russian colonialism 101: the myth of russians winning ww2
for this edition, i will to focus on the glorified battlefield mythology of russian colonialism. to date, it remains the integral ideological foundation for russians to excuse colonial conquests, and fascist language towards neighbors. it helps to inflate supremacy sentiments among ethnic russians while keeping conquered indigenous people intimidated and cooperative. it is also often used to guilt-trip some western nations and dissuaded from criticism or sanctions targeting russian genocidal regime.
luckily, there's a growing body of historical research and reporting that helps to challenge this distorted propaganda narrative. to put it simply, there's hardly a single military battle, cherished by russian colonial mythology, that was achieved by russians on their own. I am going also to share a family story illustrating it that I’ve never shared in writing before.
but first, let me share this decolonizing postcard with you. solidarny dom kultury słonecznik, a brilliant group of ukrainian artists is promoting their collective anti-colonial work with this awesome t-shirt. they are planning a public drop for this fall and sent me one in advance. to the fury of my husband, i tried my best to recreate a sexy look for this postcard. because if you haven't educated yourself yet on russian colonialism thanks to my work, maybe you can do it because i am also hot?
here is what's in store for you this week:
Russia appropriates military victories of the past to reinforce its colonial future
how both Russian and Western colonial gazes render Ukrainians subhuman
how genocide-induced rage turbocharged decolonization of Ukrainians
only relatively recently, Russia has started denying its colonial nature. before, there were decades of Russian elites openly admitting it.
effective storytelling exposing Russian colonialism. insights from prominent Ukrainian digital storytellers
like it?
then slava ukrajini and let’s go.