Richard Turpin is a Swedish actor and theater director. In May 2024, he gave the following speech at the Swedish-Russian Friendship Association. Swedish mass media journalists such as Anna Gullberg, Linette Israelsson och Martina Montelius (Expressen.se), Erik Helmerson (DN.se), Erika Josefsson (TT.se), Adam Westin, and Annie Månsson (Aftonbladet.se) assaulted Turpin for the speech, which they claim idealized Putin and Russia in a ”prohibited” way.
NewsVoice translated the speech – filled with geopolitical insights – to stimulate the debate about peace and free speech.
The speech by Richard Turpin:
Peace. It is the peace that builds, embraces, teaches us to read and write, teaches us consideration, gives us time to grow, mature, age, learn, and teach, and it gives us time to joke. They build schools and musical instruments in peace, plowing, and farming in peace, and you can see your neighbor in peace.
Peace is not a ceasefire. Peace is development. Peace is confidence and hope.
Peace is developing your language, celebrating your holidays, and coming together for collective memories. Everyone knows that—Russians, Swedes, and everyone else, including Putin.
Russia does not begrudge peace. Russia needs peace.
Did Putin know that powerful forces begrudge Russia’s peace? Does the whole world begrudge peace? What he did not know, he has learned. The Russians have learned. What many already knew, they have learned.
Putin probably didn’t know that negotiations, diplomacy, and agreements mean nothing to those who practice the rules-based world order. Now he knows it, and now everyone knows it.
Did Putin know that it is possible to say anything about him in our part of the world? At least now he knows it. Did Putin know that Russia could withstand the most extensive sanctions war in the world? I don’t think he knew that. But now he knows, and the whole world knows that Russia is unbreakable.
Did Putin know that the defense of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics would decisively change the balance of power worldwide? I do not think so. Now he knows it, and the whole world knows it, including Washington, Paris, Brussels, and London.
That’s why Boris Johnson is openly telling us that a Russian victory in Ukraine means the end of Western hegemony. Now, it is not a secret anymore. With the West, it is not possible to live in peace.
As much as we love peace, the war in Ukraine and the Russian victory are of world-historical importance. Putin probably didn’t know that two years ago. Now everyone knows knows it. With the war in Ukraine, a whole new world is being torn apart.
Long live Russia.
Sources
- Swedish Russian Friendship Association: Vad Putin måste ha vetat och vad han inte kan ha vetat
- Ostgotateatern.se: Richard Turpin