I live in Tel Aviv Viktor Vahštainin Missile debris fell near the house in January. It was a tangible reminder of the war raging in the Gaza Strip.
The stamp is again reminiscent of another war in Europe: Vahštain is considered a foreign agent in Russia.
Vahštain, a researcher in theoretical sociology, worked in Russia as the director of a sociological department funded by the Oxford Foundation and as the dean of the British non-governmental Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES).
In late 2021, shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia declared Vahštain’s workplaces as undesirable organizations. Principal of MSSES Sergey Zuev was arrested on suspicion of fraud.
– The authorities pressured me to make statements against Zuev and my other colleagues. I decided not to testify against my colleagues and committed a crime.
The researcher left Russia on the same day that the police searched his apartment.
– In hindsight, you can say that the decision was right.
Vahštain toured eight European countries in four months. After all, he acquired Israeli citizenship and settled in Tel Aviv. Vahštain is currently working in Israel. He wants to establish a network of researchers in which experts who have fled Russia would work.
In what kind of situation do you answer this call?
– I’m in Tel Aviv. The situation is difficult. We live in the midst of two great wars. In addition to the Russian attack, there is also a war in Gaza, which has been going on for more than a hundred days.
Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. What kind of feelings and thoughts did it evoke?
– When Russia attacked Ukraine, I no longer harbored any illusions that things would be alright in Russia. I remember the general mood on the day of the attack. In addition to the shock, there seemed to be a strong collective sympathy for the actions of the administration among the Russians.
Was shame the reason why hundreds of thousands of educated Russians went abroad?
– Collective responsibility forced thousands of Russians to look at their lives in a new light. Among the graduates were both young achievers and experts who had acquired an established position. Especially for middle-aged people, going abroad meant losing the status they had earned in Russia, even for good.
– Still, thousands of people left as a result of the Russian attack. The Russians experienced a so-called absolute event, that is, an event for which there is no rational explanation.
The Russians were not asked if they wanted to invade Ukraine. Why was shame the dominant emotion of Russians?
– Many realized that they carry the passport of a country that aggressively attacks a sovereign state and attacks civilians without any justification. For many it was too much. People who had ideas about good and evil had to throw their beliefs into the scrap heap.
How is Russian science doing during the war?
– There is no room for reliable research in Russia’s current political reality.
– The deterioration of the Russian research community started already at the end of 2013, just before the annexation of Crimea, when the Kremlin started systematic persecutions. The atmosphere of society changed, and it was reflected in the researchers. A culture of hazing began to develop in universities. People’s political views began to have more weight than professional competence. University researchers started to be fired because of Facebook updates.
Do Western journalists and researchers draw too hasty conclusions about Russia’s development based on unreliable data, such as polls?
– It is understandable that Western researchers, journalists and politicians sincerely want to understand what is happening in Russia. However, they repeatedly come across the fact that the people in power in Russia do not follow the principles of transparency. The situation can be compared to trying to understand what is happening inside the television by looking at the television screen.
– Finland’s neighbor has a giant black box, and no one knows what’s going on inside it.
If journalists cannot trust opinion polls, and reliable scientific information about society is not available, how can you understand the events in Russia?
– Interviews, ethnographic research and studying social media conversations can help a little to understand Russia.
– Journalists want to know when the war will end. The answer is sought in the economic outlook, the number of Russian trips abroad, even the prices of eggs, but the conclusions drawn from such matters often do not tell the whole truth. I’ve been seriously asked if the penis-shaped snowmen refer to Russians’ dissatisfaction with those in power.
You were in Tel Aviv when the extremist organization Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. As a result of the Hamas attack, Israel began a ground operation in Gaza. Was the Hamas attack an absolute event for the Israelis like the Russian attack on Ukraine?
– Yes, and that’s where the similarities between these two events end. On October 7, Israelis experienced an unimaginable event that led to the emergence of extraordinary solidarity.
– After the attack by Hamas, people returned to Israel from as far as the United States to volunteer to fight against Hamas. People organized themselves to help each other more effectively than the state. The Israelis did not experience collective shame like the Russians. There was a kind of collective outrage in Israel.
More than 25,000 Palestinians have already died in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza. Is the murder of children and women a collective rage, shouldn’t the murder of Palestinian civilians rather create a collective shame in Israelis?
– Citizens’ trust in the Israeli administration was not necessarily very high during the Hamas attack, and the administration still does not enjoy trust. However, Israel has some mechanism of representative democracy, and people’s social networks make up a community, which was reinforced by the Hamas attack. The decisions of the administration and the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza represent the wishes and choices of the citizens, therefore the Israelis do not feel shame, unlike the Russians.
Can an ordinary western person understand war and its horrors?
– The average European reads and hears about wars constantly, but never comes into contact with them. The media always reports on wars, but through the news Western people are not able to get a grip on war. Even if a person signs up as a peacekeeper and goes to a crisis area, he may not see anything but the echoes of war even then. One who has not experienced war simply cannot understand war.
Will war become more commonplace in the life of its experiencer and observer?
– The human mind works in such a way that everyday life and routines take over even in extreme conditions. It’s called routinization and it refers to the mind’s ability to restore balance to life.
– For example, Hamas has fired 13,000 rockets at Israel in three months. The iron dome has blocked the majority of rockets. I woke up to the war in Gaza again when missile debris fell near my home last week.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has continued for almost two years. How has the worldview of Russians changed during this time?
– By following social media, you can see how the way of speaking about the Russian attack has changed in two years. Shock and disapproval have moved to accepting the situation and even justifying the war.
– In social media right now, there is a lot of discussion that the continuation of the war is justified by its duration. Many debaters who have declared themselves opponents of the war see the war as still unpleasant, but lean towards the continuation of the war only because Russia has spent enormous resources on the war.