A „way of
living on the margins of the state’s political and legal universe“ (Yurchak
731) – an idea that is matters not only in terms of censorship by providing psychological
relief when detaching from daily oppression and thereby helping to endure
ideological repression. The idea of a living form beyond political and
juridical lines – if possible - could be seen as a possibility to overcome not
only censorship but any decision that impacts the individual’s freedom.
As
described by Alexei Yurchak in “Suspending the Political: Late Soviet Artistic
Experiments on the Margins of the State”, the митькы (eng.mit’ki)
present themselves as an a-political group with an “actively lived aspiration
to nothing” (author interview qt. in Yurchak) detaching itself from common
men-made dichotomies and “preoccupations with career, success, and official
social status” (717) thereby reducing its living to the very basic needs. According
the author, underground groups generate just because of their a-political behavior
crucial political effects. However, Yurchak does not analyse whether, at all,
it is possible to be fully a-politic. Taking mit’ki as an example, one needs to
be aware that their detached living form is still limited by ideological and political
barriers. Their life in seclusion is only possible because they fit – to a certain extent – into the system that the
try to reject. When imagining for instance a similar underground group in the
times of Nazi Germany, it becomes evident that members with Jewish ancestry would
have sooner or later faced the current political repressions at that time
regardless their detachment from political and common concerns. Furthermore,
does not the “aspiration to nothing” (722) in itself present a goal that drives its members? Or, to put
it differently, is it not just another form of ideology that motivates the mit’ki
to reject all common practices and preoccupations? The example of a Russian
passenger on a boat who fails to rescue a woman by immediately drowning raises
a similar question. According to Yurchak, mit’ki do not see the Russian’s unconcerned
behavior and drowning as failure but success since his action manifests the
artificiality of dichotomies. However, staying inactive and rejecting the
attempt to rescue the drowning woman could similarly demonstrate a rejection of
dichotomies. It must be the active
demonstration of his perception on society that motivates the Russian to take
action. Otherwise, he would probably not have reacted at all. Doing so,
however, implies a certain intention and shows an active engagement, thus
contradicting the characterization of not “engaging that world explicitly”
(719).
In
conclusion, Yurchak’s description of the mit’ki fails to outline two
contradictions when discussing the underground group in a political contexts.
Neither does he analyse whether it is actually possible to be entirely
a-political nor does he draw on motivations, others than ideology that drive mit’ki.
Bibliography:
Yurchak, Alexei. "Suspending the Political: Late Soviet Artistic Experiments on the Margins of the State" Poetics Today 29:4. (2008) p. 713 - 733. Print.
The idea that the mit’ki are limited by ideological and political barriers, would suggest they, while attempting to escape society’s norms are still constrained by them. I find this argument compelling considering the concept of ‘new’ censorship, where censorship is and encompasses all action. Certainly their dismissal of ideology can be seen as an ideology, yet the term ideology may prove too forceful for this description. It may not be an ideology in and of itself but it is certainly a philosophical perspective, even if it is not intended to be.
ReplyDeleteMoreover considering the a-political, I would agree this seems rather an unattainable end, especially considering censorship is, even the rejection of politics is defined by the current political discourse / paradigm. This mit’ki in this context seem comparable to nihilists, Ivan Turgenev describes such characters is his novel Fathers and Sons (interestingly also young intellectual Russians). To be a nihilist is to reject everything, whether political, scientific, social etc. This is similar to the mit’ki’ rejection of society, yet in rejecting the political both are inherently political acts.
Müller, Beate. „Censorship and Cultural Regulation: Mapping the Territory.“ Critical Studies. Censorship and Cultural Regulation in the Modern Age. Ed. By Beate Müller. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2004, 1-31.
Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and sons. Penguin, 1975.