Charles Maynes, The World, from PRX and WGBH: In the removal of a Soviet symbol of oppression, Russians see lessons for the US
As debates in the US rage over the removal of Confederate and other monuments that celebrate a racist past, some in Russia have been thinking hard about how people there confront their own history.
It’s an iconic moment that signaled the symbolic, if not yet actual, end of the Soviet Union.
Aug. 23, 1991. A crowd of thousands had gathered at Lubyanka Square just opposite the KGB headquarters.
Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s future first president, had just rallied the public in a successful — and terrifying — three-day revolt against a coup by Soviet hard-liners against democratic reforms then sweeping the USSR.
Amid the rush of victory, the crowd stared up at a mammoth, 16-ton monument to “Iron Felix” Dzerzhinsky, the founder and patron saint of the Soviet secret police.
Their one shared thought: “Tear — him — down.”
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WNU Editor: In Russia most statues and monuments honouring former Soviet leaders were removed by elected politicians after some debate. It was recognized early that having the mob do it only increased tensions and gave the perception that the authorities had lost control of the situation.
...and if you did deface Russian/Soviet monuments, the chances of being shot were far greater.
ReplyDeleteMayor Bowser wants to take down national monuments on federal property based on what? A plurality of citizens in DC and maybe not even that No national debate? I notice that Bowser comes from a place of privilege,. She lived ina good neighborhood and went to private schools. Still she was not much of a scholar and it shows in her pop morality.
ReplyDeleteGlenn Beck 4 or 5 years ago said that "You need heroes to look up to, but that they will always disappoint. You need to believe in ideas." Good ideals obviously. He did not make up the quote, but was relaying it.
If the statement is true, then WTF are liberals doing?
Good point Russ 🙂
ReplyDeleteRussia always a good place to turn to for moral and ethical lessons
ReplyDeleteNobody voted for the Lenin et al statues in the Soviet Union.
ReplyDeleteNavalny poisoning: Trump silent as world leaders call for answers from Putin
ReplyDeleteDa Clerk posted at 15:13 with very little forethought, afterthought or much thought at all. Now suppose Mutti puts sanciton on Russia.
ReplyDeleteTwo things will happen. The sanctions will not hurt or they will hurt.
Case 1: The sanctions do not hurt. It probably means that the politicians enacting them were not serious. It means that they did it to fool the electorate. That is is is posturing.
Case 2: The sanction hurt. Well Putin can hurt Mutti right back. He can throttle or shut off Nordstream. "Muslim" Terrorists could blow up a pumping station during winter. Supplies are cutoff for a few or several days. Business and work come to halt, People freeze in their homes. People get angry at Mutti. People decide to force Mutti out of office several months earlier.
Sanction and finger wagging is all Mutti has and she cannot wag her finger for more than a few minutes or her whole body might tremble from the effort. Remember Mutti has no army so it is just her and whatever Macron can scrap up. Oh wait, his military is busy in North Africa and not doing well there anyway.
So Clerky what is the Europeans doing that is effective. You got nothing as usual. Just your usual BS routine.