Picture, if you will, a place cut off from the vastness of its origins. For one crime or another -- the remnants of which the inhabitants of said place have forgotten a long time ago -- this small fragment of land has been cut off from the wider world.
They have been cut off from illumination, for the many artists and literatures of the age have deemed the citizens of this place unworthy of listening to their cadence. They have also been cut off in a practical sense, as the world over has decided that the netizens of the place do not deserve access to the bounties of the wider world. All of these might have been done in order to punish the people for carrying out an unjust crime, a crime that had been commanded by the ruling class.
But the ruling class had, before this, stocked up on everything necessary to protect themselves from this embargo, and they are weathering this storm out in their ships and their villas.
Alas, the common people suffer, and ruled under a fist made of iron, they grow wearier and more dejected. This leads them to be more susceptible to the words of their leader, to the propaganda that has been whispered into their ears. The propaganda takes so much of a grand effect that, in time, the crimes are forgotten, and the citizens of the place think of themselves as the victims and desire retribution.
And are they not?
Where was the world when someone’s child starved in their lap? Where was the world when a young, bright artist failed to capture his dreams due to the misfortune that was stamped on him as his birthright?
If you have read thus far, then these are things that you no longer need to imagine. For the same thing happened during the turn of the century, in a place called Germany shadowed by the ravages of the Great War, and the same thing is happening in a place called Russia -- a place that has been ruled under an iron fist for a long time. And while Putin and his cronies are right to be censured for their murderous campaign in the house of their neighbours, the citizens of the country simply deserve better.
Instead of retaliating in a traditional way, the rest of the world has cut Russia off both in terms of culture and economics. Film studios have postponed major releases. Musicians have pulled out from performances, the likes of which people had looked forward to for a long time. And due to the isolation of the Russian economic system, I suspect that, in the coming months, food and other essential items will become scarce and costly in Russia; and all this will achieve is not the punishment of the Russian ruling class that the West thinks it will be able to inflict, but a loss for the thousands of innocent bystanders who are only sinful in the sense that they had the ill luck of being born in Russia.
This will not halt the war in any way.
It would be foolish to think that Putin has even an iota of care for his citizens, just like Biden would be happy to sanction missile strikes, one after the other, but is too apprehensive to invest in projects such as free college or universal healthcare. Nor will this harm the ruling class of Russia, as one would be foolish to assume that calamities like this affect the haves and the have nots in the same way.
For when Bangladesh was entering into the pangs of the pandemic, the government thought that the factory owners, the people one whose "backs" the economy of this nation stands, would become penniless. But how would they, when they still had the means of sitting in mansion like homes and coming live on social media using the latest iPhones, while the people who worked in the factories spilled their blood on the streets in order to claim what was theirs by justice?
When it comes to this current war, the sanction has been well designed to cut off Russian prominence in the international market, and dampen the rise they have exhibited when it comes to the import of their oil. But as analysts have already pointed, this might not ultimately be the case. In fact, this might give rise to a second world order backed by both China and Russia, as oil is a precious resource and there are nations far from the US that live within the Chinese sphere of influence.
If this actually happens, then the sanctions are of no concern. After a brief recourse, Russia should be back up on its feet, and the people of Moscow can enjoy their penetration into the heart of culture again.
Only this will not be the case. While the consequences of economic sanctions can be fixed, the consequences of cultural sanction are far too mired in politics. We have already seen that when it comes to Israel: Artists and writers have been shutting down its inhabitants for a long time. While I personally support this, and for a country like Israel -- where you can get things through other means -- a sanction like this means nothing; for a country like Russia, gripped under a fist of iron, cultural sanctions can have long term effects.
This will especially be the case as the invasion of Ukraine was, in many instances, a reply to the aggravations of the West, so things aren’t as black and white here. People are not their governments, but in the resulting climate from these actions, would it be really hard for a strongman like Putin to declare that the artists and musicians of the West are no different from their leaders? If that happens, will it be really hard for Putin to take his people away from the universal influence and feed him propaganda that is only approved by Kremlin?
In this day and age and, especially, in a case like this, cultural sanctions are akin to the hideous book burnings that took place in Nazi Germany. And if the sanctions actually succeed in crippling Russia economically, and the people bear the brunt of this outcome, it won’t be hard for Putin to radicalize his nation and raise a great army.
I have written countless times about how abject conditions give rise to the embracing of extremist ideas by the people, and again, parallels can be drawn to Nazi Germany. And if this proves to be the case, then the third World War is closer than one would expect.
But that leaves us with the question: What should be done, then? What can the people of the world do if they cannot take part in the one action they think they are empowered to do?
The answer to that is much harder to find. For a lot of actions that could have been taken are now out of bounds, due to the aggression of the West. There should have been negotiations in place of war, but Putin seems to have thrown that under the bus as well. There have been reports that this push was necessary due to the growing neo-Nazi sentiment within Ukraine, but that is something that needs to be properly verified, and one can only do so much when the world is on fire and bullets are wheezing past one’s ear.
So, what can we do?
This seems to be a question of utmost importance, and the only thing I can say is, I don’t know. I guess all we can do is let things ride out and minimize casualties as much as we can, in terms of both the body and the soul. And what the West can do to realize that is the normal people of Russia do not suffer the consequence of a war which is not their own. Target banks, but do so in a way that individuals can still feed their children. Don’t play for the oligarchs, but take your message of peace to the citizens of the streets. Design economic sanctions, but do so in a way that ordinary folks do not know the harshness of the Russian winter.
I know I am being idealistic, for the heads of the states do not want to see each other’s faces, and there is such an us versus them mentality that any help to the people of Russia will be seen as an offense to the people of Ukraine. But even then, justice has to prevail. Ordinary folks need not suffer, no matter which territory they inhabit. For the winds of Russia are harsh, and it doesn’t take them long to get under one’s skin.
And if that happens -- God forbid it so -- then the us versus them mentality between nations will soon transpire into the citizens of the nations.
And then, and only then, will the undoing of the world truly begin.
Nafis Shahriar is an apprentice sub-editor at Dhaka Tribune.
