Playing the Victim- on Russian hate speech [Timothy Snyder] (fb2) читать постранично, страница - 2
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This brings me to my second point. The term "russophobia" is a rhetorical strategy that we know from the history of imperialism.
When an empire attacks, the empire claims that it is the victim. The rhetoric that Ukrainians are somehow "russophobes" is being used by the Russian state to justify a war of aggression. The language is very important. But it is the setting in which it is used that matters most. This is the setting: the Russian invasion of Ukraine itself, the destruction of whole Ukrainian cities, the execution of Ukrainian local leaders, the forced deportation of Ukrainian children, the displacement of almost half the Ukrainian population, the destruction of hundreds of hospitals and thousands of schools, the deliberate targeting of water and heat supplies during the winter. That is the setting. That is what is actually happening.
The term "russophobia" is being used in this setting to advance the claim that the imperial power is the victim, even as the imperial power, Russia, is carrying out a war of atrocity. This is historically typical behavior. The imperial power dehumanizes the actual victim, and claims to be the victim. When the victim (in this case Ukraine) opposes being attacked, being murdered, being colonized, the empire says that wanting to be left in peace is unreasonable, an illness. This is a "phobia."
This claim that the victims are irrational, that they are "phobic," that they have a "phobia," is meant to distract from the actual experience of the victims in the real world, which is an experience, of course, of aggression and war and atrocity. The term "russophobia" is imperial strategy designed to change the subject from an actual war of aggression to the feelings of the aggressors, thereby suppressing the existence and the experience of the people who are most harmed. The imperialist says: "We are the only people here. We are the real victims. And our hurt feelings count more than other people's lives."
Now, Russia's war crimes in Ukraine can be and will be evaluated by Ukrainian law, because they take place on Ukrainian territory, and by international law. To the naked eye, we can see that there is a war of aggression, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
The application of the word "russophobia" in this setting, the claim that Ukrainians are mentally ill rather than that they are experiencing an atrocity, is colonial rhetoric. It serves as part of a larger practice of hate speech. That is why this session is important: it helps us to see Russia's genocidal hate speech. The idea that Ukrainians have a disease called "russophobia" is used as an argument to destroy them, along with the arguments that they are vermin, parasites, Satanists and so on.
Claiming to be the victim when you are in fact the aggressor is not a defense. It is actually part of the crime. Hate speech directed against Ukrainians is not part of the defense of the Russian Federation or its citizens. It is an element of the crimes that Russian citizens are committing on Ukrainian territory. In this sense, in calling this session, the Russian state has found a new way to confess to war crimes. Thank you for your attention.
(I then spoke a second time, in response to a query by the Russian representative. Again, if you wish to quote me directly, you may wish to consult the video, which is here . Since the query was about sources, I have added a few links, for convenience. They were not an element of my presentation.)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's been a pleasure to be with you and among diplomats. The Russian representative saw fit to ask me for sources, and I am very happy to oblige.
If we are concerned about sources from statements of high officials of the Russian Federation, I refer the Russian representative to the website of the President of the Russian Federation. There he will find speeches by the President of the Russian Federation denying that Ukraine exists on the grounds that Ukraine was invented by Nazis, denying that Ukraine exists on the grounds that it was invented by communists, and denying that Ukraine exists on the grounds that a viking was baptized a thousand years ago. I do not comment here on the historical validity or the logic of these arguments. I simply point out that this is a matter of public record, that these are the statements of the President of the Russian Federation. Likewise, Dmitri Medvedev, a member of the Russian Security Council, on his telegram channel, repeatedly offers the kind genocidal language that has been discussed today.
With respect to sources on Russian state television. This is very simple. I was quoting Russian state television. Russian state television is an organ of the Russian state. As the President of the Russian Federation has himself said , Russian state television represents Russian national interests. The statements made on Russian state television and other state media, therefore, are significant, not only as expressions of Russian policy, but also as a mark of genocidal motivation for the Russian population. This is true to such an extent that the presenters on Russian television themselves have worried aloud about the possibility that they might be prosecuted for war crimes. So I refer the representative of the Russian Federation to the video archives of Russia's state television channels. For those of you who don't know Russian, I refer you to the excellent work of Julia Davis. Julia Davis has assembled an archive of relevant Russian video material.
If the sources in question are about the actual Russian atrocities in Ukraine,
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