when I was little my mother said my
father was from a country that no longer
existed my father was a Baltic refugee
from Soviet occupied Latvia I was born
here in the magical year of 1984
well now Latvia exists again thank God
and 1984 has given way to this brave new
world my father’s family was divided by
the Cold War and it is from my family
and work that I’ve learned about
aggression and resistance I’m a
photographer and writer and I’ve spent
the last decade in and out of Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet space I
lived in Azerbaijan then in Turkey in
both countries I watched as autocrats
emerged to suck the oxygen out of their
societies in the past few years in the
u.s. I have focused on the topic of
police brutality and specifically one
ugly two decade-long case of police
torture on the south side of Chicago
the problem for our nation when such
cases emerged so it becomes much more
difficult to make the case that
democracy is the best form of government
to protect the citizens against the
abuse as a state is capable of in recent
weeks we have seen a rollout of facebook
ads created by Russia from groups with
names like black to vist black matters
don’t shoot us every police shooting and
every police officer who is shot at
represents a breakdown in the
relationship between the citizens and
the state something
the Russians have adeptly pounced on
with active measures the goal is to
divide people through the use of novelty
propaganda infiltration and incidents
every day we experience fresh attacks in
our country in ways that attack our
governments our civil society our tech
sector and in ways that stay off the
front page and are less visible to those
not trained to look for them controversy
is a useful wedge because the visual
symbols of the NFL are in Charlotte’s
are so much easier for most people to
grasp the bent knee the hand on the
heart the burning torch this brilliantly
sinisterly is what gets covered instead
of police brutality and racism and while
this conversation is important socially
culturally and politically its
appropriation by spectacle creates the
camouflage that permits Russian attacks
to continue pretty soon you become
convinced the Shannara is real and you
forget about Russia this is not an
accident active measures are designed to
divide and conquer operationally they
pull it fissures they take existing
divisions and exaggerate them when the
president tweets divisive ‘no smarty
realises in real life they say he is a
puppet but in this way he functions like
a puppet master some describe active
measures as political warfare but when
they are imposed on a population it is
psychological warfare the goal of active
measures is to capture the state and
seize it before the population wakes up
to the damage by then the authoritarian
mechanisms are in place and people can
be crushed washington has a three to
five year vision of history and capacity
for strategic planning Russia operates
on a much longer time frame think
generations instead of decades active
measures seek to isolate you active
measures try to take your head to a
space where fear and confusion rule but
you still act in such a way that an
outcome Russia desires as possible
Russian military doctrine at present is
such that there is no peace and war war
operates on a continuum mostly the goal
is to get you to turn against your
fellow Americans then keep your head
down and do nothing in Russia people are
accustomed to living double lives of
sorts
albe it not nearly as much as in the
past under the glorious lie of socialism
are accustomed to living this double
life they have the interior life and the
public life the public life keeps its
head down obeys instructions avoids
interactions with the police and the
state the private life the story is told
in the kitchen the view one has of
oneself this is all often in conflict
with the private life in the mind of a
Russian citizen who has never lived
safely and securely in freedom this
tension creates fear in Americans it can
also create fear but it can give life to
other things the Vietnam generation is
the generation the Soviet era KGB is
being the most promising in their eyes
if you listen to the defectors of the
late Soviet era this is what they will
tell you they will say that the
generation that tore itself apart along
political and racial lines will be
capable of dividing itself again the
Vietnam generation mistrusted
governments and they tore each other
apart along these political and racial
lines that war literally divided a
generation we have not been so divided
again until recently this is not an
accident
all those excuse me many of those who
fought and beat Freedom Riders who
taunted those who worked to integrate
lunch counters who sent dogs after
little girls they’re still alive and
among us and they’re old now so you know
they vote
it’s true sorry
um so you know they vote hate has an
important role to play here because as
the Southern Poverty Law Center points
out hate is an attack on the health of
the community
Russia is like cancer in this sense
Fiona Hill the Russian Eurasia director
in the National Security Council points
out that Russia saw a softening of
legitimacy in tensions between the
elites and the rest of society because
that’s all they’re ever on the lookout
for in there’s hills is the single most
important observation to date as to why
Russia attacked us when it did to return
to the Vietnam generation for a moment
this was an opportunity Russia saw as
once in a generation if not more by
pulling on the extremes on the far left
and the far right finding a certain
point of nationalist fury where they
meet and pulling hard divisions are
exacerbated welcome to active measures
the only way to defeat them is through
active resistance active measures
against the population are a smokescreen
this smokescreen creates an illusion a
fog of war look behind the curtain it is
designed to irritate those keen on
learning the truth in sorry like trump
russia tells so many lies even the lies
revealed for their lives you begin to
think that if someone knows the truth
something terrible happen to them that
it must be buried if not the person with
it so unknowable is the truth Russians
live double lives they’re used to this
this is part of their system it’s what
they know Americans are the opposite
everyone who came here or almost
everyone I should say and I should
emphasize that almost because there’s
significant population that was forced
here
um came here to a better life or they
found it when they got here eventually
after generations my father’s family as
I mentioned comes from Latvia our
experience is that progress comes
through keeping your head up I was
taught hope never dies in Russia by
contrast they say hope dies last this
abusive relationship that’s been created
with one another is the product of all
of this
Americans tore down Confederate statues
as a stand-in for the regime because
it’s what they know about such things
from television whether it’s statues of
Lenin and Ukraine in recent years or
Saddam Hussein in Iraq after the
invasion in 2003 the Russian government
feared the organizing power of social
media and color revolutions rather than
use these tools to improve their society
which could use it they reverse
engineered them used for their own
usually destructive and invariably self
self-serving purposes for the most part
the goals of Russian government are very
similar symbols Isom ‘pl namely money
and power
there are auxilary things too like
restored national glory and prestige
revenge is also very important to nation
states the backbone of Russia’s
political and economic elite often the
same is the Russian mafia and the Mafia
State the government is literally run
like a criminal enterprise and profits
from several now here’s what I might get
a little bit too optimistic but I think
Russian active measures failed and they
failed for good reason they failed
because the Russian leadership has no
idea what a free world mind is or how it
thinks our patterns of fear must be
different our people are willing to die
on the streets for what they believe not
because they want you they don’t but
because they fear their survival depends
on it
our national heroes and myths give life
to ordinary people rising above their
circumstances to be extraordinary so how
do you fight back as a regular American
well if the goal is to capture the state
no this is three things to the Russian
mind foreign policy defense and the
economy defend our institutions
everything else must belong to us in
civil society in the private sector we
could see there is some visible
infiltration in media businesses think
tanks and elsewhere we must push back
strongly be human and think of ways to
humanize the domestic opposition be
skeptical social justice is a national
security issue every police shooting is
an attack on our democracy how can we
make the case that democracy is the best
form of governance to protect the people
against the abuses the state is capable
of if we cannot protect our people how
do we show we’re united if mobs of white
men are beating Freedom Riders or
Freddie gray is getting bumped around in
the back of a paddy wagon our state
needs protection but not from our people
and our people should not need
protection from the states as every day
feels like a fresh horror do not forget
your anger do not forget the country we
had do not forget the country you want
to live in as a Soviet radio presenter
said while reporting on Khrushchev
secret speech no one can predict the
future but the past is changing before
our very eyes thank you
[Applause]
father was from a country that no longer
existed my father was a Baltic refugee
from Soviet occupied Latvia I was born
here in the magical year of 1984
well now Latvia exists again thank God
and 1984 has given way to this brave new
world my father’s family was divided by
the Cold War and it is from my family
and work that I’ve learned about
aggression and resistance I’m a
photographer and writer and I’ve spent
the last decade in and out of Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet space I
lived in Azerbaijan then in Turkey in
both countries I watched as autocrats
emerged to suck the oxygen out of their
societies in the past few years in the
u.s. I have focused on the topic of
police brutality and specifically one
ugly two decade-long case of police
torture on the south side of Chicago
the problem for our nation when such
cases emerged so it becomes much more
difficult to make the case that
democracy is the best form of government
to protect the citizens against the
abuse as a state is capable of in recent
weeks we have seen a rollout of facebook
ads created by Russia from groups with
names like black to vist black matters
don’t shoot us every police shooting and
every police officer who is shot at
represents a breakdown in the
relationship between the citizens and
the state something
the Russians have adeptly pounced on
with active measures the goal is to
divide people through the use of novelty
propaganda infiltration and incidents
every day we experience fresh attacks in
our country in ways that attack our
governments our civil society our tech
sector and in ways that stay off the
front page and are less visible to those
not trained to look for them controversy
is a useful wedge because the visual
symbols of the NFL are in Charlotte’s
are so much easier for most people to
grasp the bent knee the hand on the
heart the burning torch this brilliantly
sinisterly is what gets covered instead
of police brutality and racism and while
this conversation is important socially
culturally and politically its
appropriation by spectacle creates the
camouflage that permits Russian attacks
to continue pretty soon you become
convinced the Shannara is real and you
forget about Russia this is not an
accident active measures are designed to
divide and conquer operationally they
pull it fissures they take existing
divisions and exaggerate them when the
president tweets divisive ‘no smarty
realises in real life they say he is a
puppet but in this way he functions like
a puppet master some describe active
measures as political warfare but when
they are imposed on a population it is
psychological warfare the goal of active
measures is to capture the state and
seize it before the population wakes up
to the damage by then the authoritarian
mechanisms are in place and people can
be crushed washington has a three to
five year vision of history and capacity
for strategic planning Russia operates
on a much longer time frame think
generations instead of decades active
measures seek to isolate you active
measures try to take your head to a
space where fear and confusion rule but
you still act in such a way that an
outcome Russia desires as possible
Russian military doctrine at present is
such that there is no peace and war war
operates on a continuum mostly the goal
is to get you to turn against your
fellow Americans then keep your head
down and do nothing in Russia people are
accustomed to living double lives of
sorts
albe it not nearly as much as in the
past under the glorious lie of socialism
are accustomed to living this double
life they have the interior life and the
public life the public life keeps its
head down obeys instructions avoids
interactions with the police and the
state the private life the story is told
in the kitchen the view one has of
oneself this is all often in conflict
with the private life in the mind of a
Russian citizen who has never lived
safely and securely in freedom this
tension creates fear in Americans it can
also create fear but it can give life to
other things the Vietnam generation is
the generation the Soviet era KGB is
being the most promising in their eyes
if you listen to the defectors of the
late Soviet era this is what they will
tell you they will say that the
generation that tore itself apart along
political and racial lines will be
capable of dividing itself again the
Vietnam generation mistrusted
governments and they tore each other
apart along these political and racial
lines that war literally divided a
generation we have not been so divided
again until recently this is not an
accident
all those excuse me many of those who
fought and beat Freedom Riders who
taunted those who worked to integrate
lunch counters who sent dogs after
little girls they’re still alive and
among us and they’re old now so you know
they vote
it’s true sorry
um so you know they vote hate has an
important role to play here because as
the Southern Poverty Law Center points
out hate is an attack on the health of
the community
Russia is like cancer in this sense
Fiona Hill the Russian Eurasia director
in the National Security Council points
out that Russia saw a softening of
legitimacy in tensions between the
elites and the rest of society because
that’s all they’re ever on the lookout
for in there’s hills is the single most
important observation to date as to why
Russia attacked us when it did to return
to the Vietnam generation for a moment
this was an opportunity Russia saw as
once in a generation if not more by
pulling on the extremes on the far left
and the far right finding a certain
point of nationalist fury where they
meet and pulling hard divisions are
exacerbated welcome to active measures
the only way to defeat them is through
active resistance active measures
against the population are a smokescreen
this smokescreen creates an illusion a
fog of war look behind the curtain it is
designed to irritate those keen on
learning the truth in sorry like trump
russia tells so many lies even the lies
revealed for their lives you begin to
think that if someone knows the truth
something terrible happen to them that
it must be buried if not the person with
it so unknowable is the truth Russians
live double lives they’re used to this
this is part of their system it’s what
they know Americans are the opposite
everyone who came here or almost
everyone I should say and I should
emphasize that almost because there’s
significant population that was forced
here
um came here to a better life or they
found it when they got here eventually
after generations my father’s family as
I mentioned comes from Latvia our
experience is that progress comes
through keeping your head up I was
taught hope never dies in Russia by
contrast they say hope dies last this
abusive relationship that’s been created
with one another is the product of all
of this
Americans tore down Confederate statues
as a stand-in for the regime because
it’s what they know about such things
from television whether it’s statues of
Lenin and Ukraine in recent years or
Saddam Hussein in Iraq after the
invasion in 2003 the Russian government
feared the organizing power of social
media and color revolutions rather than
use these tools to improve their society
which could use it they reverse
engineered them used for their own
usually destructive and invariably self
self-serving purposes for the most part
the goals of Russian government are very
similar symbols Isom ‘pl namely money
and power
there are auxilary things too like
restored national glory and prestige
revenge is also very important to nation
states the backbone of Russia’s
political and economic elite often the
same is the Russian mafia and the Mafia
State the government is literally run
like a criminal enterprise and profits
from several now here’s what I might get
a little bit too optimistic but I think
Russian active measures failed and they
failed for good reason they failed
because the Russian leadership has no
idea what a free world mind is or how it
thinks our patterns of fear must be
different our people are willing to die
on the streets for what they believe not
because they want you they don’t but
because they fear their survival depends
on it
our national heroes and myths give life
to ordinary people rising above their
circumstances to be extraordinary so how
do you fight back as a regular American
well if the goal is to capture the state
no this is three things to the Russian
mind foreign policy defense and the
economy defend our institutions
everything else must belong to us in
civil society in the private sector we
could see there is some visible
infiltration in media businesses think
tanks and elsewhere we must push back
strongly be human and think of ways to
humanize the domestic opposition be
skeptical social justice is a national
security issue every police shooting is
an attack on our democracy how can we
make the case that democracy is the best
form of governance to protect the people
against the abuses the state is capable
of if we cannot protect our people how
do we show we’re united if mobs of white
men are beating Freedom Riders or
Freddie gray is getting bumped around in
the back of a paddy wagon our state
needs protection but not from our people
and our people should not need
protection from the states as every day
feels like a fresh horror do not forget
your anger do not forget the country we
had do not forget the country you want
to live in as a Soviet radio presenter
said while reporting on Khrushchev
secret speech no one can predict the
future but the past is changing before
our very eyes thank you
[Applause]
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