Politics on the Plane of Spectacle

Former Russian deputy prime minister Vladislav Surkov, who created the Disinfolklore character “Putin” (we feel we know what “Putin thinks,” whereas actually we only know what a character in Russian Disinfolklore “thinks”) and the illusion of democracy in Russia, was a theatre studies graduate.

An insight attributed to Surkov, which over twenty years he implemented in Russia and in Russia-occupied Ukraine, is the idea that politics can exist solely on the plane of the Spectacle.

Behind the concealing and consoling wall of fog, which the Spectacle operates as, resources are allocated by a sub-set of people (who may not even be participating in the Spectacle). In the Spectacle artificial (“astroturf”) conflicts between different actors, ideological viewpoints, and parties provokes a feeling in Spectators that debates are going on. Yet such agon impacts little on the actual practise of government whose policy trajectories are determined Behind Closed Doors by a small group of (usually) men who have certain personality inventories.

Source: Spectacle

This is the core insight: the Spectacle is a wall of fog. Behind it, the real decisions are made. In front of it, we argue about characters and plot twists that change nothing.

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