Instead of the amount of news
There is neither Greek nor Jew.
(Col: 3:11-11)
Ah, why are our affairs so dull?
How freely we could breathe with you!
But – somewhere again some formidable forces
They strike the heavens from the artillery of the earth.
(Mikhail Shcherbakov, Trumpeter)
Russia prohibits “propaganda of LGBT people” with new laws and finally discriminates against “foreign agents”. We, the editors of Sota, believe that the equality of all people and the inviolability of their rights and freedoms should be the fundamental values of any society.
This should not be influenced by race, creed, gender, or any other factors.
The attempt of the totalitarian authorities – in particular, Russia – to divide society according to one or another feature is always explained by only one thing: the desire to write off their own mistakes and crimes on the enemies.
Intolerance towards the other and the other – from Jews to gays – has been the main bond of all totalitarian regimes. We see the same thing in Putin’s Third Rome.
We are aware that the reminder of the persecution is uncomfortable, and the reminder of the other can cause unconscious caveman horror. But people did not come out of the caves in vain – and those who remained there need help to get out.
The war with Ukraine is the same fear of others as the war with LGBT people. And the war with foreign agents does not hide its nature at all. Is it any wonder that the Putin regime is waging all 3 wars at the same time.
Repressive laws are trying to silence us – Russian society. To impose on us the only – cave – point of view or plant and kill. We are journalists. We are objective. And so we are not silent. And precisely because of objectivity – simply preserved common sense – we do not want to be silent even now and we will not call black white, and the rainbow forbidden.
SOTA (@sotaproject)