One of the greatest ballet dancers the world has ever produced waded into the presidential race in a big way. More than 30 years after becoming a citizen of this country, Mikhail Baryshnikov offered a ringing endorsement of Hillary Clinton. He said that he felt compelled to do so because Donald Trump has stirred up uncomfortable memories of the Soviet Union at its worst.
Baryshnikov teamed up with the progressive artist collectives ART NOT WAR and Humanity for Hillary to deliver a message to his adopted country–we must do all we can to help Hillary win. Watch it here.
Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1974 while on tour in Toronto. He became an American citizen in 1986. In that time, he has never gotten involved in politics. However, he believes he had to speak out after hearing “rhetoric that reminds me of the Soviet Union of my youth.” In an obvious dig at Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Baryshnikov said that he grew up in a country “where it is a crime, and continues to be a crime, to be different.”
Misha is grateful that America opened its doors to him, “and that welcome has made my life possible.” He sees an America that “welcomes people of all nations, all religions, and supports all forms of human expression.” He says that he is supporting Hillary because “she has fought for that America for 50 years.” For that reason, he believes Hillary is best suited to “provide sane, steady leadership in a complex world.”
Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric hits a very raw nerve with Baryshnikov. As Baryshnikov sees it, Trump is no different from the likes of Joseph Stalin and Leonid Brezhnev.
“Take it from one who knows. Hundreds of thousands of people like me have fled from countries led by dangerous totalitarian opportunists like Donald Trump. Don’t let that happen to our beautiful United States of America.”
In a press release, Baryshnikov said he felt he had to do something more than vote after seeing Trump’s “flirtations with the Kremlin.” Combined with his anti-immigrant rhetoric, it led him to team up with ART NOT WAR and Humanity for Hillary to make “a direct call to action.”
Humanity for Hillary executive director Laura Dawn, who directed Baryshnikov’s video, was equally unnerved by Trump’s unabashed sympathies with Russia. She reminded viewers that in Putin’s Russia, “artists, activists, journalists, and LGBTQ people have been beaten, arrested, and killed.” In other words–just like in Soviet times, being different is a crime.
Baryshnikov made this country his home because he knows it is great. Now he wants to keep it that way by helping Hillary win. Bravo, Misha.
(featured image courtesy Knight Foundation, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)
