There is no division between "ours" and "alien" in Russia

Because in Russian politics and culture, the distinction between friend and foe has been erased. Everything that has been the subject of expansion and conquest is proclaimed "ours"; but this "ours" is immediately alienated, filled with a virus of hostility, and turned into someone else's.

Let me try to explain.

“The distinction between friend or foe is an important cultural code. European philosophy and humanities of the 20th century tried to mitigate this division: a) by accepting that the world is not limited to "one's own," and b) by accepting that "alien" and "other" are not necessarily hostile.”

However, we should exercise caution. While it is crucial to address the negative aspects of this division, its complete dissolution can unveil equally threatening consequences as its escalation.

This distinction has been erased within Russian politics and culture, manifesting in two distinct manners:

a) The concept of "ours" has been expansively redefined in Russia. Hence, the aggressive unwillingness to see its boundaries, and therefore the boundaries of others. Not just within the "great country," or "Russian world," but extending to encompass the world as a whole. Hence, messianism, "unity," "world revolution," etc;

b) Simultaneously, the boundary between "ours" and "alien" has become increasingly blurred, to the extent that any notion of "ours" can readily transform into truly someone else's. Territory is asserted as "ours," yet often remains unexplored; people are labeled as "ours," yet frequently treated as enemies.

“Hence, a distinctive trait of Russia's historical trajectory over many centuries has been the persistent creation of the concept of domestic adversaries from people who were supposedly "ours." Stalin's terror is a classic example.”

And so we have this strange puzzle: the aggressive expansion of the “our” territory, and at the same time the instant infiltration of all this territory with the spirit of the "other.”

The boundary between "ours" and "others" is disappearing - instead, everything is turning into a large mass of "ours" that has become "others."

This is something that the supporters of the "Russian world" in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world have failed to grasp for decades: Russia is destroying them and will destroy them as mercilessly as it does "outsiders." Even though they are "its own".

Because there are no "ours" for Russia. There is only an endless ocean of the captured and tortured, which is proclaimed "ours," but in reality is immediately treated as "alien," forever alienated, forever hostile, with whom you communicate only in the language of violence.

This is so it goes.

Source

About the author. Volodymyr Yermolenko, writer, head of PEN Ukraine.

The editorial staff do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.