MINSK, 18 October (BelTA) – A state idea has to mature and time itself will encourage the formulation of such an idea. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement as he met with the Russian philosopher and public figure Aleksandr Dugin, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that philosophy was his favorite discipline in university and the meeting with Aleksandr Dugin had forced him to become immersed in this philosophy to an extent. “It got me to look at your views and recall the philosophy I studied – the Marx-Lenin philosophy. Well, it's been some time. It turns out we have not created anything better than that. They say that Marxism-Leninism is bad. Be that as it may but we haven't created anything better than that. And it was an entire system of views. We don't have it these days,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko went on saying: “You said it right when talking about state ideology, about ideology as a whole. And that we don't have any. Russia doesn't have one either. It is true, too. I've been offered a multitude of potential state ideas. I've rejected all of them because they didn't fit human souls and hearts. What kind of an idea cannot overwhelm masses as the classic author put it and doesn't fit one's heart? It is not an idea. And it cannot be a state idea. But nothing has been born so far, regretfully.”
“I've been trying to formulate something on my own. But I conclude that it is impossible to formulate it until time forces you to do it. Until time forces you to formulate it. This is why I am already coming to think: we may be overexerting ourselves in vain. You cannot invent an idea. It has to ripen on its own,” the head of state concluded.
Aleksandr Dugin agreed with Aleksandr Lukashenko's rationale concerning ideology: “You are totally right. It is not artificial PR, not a construct. Ideologies need to be born. You have to contemplate and understand ideas. They arise from the people, from its history as you totally rightly said.”
The philosopher drew attention to two things. While fighting an opponent represented by the collective West and global moralism, one should bear in mind that an appropriate ideology is at play here, too. “And it is impossible to fight an ideology by non-ideological methods. In other words, we could have lived without an ideology at all. But it is impossible. Because an ideology is attacking us. It is not only NATO,” he said.
“Yes, this ideology is not only for the sake of from within but from without. You are absolutely right,” Aleksandr Lukashenko backed the philosopher.
Aleksandr Dugin also agreed with the Belarusian head of state's statement that now time may be ripe for such an ideology to be born. “Instead of being created artificially or imposed, it needs to be born. Because we had the Marx-Lenin ideology. It defined everything. It defined our entire world outlook. Good or bad but it was a system,” Aleksandr Dugin said.
He stated that since then and up till now neither Russia nor Belarus has had a complete ideology like that. But the process goes on. “It seems to me you stand slightly closer to it thanks to some ideological aspects of your policy. For instance, you don't let oligarchy to evolve. It is an ideological thing. Oligarchy was allowed to evolve in Russia and we cannot eradicate it now. It is interfering with us at every step,” the philosopher noted.
Aleksandr Dugin went on saying that Belarus had not accepted Western liberalism at all either. “Russia has accepted it and is also trying to eradicate it thanks to our president, his absolutely right orientation. We are eradicating it but at what cost! How much counteraction we see from this liberal elite! We call it the sixth column,” the philosopher explained.
Aleksandr Dugin explained his definition of the sixth column. “There is the fifth column. People take to the streets and shout: ‘Down with Putin! Down with Lukashenko! Down with Russia! Down with everything.' And then there is the sixth column. We've encountered it to a much larger degree. They share the same platform the fifth column has. It is an absolutely pro-Western platform: continuation of liberal reforms, destruction of our statehood. But they don't say: ‘Down with Putin!' They say: ‘Long live Putin, we support him! Everything is fine!' But their actions [to undermine stability of the state and the society] are the same. This sixth column is the scariest thing,” Aleksandr Dugin said. “We thought they would flee as soon as the special military operation began. Some did but some stayed. And it is a problem. You've prevented it. You've kept the people, the state under the leadership of the person, who has secured your country against oligarchy, against liberalism.”
The philosopher believes that now is the right time to give this nascent idea and ideology some shape. “Now history is encouraging us to listen to the nation and the progress of history and give form to this ideology by borrowing something from Marxism, something from the Soviet period of history, something from the Russian one, from an older one. From Orthodox Christian roots,” he remarked. “Some parts of the Belarusian idea evolved back in the Great Duchy of Lithuania. Back then Belarusian identity started taking a certain shape. Those, who are trying to use it against Belarus, are substituting things. Because the Belarusian idea is a very serious part of our common legacy.”
