russian colonialism 101: russia's imperial innocence.
I stopped paying attention to mad ramblings of russian fascist duce some years ago — there's little new I can learn from putin's speeches. Plus, they are exhaustingly repetitive and borrow heavily from other more prominent fascist addresses of the past. However, there's one thing in the latest one (the ukraine annexation meltdown) that was extra hilarious: a 15-minute rant had 11 mentions of 'colonialism' in it. This is a classic russian DARVO move of reverse victimization and appropriation, perfected over centuries of practice: the second they are shamed for anything, russians play a victim card themselves and hijack it from their own victims. From putin to russian opposition, this tactic is on full display these days.
But the important thing is the timing. This kremlin attempt to appropriate the colonization narrative is happening as the global conversation about the nature of russian colonialism is starting to trend and enters the mainstream. This alarms me because hijacking historical narratives is what Moscow does the best. It happened countless times over the last several centuries. We cannot let it happen again.
That's why it is important to amplify and center the voices carrying the colonization trauma to explain russian colonialism. Voices like brilliant Kazakh scholar Botakoz Kassymbekova. She coined the term 'imperial innocence,' which labeled the culture of russian denial of its own imperial and colonial history. Or Ukrainian filmmaker Oleksiy Radynski who is reclaiming appropriated historical narratives from moscow by pointing out that russian colonialism started and, therefore, should end in Kyiv. Compare this crystal-clear, simple, and understandable perspective with centuries of platforming russian scholars who would feed the world with 'mysterious russian soul' bs.
Colonialism is better explained by the colonized, not the colonizers.
NEWSLETTER UPDATE: based on your feedback, free press eristavi is becoming shorter, with the focus on the curation of cool russian colonialism content I come across online. it will be more frequent, too. thanks for your support and solidarity, folks.
here is what's in store for you this week:
forgotten testimonies of russian colonialism victims in a unique document from 1954
a reminder that russian colonialism is a cosplay of western white settler colonialism, and not even a good one
what's the difference between fascist kremlin and russian opposition when it comes to russian colonialism and Ukrainians? there's none
moscow doesn't like to talk about it anymore, but generations of russian elites have been obsessed with white supremacy and colonial ambitions about Africa
one of the most important explainers about the nazi nature of russian colonialism ever written