May the 9th is more than a commemoration in Russia. It is not only the day that marked the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the return of Peace. This day also marks a decisive turning point in the history of Russia, a day that sealed a cardinal aspect of its identity : Victory over fascism.
Indeed, since we are children, we learn in school (but especially through family and the accounts of our grandparents), that our identity as Russians is directly correlated to the fact that we defeated Nazi Germany. Of course, the Americans, Canadians, British and French helped but the final blow was struck by the Red Army and it was we who destroyed more than ¾ of the German and Axis troops.
Thus, the Russians are the people who put an end to Nazi barbarism and saved the world from the abyss of fascism. We therefore celebrate this Victory every year. A Beautiful Victory which symbolizes the defeat of nationalism, regression and hatred by an adherence to the human ideals of socialism. Because no matter what one thinks of the reality of the Soviet regime (the crimes committed by Stalin such as the repressions and the Holodomor), the USSR was built on noble ideals such as Equality between peoples and individuals, Equality between men and women, the construction of a new, fairer world.
But today, this commemoration has been mascaraded. The Russia that is proud of its humanism has been crushed and suffocated. From now on, it is Russia which embodies this fascism which it believed to have overcome. Because fascism is Putin's policy.
Fascism is nostalgia for an excessively glorified past (and which in fact never existed), it is the hatred of everything that is not national, it is the belief that everyone is against his country, that the present difficulties are the result of a mass conspiracy against his Nation. Fascism is also the confusion between the people, the Nation and its leader (thus criticizing the leader is equivalent to betraying the Nation). Fascism is the reign of repression as well as the domination of lies over truth. Fascism is this ambivalence between what is and what we would like the world to be (in this case many Russians refuse to recognize the crimes committed in Ukraine because they do not want it to be true). Fascism is ultimately denial. The denial of anything that can flay the myth, including the denial of being fascist.
My heart bleeds.
One of my great-grandfathers walked to Berlin, the other one probably died in a Nazi camp. They fought to liberate the world from Nazism but above all they fought to prevent the submission of Russia to fascism. By fighting alongside their Ukrainian, Uzbek or Kazakh brothers, they showed the way for generations of Russians the way of Humanity and brotherhood between peoples.
Now fascism lives in the Kremlin and the country has fallen to what it had fought. My ancestors would not believe their eyes … And the greatest paradox is that the new fascists claim…. To fight Nazism! It doesn't matter if they say that Israel supports Nazism or that they can't find Nazis in Ukraine (just like the Americans couldn't find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq). This is the whole genius of this trickery! How to sell a fascist regime to a people who are convinced that their identity consists in the idea of fighting fascism? Pretend to fight it as well. And no one notices that the foundation of the Putin regime today is hatred of foreigners, the cult of the leader and nostalgia for a lost Empire lulled by illusions of alleged superiority of Russians over others. And once the people are asleep, you can do whatever you want, including committing the worst crimes against humanity in decades.
But we must not lose hope. If this May 9 is deeply disguised by the fascists in the Kremlin, I am sure that the Russians still remember who they really are. Already people are beginning to ask questions and to doubt the propaganda, already the Legion Freedom of Russia is acting on Russian soil to overthrow this fascist power, already a wind of Revolution is blowing in Russia. And this Revolution is the most obvious in the history of the country, because Russia cannot suffer from being governed by a fascist power.
Our generation was well educated. Our great-grandparents succeeded in passing on to us the torch of the fight of their generation. The first to denounce this power and to revolt are us, the young Russians. And we do it in the name of the Fatherland, of Freedom, of human rights but also in the name of historical anti-fascism!
And what other proof must be shown to the world that the Russian people are not fascist if the only propaganda argument that touches and convinces the Russian people is that the War in Ukraine is being waged to save the brotherly Ukrainian people from Nazis ? If the Russians knew what was really going on in Ukraine they would revolt immediately! It is of course a poor consolation when one sees the massacres in Ukraine or the fatal blow dealt to the brotherhood between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. But take my word for it when I tell you that I have no doubt that the Russian people support a “special military operation to save the Ukrainian people from the Nazis” but that they will in no way support an “invasion and massacre of our Ukrainian brothers to maintain in place a kleptocratic and fascist elite in the Kremlin”.
The great Russian people are not dead, and proofs are flowing in from all sides. From everyday acts of resistance, to expatriate Russians who help and support Ukraine to the Legion Freedom of Russia. The Revolution is fast approaching. And this is inevitable. Russia cannot be fascist. This is the message I want to leave on this May the 9th, so important in our history.
Despite the masquerade taking place in Red Square, remember: our identity is the fight against fascism wherever it is, even if it is in the Kremlin!