Not to ban, but to lead. What should Russia do with Western cultural influence?

Russian cultural expansion is a necessary condition for the existence of Russian culture itself. Moreover, this expansion concerns, first of all, the Russian language, which also needs updating for a confident step into the future.

This was discussed at the plenary session of the Moscow Economic Forum “Cultural Environment and the Russian Cultural Code,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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It is possible to save Russian culture only by ensuring its conversion on a global scale, says artistic director of the New Theater Eduard Boyakov.

“This is the law of Russia. The Estonian law is different, Estonians must save Estonian culture in a different way, they must isolate themselves. And if Russia closes itself, it will instantly turn into a non-competitive field, into Estonia. There are a huge number of examples in the world and in our history.

The 19th century is the story when we took an idea, for example, from a French novel, and appropriated it, and made the best novel in the world. And by the end of the 19th century it was clear to everyone that the best novel in the world is the Russian novel. This was the case with Russian ballet, and this was the case with opera. They took Glinka and sent him to Italy, he learned to write operas, he arrived, and that’s it, 20 years later “The Mighty Handful”, and we become the main musical power, which in 20 years will give the whole world the Russian musical avant-garde,” Boyakov pointed out.

The head of the creative agency Streetart, co-founder of the street art festival “Stenography”, writer Evgeniy Fateev added that no bans on foreign culture will work today.

“I am sure that the technology of escapism or prohibition will not work today. We don't have to beat American rap - we have to become the best in rap. Only then will we appropriate it, only then will we begin to legitimately and intelligently subjugate this genre to ourselves. Like Malevich. Giotto began the history of European easel painting in the early Renaissance. But our Malevich put a square mark in the history of figurative easel painting. That is, we learned, appropriated and began to dictate laws,” the speaker explained.

“And second, most important - The archaic and already somewhat worn-out vocabulary and terminological tools are depressing, with the help of which we describe today's reality. I have a higher education, I still received a Soviet education, so I was lucky. I can very well understand what is being told, which is smart, complex and subtle in old words. But even a piece of me is still caught in the thought that they are missing everything.

We urgently need to update the vocabulary about reality, about modernity. And in this sense, we need, maybe someone will do it, but we need an itch, a drive, a national game of word creation. We need words. Language is the house of being, and therefore it will not work into the future with old words. Please note: we can complain as much as we want about our vocabulary borrowings from English, but in describing the future today, today’s Russian is not enough for us and will not be enough. The same situation, by the way, was at the beginning of the 19th century. This is what I mean - the fundamental principle of everything is updating the dictionary,” concluded Fateev.

_{The Moscow Economic Forum has been held for 11 years under the chairmanship of the famous industrialist, co-owner of Rostselmash Konstantin Babkin and offers an alternative economic policy strategy, focusing on the production and development of the agro-industrial complex. Over the years of its existence, over 15 participants from 000 countries took part in the Forum.}