russian colonialism 101: russia is obsessed with artificial hunger.
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I have grown food since I can remember myself. We come from a village; even if you are not related to farming, you still grow something next to your house. Ukrainian city-dwellers farm, too. My parents moved to the city when I was growing up, and our courtyard of a big apartment block in southern-eastern Ukraine was dotted with vegetable mini-gardens. If not next to your house, folks had tiny land plots somewhere in the suburbs or on their balconies.
I always wondered why growing food is so integral to the Ukrainian way of life. Part of the reason is that we were horrendously poor. Back in the 1990s, putting self-cultivated food on our table sometimes was the only thing separating us from outright starvation. My parents would send me away for months to our ancestral farm just because they couldn't afford to feed me in the city. But even when the incomes improved, growing foods remained part of our lives. Only later I discover another, much darker reason behind it.
Artificial hunger is a fixture of Ukrainian history. The Russian colonial rule used it several times to strengthen the colonial grip over Ukraine (and not only in Ukraine). The worst of it happened in 1932-1933 when the Moscow-orchestrated starvation killed approximately 7-10 million Ukrainians.
The genocide left a deep mark on our society, especially in farming communities across Eastern, Central, and Southern Ukraine — where I am from. Self-reliant, Ukrainian-speaking folks who would harbor ancient Ukrainian traditions would be killed by it the most.
Discussing this tragedy wasn't encouraged in our families out of fear. Russian totalitarian rule made sure that those who survived shut their mouths forever about it. The Kremlin keeps denying the whole existence of the Holodomor genocide and other Moscow-made famines to this day.
But the generational trauma manifests in simple rituals. Like growing foods, unnecessarily lavish family dinners, or instinctively cringing at the thought of food waste — no matter what, I must finish the meal, no matter how unpleasant the food is.
This trauma is triggered in a new way during the ongoing genocide in Ukraine. You can't imagine the sheer horror, insult, and heartbreak each and every Ukrainian experience while watching footage of Russian occupying forces stealing Ukrainian grain and food. Not only do the colonizers make billions off the loot, but they are also open about the desire to lay the ground for another artificial famine in Ukraine.
You can terrorize, bomb, and torture us, but stealing our food would make the biggest crime.
That's why growing foods has also become the ultimate symbol of defiance for Ukrainians today. The tractor troops. Ukrainian farmers sowing at gunpoint and amid airstrikes. Even in my own garden — growing vegetables and sunflowers turned this year into my own, small and symbolic, but an act of defiance and perseverance.
here is what’s in store for you this week:
the story of the Ukrainian hunger made by Russian colonialism;
how Russia used movies to colonize and mess with the Ukrainian national identity and history of anti-colonial struggle;
the newest episode of Russian Colonialism, Exposed explainers is about the 1918 Russian invasion of Estonia;
to honor the pride month and Ukrainian queer fighters risking their lives to defend us from fascism, #UkrainianSpaces latest looks at the intersection of queerness and colonialism.
like it?
then slava ukrajini and let's go.