25.05.2018, Sevastopol.
Russia has been the alternative West for centuries, theater director, political scientist, and leader of the Essence of Time movement Sergey Kurginyan said on May 23 at the conference State Culture Policy is the Future of Russia, which was held as part of the 27th Zolotoy Vityaz International Film Forum, the Rossa Primavera Information Agency reports.
Discussing the issue regarding what Russia is, and what kind of an alternative it has to becoming part of Western civilization, Kurginyan stressed, “We must make it clear that Russia is the alternative West. We have been the alternative West for centuries. We are a part of the Christian world, but a special part of the Christian world, because we are Orthodox, which is Russia’s fundamental existential choice. Some are believers, some are not, but we all live in the Orthodox culture, which dramatically differs from the Western culture. This culture is absolutely different.”
Next, the political scientist spoke about the difference between Western and Russian writers. He noted that Russian authors have always been prophets. The same is true for the Russian theater, which has been a beacon for the whole world.
Referring to the example of Herzen, Kurginyan concluded that a revolutionary, liberal and Westernist type of a Russian artist, having moved to the West, immediately turned into an anti-Westernist, “because they saw something awful inside it [the West ― Rossa Primavera Information Agency].”
Ancient Rome has been a subject of admiration for Americans since the establishment of the United States. In Washington, similar to Rome, there is a Capitol Hill, where the US Senate meets. As Rome, the USA has influence over the majority of the world. The American dollar, as Roman coins long ago, is used as the means of payment in many countries. Roman law was forced on many peoples whom the Empire conquered; the USA interferes with other countries’ affairs under the guise of democracy. Russia as the spiritual successor to Byzantium, as in “Moscow is the third Rome”, is seen by the West as an alternative European civilization, which can propose its own project with a different system of values to the world.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
