Ekaterina Genieva: “It’s easier to be tolerant in general than to your loved ones”

“Recently I had a public dialogue with the Ambassador of Latvia. At the same time, the audience was divided into the Latvian and Russian parts, and the first one especially listened to my words and intonations, as if expecting tactlessness on my part. It was about what the Russian presence in Latvia was — occupation or assimilation. I said that words in this case are not so significant, although, of course, it was an occupation. No, I heard back, it was an occupation. “So I said it,” I say, “and even in the same words.” But in passion people are not ready to hear what they are told. And yet we parted as full friends, because the key words were uttered: «We are to blame.»

These words “forgive me” and the spiritual movement that stands behind them are capable of moving mountains. This is something that politicians often fail to do. And what brilliantly did the Pope do in prayer on Mount Tabor, recognizing the centuries-old guilt of Christians before the Jews.

But the words suggest a sincere condemnation of evil. Quite recently, we missed the moment when it was necessary to condemn the communist regime, for which there is no forgiveness, just as there is no forgiveness for fascism. Not to name specific people, but to condemn the idea that they served with their violence against other people. We missed this moment and released the dragon into the wild. Now he is thriving.

I’m scared of Walking Together organizations¹. There is a fascist ideology. I am afraid with what passion they and those who quickly join them burn books. I’m not original, Heine said a long time ago: where they start burning books, they end up burning people. Let someone think that Sorokin is a bad writer. He is definitely not a writer of my type, although I understand what his verbal shocking is directed against. But this does not mean that it is necessary to arrange bonfires from his books. Sorokin’s books are burned, Alexander Men’s books are publicly burned, and then — «the night of long knives.» All this happens instantly. Public hatred spreads instantly.

• Forgive: rise above the other or reconcile with him?

When the arguments among our library leaders get too sharp, I think to myself: “This is how Chechnya begins.” Chechnya is like the inability to hear another, to feel not only problems, but the pain of another person. This is how wars arise.

Where do fascist habits come from? From childhood among unkind, evil people, in an absolutely intolerant environment. When I think about why George Soros is so tolerant², I understand that, probably, from childhood — then an English family saved him. From his youth, he actually turned out to be homeless, was forced to adapt to new conditions. And he got used to the fact that the world is different, that without the help of others it is impossible to survive in it. But when you receive good, you do it in return. It is not surprising that it is Soros who supports the Institute of Tolerance that we have created. The Institute continues one of the directions of the Open Society Institute, whose activities in Russia were completed last year.

It is clear that this is a purely idealistic project. I cannot imagine an absolutely tolerant person. There are no such people, just as there is no person without sin. It’s easier to be tolerant of people in general, to distant residents of Iraq, than to your own, close ones, who tire you by asking, for example, the same questions a hundred times. Tolerance is a movement towards an ideal. The philosophy of George Soros is based on the vector of movement towards the ideal. Despite the fact that the world is chaotic, different points of view collide in it, and a spark is struck from this chaos, which can be called truth. Moreover, this truth can be immediately challenged.

It is no coincidence that our activities are primarily aimed at teachers and those young people who bring into life the norms of something different, unusual: they dress differently, communicate differently than the elders, write, pray, think in their own way. The easiest way is to say: «Be tolerant of it.» But when we encounter something different, it is very difficult to perceive it with an open mind and an open heart. It is difficult not to feel an inner protest against what we are not used to.

There are different traditions, different religions. I remember Father Alexander Men, a highly tolerant person. One day he came to me during the Great Lent. I felt very embarrassed because I had to give him tea, and I had nothing but cheese and ham sandwiches. In order not to embarrass me, he said, «Don’t worry, I’m on my way,» thus removing the problem of fast food. You can say: oh, he sinned, ate the cheese. And putting another in a difficult position is no more sinful?

You can perceive the world as an insane tower of Babel, or as a miracle of life’s diversity, where it is not by chance that one is Orthodox, the other is Catholic, the third is Buddhist, the fourth is Jewish, and so on. There is some high meaning in this.

Everyone is in the minority

The institution of tolerance is addressed primarily to young people, even children. Not only older people, but also those who are 30-40 years old, it is very difficult to profoundly change their identity. This should be instilled in childhood.

Some time ago I was at a training conducted by our Dutch partners. The audience was divided into two parts, and the presenter gave the task: “It is known that there is a homosexual in the group. A stranger comes to you and asks who is homosexual here? What should be the correct answer? The correct answer is: everyone calls themselves homosexuals.

I remembered this case when a couple of years ago I was in the Ufa lyceum school. There was a conversation with the children about the Wahhabis, about Islam. I asked the question: “How would you behave if a boy in a headdress appeared in the class? The teacher naturally demands that he take it off. The boy resists, but at some point succumbs to violence, takes off his hat, and everyone sees that he is completely bald. At such a young age. What should be done so that the boy does not feel like an outcast?

Someone said that everyone should be wearing hats the next day. The other is that everyone needs to shave their heads. The teacher answered wonderfully: “I should have apologized to him.” Apology is repentance. You are changing your consciousness. You put yourself in the place of another and begin to understand him.

One of our important areas is working with people with physical disabilities. These are children and adults who see poorly, hear poorly, and move poorly. A tolerant attitude towards them in society is beneficial to both parties. I saw how a loving attitude toward one’s neighbor can work wonders. We had a wonderful preacher and creator of a large number of communities for the disabled, Jean Vanier, in our library. He came, a huge man who filled the whole space with himself, I treated him to tea, with him were his assistants, companions and there was a woman, a Frenchwoman from his commune. And, only after peering, I realized that she was a physically handicapped person — it was difficult for her to speak, it was difficult to move her hand. But, being in a space where others perceived her naturally, she herself was organic and complete.

Through humiliation to humanity

Sometimes you ask yourself the question: why should I do this? Probably because that’s how I was raised. I feel like an absolutely Russian person, but many different bloodlines are combined in me. Dad is Jewish, mom is Russian, she has both Polish and French blood. I myself, being attached to the place where I was born, grew up, live, fully understand what the phrase “citizen of the world” means.

Sometimes it’s scary, heading the Institute of Tolerance, to be not up to par. I repeat, because tolerance is an ideal that one can only strive for. But there were several episodes in my life in which I could, having received a different home education, behave differently.

As you know, there are a lot of crazy people around. They love libraries, they love me personally. They come to torture my secretaries. I understand that it is easier to talk to them, postponing everything. A man comes and says that he likes everything in our library, except that it does not have a gym. After a few words, I understand that I am dealing with an unhealthy person. I ask him what he proposes. He says: “This infringes on my rights as a person. I have to do push-ups every two hours, and here I can’t do that.» I say: “You know, I can’t help you with anything, except for you to come to my office to do push-ups.” My young colleagues are horrified: he comes, takes off his shoes, starts playing sports. I understand why he does it — to get attention. I tell him: “Come in, do push-ups,” and I myself do what I usually do. This went on for a week and a half. It is easy to imagine how long it would have lasted if we had “pumped the rights” with him.

• «Well, crazy, what will you take from him?»

Another woman believed that the FSB was hiding listening devices in the cabbage she bought in the store, and therefore asked me to leave her shopping bag in the corner of my office. I said, «OK, leave it.» It also lasted a few days.

The other case was much more difficult. Some time after Nord-Ost³ I was told that ten Chechens were sitting in our hall, of which only one spoke Russian. Imagine this first wish that they leave the library as quickly as possible. Maybe they planted a bomb, maybe they brought some devices. We have many visitors, foreign centers, computers, we are a stone’s throw from the Kremlin. What to do in such a situation? I called the Minister of Culture, who was terribly frightened and did the right thing. Someone suggested going up to these people and telling them to leave the library. Or at least just ask what they are doing here?

I say, imagine that I go up to a group of young Chechen people and ask them to leave the library. They are Muscovites. They have the correct paperwork. We have a public library. What right do I have to kick them out or ask what they are doing here? If they simply answer: what do you care? Maybe they have meditation going on here.

To say that I didn’t bounce every phone call at that moment, I can’t. I was terrified that something would happen. These people turned out to be Chechen students preparing for the session. But what might our actions result in? Nothing. They would leave. But what a spiritual wound I would forever inflict on them, and myself, and my employees!

I think that in this case, a wonderful person helped me to make a choice — Vladimir Shcherbakov, who runs a laboratory in Rostov-on-Don for identifying the corpses of those killed in the Chechen war. This is one of those literally holy people who deserved the Soros Foundation award for selflessness. He collects the bones of our soldiers. (By the way, after the award was presented, he was immediately robbed, deciding that it was clear that he received some crazy money.)

When I was in his laboratory, I noticed that Chechen guys were working next to him. I was surprised and asked: “Why do you have Chechens?” He replied: «They have a tradition, they will never kill those with whom they break bread.» This creates a chain reaction of goodness. In fact, the law of tolerance is simple: put yourself in the place of another.

• Put yourself in the place of another

Why should I do this project? I was fashioned by such wonderful people as Vsevolod Shpiller, a man of the highest intellect and tolerance. And Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, of course. In the documentary «Solovki Power»⁴ there is a wonderful episode when he is asked: why does he show the people who tortured him in the camp from behind? He replied: «They have children.» Father Alexander Men. Once I had a conversation with him. I convinced him for a long time that one of his spiritual children was doing something wrong. He says: “Yes, Katya, you are probably right. But when people do something wrong, I try to imagine what kind of kids they were.»

Of course, it is difficult to reach such heights of spiritual achievement. But I know one thing: people should never be humiliated. They can be punished if you have the right to do so. But in no case should you humiliate. You can disagree with a person, argue, say harsh things, but at the same time our heart should not be filled with a desire to humiliate him. This is all the more difficult for us, whose life was spent in total humiliation — both in political and personal life.

• How tolerant are you?

I remember how we once did the exhibition «Underwear of the Soviet era». It’s not at all a mockery of these bouffant tights. The point is the tragedy of a whole generation of women, humiliated by the attitude to their bodies that was imposed on them. I still remember an incident from my childhood. Break at the 613th school in Kharitonevsky lane, toilet for girls. And some girl, whose parents probably lived abroad or were diplomats, shows foreign underwear. Until now, more than fifty years, I remember him in detail. Now I understand that there was nothing special in it, probably from some TATI store, if they existed then. But it was absolutely not the same as all of us. It would seem, what does this have to do with the tolerance I’m talking about. In fact, it probably has. Like everything else around us.»⁵

¹ «Walking Together» is a Russian interregional youth organization created by the administration of the President of Russia. It existed in 2000-2007 under the leadership of Vasily Yakimenko.

² George Soros is an American financier, creator of the international charitable organization Open Society Institute, also known as the Soros Foundation.

³ We are talking about the capture of the Theater Center on Dubrovka in Moscow on October 23, 2002, when a group of Chechen fighters held the audience of the musical «Nord-Ost» for three days.

⁴ Dir. Marina Goldovskaya, 1988.

⁵ This monologue was published in 2004 in the journal Psychology. New Age».