anatoly Fomenko (a founding father of the New Chronology theory) thus getting rid of the Ancient History and the Middle Ages. No, wait, the Middle Ages can stay. But they will happen in the XXI century when the so-much-hated by Limonov civilization will be wiped out, and the Dark Ages will fall on us.
But the difference in Limonov and Illarionov’s ideas is superficial. Why should demolition of the cities necessarily keep the market from expanding? What’s wrong with savage fields and merchants-robbers dashing across it, like in Hollywood movies!
To be serious, it’s clear that the far right and the far left are just tools in the hands of the Russian right-wing liberals, who are using them up cynically knowing they have zero chances to seize power. The far right and the far left forces don’t have a well-structured program of their own (a couple utopias and catchy slogans don’t count). The ideologist of the “united opposition” Stanislav Belkovsky made himself clear at the Drugaya Rossiya forum: the purpose of their activity is to preserve the current state of things. The society should stay as it is right now. Besides, they are displeased with Vladimir Putin for his irresponsible and careless actions, which are inevitably leading to crisis. His unprofessional strife for stabilization only disturbs the existing order.
The leaders of the far right and the far left thus become a sort of “Landsknechten”, the freelance soldiers of the “united opposition”. Their mission is to fight the security services in front of the foreign TV cameras, become victims of the bloody regime (the more arrests and anarchy they create – the better). In other words, they are catalysts of the fake crisis, which should be fired up before the society has produced a true opposition.
In this respect, the left forces, represented at the Russian Social forum were just the genuine opposition format – democratic, protecting the social rights of the majority, future-oriented. But the forum was surprisingly weak. What its organizers really managed to succeed in was networking with the press, the PR device, so much admired by the liberals. The liberal press took every chance to mention the arrest issues and tracking members of the forum, studiously avoiding the question about these members true activity. As for helpless and pointless attempts to break through the police blockade, performed July 15, they obviously could have but one purpose: to attract publicity to another brawl. The reps of the social movement, who made it to St Petersburg, were outraged. They were actually meant to – without their knowledge or permission – be added to the “united opposition”!
But still, the Russian Social Forum did have positive outcome. The entire country has been talking about the left for three days. Until recently a good deal of our population truly believed that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is the only opposition we got. Now people discovered the left opposition existed. And some were even lured by its ideas.
Secondly, the forum’s collapse will not just teach a good lesson, but will also be seen as a drive to restructure the left wing both politically and structurally. Almost everyone comes to understand, there are real chances for the left to turn into a functioning political force. But now the left forces themselves put obstacles on their way – they are infantile, disorganized, they are suckers for cheap success and self-promotion, which may be acceptable for Limonov-type people, but definitely not for those who intend to introduce changes to the social sphere, enjoying support of the masses.
There sure is a mass movement in Russia, but one should be looking for it not at the small-scale meetings and tiny demonstrations. That very moment, when the counter-summit was attempted to be organized, the All-Russian Confederation of Labor did manage to pull the free trade unions of the automobile industry together to form a single organization. The food industry is on the way, others, too. This activity indicates the first signs of that left movement, the one that is described in the books and articles written by the left. Many of the forum’s participants – even those living in St Petersburg, who witnessed the whole action unfolding – didn’t even notice it existed.
Well, big events do not necessarily have to be standing out.
Boris Kagarlitsky is a Director of The Institute for Globalization Studies.
July 20, 2006
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