Ella Pamfilova: `We are a highly spirited nation`Назад
Ella Pamfilova: `We are a highly spirited nation`
Ella Pamfilova: `We are a highly spirited nation`
The Russia Journal
`On the one hand, we have acquired more freedom and our relations have liberalized while on the other hand we feel humiliated because Russia is not respected in the world and has been shunted off to the sidelines. This is why the Russians are suffering from spiritual degradation and escape into the cocoon of individualism and everyday life, though we have always been a nation with a strong collectivist drive.
The Soviet era`s collectivism was impersonal as the system suppressed individuality. Now we are standing at the crossroads - we should either develop into a society of egoists and individualists or revive our inherent collectivism, however, on a principally new basis. I mean a consolidated society of free individuals each of whom is a personality with strong feeling of dignity. The second path better corresponds to Russia`s traditional values. The problem is that in the last decade the great majority of our people have suffered terrible psychological and emotional stress. Eighty percent of the population has been pushed into misery. Now we need to cheer up and learn to love and respect ourselves as a nation. During the years of reforms we have taken a lot of American advice and style and unfortunately not at all the best aspects of it - from inadequate recommendations in the sphere of economy to propaganda of lechery in the media. There is one thing, however, which we should have learned from them - their determination to succeed. Such determination is extremely important for each individual person and for society as a whole. This would be most helpful for the Russians to raise their prestige in the world. What is holding us back is cynicism, indifference and alienation from one another. Unfortunately, these traits gained momentum during the decade of reforms. Still we are a highly spirited nation. For a Russian, spiritual misery is worse than financial one. This is set very deeply in our souls. And the protest against this terrible stratification of our society is quite justifiable.
One positive result of the last decade is that Russia`s most active women have managed to assert themselves and the number of such women has increased.`
