ENZOKREFT the media, suppressed the opposition and manipulated elections. Things went from bad to worse: constitutional changes allowed Putin to remain in power until at least 2036 and the repression of dissidents became totalitarian. So you can call Russia a dictatorship without exaggeration. Putin’s war against Ukraine is not only a geopolitical aggression, but also an ideological attack on the idea of an independent, democratic post-Soviet state on Russia’s border. Ukraine did choose democratization, which the Kremlin saw as existentially threat. In the years 1989-1990we saw a great wave of mostly peaceful revolutions towards democratic regimes. Communism fell in Eastern Europe and part of Asia, but also in Latin America and South Africa there was a wave of democratization. Little seems to remain of the enthusiasm of that time. Do you think we will see new waves of democratization? Yes, new waves of democratization are certainly possible, but they are not self-evident. The context has changed completely since 1989. Real change will probably not come from above or from the West, but from below, through young people, local movements and citizen networks. History has shown that dictatorships never have the last word, but also that democracy is no guarantee unless continued efforts are made. In some countries, the turnaround has not been successful. I am thinking of countries like Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua. I propose to stick to the country that is most prominently in the news: Russia. Although there was a democratic experiment in Russia, that was put aside under Putin, and we can certainly say since 2020 that the country is a dictatorship once again, which also attacked the much more democratic Ukraine in 2022. How do you look at such developments? I watch such developments with dismay. Russian politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 shows how fragile democratic experiments can be. After the fall, there initially seemed to be a democratic wind blowing under Yeltsin. Unfortunately, political chaos quickly undermined confidence in that new democracy. In that climate, Putin emerged as a leader who promised stability. However, since taking office in 1999, he has systematically centralized power, completely paralyzed www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 6 - On your record, but also in the background images that you use live, we also see various references to the American president Donald Trump. I myself always shudder a bit at comparisons between Trump and dictators like Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, and even more when he’s compared with Hitler or Stalin. Although Trump is, in my eyes, an extreme right-wing demagogue, the United States is still a democracy, and the comparison does not apply to me. What is the purpose of your references to Trump? The live visuals with references to Trump are not a literal comparison with dictators like Kim Jong-un or Putin, but they do show how authoritarian tendencies can also arise within democracies. I think for example of undermining the press, spreading disinformation, sowing distrust towards independent institutions... these are dangerous patterns. My work does not want to make a historical judgment, but it does sound an alarm bell: this can also happen here,and it often starts subtly.We must remain vigilant. The reason I am so sensitive to this is that I see a danger in anti-Americanism. If you look at the people who support dictatorships in the West today, you see that they are often virulently anti-American. They caricature the United States to argue in favor of dictatorships. What do you think about this? I am not anti-American, but I am critical of power structures, whether they are in Russia, China or the US. The problem arises when any criticism of the United States is immediately dismissed as support for dictatorships. That is a false dichotomy. We must maintain the ability to make the West look in the mirror, without being pushed into the camp of Putin or Xi. My work tries to make that tension visible: between freedom and control, propaganda and truth, regardless of where they come from. Xavier KRUTH <<<<<< Follow Enzo Kreft on Facebook
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