We recently discussed controversies involving Russian artists and athletes being told that they will be cancelled or blacklisted if they do not expressly denounce the Russian invasion of Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin. Now that assault on free speech has reached the highest levels of ballet after Tugan Sokhiev, the chief conductor at Bolshoi Theatre and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, resigned rather than be coerced into such public statements. The Munich Philharmonic also dismissed chief conductor Valery Gergiev after he failed to condemn the invasion.
Sokhiev is one of the most celebrated and respected conductors in the world. He also happens to be Russian. For many, his musical contributions became secondary when he failed to publicly condemn Putin. They demanded that he speak or resign. He resigned.
Sokhiev wrote on Facebook “during last few days I witnessed something I thought I would never see in my life. In Europe, today I am forced to make a choice and choose one of my musical family over the other.”
As we previously discussed, it is during wartime and periods of social discord that the greatest abuses can occur for those with dissenting or unpopular views. Despite my strong support for Ukraine and condemnation of Putin, it is important for advocates of civil liberties and free speech to stand against such blacklisting and compelled speech.
For many, this is hardly a new movement. For years, powerful politicians, academics, and even some in the media have demanded more censorship. This move against Russian performers and athletes may draw the unwitting into this anti-free speech movement. The response to those of us who are raising concerns is the same and predictable. You are called an apologist for Putin or a traitor to the cause. It is an effort to create a glacial chilling effect on dissenting voices.
Once again, it is important to address the rationalization on the left for attacks on free speech in recent years: the First Amendment only protects speech from government crackdowns. The First Amendment is not the full or exclusive embodiment of free speech. It addresses just one of the dangers to free speech posed by government regulation. Many of us view free speech as a human right. Corporate censorship of social media clearly impacts free speech, and replacing Big Brother with a cadre of Little Brothers actually allows for far greater control of free expression. As I have noted earlier, while liberal writers and artists were blacklisted and investigated in the 1950s, liberal activists have succeeded in censoring opposing views to an unprecedented degree in recent years. Rather than burn books, they have simply gotten stores to ban them or blacklist the authors, athletes, and artists.
Figures like the great singer Paul Robeson (right) found themselves barred from performances due to their refusal to condemn others or Russia.
Some, however, are not intimidated but rather incensed by the attack on free speech. In the meantime, at least one opera lover is boycotting the Met after it cancelled another great Russian artist for not publicly reciting the official line against Putin. I recently received the attached letter from a donor at the Met who stated that he was changing his will over the controversy involving soprano Anna Netrebko. He would no longer leave his estate to the Met and pledged to stop his regular contributions to the institution.
As for Sokhiev, he noted that in both cities he regularly invited Ukrainian singers and conductors because “we never even thought about our nationalities. We were enjoying making music together.”
The response from the mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc, was particularly telling. While denying that they demanded that Sokhiev “make a choice between his native country and his beloved city of Toulouse,” the mayor added: “However, it was unthinkable to imagine that he would remain silent in the face of the war situation, both vis-à-vis the musicians and the public and the community.”
It is not “unthinkable.” He may support the invasion or fear for himself or his family in opposing this tyrant. It does not matter his reasons. He should have a right to hold opposing views or to remain silent. What is unthinkable is that artists are being blacklisted for refusing to recite political statements like some reeducation camp in the Cultural Revolution. It is a curious way to fight tyranny by denying free speech.
The Met donor allowed me to post the following version of his letter:
Jonathan: As usual this post is another example of diversion–getting us to focus on the threats to “free speech” involving Russian artists while ignoring others here at home. Here is an example of how the wealthy try to use the courts to stifle free speech in Texas.
Texas oil billionaire, Kelcy Warren, is suing Beto O’Rourke for defamation. O’Rourke is the Democratic candidate for governor running against Gov. Greg Abbott. Warren’s oil pipeline company, Energy Transfer, reported $6.7 billion in income last year–including $2.4 directly related to the 2020 winter storm in Texas that caused the electrical grid to crash. Energy prices spiked and Warren’s company benefited. Warren has given a $1 million donation to Abbott’s campaign, the largest single campaign donation to Abbott. O’Rourke tweeted energy executives “bought off Abbott” and singled out Warren’s donation saying it “looks like a bribe to me”. O’Rourke has made the failure of the Texas power grid the center of his campaign against Abbott. Regarding Warren’s defamation suit O’Rourke says Warren is using “his billions of dollars to try to shut me down and shut us up from telling the story of what happened to the people in Texas”.
In previous posts you have called for the SC to eliminate the “public figure” protections in NY Times v. Sullivan. You think “a little liability” would be a good thing. The Warren lawsuit illustrates how the wealthy and powerful (see also the Trump/Nunes defamation lawsuits) try to stifle and shut down any criticism. The Warren/Abbott scheme is to force O’Rourke, who is not a billionaire, to defend a lawsuit during a heated campaign for governor. Warren wants to silence any criticism of Abbott’s close ties to him and the oil industry in Texas. If O’Rourke could not rely on the “public figure” protections in Sullivan, he, or any candidate for public office, would be constrained in talking about important issues to voters. That would be a severe blow to “free speech”. But I guess that’s OK with you.
To be constrained from lying or defaming is a wonderful thing.
“The Munich Philharmonic also dismissed chief conductor Valery Gergiev after he failed to condemn the invasion.” (JT)
The hand-wringing over Gergiev’s dismissal is disgusting.
For decades, he openly supported (and was supported by) Putin — then a tyrant, still a tyrant, and now a mass murderer. Yet, now, some argue: “Let”s keep politics out of music.” (?!) For Gergiev, it’s a bit late for that.
If a public condemnation of Putin would endanger Gergiev’s family, it’s a disaster of his own doing. When you openly support a tyrant, you run the risk of disaster when that tyrant changes his whims.
“Gergiev and Putin have had a close relationship for three decades. In 2012, Gergiev appeared in a campaign video supporting Putin’s presidential candidacy. In 2013, the conductor was one of five recipients of the Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation Prize, an award from the Stalin era, which Putin revived. [. . .] Gergiev supported Putin’s annexation of Crimea, a portent of things to come.”
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-03-05/op-ed-a-putin-supporters-art-politics
(The Sokhiev case seems to be more complicated.)
I want to see Top Gun play-out over Ukraine.
We should try it for day and see what happens.
I bet you that Russia backs down, just like it did when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in Turkish airspace.
“I want to see Top Gun play-out over Ukraine.”
There is the modern, infantile view of war. It’s just like a movie scene or a video game. When you’re done, you just go back to eating Cheetos on the couch.
Why not put poison in the food of convenience stores?
When the Russians loot the stores and eat the food, they die from poison.
Why not let Ukrainians push the buttons for launching ballistic missiles at Moscow?
That way, there is plausible deniablity about any NATO involvement.
I’d like to buy some drones to send over Ukraine to kill the Russians.
Violence against a dictatorship is OK, but not against a democracy. That’s the difference.
“Violence against a dictatorship is OK, but not against a democracy. That’s the difference.”
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Then you do it, Superchicken. Leave the rest of us out of your blood feud with the evil you see all around you.
Why for the love of God are we condemning people for things that they DON’T say?
Not we, they. And they do it because they are being good little useful idiots. They’ve transitioned from silencing speech to the next step in their totalitarian movement; compelled speech. This is effectively the same result of a social credit score system. Our Public Reeducation System will continue to pump out more idiots.
Turley’s reference to China’s Cultural Revolution is apt. The requirements of compelled speech and ritualised apologies and self-abasement are now standard features of progressive politics in the West.
I’d like to hear from Hollywood they were so vocal against an American President now they’re silent. They were yucking it up with the Madman of Moscow, now crickets.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IV4IjHz2yIo
If this is happening next door to NATO, and the US is the leader of NATO, then why is Ukraine none of our business?
Why is it none of your business when your next door neighbor’s house is on fire?
No one is claiming that “Ukraine is none of our business.” The US is helping Ukraine in many ways: providing weapons, providing intel, sanctioning Russia, …
biden/harris did little of what could and should have been done long before putin invaded Ukraine! No later than the end of last year! For some weeks before the invasion began, biden continued to read aloud “speeches” saying putin was going to invade – but failed to step up and do all that was needed in advance of the invasion. Instead, he became a mouthpiece for the leftovers from the obama/biden administration and ran off to his basement in DE for weekends away from the real world. And biden/harris’ sanctions are belated and incomplete; Russian airlines were only banned in the USA days after Great Britain did so. We can no longer described this term of a USA president as one of a “world leader” because biden is a laggard follower.
Did Prof. Turley intend to publish the name and address of the former Met patron?
The Ukraine is not a member of NATO. For us to jump in would mean that the US would become the formal enemy of Russia and they could then drop bombs and whatever over the US.
Russian protestors should bring knives and box cutters to their demonstrations.
If the police give them any crap, just cut them.
They have the police outnumbered.
Death of a regime by a thousand cuts.
Einstein…..what if Protestors had done that at the Tea Party Demonstration back in 2010….or Trump Supporters on January 6th…..would you advocate that kind of protest?
Look at BLM and ANTIFA…they brought Molotov Cocktails, commercial grade firework Mortars, and other weapons…..I suppose you endorse that do you?
There is no place for violence in peaceful protests….as it only provokes yet more violence by security forces in Russia.
Which “Anonymous the Stupid” are you?
This is not a political issue. Russia and Putin are committing war crimes on a massive scare. To support Putin is to have values that are pure evil. Any organization would be insane to keep those people around.
After spending some time in this viper pit, now I know what it’s like to be Jesus.
Why is Bill Hemmer giving free strategy advice to the Russian military?
The left has fully implemented forced speech.
The only acceptable response is full throated reciting of _______dogma. Silence if violence. Only measurable actions are acceptable. Neutral is not an acceptable position. ignoring all of it, get labeled as the worst of both sides. Wearing a mask is your shield against being called a supporter of President Trump.
Isn’t that funny, When the Left is in Power it isn’t called: McCarthism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism
I would rather we praise people for speaking out and talking a stand against evil.
Best example of that is the couragous Men and Women of Ukraine who have taken up arms to defend their homes against the Russian Invaders.
The rest of us should stand with them and do everything we can to assist them….if it is only speaking up on their behalf by participating in the democratic process to get Congress and the President to do everything they can to get military and humanitarian aid to them.
If that a means incurring some cost to ourselves in the process then that should remind us that Freedom comes with a cost.
We all cannot be Fighters and take up arms but we can do our part even if it Is only to donate to charities working to assist those who have become Refugees.
I’m not seeing anyone else writing or talking about this. It reminds me of when Jewish musicians lost their positions and were blacklisted in pre-war Germany. At least most of them could get out, and free countries benefited from the exodus of Jewish talent. But where can these artists go?
Why for the love of God are we condemning people for things that they DON’T say? Do folks not realize that these “celebrities” may have relatives back home that could be punished if the speak publicly against the regime?
We have become a society of horrors!