Theater of one absurdity: anti-Semitism arose in the case of Berkovich and Petriychuk
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“Are we going to keep silent?”
On Tuesday, May 30, 2023, the Moscow City Court left two women under arrest – director Yevgenia Berkovich and screenwriter Svetlana Petriychuk. They are charged under Part 2 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Justification of terrorism” due to the production of “Finist Yasny Sokol”.
The one who wrote the examination, on the basis of which a criminal case was initiated, may himself fall under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Inciting ethnic hatred”. At least, it was with such an appeal to the head of the TFR, Alexander Bastrykin, that the Russian Jewish Congress addressed, which saw signs of a crime in the words of the religious scholar Roman Silantyev and asked to bring him to justice.
The performance of Berkovich and Petriychuk was staged with an educational goal and called for reconciliation, and in the words of Silantiev, experts see almost a harbinger of Jewish pogroms. But they are behind bars, not him. World turned upside down?
“Finist Yasny Sokol” is a play about the fate of Russian women who decided to marry Islamists and move in with them in Syria. The idea of the performance is to show how terrorists recruit gullible girls through social networks, to show the tragedy of their fate (someone dies, someone goes to prison for a long time). And all this so that it would never occur to anyone to follow their terrible path. It is no coincidence that the performance not only received the approval (and awards) of the theatrical community, but was also staged behind bars precisely for educational purposes.
Those behind this criminal case turned everything upside down. And the “trick” itself did not happen without the help of Roman Silantiev’s expertise. We quote the appeal to the TFR: “The Russian Jewish Congress is convinced that Roman Silantiev is broadcasting everyday prejudices that incite ethnic hatred. How such rhetoric ends was shown by the events of the 1930s and 1940s. The statements of Roman Silantiev form a negative attitude towards Jews in society, which means that his expertise in the case of Yevgenia Berkovich cannot be objective.” REC sent a letter to the UK on May 17, that is, two weeks have passed since then. The Investigative Committee is silent. But the Moscow City Court is not silent. He spoke out, but in relation to women: he recognized the arrest of both as legal, despite the speeches in their defense by well-known cultural figures (including Konstantin Raikin, Oleg Menshikov, Alexander Rosenbaum and Veniamin Smekhov). An important point is that Berkovich has two adopted daughters, one of whom is a minor.
How can something that was awarded yesterday be considered a crime today (this is about the play)? How can something that was severely suppressed the day before be considered the norm today (this is about anti-Semitic statements)? Maybe we should listen to the opinion of scientists?
“A trial was held in the “theatrical case” (as it was dubbed), says Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Personality Psychology of Moscow State University, Honored Worker of the Higher School of the Russian Federation Alexander Asmolov. – The decision to leave women behind bars is infinitely tough, as if we are talking about dangerous criminals. The court did not heed not only the voice of the lawyers, but also the letter of the Russian Jewish Congress and the Muslim Board, which severely criticized the so-called “comprehensive destructological examination.” Studies have shown that the examination is clearly xenophobic in nature. It is no coincidence that the “theatrical case” is compared with the cases of Dreyfus (the trial of a French officer, which became one of the key reasons for the emergence of Zionism. – Approx. Aut.) and Beiliss (the case on charges of ritual murder of a boy by Jews in order to “get Christian blood for making matzo”. – Approx. auth.). The tragically famous cases were symbols of the preparation of anti-Semitic pogroms. Thanks to Emile Zola’s tough speech in the Dreyfus case with the article “I accuse”, as well as Vladimir Korolenko’s appeal “To the Russian society (regarding the blood libel against the Jews)” in the Beilis case, the Black Hundred pogroms were suspended both in France and in Russia. In both cases, humanism and social justice won. It is worth remembering for those who are behind the scenes of the “theatrical business”… Thoughts about what is happening pain beats in my heart, and the wise lines of the famous German pastor are recalled: “When the Nazis came for the communists, I was silent, I’m not a communist. Then they came for the Social Democrats, I was silent, I’m not a Social Democrat. Then they came for trade unionists, I was silent, I’m not a trade union member. Then they came for the Jews, I was silent, I’m not a Jew. And then they came for me, and there was no one left to protest.”
Are we going to keep silent?
Newspaper headline:
Theater of the absurd
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