Russians have the privilege of openly saying the most obvious and terrible things

Banning the Russian media in Europe is meant to protect freedom of speech, top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell said this week. Indeed, these days Europeans are banned from access to all media based in Russia, with the exception of those ones directly or indirectly funded by the West. Is freedom protected by banning media? Isn’t that an interesting idea? But then, “banned” and “forbidden” are the words that I was hearing in Germany more often than any other, writes Marina Gatzemeier, a Russian lady who married a German and spent several years in her husband’s country. She is a columnist for the Vzglyad (‘Look’), a respected Russian website. A Russian seems to be the freest person in the world, she says, while in Germany you have to watch your speech, and that’s something that seems to be crazy in Russia. Marina had barely escaped arrest in Germany last November, flying to Moscow at the nick of time. And all because of one letter. She was supposed to go on trial for using the letter ‘Z’ as a logo of her account on Twitter. ‘Z’, according to some of the versions, means ‘za pravdu’ – ‘for truth.’ This is the slogan widely used in the Russian public’s attempts to broadcast its opinions to the West. It is also one of many symbols of public support to the war in Ukraine; you often see that letter on the armoured cars of Russian troops.

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Germany is not anything special in that regard, for a lot of Western nations forbid various opinions and words on an appalling scale, through laws or unwritten community rules. Eastern nations, like China, have similar rules or customs of their own. Russians seem to be the impossibly bad boys and girls just because we freely say a lot of forbidden things and think nothing of it. To remember several such things I’ve broadcast in the Russian media recently; they included my words about the anti-smoking campaign as one of the ugliest crimes of the century. This campaign is based on, mildly speaking, dubious statistics and is using morally reprehensible ways of scaring people and splitting societies into smokers and non-smokers, meant to hate and fear each other. Anyway, this first-ever experience of using scare tactics and brainwashing on a global scale for obviously commercial purposes has failed, there will be no non-smoking generation, as figures are showing us the recent raise of smoking even in the nations, dominated by the multi-billion-dollar tobacco control industry. I’ve been also saying repeatedly that the same applies to the recent incongruous attempt to fight a virus pandemic with murdering of whole societies, ruining their economies and making maskers and anti-maskers fear and hate each other. And, again, the failure of that mass brainwashing is all too obvious, while destruction of social solidarity is quite visible. There is an absolute similarity here with yet another global campaign, that’s about a ‘green transition’ meant, theoretically, to do something about the climate change. I’ve often predicted that, soon, the word ‘green’ will generate universal disgust and derision, due to the same methods applied in that campaign like using fear and hatred as a tool. What unites all the mentioned and many other similar global brainwashing initiatives is the idea that you cannot argue with them for fear of being cancelled from the mainstream of human existence. There can be no debate on these matters. But in Russia I feel no discomfort about voicing my opinion on all those things, giving links to numerous facts and quotations. All that does not mean that I meet no opposition while saying all that. The government stand on them in Russia may be different, or neutral, or ambiguous. Certain TV anchors may display caution and refrain from inviting me to their shows, knowing too well what I think about this or that matter. Some publications may politely ignore my offer of starting a discussion on certain subjects. Still, others do not mind a debate, and I remain a respected member of society, suffering no attacks of cancelling culture that ravages other nations. There is one obvious exception to that rule. When the war in Ukraine started, it became almost impossible to broadcast in Russia the Ukrainian/American/Western propaganda line. Namely, that Moscow has invaded the poor helpless peaceful Ukraine just because we hate democracy; that Russia has been losing the war from the very first moment; that it is committing atrocities against civilians on weekly basis; that President Putin is sick, isolated and does not know what to do. Today, in Russia, there is a new law saying that you cannot slander the army at the times of war. It simply means that you cannot spread obvious lies, but you also cannot do it even carefully, with all the known phrases like “some sources are saying”. That law is understandable, since you are talking about human lives possibly lost at the front over somebody’s attempts of deliberate weakening of the society. Just imagine that India is at war with… but then, let’s better imagine it is not. In any case, the people who are stubbornly trying to stand on your enemies’ side, are never welcome anywhere. So, those (admittedly, few) Russians who are bent on aiding the enemy and still broadcast the above-described propaganda, became outcasts in Russia itself, but the Internet knows no borders and no real names, if you want to remain anonymous. And in any case, the TV channels and the rest of the media are discussing daily all the new and the old twists of that Ukrainian/Western imagination. So, in the end, these people have their say, but they are risking a lot. Debating any other matter, however, including critique of President Vladimir Putin, is a kind of Russian natural right. But when we get out of our national borders, we have to learn the hard way that a lot of things we think to be obvious sound most terrible outside of our enchanted circle, where freedom of speech lives on. The author is a columnist for the Russian State agency website ria.ru, as well as for other publications. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.