The Nobel Prize for Alexievich, or end of dreams about Russian Reich


It’s hard not to appreciate the agility of the Royal Swedish Academy, which, by presenting Alexievich with the award, exhibited a high-brow trolling… but not of Lukashenka – it was primarily a dig at Putin.

The “Russian world” has already simmered with indignation, claiming the award to be “politicized.” Among the critics was an author and champion of the Belarusian-Russian union Andrei Gerashchenko, who is seeking to establish a “non-politicized” “Lomonosov Prize.”

Even if this year or in recent years the Nobel Prize award had a political bias, we cannot accuse the Royal Academy in one-sidedness. When George W. Bush sent American troops to Iraq, the Nobel prize was awarded to Gerald Pinter, who openly called the US leader a mass murderer. In short, there is no single trace of the double standards, the use of which the Russian elite blames on the whole world.

As to Alexievich, the Swedish award clearly hits the mark of the Russian imperialism.

The fact that there is a writer living in Belarus and writing in Russian who does not want Russia that is “rising from its knees” to defended her before anyone can break patterns of even the most stubborn Russian imperialists.

Some will now have to realize that there are millions of Russian-speakers living in the post-Soviet space, who are not sharing the views of the modern Russia.

The award for Alexievich is a symbol of the collapse of Putin’s dream of the Russian Reich, which was to become a shelter for all Russian speakers. Comparison with the German Reich is not accidental here. After all, as we all know, those were also the dreams of the German Fuhrer, who almost managed to gather all the German speakers in one country, but it ended in tragedy for him and for the whole of Germany. In his time this idea was also used by Slobodan Milošević, but he got so busy protecting Serbs in Croatia that in the end the majority had to leave the place, and Milošević made his last breath in prison walls.

Russian language is not a tool of imperialism. The Russian word can have the wings of freedom. The Russian word inspired freedom and truth not only to Alexievich. The Russian-language song “Light Warriors” by Lyapis Trubetskoy became the anthem of the Ukrainian Maidan. And such examples are endless.

Let us not forget what Alexievich writes about. Her best books “Zinky Boys” and “Voices from Chernobyl” are a real memento for those who sit in the Kremlin – especially now. The war in Afghanistan, too, began a “limited contingent” entering the country and ended in shameful flight, with thousands killed in vain, not to mention the economic consequences of this war. Today, Russia has all the chances to get bogged down in Syria, as it did in Afghanistan. The way the Soviet authorities concealed the truth about the Chernobyl disaster, ignoring human lives, this mechanism of big deceit reminds of how Russia came to Ukraine today, starting against it a quiet, undeclared war.

Russian soldiers get killed during the “exercises” near the Ukrainian border, and only zinc coffins return home in secrecy. History repeats itself.

In this context, Alexievich is dangerous for Putin. There will come a day when home from Donbas will start returning cripples and people who knew that they were pawns in a game of Russian politicians but became cheated and worthless. And when they start to tell the truth, Alexievich will easily gather enough material for a new book, which will be read by the entire world.

Maksim Chyhunka, belsat.eu

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