Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com
The Bubbas
Karamazov
This is the beauty of a free and open society,
that is to say, there is no place for government censorship of the arts.
-Robert
Hanna, City Manager, Abilene, Texas
When Russian bombs began falling on Ukraine some of the
school curricula interrupted would have included Russian authors, censored not by
the Ukrainian government but by Russian bombers.
State censorship has always been a feature of Russian governments.
The Czars, the Soviets, and now the Kleptocrats feel that most people are
nothing more than economic functions whose only purpose is to work and pay
taxes. Papa needs a bigger yacht, you know. If the said economic functions read
books and poetry and newspapers they might start getting ideas, and ideas are
dangerous.
One of the ironies of Dobby-the-House-Elf’s war is that
while Russian art, music, and literature are not censored in Ukraine they are
more and more censored in the West, that is, in Europe and the Americas.
An Italian university in Milano / Milan cancelled a
lecture series on Dostoyevsky because, well, he’s a Russian. A dead Russian,
but still a Russian. The city government of Firenze / Florence has received
numerous demands that the statue of Dostoyevsky installed in the city only a
few months ago be removed. So far the mayor, Dario Nardella, is standing firm
in the matter.
Canada – and this is a surprise – has also succumbed to the
Aunt Pittypat vapors. Pianist Alexander Malofeev, 20, has been dropped from his
three engagements with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. The Vancouver Recital
Society, too, weaseled out on an appearance by Malofeev.
So much for that “the true north strong and free” thing,
eh.
England has banished the Bolshoi Ballet from its summer
season.
Ireland has canceled Swan Lake.
But surely the U.S.A. stands tall against censorship,
right? Nope. The Metropolitan Opera in New York has dropped soprano Anna
Netrebko like a hot bowl of borscht. Who would have thought that Puccini and Verdi
were a menace to truth, justice, and the American way?
However, there is a bright, shining star of defiance, and
that is the Lone Star State. You know,
Texas, where all those anti-cultural rednecks, farmers, and oilmen (sniff) live
and work.
A private enterprise arts group, The Russian Ballet Theatre,
schedules frequent visits throughout the U.S.A., including McAllen, Beaumont,
and Abilene. That “Russian” in the name has caused a problem for some.
The city manager of Abilene, Robert Hanna, though, is a
stand-up American who said,
We encourage those who may not wish to attend
the March 20th performance of Swan Lake by the Russian Ballet Theatre at the
Abilene Convention Center to not attend. Those that wish to attend, should be
free to do so. This is the beauty of a free and open society, that is to say,
there is no place for government censorship of the arts.
I’d like to think that he then fired a cannon shot from
the walls, but he probably didn’t.
Dobby-the-House-Elf is choking civilization in Russia and
trying to do so in Ukraine. In Russia an individual can be arrested for calling
the war a war, for carrying a blank sign, for using a wrong word, and for suggesting
the mass-murder of thousands of people might not reflect the ideas of Pushkin,
Dostoyevsky, Ahkmatova, Solzhenitsyn, Tsvetaeva (no, I can’t pronounce that,
but she was one of many Russian writers canceled by mysterious deaths), Tolstoy,
and other disharmonious elements.
In Russia, even Swan Lake has become anathema to
Dobby, for when television and radio stations are shut down by the government
the broadcasters play Tchaikovsky as their last act before the plug is pulled
and the security services push the staff out into the streets (if they’re
lucky).
Censorship is practiced by tyrannies, not by free
nations. Perhaps folks in Milan, London, Dublin, Montreal, Vancouver, New York,
and other cities where petty tyrants tell them what books and shows they may or
may not read should see how little Abilene, Texas defends the freedom of the
arts.
Milan
censors Dostoyevsky’s study and in Florence, they want to unbolt his statue –
The Observatorial
City of Abilene says anyone against Russian Ballet Theatre
performance should ‘not attend' (msn.com)
A Russian pianist's shows are canceled, even though he
condemns the war in Ukraine : NPR
Met Opera drops Anna Netrebko, the star soprano tied to
Vladimir Putin : Deceptive Cadence : NPR
Don’t wage war against Russian scholars | The College Fix
The show can’t go on: Russian arts cancelled worldwide |
Russia | The Guardian
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