My article, "Putin's Invasion Scrambles the West" covers three topics: how the invasion "wakened sleeping populations to eternal power realities, exacerbated leftist de-platforming, and bizarrely enhanced his appeal on the Right."
This weblog entry focuses on the second of those - leftist de-platforming. The article provides many examples where "Putin's outrageous actions confirmed and enhanced the Left's trend to exclude dissent." That trend continues and spreads.
FIDE, the chess world governing body, suspended Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin for six months for publicly supporting the invasion. (March 21, 2022)
Mar. 30, 2022 update: Anna Netrebko forcefully denounced the invasion of Ukraine ("I expressly condemn the war against Ukraine and my thoughts are with the victims of this war and their families") and distanced herself from Putin ("I am not a member of any political party nor am I allied with any leader of Russia") but again, she did not mention Putin by name, so the Metropolitan Opera's Gelb again found her position insufficient:
Having read Anna's statement, we're not prepared to change our position. If Anna demonstrates that she has truly and completely disassociated herself from Putin over the long term, I would be willing to have a conversation.
Apr. 1, 2022 update: Netrebko just can't win. Her latest statement, noted yesterday above, has her in hot water in Russia where she is now criticized and de-platformed. Not only is this unfair but it likely foreshadows the dilemma others will find themselves in as the cancel-crowds come after them.
Apr. 13, 2022 update: The Opéra de Monte-Carlo hired Netrebko to substitute for a sick artist.
May 5, 2022 update: Law professor Alan Dershowitz argues that the Metropolitan Opera's decision to fire Netrebko,
at least in part, because of her national origin, may put [it] on the wrong side of anti-discrimination law. Her views would probably not have become the subject of political scrutiny if not for her national origin. And that may be enough to violate the anti-discrimination rules.
June 22, 2022 update: Four months on, Javier C. Hernández reviews the Netrebko question.
Jan. 7, 2023 update: The Ukrainian government has belatedly followed suit, banning Netrebko and over one hundred other Russian artists.
Jan. 16, 2024 update: The de-platforming of Russians has predictably extended to others as well. Aviv Bushinsky, chairman of the Israel Squash Association (and a former spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) responded to the increasing exclusion of Israelis from international competitions by noting the politicization of sports when Russia was banned from taking part in the 2022 Olympics: "That was a historic mistake. It created a precedent. Go explain why you can ban Russia but not Israel."
