russian colonialism 101: myths, myth-busters and why i am hopeful.
I am hopeful about our future. Hear me out.
Russian Colonialism 101 is the first newsletter to shed light on Russian colonialism. The opening essay is public; the curated reading lists are behind a paywall. This newsletter is part of the Volya Hub network, expanding global awareness of Russian colonialism.
hey there,
Instead of doom-scrolling, panicking, and becoming disillusioned, how about I share with you stories that make me hopeful about our future? Please take a close look at these five faces.
The first, from the left, is Sheikh Mansur. In the late 18th century, this young indigenous leader of the North Caucasian nations mounted a legendary anti-colonial resistance. For over a decade, he successfully fought a ginormous and wealthy Russian empire with just a fraction of the resources the invading colonizers had. An incredibly handsome man with an outstanding public speaking gift, he recruited several local nations to fight the creeping Russian colonization — the first international anti-colonial alliance this region has ever seen. Russians kidnapped him in his early thirties, and after a couple of years of torture, he died in a St. Petersburg fortress. However, his resistance pushed back the Russian colonization of the North Caucasus for almost a century. Most Chechens and Circassians still consider Sheikh Mansur a national hero and are inspired by him daily in their struggle for independence. At the same time, his name still triggers fear and anxiety among imperialists in Russia - so much so that one of the international battalions in Ukraine proudly carries his name.
The second from the left is Wiesław Chrzanowski, one of the leaders of the Warsaw Uprising, a heroic chapter of the Polish anti-colonial resistance against the coordinated occupation of the country by Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. Moscow plotted against the uprising to be completely annihilated, but Chrzanowski survived. He got his legal degree at the underground university while fighting in the trenches. He later used it to power up Solidarność, a Polish pro-democratic movement that successfully toppled the puppet regime installed by Moscow. It took several decades of facing the unlikely odds, overwhelming invader, and bleak prospects, but Chrzanowski passed away in 2012, living in a free, independent, and democratic Poland.
The third from the left is Viktorija Daniliauskaitė, a founding mother of the Lithuanian modern art. She was born in deportation in Northern Asia, where Russian colonial authorities sent her family, along with tens of thousands of Lithuanians, so Moscow could clear the land for Russian settler colonists during the post-WWII occupation of the country. Not only did she resist Russification and identity erasure, but she also nurtured ancient Lithuanian folk traditions in her art. Despite imperial censorship dismissing indigenous art as silly, primitive, and outdated, she defiantly carried the ancestral spirit in her works, making them relevant and organically fitting into modern art. Fusing the bits of almost erased mythology of the Lithuanian folklore, Daniliauskaitė reshaped it into the modern identity of the Lithuanian art school, making a massive impact on the post-colonial Baltic culture. After Lithuania regained independence in 1990, she became one of the most celebrated European artists.
The fourth from the left is Maro Makashvili, a Georgian frontline nurse, the face of the anti-colonial resistance of Sakartvelo in the 1920s. Her generation successfully resisted Russian invasion for several years despite being dramatically outnumbered and abandoned by the rest of the world (I share her story in Matryoshka of Lies, too.) Makashvili remains an inspiration for many young Georgians today, heroically defending their democracy from Moscow.
The fifth from the left is Ḵʼalyaan (Katlian), a war chief of the Kiks.ádi ("Ones of Kíks", Frog/Raven) clan, belonging to the Tlingit indigenous nation in Alaska. His people, armed with just hammers and a bit of gunpowder, derailed the Russian colonization of their lands for almost two years. When Russians returned with revenge in 1804, Kʼalyaan led a four-day resistance effort facing several Russian battleships with at least 14 guns. They were overrun by the colonizers and suffered ethnic cleansing (I covered this in the latest episode of Matryoshka of Lies), but the nation survived. The Battle of Sitka entered the history books as one of the most daring anti-colonial pushbacks in Northern American history.
These five people come from different cultures and distant lands, and they do not share a religion, ancestry, or skin color.
But what do they share?
First, the same abuser - Russian colonial empire. Second, their extraordinary bravery in exposing the mythology designed to keep fascist Russian colonialism hidden in plain sight. The myths like Russia being untouched by the sin of colonialism and having nothing in common with the history of Western colonialism. Or myths like Russia saying its neighbors failed to produce cultures anywhere close to the great Russian one. Or the one where Russia says ‘we are bringing civilisation,’ ‘we came to protect you’ and ‘we are defending ourselves.’
Every time Russia says it is the largest country by territory that came together in hugs, friendship, and mutual respect, remember these stories challenging this lie. Despite the Kremlin doing everything possible so the names of Mansur, Ḵʼalyaan, Daniliauskaitė, Makashvili, and Chrzanowski are forever erased and forgotten, their extraordinary resistance profoundly impacted our history. But most importantly, their struggle is a good reminder that resisting an empire and darkness is never futile. History is made, and empires are broken by ordinary people showing extraordinary bravery in the face of the bleakest, most unlikely prospects.
REMINDER: founding subscribers to my Substack and members of the highest tier on my Patreon have access to the Russian Colonialism 101 micro-website — the only live-updating database with the most relevant sources about Russian colonialism.
here is what's in store for you this week:
This is not the first time Russia has demanded ‘neutrality’ from a neighbor in history. But all those who agreed in the past got invaded, colonized, and genocided by the Kremlin anyway.
Killing a city is the favorite pastime of Russian colonizers and has been for centuries;
Fact-checking Russian imperial propaganda about Ukraine being the hotbed of antisemitism and how it helped to reinforce Russian colonization of Ukraine;
“No Muslim land under imperial rule has ever been subjected to white colonization to the same extent as Russian Central Asia”;
Imperial Russia insists it had never re-settled black population. It is a lie;
curious for more? let's go.