Moscow
Reclaiming Conquered Minds: Images & Voices of Hope in
Russia
Late on a Sunday morning in May of 2006, we settled
down into chairs in the small office of The Center for Journalism in Extreme
Situations in Moscow, Russia. We had come to Russia to engage the Russian
media communities in dialogues about the constructive use of media to
support the best possible futures. A friend had arranged for this
conversation with Oleg Panfilov, journalist and founding director of this
Center. Oleg, who was born in Tajikistan, had a bushy, graying beard and
fluorescent, orange suspenders stretched over a blue shirt. He speaks only
Russian, so the conversations took place via translation. After a few
minutes it became clear that the extreme situation the Center was addressing
was the condition of journalism in post soviet Russia:
"I am an optimist, but I feel freedom will only be seen
by my grandchildren. To make sure that my grandchildren do have the
experience of freedom, we have to work now. The new generation does not know
what is the communist party. Your president, Ronald Reagan, called the
Soviet Union 'the Empire of Evil'. It is not an Empire of Evil; it is an
Empire of Falsehood. The population of this place live mostly in the
atmosphere of falsehood.
You must understand that they have grown up under six
generations of falsehood. They heard 'we are the most peaceful country,'
while their leaders were waging war in Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and
elsewhere. They heard 'no country is a well off as we are,' when other
parts of the world were prospering and Russians were struggling.
Russia is an artificial land. It has become this from
only 200 years ago.the result of many wars and much killing. On this
territory lived many people who were conquered. These people remember this
because memories are passed from generation to generation. The people of
Russia have different languages and cultures. They had 80 years of
totalitarianism. This country never knew what was freedom compared with
Poland, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere. They need two generations to learn
freedom.
Here it is not possible to conquer despair."
Later that afternoon Alexei Simonov joined us for tea.
Simonov is the son of a famous Russian writer who became mesmerized by
Joseph Stalin and was barely spared a political career in communist Russia
by Stalin's death in 1953. Alexei, the son, started and runs the Glasnost
Defense Fund (GDF), to protect freedom of the press in Russia. Their symbol
is the turtle, because they feel Russia is crawling towards freedom of
speech. He is a blustery man - a filmmaker who gave up making films to
create the GDF:
"Among the Soviets there are contradictions everywhere
between what you say and what you believe.
My biggest hope is that there will be honest
journalists.
Glasnost is a turtle crawling to freedom of speech.
Our symbol is the turtle.
The psychology of a Russian journalist is unbelievable,
unpredictable, and catastrophic: we have an unbelievable past, an
unpredictable future and a catastrophic present."
The final meeting we had was in the office of Alexander
Gorelik, director of the UN Information Centre in Russia. When we explained
about Images & Voices of Hope, he spoke about his own experience with the
Russian media, starting with Panfilov and Siminov..
"Those two are human rights activists," he said. "They
are a type. But, Russian journalism cannot be easily understood. It goes
back to Gogol and Dostoevsky. It has to do with the Russian soul. Russian
journalists are inclined to soul searching and to pessimism. Unlike
Americans who prefer happy endings and a positive spin, a negative spin is a
knee-jerk reaction among Russian journalists."
Conquered Minds
What we came to appreciate during our time in Russia
was that over the 200 years of being conquered, many of the Russian people
had relinquished more than their physical freedom; their minds too had been
conquered. Having had so many "past futures" snatched away from them, they
had done what most would do, they had ceased to believe in the possibility
of a beautiful future. They had lost the ability to trust. They had begun
to link positive news with propaganda and negative news with authenticity.
IV of Hope, Moscow
On the day before we left Russia we held a dialogue for
65 journalists and media professionals. There were also a number of faculty
members present. They started at tables of four and then broadened those
conversations until the entire room was engaged. Each question was working
with questions about the best stories and images they had encountered in
media in Russia, their own hopes for the future of Russia, and what role
they thought they might play. At first, they were tentative, but as the
afternoon wore on, the energy and sound levels in the room began to rise.
Occasionally someone's voice would erupt above the crowd and then die back
down again. At the end of the afternoon, we asked for them to share some of
their conversations - and if possible - an image of the future they would
like to be living in Russia in 2015:
"2015 is only two presidential terms for us. Today
Russia is an Information Society. In 2015 we will be a Knowledge Society.
Many wonder how we will keep the culture pure. But if a society closes to
protect itself, it loses everything. All of us are speaking about an open
society. We want to have an open society."
"We used to have a culture of poets. Now no one quotes
poets. Now we quote economists and politicians. We are destroying the
beauty of our culture."
"In 2015 I will be 30. I will be in Russia, my
motherland. There will be trees, flowers, and no fences or dump sites."
"It smells like totalitarianism to me. Having no
fences sounds too primitive. There will always be conflicts between
governments. In 2015 we will have twice as many people as we have today.
Russia needs to take back the land we have lost.":
"Russia needs to get up again."
Two people read poems. One sung a song. And as we
brought the afternoon to a close, they were talking about how to continue
the conversation they had started about the role that those in culture and
media might play.
In reflecting on our experience in Russia, it became
clear that Russia doesn't have a monopoly on a "culture of disappointment".
It is rapidly becoming the common world culture. Societies in all parts of
the world remember better times and sense instinctively that humanity was
created for something better. The public space has become infused with
disappointment - and in some places, despair.
It is here that the opportunity for the world media
community lies: in transforming the character of the public space from
disappointment and cynicism to hope and trust in the quality of life we can
create among us.
What Might We Do Together: Images & Voices of Hope
The quality of the public space is largely the creation
of the media. While the media doesn't create the events of the world, the
media does choose what stories it deems newsworthy and what ideas merit
independent films and radio documentaries. As media influence has
ballooned, the impact of these millions of individual decisions has expanded
exponentially. Estimates about the amount of time families - and in
particular children -spend in front of their televisions and computers are
staggering: up to 30 hours a week some experts contend. That is almost as
much time as we would spend on a full time job.
More important, the media drives the public discourse.
People worldwide sitting in their kitchens, offices, and cafes talk about
the subjects raised by the media. So what are those of us in media
proposing as the significant conversations of our time? What are we
offering as the "food for thought" for our time?
The experiences we had in Russia reminded us of how
persistent the discourse of a society is. If, as Oleg Panfilov proposed, it
is not possible to conquer despair in Russia, then what kind of world can
the Russian people create for themselves? If the Russian media reinforces
the idea that their present is catastrophic then where will the Russian
people find the strength and the will to envision the kind of world they
want to live in - a world "without fences," a open society where the people
quote poets.
And it is true in the rest of the world as well. We
cannot thrive when the public space is pervaded by a culture of
disappointment or despair. Those in media have the opportunity and, some
might argue, the responsibility to invigorate a public discourse around the
openings for peace, the evidence of love, and the millions of acts of
courage and generosity that we see around us daily. We have the opportunity
to elevate the quality of the public space and catalyze conversations that
produce hope and belief in a world of kindness and peace.
Conversation among
Media professionals and journalists in Angels' House, BKWSU Centre in Moscow
Alexey Simonov, film
director, writer, journalist, President of Glasnost Defence Fund with BK
Waddy (L) and Judy Rodgers, Founding Director Images & Voices (R)
Oleg Panfilov,
journalist, founding director of the Centre for Journalism in Extreme
Situations in his office in Moscow
Letter from Mrs. Genrietta Gamaleya,
Professor at Moscow's Institute for
Broadcasting & Telecommunications.
In April of 2006 Images & Voices of Hope traveled to
Russia for a series of interviews and conversations with Russian media. One
of the most interesting was a day spent with the brilliant and dedicated
Genrietta Gamaleya, professor at Moscow's Institute for Broadcasting &
Telecommunication. At the time of our session her first year students were
at work on their first film projects. The day we spent together was touching
and uplifting. Several months later we received the following letter from
Professor Gamaleya:
I am feeling happy about having an opportunity to say a
few words about the past and the present. If I could say our meeting with
Images & Voices of Hope was full of light and might, it would be absolutely
true - especially when I sit down to write about it during this nasty grey
Moscow winter, filled with the fuss of exams and illnesses, without a single
ray of sunlight.
Our meeting was short, but full of sizzling warmth and
trustfulness of smiles and hopes.
You have filled us with hope that we have met not by
accident (not everybody, of course). Some of the children accepted at least
this understanding that even though this world is not an easy thing, it is
sustained by goodness and light. It was apparent in their very first
films. The films are shy; they don't have figurativeness. They have many
external declarations. It is as if they don't have wings, but they try to
flap their hands with hope: "What if we can fly!" They have opened their
eyes and are smiling. This means they have something to look at, to wonder
about, to watch and to reflect on in this world. This is - to grow.
Joseph Brodsky has some wonderful words on this
occasion in his "Roman Elegies": "They ripe much more light than they've
sown."
And what do we know about this mystery of sowing and
abundant harvest? Maybe the happiness is to reap it for everybody?!
Wishing you everything good and shining! Regards,
Gratitude and looking forward to meeting you again.
Genrietta Gamaleya,
January 10th, 2007
Genrietta Gamaleya, professor of Moscow's Institute for Broadcasting and
Telecommunications
One of the students
of Moscow's Institute for Broadcasting and Telecommunications Polina is
sharing her ideas about future film
moscow@bkwsu.org
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