Last Wednesday, Jonathan and I attended Mikhail Gorbachev’s talk at Børsen Executive Club. A week later, I’m still thinking about the former Russian president’s appearance so I thought I’d share the most lasting impressions.
I’ll be honest: I haven’t followed Gorbachev’s career since I left Moscow at the age of ten. When I think of him today, first I image the Russian nesting dolls depicting his face, then his current modelling stint for Louis Vuitton luggage. Not very political – so I was eager to learn where he stands these days. Is his heart in Russia or is he an expat fighting independently for his cause?
Last week’s event was enlightening to say the least. Not to mention surreal: Gorbachev’s distinctive intonation brought me back twenty years, to the Soviet television set where he tirelessly promoted Perestroika and glasnost’.
Gorbachev’s Børsen speech focused on environmental issues – particularly water. He called for ”global glasnost’’” – the only force that can help us overcome the environmental dangers our planet faces. The speech was informative and inspiring – and soon forgotten. As you can imagine, the questions and answers session following the speech took a u-turn towards politics.
And that’s where the fun began. Gorbachev spoke in Russian with a live translation in English. And boy did his advisor and interpreter of 20 years provide value-added service on the stage. Gorbachev flared up on several occasions, seemingly frustrated by naive Western questions about Russia’s political agenda. The translator toned it all down, taking his time to find the right words to – in my opinion – significantly de-politicize the dialogue.
The scene made it clear that Gorbachev has great interest in defending Russia. Not just because he used “we” on several occasions when speaking of his motherland. When Russia’s motives were questioned, he said the country would, as always, deliver on its promises to the world. Further questioning ruffled his feathers: the basic gist of one of his replies was “If you ask questions like this, it’s not really worth trying to explain things to you”. But that was in Russian. In English, this became a very diplomatic retort about how complex Russia is.
Gorbachev wasn’t afraid to step out on a limb a bit. When asked if he agreed with Putin that the US has lost the war in Iraq, he answered, ”That was lost the moment it began.” But it was only the limbs that were pro-Russia that he was comfortable with.
The last question was the most poignant – and the most telling. Gorbachev was asked about the West’s criticism of Putin and the future Russia’s democracy. With journalists being killed and no freedom of the press as the West defines it, where is Russia going? And here, it was hard to contain a laugh. Gorbachev philosophized: The US became a democracy in 200 years – you can’t expect Russia to do it in 200 days. It’s like asking a child to start walking and speaking German the moment it’s born: just impossible.
Let’s not talk about the fact that more journalists are being killed now than before. That there is no political opposition. That there isn’t a single TV program that comes close to criticizing the current administration. That the only free speech is on Echo of Moscow, a radio station whose broadcasts are only available to the select few – the old “intelligentsia”.
What is going on??
Is Gorbachev just as scared to speak the truth as the others? Or does he really believe in this shallow “growing pains” explanation? Is he taking on the environment because that’s the only safe ground where he can fight for his true beliefs?
Perhaps most importantly of our discussions of communication on this blog: Why is what he’s saying being so dramatically altered? Can’t we still speak the truth, even if it’s not what the world wants to hear?
