Is “Good Russians” an oxymoron?

An oxymoron is a stylistic figure – a combination of words with the opposite meaning, like “hot ice”, for example.

Is there such a phenomenon in nature as Russians worthy of respect? The author deliberately does not use the expression “good Russians” because of its ambiguity. But Russians who openly or secretly speak out for a change of power in Russia and cessation of aggression against Ukraine? Do they exist and can they be evaluated positively? Of course they exist! No one will tell their exact number, because if someone officially counts them, then only in order to repress. To repress those who are dangerous, and protect themselves from such a subversive character. Reports of arrests, abductions, trials, and executions of such people appear almost daily on our Telegram channel. Of people going against the current!

Residents of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, the North Caucasian republics of the Russian Federation, representatives of other indigenous peoples of Russia similarly find the courage to express protest and convey to others the thoughts about the error of the direction chosen by the authorities to nowhere. Even in the current conditions, when people get imprisoned for savagely long terms simply for words of disagreement, for an alternative opinion expressed aloud, indigenous peoples still give birth to fighters and courageous spokesmen of the truth, for whom the lie of others is unbearable, and their own lie is absolutely unacceptable.

Political convictions and preferences of these individuals can be different. Some people are brought to the camp of dissidents by religion, others are pushed by pain for the destroyed ecology, others come because of humiliation and resentment as a result of a conflict with a soulless and cruel administrative and power machine. There are fighters who yesterday even did not think about politics or protests, who were engaged in their successful business, but were forced to become dissidents after their business was “squeezed out” in a robbery way. There are some people with anarchic views, formed on the basis of emotions, without a clear worldview among them… But, in general, there are such “dissenters”, they can always be found nearby, among your friends, acquaintances, neighbors. And our common task is to try to unite forces, create synergy and be ready to act together in defense of healthy political movements, support manifestations of political independence locally, and prevent a possible transition of power without the participation of the best representatives of the people and on the basis of democratic principles. 

I really want to come to the moment of radical changes as soon as possible, but… you listen to the answers of Russians to questions about war and peace, about the future of the country, asked by correspondents on the streets of million-plus cities to the average passers-by – and you become very sad…  For Russian society to get to catharsis is similar to walking to the Moon! “We are the best, we will defeat everyone, all are goats, cheers, go ahead!” Well, that means they have not paid the full price yet, that means they have not understood yet.

Fascism and Nazism were taken out and eradicated during decades out of citizens of totalitarian countries after WWII, and we do not even know if the time will come for such processes here. It is clear that such processes take place ex post facto, when the former regime has already collapsed.

Our Russian official political religion with faith in the One King, in the chosenness of Russia (and, as a result of this, in its infallibility and permissiveness) is still unshakable. It accustoms Russians in general, and Russian people in particular, to the fact that “everything is allowed for them.” That the goal of preserving Mother Russia in its current form justifies any means to achieve it.

Here is what Alexander Dryuke, an American veteran of the war in Iraq, a volunteer of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, survivor of Russian captivity with its torture, abuse and humiliation says, “… they have a very, very cruel violent culture. And this is not just disrespect for human life or disregard for human life. This is open malice towards human life. And therefore, the cruelty that we saw, that the Russians committed, cannot be compared with the bad things that the insurgents did in Iraq.”

In the conditions of total Russian cruelty – both indifference to the suffering of an individual person in everyday life, and soullessness to the interests of a small person in politics – it is very important and necessary to find and support “worthy Russians” in public life. Even now they find the strength to be honest and courageous, who, if not them, to rely on when creating a new world order in our tomorrow’s republics?