24.04.2009
April 14, 2009 (the date of publication in Russian)
Maxim Kalashnikov
POSTMODERN BARBARIANS: THE KISHINEV PROLOGUE
Europe ought to pay attention to Moldavian youth riot: outlines of European future are visible through it
NEO-VANDALS
Unreasonable and destructive youth riot in Kishinev (Chisinau), aimed against quite liberal and democratic governing party isn't actually a political event. It is a syndrome of a serious illness of postmodern society of prevailing neoliberalism. A society, which gave birth to a particular kind of people, which was two centuries ago described by Konstantin Leontyev, a great Russian philosopher, as "secondary barbarians", a sign of great decay and regress.
New barbarians appeared on the ruins of the USSR embodied in youth. But they will also appear in the West.
The appearance of the "new barbarian" of "postmodern" epoch is a bit different in the West and on the ruins of the USSR. But both types of neo-vandals appeared as the result of the destruction of mighty industrial civilizations. The triumph of mercenary spirit, adoration of "the golden calf" created an original type of youth. They aren't burdened with systematical knowledge, have chaotic-clip thinking and are absolutely uncompetitive from the point of view of technocratic epoch. This youth has neither technological knowledge nor experience like Soviet young people had, and its eastern part is deathly infected with ideas of post-Soviet ethnocracy. It is even unable to keep up complicated technical systems inherited from XX century. It can't even repeat things done by workmen and engineers of 1980s. And of course it can't even dream about creating the world of the Future. Because it's much more difficult than playing with mobile phones and sticking at the Internet.
We aren't talking about new barbarians in their Islam-fundamentalist embodiment. This is a separate topic. We're talking about the youth, which is formally regarded as a part of European nations of Christian culture.
A specific type of a "secondary barbarian" appeared on the ruins of the USSR: they are aggressively ignorant. These people have never visited young technicians clubs or DOSAAF (Voluntary Society of Assistance to the Army, the Air Force and the Navy in Soviet Union). On the one hand, these new barbarians seem to be involved in progress of high technologies (the Internet, mobile communication, video and audio technologies on subminiature electronic circuits). They can use it. But none of them can create it. That way, a "secondary barbarian" is useless both as an engineer (no required knowledge) and as a qualified worker on advanced manufactures (he can't maintain working discipline). He's unable to make scientific discoveries or to invent something. And at last he's helpless in the humanitarian sphere.
For all that, he wants to have a high salary to get access to expensive resorts and tropical seas, and to numerous consumer goods. But – what a pity! – nobody wants to hire him for that high salaries. Moreover, opportunities of quick enrichment on post-Soviet territories have gone never to return. The ruling elites have hidden into their own shells and pass power and wealth hereditably.
That's why a new vandal feels sharply, how hopeless his life is. He can't get out of poverty. So he begins to rebel, firstly because there's only darkness seen in the future, and secondly, because he simply wants to feel something extreme to raise the level of adrenalin. In general, we can say that the first example of riots of that kind were mass disorders in Moscow in 2002, when neo-barbarian's outrage was caused by the loss of Russian football team in the championship in Japan. Cars were set on fire that time, and law enforcement agencies were shocked as it seemed like everything appeared out of nowhere and was absolutely spontaneous and unpredictable.
But "secondary barbarian's" riots lead to the dead end, or even to the descending spiral of regress, as the new vandal is weak intellectually. He thinks his problems can be solved in some simple way. For example, by driving all the Russians out, or on the contrary, by killing all the non-Russians. Or by demolishing all monuments to Lenin and Soviet soldiers. Or, let's say, by sudden integrating with the EU (and NATO). As if this will immediately raise barbarian's qualification and the countries of Old Europe (which are already crying out loud because of burdening their neck with endless helping to Eastern democracies) will begin sponsoring some Moldova generously. As if they know themselves what to do with their own youth, immigrants and budget deficit.
But neo-barbarians rebel, and it is turned into a political factor. They are used as pawns in the hands of prudent self-seeking players both form the inside and outside of their native countries.
EUROPEAN MODIFICATION
European "secondary barbarians" have their own specificity. Asian and African youth, which has been committing public disorders in Paris since 2004, are among them. Yet they aren't Europeans. But there is also a white-skinned youth. These young men often join anti-globalists and ultra-nationalists (mainly local ones, who propagate the separation of Brittany from France, Scotland from the Great Britain, Lombardy from Italy, Catalonia from Spain and etc.).
Europe has also passed deindustrialization, fall in the birth rate and dangerous decrease in the level of education. When Russian teachers come back from the EU they have all reasons to feel sorry for bad knowledge of European students. Governments of the countries of the Euro zone don't know what to propose to idling youth: there aren't enough workplaces and a huge amount of money is used to provide a growing army of retirees. States stimulate sending young people to universities to postpone the moment when they will have to look for a job. And Europeans get the worst and the most unsystematic education that way. They also turn to be uncompetitive and they also have their own darkness ahead.
To correct the situation we have to industrialize Europe again, stop transferring industry to Asia, organize new scientific and technical burst. But this isn't profitable for the present capitalist elite. And the crisis worsens the situation more and more: the number of vacancies is decreasing, budget deficits are growing.
That's why Europe will also see riots of white-skinned youth. With fire and destructions. In that sense recent public disorders in Greece and Hungary are only the first in a row. It seems to us that as the Great Depression-2 will worsen, such riots will take place in Britain, Germany, Italy and France. The crisis mostly strikes the middle class. It comes to ruin and becomes stratified. And its children will unavoidably begin to rebel.
And now there are many new means to organize riots, much more than there were in 1968: mobile phones, SMS-connection, the Internet. New technologies of "flash-mobs" are worked out. And well, youth music and pop-culture already existed in 1968.
There is only one trouble: these riots make almost no sense. They can easily turn whole countries into police dictatorships or drive them back into new Dark Age.
And in this historical moment the world needs a leader-country, which could set an example of development, combining scientific and technical breakthrough with realization of the left ideas of justice and, at the same time, national traditions, with the creation of absolutely new styles of living. We do want the Great Russia to become that leader of renewal, and that's why we created the "Russian Doctrine*".
* About the Russian Doctrine see here and here; full text of the Russian Doctrine (in Russian) see here.
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