When the School of Political Studies was renamed the School of Civic Education, it meant that there was no longer any relevant politics in Russia. When the School of Civic Education was forced to emigrate, there was no need to change the name. The institute for education of citizens of free Russia has turned into an international club. But here today they learn to be citizens. Not by the color of the passport, but by the state of mind.
On March 6−9, the Sapere Aude seminar was held in Vilnius, bringing together those who are called «alumni». Mostly they completed their courses in recent years, when the School had already moved outside of Russia. They all live in different countries, speak different languages and do not always immediately understand each other, even speaking the same language. Therefore, the School now exists to help people go through the experience of accepting differences, including differences of opinion.
The main time of the seminar was devoted to short courses and plenary lectures. But this is not a social science intensive at a university. The School’s experts come from different places and may not represent any institution. Among the guests of this seminar only the political scientist Marie Mendras can be called an academician — she is an employee of Sciences Po, the Paris Institute of Political Studies. While economist Vladislav Inozemtsev, journalists John Lloyd and Konstantin Eggert, political scientists Alexandra Filippenko and Vasily Zharkov are first public intellectuals, although often with scientific achievements.
Person first, institution later — this order seems demonstrative. After all, we have long lived in a world where we must confirm almost every step we take. Corporations dictate the rules, the place determines the person — that’s the way it is. But the School of Civic Education reminds us that things may be different somewhere. And he stubbornly fights for the opportunity not to change his principles.
The educational process is not monotonous. Not only expert lectures, but also workshops — this is also an important principle. For example, project manager Agnieszka Kanevska invites the School participants to step away from their own interests and play projects on given topics. Often these are ordinary everyday situations that need to be worked with in randomly assembled groups. Many people probably don’t want to at first. But the game with its conventions mysteriously draws everyone in.
There are also more specific practices. Its frequent guests, entrepreneurs at the intersection of IT and social technologies Denis Yagodin and Nikolai Kvantiliani, spoke at the last seminar. Their master class was dedicated to the meeting of the media with artificial intelligence. Need I clarify that there were no indifferent people! The same thing — a master class on crowdfunding, which was conducted over two days by famous activists and fundraisers Sofya Zhukova and Maya Soerova. There are topics from which you cannot hide. For example, the topic of money, with which something is obviously wrong.
The winds blowing from different directions today formed a perfect storm. It is no longer possible to evade because we are inside. And it no longer depends on the part of the world. Only the lazy have not remembered the rhymes of history in recent years. In another language these rhymes are called «rake». They are stepped on when history lessons are taught poorly. But now it’s too late to complain about what remains unlearned. All that remains is to repair and save what is left.
The guest of honor at the March seminar in Vilnius was Polish human rights activist and journalist Adam Michnik. He talked about the end of the old world, «neo-Bolshevisim» in Putin’s Russia and the victory of lynching over the constitutional court in the United States. With this metaphor, Mr. Michnik wanted to emphasize an unprecedented shift in the perception of America as an ideal of democracy. Yes, this structure fell apart overnight. The speed of its destruction makes one wonder: maybe it was just an illusion of post-war Europe, which was dispelled by a new war?
Now the challenge has been thrown specifically to Europe, where the School continues to work with its experience of resistance accumulated in Russia. This unexpected and unavoidable challenge is a reminder that Europe, too, will no longer be able to evade. And that the President of Ukraine Volodimir Zelensky left the White House not as a daring vassal, but as a defender of Europe from aggression that opened a second front. He was guided not only by pride, but also by responsibility. And Europe will have to divide it.
If the School is destined to go through new challenges and survive, it will contribute to the defense of democracy. Her evidence and methods will be useful in repairing the world after the current destruction.