„Jeste li hrišćanin?”- upita me kelnerica, pre nekoliko sedmica, u jednom restoranu u Šarlotu, u američkoj Severnoj Karolini. Zatečen pitanjem, koje bi u Evropi bilo isuviše lično, dok bi ga neko možda protumačio i kao udar na privatnost, okrenuh se i pažljivije je pogledah. Simpatična sredovečna gospođa, četvrtaste, tipično američke građe, bezazlenog lika. Zašto me je to pitala? Odakle joj takvo pitanje? Čula je da se za našim stolom razgovara na srpskom jeziku. Iz naše potonje konverzacije bilo je jasno da o pravoslavlju i Srbima nije znala gotovo ništa. Ipak je, dok je čekala da naručimo ručak, nizom novih pitanja, nastojala da tačno razabere u šta to veruju pravoslavni hrišćani. To nije bila puka radoznalost. Ruku punih čaša i tanjira, nije ni mogla ni htela da nas preobraćuje u svoju veru. Nije imala ni trunku od one tipične nasrtljivosti američkih propovednika. Nalazili smo se, istina, u „biblijskom pojasu” južnih američkih država, u kojima Sveto pismo, crkva i vera nisu tek obične reči. Šarlot se i danas, odmilja, naziva „gradom crkava”. Pa ipak, pitanje je bilo neočekivano, možda ponajviše zbog mesta i trenutka u kom je postavljeno. Od početka mi se činilo, i taj utisak se vremenom u meni samo pojačava, da ovim pitanjem nije toliko htela da sazna ko smo mi, koliko da nama kaže ko je ona. Bilo je to kao da je nosila majicu ili bedž sa natpisom: „Ja sam hrišćanka”. Govorila mi je kasnije, radosno i otvoreno, o svojoj anabaptističkoj veri i o svom pastoru. Ali zašto je htela da se na ovaj način predstavi pred strancima? Osnovni utisak koji nosim sa tog dugog putovanja kroz petnaest država SAD jeste – gotovo opipljiva napetost. Osetite je čim otvorite novine ili uključite televizor. SAD nisu od juče podeljene na protestantsku, belu, konzervativnu unutrašnjost i na multikulturne, multirasne, liberalne gradove. Linije podele nikada nisu bile jednostavne i jednosmerne. Ponekad krivudaju kroz ista sela i gradove, pa čak i kroz iste porodice. U SAD je, međutim, danas u toku doskora nezamisliv kulturni rat. Gospođa iz restorana u Šarlotu htela je, uprkos ko zna kome, da objavi čijem svetu pripada. I da objavi da je spremna da stane u njegov stroj. Ratne sekire iskopane su onog časa kada se za predsednika SAD kandidovao Donald Tramp. Američki narod, ili njegova konzervativna većina, uprkos medijskoj hajci, pošteno ga je izabrao. Oni koji su do juče bili na vlasti, u eri dinastija Klinton i Buš, poznati pod različitim imenima - liberalne elite, neokonzervativci, duboka država, vojno-industrijski kompleks – od tada pokušavaju da ponište volju naroda i sruše Donalda Trampa. Američki predsednik je pre nekoliko dana na svom tviter nalogu citirao izjavu jednog od vodećih anabaptističkih pastora u zemlji Roberta Džefrisa koji kaže da bi Trampov opoziv mogao da izazove drugi građanski rat u SAD, sličan onom vođenom od 1861. do 1865. godine. Ovakve bojazni dolaze i iz kulture velikih gradova. Jedan od onih koji ih iznose jeste i uticajni istoričar Najal Ferguson. On je još prošle godine upozorio na to da će u vreme predsedničkih izbora 2020. godine SAD biti „posebno ranjive na nasilna previranja”. Uočio je nepomirljiv rečnik i dela Trampovih levičarskih protivnika. Nije zaboravio ni na neprijatnu sličnost sa 1860. godinom, kada je deo zemlje krenuo u građanski rat i secesiju, zbog toga što je odbio da prihvati rezultate izbora na kojima je pobedio Abraham Linkoln. Štaviše, Ferguson nije propustio da pomene da je za ovu analogiju prvi put čuo od predsednikovog glavnog ideologa, Stivena Benona. Čitaoci „Politike” setiće se da je u građanskom ratu između Unije i Konfederacije stradalo preko 600.000 Amerikanaca, više nego u oba svetska rata uzeta zajedno. Moderne SAD rođene su u građanskom ratu. To je bila čak i Američka revolucija, u kojoj su opljačkani i proterani svi lojalisti, verni britanskoj kruni, po nekim izvorima cela trećina stanovnika tadašnjih kolonija. Američka kultura i danas opsesivno pokušava da reši dva najsloženija pitanja američke istorije, uništenje starosedelaca i porobljavanje Afrikanaca. Konfliktni potencijal američkog društva je ogroman. Na ulicama Detroita i Los Anđelesa on je golim okom vidljiv. Zapadna antisrpska medijska propaganda iz devedesetih prošlog veka, u prvoj deceniji 21. veka usmerena je protiv Rusa, da bi se danas vratila kući i okrenula protiv ubedljive većine sopstvenih građana. Trampove glasače i one koji su podržali britanski bregzit ona gotovo svakodnevno doslovno dehumanizuje. Kako će se to završiti, ostaje da se vidi. Sve ukazuje na to da čekanje i jačanje moraju da budu ključ naše ukupne spoljne politike.
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“Are you a Christian?” A waiter asked me a few weeks ago at a restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wondered by a question that would be far too personal in Europe, while someone might also interpret it as a blow to privacy, I turned and looked at her more carefully. Cute middle-aged lady, square, typically American-looking, unsuspecting character. Why did she ask me that? Where did she get such a question?
She heard that Serbian was being spoken at our table. It was clear from our later conversation that she knew almost nothing about Orthodoxy and Serbs. Still, as she waited for us to order lunch, she tried to understand exactly what Orthodox Christians believed in a series of new questions. It was not mere curiosity.
Hand full of glasses and plates, she could not even convert us to her faith. She didn't even have a shred of that typical preacher's naughtiness.
We were, indeed, in the "Bible Belt" of the southern American states, in which Scripture, church, and faith were not mere words. Charlotte is still called the "city of churches" today. Yet, the question was unexpected, perhaps mostly because of the place and the moment at which it was asked.
From the beginning, it seemed to me, and that impression only intensified over time, that with this question she did not want so much to find out who we were, but to tell us who she was. It was as if she was wearing a T-shirt or badge that read "I'm a Christian." She spoke to me later, joyfully and openly, about her Anabaptist faith and her pastor. But why did she want to present herself to strangers in this way?
The basic impression I carry from that long journey through fifteen US states is - almost a palpable tension. Feel it as soon as you open the newspaper or turn on the TV. The United States has not been divided since yesterday into Protestant, white, conservative interiors and into multicultural, multiracial, liberal cities. The dividing lines have never been simple and one-way. Sometimes they wander through the same villages and towns and even through the same families. In the US, however, a cultural war is unimaginable today. A lady from a restaurant in Charlotte, despite knowing who to whom, wanted to announce to whom she belonged. And to announce that she is ready to fit in his machine.
The hatchets were excavated the moment Donald Trump was running for president. The American people, or its conservative majority, in spite of the media chase, chose it fairly. Those who were in power in the Clinton and Bush dynasties until yesterday, known by different names - liberal elites, neo-conservatives, deep state, military-industrial complex - have since tried to undo the will of the people and overthrow Donald Trump. A few days ago, the US president quoted on his twitter account a statement from one of the country's leading Anabaptist pastors, Robert Jeffries, saying that Trump's recall could trigger another US civil war, similar to the one conducted from 1861 to 1865.
Such fears also come from the culture of big cities. One of those who bring them up is the influential historian Najal Ferguson. He warned last year that the United States would be "particularly vulnerable to violent turmoil" at the time of the 2020 presidential election. He noted the irreconcilable vocabulary and actions of Trump's left-wing opponents. He did not forget the unpleasant resemblance to 1860, when part of the country embarked on civil war and secession, for refusing to accept the election results won by Abraham Lincoln. Moreover, Ferguson did not fail to mention that he first heard of this analogy from the president's chief ideologue, Stephen Benon.
Readers of Politics will recall that over 600,000 Americans were killed in the civil war between the Union and the Confederacy, more than in both world wars combined. The modern United States was born in the Civil War. It was even the American Revolution, in which all loyalists loyal to the British Crown were robbed and expelled, according to some sources, as much as a third of the inhabitants of the colonies of that time. American culture still obsessively seeks to address two of the most complicated issues in American history, the destruction of Indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Africans. The conflicting potential of American society is enormous. In the streets of Detroit and Los Angeles, he is visible to the naked eye.
Western anti-Serb media propaganda of the 1990s, directed against the Russians in the first decade of the 21st century, to return home today and turn against a convincing majority of its own citizens. She virtually dehumanizes Trump voters and those who have backed British bergsit almost daily.
How this will end remains to be seen. All this indicates that waiting and strengthening must be the key to our overall foreign policy.