by Anastasia (Fatima) Ezhova*
During these dramatic days, when a significant part of the world celebrates the New Year, while the enemies of the Islamic Republic try to use provocative methods hoping to destroy the Islamic order, Iran marks the anniversary of Imam Khomeini’s (ra) message to Mikhail Gorbachev. In that message Imam tried to warn the Soviet president against following the destructive path of Western liberal capitalism.
The late Soviet elite didn’t adhere to Imam’s admonitions, rather they made everything vice versa. The pro-Western path chosen after the collapse of the USSR turned out to be catastrophic for Russia and many of neighboring ex-Soviet republics. It’s only recently when President Putin began to lead independent foreign policies opposing many of U.S.' transgressions, and these steps have been hailed by the majority of the Russian population, as they felt that Russia regains its true sovereignty and dignity on an international level. As for Yeltsin’s time, most of us suffered from the innate feeling of losing our own country, our independence, our national wealth, and all this because the authorities of that time tried to make us a resource colony and an affix to US and Israeli politics and interests.
The view that the Soviet order was totally atheistic, in a true Marxist sense of the word, is widely spread and is accepted by default. Yes, the official state ideology was atheistic, and religious practices were either persecuted or at least not encouraged on different stages of Soviet era’s history. But, at the same time, the Russian revolution and Russian Communism turned out to be a complicated and ambivalent phenomenon, born by a mix of Marxist ideas and the worldview of Russian Christian trends that formed an opposition to an official Russian Orthodox Church. While the latter supported monarchy and the Tsar, such Christian confessions as Old Believers backed the October revolution. Thus, by this way of being officially atheistic, Russian communism in fact adopted many elements of non-semiofficial Christian religious mindset, be it the cult of martyrs in the Soviet art (even similar to a Shia one) or ethical principles of Communist’s Moral Code, purely religious in its origins.
But soon an ordinary Soviet citizen brought up in an atheistic setting would lose a sense of all these religiously-rooted matters, as there is no point in sacrificing yourself for some kind of bright future filled with justice (it’s a Shia and Old Believers’ concept, by the way!), if there is no God, no hereafter, and you will be simply fed to worms after your death. In this case, it’s more logical to follow a Western liberal lifestyle and adopt the values of Western liberalism, such as consumerism and enrichment without any attention to ethics, justice or morality. Your life is one and only – so you should take everything from it, following the principles of social Darwinism and ethical relativism. The elements of Russian communism came into contradiction with each other, thus the second approach triumphed. And this was the approach that Imam Khomeini (ra) was exactly warning against.
The transformations made in the 90-s weren’t the fruit of anti-Communists who hid deeply underground and managed to overthrow the Communist rule. Rather, they were made by the Communist party elite itself – simply, this elite rebranded itself into pro-Western liberals who totally submitted the political agenda of our country to US and Israeli interests. Much of the public's national property, created by generations of common people for common people themselves, was appropriated by the new wealthy, so that 70% of national wealth became a possession of 1% of the population, and many of those appropriators owned Israeli citizenship or were linked to the illegal Zionist entity. Of course, their Western partners also benefited from the stolen Russian wealth. The economic reforms of 1992 led to mass impoverishment, and there is evidence that Russian authorities of that time followed CIA instructions and the admonishments of consultants linked to Mossad. The system of education, medical treatment, national defense was being eroded by following Western precepts. Russian TV began to promote corruption, including prostitution and impudent pop-clips. All of this resembled what we can read in historical accounts of Shah’s epoch in Iran.
Pursuing the Western path turned into a real tragedy for Russia. Years were needed to pull through those calamities, and many of them haven’t been overcome yet.
It’s quite natural that Gorbachev, a person with totally different values and life objectives, very far from spiritual and religious notions, ignored the message of the Imam (ra). It was published only by Alexander Prokhanov, a famous Russian novelist, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Zavtra” (“Tomorrow”). In the 90-s that newspaper became a foothold for anti-Yeltsin opposition protesting against the pro-American path. Mr. Prokhanov even managed to unite ex-mortal foes, namely Orthdox monarchists and pro-Soviet communists, who opposed the domination of US and Israeli lobby in our country. In 1993, the rallies of these people were cruelly suppressed by tanks, and about 1,500 of them were killed. There are also some reports that Israeli elite forces helped to fire on the protestors. USA and the West didn’t condemn the crime at all, they didn’t even notice it. By the way, Mr. Propkanov and the circles close to him form a very important segment of opinion-makers who have been creating a positive attitude towards the Islamic Republic of Iran up till now. Furthermore, he is known for supporting the Palestinian Resistance and long-termed friendships with HAMAS leaders. Mr. Prokhanov and his newspaper team of experts and friends support the current foreign policies of President Putin (namely in Syria), and they support any steps aimed at defending Russian sovereignty and justice on an international level.
Soviet and Russian experience should be studied by those who are charmed by Western liberalism and lifestyle, supposing that it can grant them a free and a beautiful life full of wealth and pleasures. But, in fact, following this path doesn’t lead to anything but true destruction of independent states, appropriation of natural resources by foreigners, the dramatic impoverishment of the majority and tremendous enrichment of the minority, cultural and ethical degradation and total loss of one’s sovereignty. This is hardly what people would be fond of, and thus the message of Imam Khomeini doesn’t lose its universal meaning, addressed to all deep thinking and freedom loving people of the world, interested in not repeating Russia's drastic mistakes.
*Anastasia (Fatima) Ezhova is a Russian political analyst, writer and journalist. She was born in 1983. After a long journey, Ms. Ezhova converted to Islam in 1999. She graduated from Moscow State University (faculty of philosophy) in 2005. Ezhova is also the editor-in-chief of "The Axis of Resistance" website (www.mihwar.ru) and a member of an editorial board of "Musulmanka" Islamic female magazine.
The views, opinions and positions expressed on Op-Ed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Khamenei.ir.
Comment