Russia Cancelled
Where is the line drawn when culture is sanctioned?
One of the first actions taken by the international community after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 was to roll out sanctions banning everything from financial transactions to luxury goods to Russian state media. Russian cultural activities, institutions, and individuals also came under sanction everywhere from Carnegie Hall to UK ballet stages.
There is widespread debate about the effectiveness of cultural sanctions, but the debate also extends to whether is it possible to justify sanctions that target all artists from a certain country, even if they include individuals or institutions that have been outspoken against their government.
There is a case to be made that such broad-ranging sanctions are counterproductive, silencing the voices of those who support the actions of the sanctioning states and causing ill will with the sanctioners’ natural allies — those who may be in the best position to influence the domestic population to pressure their government for change.
It also silences the voice of dissenting and oppressed artists outside their country, which can play into the hands of the sanctioned state.
But others argue that creating individual carve-outs is burdensome, impractical, and subject to influence on behalf of artists and institutions who have funding, powerful allies, or popular appeal. The lines between who supports a given regime — either explicitly or implicitly — can be hard to define. In addition, keeping the broad sanctions in place across the board increases the pressure on everyone to bring about change.
The Cannes Film Festival, which opened this week, made the decision to allow participation by individual filmmakers without ties to Russian President Putin while still banning official state delegations. This decision echoes similar balancing acts put in place by other events and institutions.
The longer the war drags on, the more complex and layered the decisions will become, but perhaps the more obvious the success or failure of sanctions — whether broad or targeted — will become as well.
