Autocracy Wins when We Can’t Imagine Democracy Losing ~ Stuart Stevens
The war of aggression being waged by Russia upon Ukraine may seem far away, and of low or no concern to the student community at CHS. However, the fight for Ukraine is a fight for democracy itself, not just in Ukraine, but across the globe, including here in the United States. Our way of life and freedoms are at stake in Ukraine.
In February of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin, without provocation, ordered Russian military forces to begin an invasion of Ukraine with the goal of toppling the democratically elected government led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and, if not outright annexing Ukraine, at least bringing it within Russia’s sphere of influence. However, in the two months since the invasion began, things have not gone according to plan. Russia has revealed itself to be a weak secondary, or even tertiary, military, political, and economic power – as compared to established Western, democratic nations. Its military has had far more casualties in 60 days than it had in ten years in its 1980s Afghanistan campaign. Sanctions, imposed by a U.S. led coalition of nations, have crippled the Russian economy; Russia’s political elite, including Putin, are isolated as global pariahs. In addition, Russian forces were fairly easily repelled by the Ukrainians from attempts to seize the center of Ukrainian leadership and power, its capital Kyiv. Russia has yet to take control of the skies or even one major Ukrainian city. Allies of Ukraine have begun brazenly parading into Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy, including this past weekend, the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense. President Biden will likely be the next visitor.
Nonetheless, Russia’s military still dwarfs Ukraine’s and remains an extremely dangerous blunt force to the entirety of the Ukrainian civilian population, excepting the tens of thousands of Ukrainians it has already killed and the four million Ukrainians it has forced from their homes as refugees in Poland, the Baltics, and other parts of Europe and North America. Losing strategically, tactically, and in international opinion to the Ukrainians and their charismatic leader, Zelenskyy, Russian leadership under Putin has fallen back to what it knows best – and in the last two decades has used to submit populations in Georgia, Chechnya, and Syria – the blunt, savage force of indiscriminate, long-range artillery and bombing. This strategy has destroyed Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and the likes of maternity hospitals, senior citizen centers, Holocaust memorials and schools.
Why is Russia doing this to its neighbor, sometimes called a sister nation, with whom it shares language and cultural traditions? While the objectives are multifaceted and do include the desire for restoration of the Russian empire, formerly known as the Soviet Union, the real reason is Ukraine’s burgeoning democracy. In addition to personal freedoms and equal justice, the two main tenants of democracy, the prosperity that is generated in all democracies was an affront to the authoritarian, kleptocracy of Vladimir Putin.
In 1994, Putin, then deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, was attending a speech delivered in the Hamburg, Germany city hall by Lennart Meri, president of Estonia, a former Soviet republic and now democratic nation. The highlight of the speech was Meri stating that “the freedom of every individual, the freedom of the economy and trade, as well as the freedom of the mind, of culture and science, are inseparably interconnected. They form the prerequisite of a viable democracy.” At that instant, the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin, abruptly stood up and walked out of the speech.
That early sign of disdain for democracy has grown exponentially since 1994. Indeed, Putin has become the very model for the slide toward autocracy and even totalitarianism worldwide, as is seen in, among other places, Hungary, Iran, Belarus, China, North Korea, and Venezuela. Even in unsuspecting places like France, the far right is on the rise and had its biggest presidential electoral showing in modern history last Sunday. Most troubling of all was the attempt here, in the United States on January 6, 2021, to overturn the results of the presidential election. All the leaders of these nations and movements have cozied up to and praised Putin. What they share is an understanding that democracy is a threat to their power. Freedom of speech, thought, science and culture, anti-corruption, and equal justice under the law are antithetical to autocratic power. The freedom, justice, and prosperity offered by democracy spells an end to their corrupt and punishing style of rule. They are willing to fight for their power. So should we be willing to fight for democracy.
Democracy is why the fight in Ukraine matters to us all – including here at CHS. A win for Russia is a win for the growing tide of autocracy and fascism encroaching the globe. It would embolden Putin to continue his wars against neighboring democracies. (He and Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, have already made troubling, inflammatory statements regarding Moldova and the Baltic states.) It would also embolden those leaders around the world who emulate him, including in the United States. Stopping Russia in Ukraine, on the other hand, would be a win for democracy and a stemming of the red tide of autocracy.
Democracies have strength when they stand up for the values that they represent both at home and abroad: freedom and equality. Democracies are not flawless, of course. However, they have proven to be the best form of government imagined so far. As Winston Churchill famously said: “Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
What can we, as high school students, do to help in this battle for democracy, which is being played out on the world stage? “Become more aware of current events and involved locally,” suggests senior Ava Northrup. As students, by following the news, reading widely, valuing civics, and understanding history, we prepare ourselves to become informed citizens and voters, who tend to be democracy’s best advocates and defenders. Junior Tille Leroy concurred when relaying her own awareness of “the war against Ukraine and its effects on the U.S., including our economy, from the history class I am taking this semester.”
An educated population is the autocrats worst enemy and democracy’s best friend.
If you would like to follow Northrup’s advice and get involved now, the most efficient and effective means is by contacting our national representative to urge them to urge the Biden administration to increase military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Kim Schrier – U.S. Congresswoman representing the 8th District of Washinton https://schrier.house.gov/contact
Patty Murray – U.S. Senator from Washington
https://www.murray.senate.gov/write-to-patty/
Maria Cantwell – U.S. Senator from Washington https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email
A young, wounded Ukrainian mother breastfeeds her newborn.
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