CONFERENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

On March 6-8, Mykola Riabchuk, Principal Research Fellow at the Department of Political Culture and Ideologies, took part in the international conference “Revolutions of Hope: Resilience and Recovery in Ukraine” at the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Indiana). There, he presented a paper entitled “When Soft Power Becomes Hard: Debates on the ‘Canceling’ of Russian Culture in Ukraine”. In his paper, he argued that culture, regardless of the political position of its creators, either pro-government or anti-government, is a kind of national flag, an attractive symbol of an unattractive state, a means of whitewashing and ennobling a rogue regime, diverting attention from the most important feature that currently characterizes that country and that regime – the crime of military aggression and genocide.

The canceling of Russian culture during the war does not mean its complete prohibition, it only implies certain temporary restrictions on its promotion, and is not tantamount to “censorship” since there are no formal legislative bans, restrictions are based primarily on the moral reaction of cultural actors, their ability to empathize and solidarize with the people who are opposed to the brutal aggression of their fascistoid neighbor.

Mykola Riabchuk