Russian president Vladimir Putin hit out at the US and the rest of Europe as major arts and culture centres cancel Russian artists. Many Russian artists, across the world of arts and culture, have been cancelled for either being state-sponsored or for their connections with Vladimir Putin.
Also Read: Russian Conductor Gergiev Suspended from Several Work Collaborations Over Ties with Putin
Putin, according to a report by news agency The Guardian, even chose to compare the situation of Russian artists to that of author JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame. “They’re now engaging in the cancel culture, even removing Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov from posters. Russian writers and books are now cancelled,” Putin was quoted as saying by news agency The Guardian.
https://youtu.be/QxHkLdQy5f0
“Recently they cancelled the children’s writer Joanne Rowling because she – the author of books that have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide – fell out of favour with fans of so-called gender freedoms,” he further added.
Putin was referring to the controversy around JK Rowling’s alleged transphobic tweets and comments. JK Rowling, however, distanced herself from Putin’s comparison, citing her protest against the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, the Putin critic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLpufG9s0QY
The question continues to arise whether the cancel culture works or not. Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov while speaking to Financial Times (FT) highlighted that Russians are inclined to only come close to their leader when they feel that they are pressed against the wall. “When pressed against the wall, the Russians only cluster more tightly around the leadership,” Melnikov was quoted as by FT.
Melnikov highlighted that Munich Philharmonic star conductor and high-profile Putin supporter Valery Gergiev was called a hero and cheered on his return to Russia.
According to the Guardian report cited above, Gergiev was also present with Putin when he made the statement comparing the ‘cancel culture’ wars as an attack on a 1000-year-old Russian culture. Putin held the event on Friday where he criticised European and American cultural centres for not hosting major Russian cultural figures.
The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra removing the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky from its programme was criticised by western scholars as well. Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet companies in the world, residency too was cancelled by the Royal Opera House.
Gergiev, dropped by his management and his concert cancelled, was with Putin on Friday, when Putin told Russians in an address that the west was waging a culture war against it. Andrei Kolesnikov, of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, told Guardian that Putin, in his televised meeting with the Russian arts community elite, tried to ‘tell Russians that they are under siege.’
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