27/10/2024
Zaporizhzhia is a city that has been in a complex, toxic, codependent relationship with industrial giants for decades, shaping not only its economic landscape but also the psychological dynamics of the community. To understand this relationship, it is worth turning to psychological concepts that explain the formation and development of a pathological addiction in which one party acts as a narcissistic abuser and the other becomes a victim, immersed in a sense of hopelessness and fixation on the abuser. This dynamic between the city and its industrial enterprises has its roots in the Soviet past, when forced industrialisation not only changed the physical appearance of the city, but also entrenched an inferiority complex in the minds of its inhabitants.
During the Soviet era, Zaporizhzhya became a field for radical industrial transformation. The peaceful agrarian community of Oleksandrivsk, which lived in harmony with nature, was drawn into large-scale economic plans without the consent or understanding of local residents. Deforestation, the construction of the huge Dnipro hydroelectric dam and the establishment of metallurgical enterprises destroyed the town's natural environment and changed its demographic and socio-cultural landscape. The local Ukrainian population was 'flooded' and 'diluted' by immigrants from Russia and other Soviet republics who came to earn money in the metallurgical plants. They often did not appreciate the local culture or environment and reduced life to an industrial assembly line.
This trauma, similar to early childhood psychological abuse, created a deep inferiority complex in the locals, who felt that their identity had no value. This process can be likened to introjection, a defensive psychological mechanism whereby a person accepts external evaluations or influences as their own, resulting in a loss of critical thinking. Local culture was suppressed and its manifestations replaced by superficial stereotypes known as 'sharovarshchyna', imposed to maintain loyalty to the Soviet government.
The industrial giants that emerged during this period began to play the role of narcissistic abusers in these relationships. As in interpersonal relationships, the narcissistic abuser has no empathy for the victim and manipulates them for his own benefit. Businesses dominated the economic life of the city and used their power to control the community. They imposed the myth that the city could not survive without them, teaching the local population to be dependent and subservient. This can be seen as a form of cognitive dissonance: despite the obvious damage caused by the companies' activities, residents began to justify their presence because economic dependence blocked the possibility of alternative thinking.
The city gradually became the victim of a codependent relationship in which the community experienced an economic, social and cultural inversion of its interests in favour of the industrial giants. In a codependent relationship, the victim is known to lose their autonomy and become dependent on the thoughts, decisions and actions of the abuser, while justifying their toxic behaviour. Similar to the victim in a narcissistic relationship, the community of Zaporizhzhia began to see industrial companies as the only way to survive, despite the constant environmental and socio-cultural damage they caused.
The industrial giants manipulated not only economic but also psychological aspects. They created the myth of the 'city of metallurgy', which constantly reinforced its indispensability while devaluing other aspects of the city's life. This narrative was repeated at every level - from official descriptions in the city's passport to cultural events - and became another element of manipulation that kept the community dependent. This is reminiscent of the mechanism of gaslighting, where the aggressor distorts the reality of the victim, making them doubt their own assessments and ability to change.
The community's economic dependence on these companies created a vulnerable psycho-emotional context in which fear of change and job loss paralysed any attempts to think critically about the situation. Many residents accepted the environmental and social losses as a necessary sacrifice for survival, further cementing codependent relationships. The imposed model of thinking did not allow people to see alternatives to the development of the city beyond the steel industry, creating a cognitive trap of hopelessness.
Modern Zaporizhzhia remains in this toxic relationship. The metallurgical giants, like an abuser, continue to block any attempts at modernisation or environmental transformation. They use their economic influence on local governments to ensure that the status quo is maintained, preventing the community from breaking out of this codependency. Their behaviour is consistent with the principles of emotional abduction, where any attempt by the community to raise its voice, express its needs or demand change is blocked by economic leverage and intimidation.
However, as in any codependent relationship, the first step towards liberation is to recognise the problem. The community of Zaporizhzhia must begin to question the narrative that has been imposed on them. The community of Zaporizhzhia should begin to question the narrative imposed on it, which boils down to the idea that the city will not survive without metallurgy. This belief in the indispensability of industrial giants is a kind of mental trap that paralyses the movement towards the development of new economic sectors and environmental modernisation.
Like a victim of narcissistic abuse, the community needs to rethink its values, start building autonomous development strategies and regain its identity. Breaking free from toxic relationships is not an easy process; it requires collective mobilisation, increased civic engagement and the construction of an alternative economic landscape. A return to environmental awareness and the development of technological and creative industries are the steps that can lead Zaporizhzhia out of codependency and transform it from a 'victim of industrialisation' into a city that belongs to its residents, not industrial giants.
Zaporizhzhia is about to make an important choice: to continue to coexist in a toxic relationship with narcissistic corporations, or to find the courage to break these ties and build a new future in which community, culture and ecology play a major role.
Denys Vasyliev
October 2024
Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine.
