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24.08.07
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Accentuating The Positive
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Comment by Georgy Bovt
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Kremlin Tries a New Tactic
Much has been written recently about the amount of money that the Nashi movement spent on its three week “sit-in” at Seliger Lake. The evaluations, for the most part, concluded that clearly a lot of money had been spent, and that this should be embarrassing. The Nashi activists were visited by many important newsmakers, including President Vladimir Putin, who sat with them in a grassy glade. Russian air force fighters put on a display in the skies overhead. It seems like the aim of the organizers was to inspire the movement’s pro-Kremlin youngsters with a faith not only in themselves and in their personal future, but also in the future of their country.
Certain critics of the summer camp pointed out the negative aspects in the program for the Nashi activists: there was a great deal of criticism of the United States and the West in general and, for good measure, pro-Western Russian liberals who are allegedly, hatching plans to carry out a color revolution in Russia. Indeed, much of the “education” focused on this criticism rather than attempting to find positive aspects of Russian life that could be supported and developed through the use of all this youthful enthusiasm and energy.
After the Nashi camp, probably the next most important propaganda event of the summer was the expedition to the North Pole and the planting of the Russian flag on the sea bed at a depth of over 4 kilometers. Pride in the Russian polar explorers who carried out a highly complex technical experiment was mixed with a realization that it had all been done in a purposefully theatrical and affected manner with two main goals: to strengthen feelings of pride and patriotism among Russians and to attempt to solidify our claims to the Arctic shelf at the expense of other the countries that border the Arctic region, including Canada and the United States.
Throughout the summer, there has also been a constant flow of news aimed at developing patriotic fervor among television viewers. For example, the S-400 ABM systems became operational. In their reports on the issue, newscasters never failed to stress that the system is far more advanced than any other military system and is capable of extinguishing any enemy strike. The military-defense theme has appeared with increasing frequency this summer, and First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov is always prominently featured against the backdrop of new military technology and panoramic shots of military exercises. Obviously this will be the dominant motif in his election campaign. Ivanov has also taken every possible opportunity to stress the need to use Russian technology everywhere possible instead of Western imports.
Although he is focusing on more peaceful endeavors, the other First Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, has also been also building his campaign propaganda around the “Russia versus the West” theme.
While it is already clear that this will be the main ideological tangent in the unfolding election campaign, at the same time, it’s becoming evident that this line has recently being undergoing a noticeable evolution. Instead of focusing first on why the West is bad, the propaganda always begins with why Russia is good. The best example of this new construction of the propaganda has been the news surrounding the 2014 Sochi Olympics. They are being touted as the prototype of a new Russian dream, aimed at Russians themselves. Even in the news of the polar expedition, the reports focused first on the bravery of the explorers taking part in this striking adventure and saved the negative comments about the other Arctic nations for the end.
It seems that the Kremlin’s ideologists have decided to break the anti-Western propaganda down into doses that will be doled out in the minimum amounts required for the successful running of a patriotic – if not chauvinistic - election campaign. Even the scandal over Lugovoi and the Livinenko affair, which has soured Russia’s relations with the UK seems to have been shut down before things reached the level of hysteria. Although that’s not to say that the pressure won’t be turned up again.
The problem with playing Russia off against the West, is that even if Russia’s positives are emphasized instead of the West’s negatives, is that it’s fairly difficult to play the anti-Western card “just a little.” More importantly, it’s a risky game. The voters may miss all the planned subtleties and then the genie of chauvinism may escape from the bottle and elect someone less nuanced than the frontrunners. Additionally, the West may also fail to appreciate these subtleties, which could lead to more serious problems. |
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