Russian Colonialism, Exposed: Bashqortostan 1917-1920

They were brilliant opera singers, poets, writers, and scientists in their 20s. But one day, they had to take up arms instead and become soldiers to fight the absolute evil. Sounds like Ukraine in 2024, right? But it is the story of Bashqortostan’s collapsed struggle for independence a century ago. Another generation of fearless indigenous voices was erased by Russia for daring to say ‘no’ to the empire.

Anti-war protests in the Russian Federation don’t make many global headlines — just because there are almost none. The support for genocide, especially among the white and ethnic Russian majority, is pervasive and at an all-time high. Why wouldn’t they be for the war since not the empire’s titular nation bears the heaviest cost of this genocide — Moscow turns colonized indigenous communities into a steady source for ‘meat assaults’ on the frontline. That’s why sporadic anti-mobilization uprisings in current Russian colonies do happen. One of the recent ones, in Bashqortostan, inspired me to re-do one of the earliest Russian Colonialism, Exposed episodes - this one looks into Russian unprovoked aggression against Bashqurtustan in 1917-1920, one of the first Muslim democracies in history. During the latest outburst of anti-colonial pushback in the colony, many foreign “experts” ultimately failed to explain this context of multi-century colonial abuse of the Bashqort by Russians.

The series is based on my newly-released ‘Russian Colonialism 101’ pocket guidebook.

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