Lessons for Peace from Back in the USSR

[newthinking]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Lessons-for-Peace-from-Bac-by-David-Swanson-Peace_Peace_Peace-Activism_Peace-Advocacy-Activism-160603-97.html

In the early 1980s almost nobody from the United States traveled to the Soviet Union or vice versa. The Soviets wouldn't let anybody out, and good Americans were disinclined to visit the Evil Empire. But a woman in California named Sharon Tennison took the threat of nuclear war with the seriousness it deserved and still deserves. She got a group of friends together and asked the Russian consulate for permission to visit Russia, make friends, and learn.

Russia said fine. The U.S. government, in the form of the FBI and USAID, told them not to go, warned that they would not be permitted to move freely once there, and generally communicated that they, the U.S. government employees, had internalized their own propaganda. Tennison and company went anyway, had a wonderful experience, and spoke at events with slide shows upon their return, thus attracting many more people for the next trip.

Now it was Tennison's turn to brief the flabbergasted and ignorant U.S. government staff who had virtually no actual knowledge of Russia beyond what she gave them. This was back in the day when President Ronald "Is this a film or reality?" Reagan said that 20 million dead Americans would be acceptable in a war. Yet the so-called intelligence so-called community didn't know its assets from its elbows. War as a "last resort" was being considered without having considered literally any other resorts. Someone had to step in, and Sharon Tennison decided she'd try.

Those first trips took courage, to defy the U.S. government, and to operate in a Soviet Union still monitored by a nasty KGB. But the Americans went with friendship, were generally permitted to go wherever they wanted, and encountered friendship in return. They also encountered knowledge of cultural differences, the influences of history, political and social habits both admirable and lamentable. They became, in fact, a bridge between two worlds, experts on each for the other.

They expanded their work as Gorbachev came to power and the USSR opened up. They hired staff and opened offices in both countries. They sponsored and facilitated all variety of exchanges from art schools to Rotary clubs to police officers to environmentalists. They began bringing Russians to the United States as well as the reverse. They spoke all over the United States, even -- in some examples Tennison gives in her book The Power of Impossible Ideas -- converting gung-ho members of the U.S. weapons industry into volunteers and staff (in one case a man lost his job at General Dynamics as penalty for associating with them, but this freed him to more closely associate).

Tennison's organization worked on sister cities, citizen diplomacy, alcoholics anonymous, and economic development. The latter would, over the years, become increasingly central and certainly focused on privatization and Americanization in a manner that might well be criticized. But it was not U.S. citizen diplomats who created the oligarchs of the 1990s or any culture of oligarch admiration. In fact, Tennison and her philanthropists made grants to Russians dependent on their making donations to others, working to build a culture of philanthropy. Alcoholics Anonymous can also be criticized, of course, but this was an effort to assist Russians with a real problem, not to threaten them with nuclear annihilation. All of these projects built relationships that have lasted and that have influenced U.S. policy for the better.

[Nitram]

1. Oh what a sweet love-fest of intercultural communication!

Thanks for sharing. Who knew it was all just sweetness and light?

[Igel]

2. Depends on whom, exactly, you spoke with.

There were places that were off limits for Westerners. Some strictly off limits, some quietly off limits, some suggested off limits.

How strictly the off-limits rules were enforced varied over time. And if you had minders.

Who you met was often arranged. Not always. But the "not always" people knew that there were minders there. How strict the punishment would be for a transgression varied over time.

I volunteered a bit for a sisters-city visiting delegation. My Russian was severely strained when translating tomato varieties and differences in home gardening between western Oregon and Irkutsk, Siberia. The visiting choir strictly avoided politics. Except to say that they wanted peace and closer cooperation between the USSR and the US, more trade, more blah-blah. Some looked around. The minders were easy to spot. Well, I spotted them. Most of the sister-city people up to the end were sure there were no minders, it was all PR. How the Russians spoke changed when the minders were present. They seemed more cautious, more alert, for the most part. But some Russians were die-hard communists and also triggered similar reactions. They were "unofficial minders" and the younger or more liberal Russians knew that if they spoke wrong the minders would be told.

I visited the USSR late in its life, and we were supposed to stay with the group. The taxi driver we had that dropped us off was uncomfortable with where he dropped us off. No touristy anything. He didn't leave at once. He wanted to make sure I'd put us down where we wanted to go. Had to tell him to leave us alone. Then I and my parents were on foot, on bus, on elektrichka. When we compared notes with those who went with the group, the touristy tourists said the stores were full, the people friendly and happy and they all spoke English, and it was great. We saw the empty stores, people who had two years of English 20 years before and knew perhaps 'yes' or 'no', and I realized my parents looked like idiots. They smiled; nobody else did. (I had on my Russian face. Russians don't smile as much.) When commoners realized we were Americans, some were friendly and wanted to talk; some resented that we were there.

It depended on whom, exactly, we spoke with. But the fact that those on official tours had such a different experience says a lot. The fact that the choristers I interpreted for had two different personalities, depending on who was present, also says a lot.

[newthinking]

3. Way to miss the point

[Nitram]

4. Way to fail to make a valid point.

Time to remove the rose-colored glasses and look at the real world.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

5. The point was pretty clear actually.

When you pull back the curtain and let citizens from the US and Russia (or former USSR) interact freely, myths born of government sponsored fear propaganda tend to lose their effect and get replaced with mutual respect, greater understanding, admiration, and friendship--things that frighten the PTB.

A united world citizenry is the Power Elite's worst nightmare.

[Nitram]

6. The point was clear, but not based on reality.

I do admire your idealism. I wish it were based on reality. What you are suggesting is "if we are all nice, then they will all be nice back, and everybody will live happily ever after." that might work in a kindergarten class, butt it fails to take into account Putin's agenda, which seems to include putting the old USSR back together one neighbor state at a time.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

7. No, I'm afraid you missed it again Nitram.

What I will take this opportunity to suggest however, is that if the US and/or world citizenry doesn't soon somehow come together and wrest control of US/NATO foreign policy away from the insane criminals currently controlling it, and bring an end to all these mindless illegal wars of aggression and purposeful provocations, that a very lethal and determined coalition/alliance may arise who will.