収束ゾーンでのライフ: Life in the Convergence Zone

What’s interesting about this article in Meduza on what Russia is about to start teaching – what really pokes at my brain about it – is that this is…

How do I explain this?

This is Russia teaching something I’m going to call highly evocative of literal fascist civilisational theory from back when fascism bothered to have theory.

They’re going with a mildly updated version of the old Nazi concept of racially-based civilisational cores mapped (kinda sorta) to continents, where one dominant “race” rules their continent (or more here, really, sphere of influence) with an iron fist, subjugating everyone else and everyone who deviates.

(You’ll note there are still seven areas in this new mapping even if they are not continental. Fash and numerology, what can I say?)

But yeah, it really is some old 1920s Fash horseshit. Which shouldn’t be surprising, I mean, Putin’s main advisors are all authoritarian and some of them literally call themselves fascist, and one in particular has written extensively on how the only thing wrong with German fascism under the Nazis was that Germans did it, and not Russians.

The spheres they picked are somewhat interesting, partly for who is included as a ruling civilisation. Russia heads of the list, of course, with China, The Evil Decadent West (naturally), the Arabic world, India – but also their friend Iran and their own Far East, that last being the north Asian territories that the Russian Empire colonised in the 18th and 19th centuries. For a long time, those regions had a fair degree of autonomy, and while I don’t know what it’s like these days, it’s still interesting seeing that paid a rather meaningful degree of… dare I say respect? Perhaps. Perhaps respect. I don’t know enough about Russian politics to say.

But what’s even more interesting is who is not included in any form. I suppose Latin America might be thrown in with the Evil Decadent West, what with being heavily Catholic. Still, that has to sting a bit in, oh, places like Cuba.

I would even more like to hope that their allies in sub-Saharan Africa will note this list does not include them at all. And good luck explaining that.

I would like to hope that not being seen as a civilisation might… be noted. Because, well. The people who have formed this programme have spent a good amount of time on it, and they’re being very, very clear about what they think, and even more, what they want the next few generations of the “Russian World” to think.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.