Valdai Club

On September 24, 2024, the Valdai Discussion Club will hold a joint Russian-Indonesian conference in Jakarta. It offers something unique: in addition to the current foreign policy issues on the agenda of our countries, a special session of the conference will be devoted to the history of bilateral relations and the role of historical memory in the development of the bilateral dialogue. The partners of the Valdai Club at the event are the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) and the Federal Archival Agency of the Russian Federation. Historians and archivists from our two countries seek to conduct fruitful cooperation, joint exhibitions of archival documents, and establish scientific ties.

This combination of history and politics within the framework of one conference is of particular interest if we take into account the specifics of the evolution of our bilateral relations. It is no secret that during the Soviet period, they initially developed quite constructively under Indonesian President Sukarno. At that time, the Soviet Union provided support to Indonesia; with Soviet assistance, a number of significant social facilities (hospitals, stadiums, etc.) were built in the country. There was active political dialogue and interaction between the two countries in the international arena. The Soviet Union supported the movement of the newly independent states of the Global South towards greater independence in international affairs in their fight against colonialism and neocolonialism. Indonesia was one of the leaders of this movement at that time. The Bandung Conference held in the country in 1955 became a symbol of solidarity among the countries of the Global South, and its significance remains to this day. Then, under Indonesian President Suharto, our bilateral relations experienced a sharp cooling, and their restoration essentially occurred in the post-Soviet period, in modern Russia. Such polar dynamics of Russian-Indonesian relations in the past make issues of historical memory and the policy of its use especially significant in our bilateral context. A certain polarisation of historical memory in Indonesia itself also plays a role here.

The different attitudes of certain segments of society to the leaders of the past and to the policies they pursued sometimes have an impact on current civil processes in the country. But this is already an internal matter for Indonesia itself.

In this context, it seems appropriate to note that the policy of historical memory in its various aspects has been the focus of attention of the Valdai Discussion Club for a long time. Our Indonesian conference organically continues this theme in the activities of the club, adding new country-related aspects to it.

Therefore, on the eve of this conference, we believe it is entirely appropriate to refresh the memory of readers of the Valdai Club web site with some of our material that is devoted to the connection between history and the present day. In general, the following Valdai texts can be recalled in understanding the politics of historical memory in the modern world: “History and Tasks of Geopolitics”, “Images of the Past for the Image of the Future” . The connection between history and politics was also analysed in the context of the new official concept of the “civilization state” in Russia. One can also note the expert interview with Alexey Miller, “Battles for Historical Memory in the 21st Century”.  The close connection between historical memory and value policy was analysed in the text “Values ​​and Dreams of Values”.

All these issues were analysed at a special session on values ​​during the large annual conference of the Valdai Club in 2022, which saw the participation of Alexander Prokhanov, Yevgeny Primakov, Vitaly Naumkin and other experts . This section worked in an open format, and its video is available in full.

In recent years, the Valdai Club has paid special attention to expert analysis of Russian-African cooperation. The politics of historical memory also occupies a significant place here. To a certain extent, the thematic focus on the historical memory of the Soviet legacy in Africa (solidarity in the fight against colonialism and neocolonialism, support for socio-economic development) echoes the thematic focus of cooperation between the USSR and Indonesia in the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s. The issues of historical memory and its effective use in modern affairs were reflected in major expert reports by the Valdai Club, timed to coincide with the Russia-Africa summits in 2019  and in 2023. Also on the African theme, one can note Vladimir Shubin’s article “Russia Never Left Africa”, about the connection between the Soviet legacy and modernity. Roger Tsafack Nanfosso turned to the history of the concept of “Russafrika” and how much it can be in demand today.

Nourhan ElSheikh presented her view on the centenary of Egypt’s independence. Driss Guerraoui linked history with the tasks of rethinking the paradigm of modern African development. Ibrahima Diagne noted the role of history in the current tasks of African countries to overcome the colonial legacy.

A series of publications on the Valdai website dedicated to the evolution of the positions of various states during voting in the UN General Assembly also has a certain connection with history. These are materials about the voting of new and “old” BRICS members, about the positions of other large non-Western countries in the UN General Assembly , about the history of voting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict , and about voting in the UN Assembly in the 1980s in connection with the involvement of the USSR in the events in Afghanistan . Another topic of expert research by the Valdai Club is related to the historical memory of World War II. In 2020, for the 75th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War, the Club published a special report: “Forgive but Not Forget? The Image of War in Culture and Historical Memory” . 

Another Valdai Club report in 2019 was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the military conflict at Khalkhin Gol in the context of the politics of historical memory in Russia, Mongolia and Japan . Vladimir Pechatnov analysed the political significance of the Potsdam Conference of 1945. Matthias Uhl studied historical memory in Germany in connection with the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War . He also analysed the perception of historical memory in Russia and Japan in connection with the end of World War II.

The next thematic block of historical memory issues in the activities of Valdai Club is related to Serbia and the Balkans. Milana Živanović in her article “Memory vs. Oblivion” turned to the analysis of historical memory in modern Serbia about the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia , another of her texts is devoted to the connection between history and geopolitics in the Balkan context . On this topic, the Valdai Club held a special discussion on the topic “National Identity and Geopolitical Struggle” with the participation of Serbian philosopher Miša Durković. There was also a discussion about the historical significance of the breakup of Yugoslavia with the participation of the former Chairman of the Presidium of the SFRY Borisav Jovic. Regarding the role of historical memory in the United States, Travis Jones prepared an article for the centenary of the USSR about the perception of the Soviet Union as a "favourite villain" in the United States,  and Thomas Sherlock asked how legitimate the historical myth of the founding of the United States is now: . Marlene Laruelle wrote about the "monumental polemic" in the context of the demolition of monuments in the United States:.

In other Valdai texts, Ilya Dyachkov addressed the issues of historical memory in relations between South Korea and Japan , Matthias Uhl considered the influence of the GDR on the formation of historical memory and modern identity in Germany . Arnaud Dubien compared the historical memory of Charles de Gaulle with modern French presidents . Pascal Boniface explored the legacy of De Gaulle and Mitterrand for today's French politics. Vincent Della Sala turns to the analysis of the politics of historical memory in Italy: about the imperial past and its legacy,bas well as about the memory of the Italian Communist Party. In another article, he addressed the anniversary of the completion of the unification of Italy in 1870 and the problems of intra-Italian unity today. 

Damdin Tsogtbaatar studied the politics of historical memory in Mongolia in connection with the centenary of the modern country’s statehood . Alexey Miller examined the anniversary of the Russian Empire and the historical . Reinhard Krumm examined the anniversary of the unification of Germany in 1990 and how it is currently perceived in German society. The issues of the historical memory of the First World War in Russia and, in this regard, the roll call of past and modern conflicts were also touched upon. 

The Club's experts also memorialised the deaths of leading world politicians. Stefano Pilotto addressed the memory of Mikhail Gorbachev , texts were published about the historical legacy of Elizabeth II  and Jiang Zemin. Another text was dedicated to the memory of “Russia’s last friend” in the West – Silvio Berlusconi 
Finally, history is impossible without a projection into the future. In the turbulent conditions of our time, we turned to the dystopian genre. The world as a dystopia in reality was compared in this regard with famous literary examples of this genre.  

In this way, the Valdai Club has made its modest contribution to the study of the politics of historical memory in the modern world. The upcoming Russian-Indonesian conference of the Сlub, I am convinced, will make our analysis of history even more significant and multifaceted.