IN THE LAND OF LIARS

FAZ has published an article on September 22, 2021 stating that Russian writer Dmitry Glukhovsky was named "Author of the Year" by GQ magazine. At the ceremony, hosted by TV star Ivan Urgant, Glukhovsky said that he was very flattered, but he would like to convey this honor to George Orwell and Gianni Rodari.

Dystopian novel "1984" by George Orwell topped the list of ten best-selling books since 2014, fatal for Russia. He doesn't know why, says Glukhovsky, but suspects that people are not as stupid as some of their elected representatives, who may not have been elected by them at all, he added, referring to the apparently heavily manipulated Duma elections, which prompted Homeric laughter in the audience and a slightly tortured smile of Urgant.

Another writer worthy of the Author of the Year award is the Italian writer Gianni Rodari. The story of the poor onion boy Cipollino, who incites a revolt of suppressed vegetables against the oppressive prince Lemon and the fruit aristocracy in the legendary land of fruit, is widely known in Russia. Anyone who calls a spade a spade goes to jail.

No less relevant is Rodari's tale about the boy Jelsomino, who comes to a country ruled by a former pirate, where calling things by his own name is a punishable crime. In this country, where only counterfeit money circulates, information is received only through fake news from the newspaper "Model Liar".

“Especially after the elections to the Duma, an era has come when someone in Russia needs more and more moral courage to do what his or her mother once taught, namely to tell the truth, not to pretend, not to turn a blind eye to injustice,” Glukhovsky said. “Even if many mothers now advise their children to go with the flow so as not to attract attention,” said Glukhovsky, he first of all encourages them to listen to what they were taught in their mother's early childhood. As if setting an example, Glukhovsky once again demanded freedom for political prisoners.

Glukhovsky believes that both the books of George Orwell and the books of Gianni Rodari depict the present of Russia. It is no coincidence that two years ago the staging of the play "The Adventures of Cipollino", staged by the amateur theater under the direction of Alexander Tattari, was banned in Moscow. The satirical drama, containing allusions to the present, seemed to the organizers of the theater festival "Youth for Young" too risky for a state event.

It seemed to us that both these books depict not only the present of Russia, but to an even greater extent the present of another country. A regime built on lies, on double standards, censorship, surveillance, denunciations, thought police, extermination of dissidents ... Instead of Orwell's "two minutes of hatred", many hours of lying, hateful and aggressive propaganda ...

Have you also thought about modern Belarus?