Thread by @ZakesMda

1/8 Just historical facts that have nothing to do with why you should choose to support which side in the current war in the northern climes:
The Russian Federation is NOT the former Soviet Union. The United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a federation of 15 republics.

2/8 Russia was only one of the 15 republics. Others included Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan etc. It is the USSR (all those 15 republics together, including Ukraine) that supported the ANC and our Communist Party during the struggle and not Russia.

3/8 In fact a lot of our people were based in Kiev (as Kyiv was then called). Some of the medical doctors in ANC camps were products of Kiev. My own plays, We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and Dark Voices Ring were performed in Kiev in Russian during that period.

4/8 Though current Russian Federation sees itself as inheritor of the “good” legacy of the USSR (nuclear arsenal, Kremlin, Euro-Russian culture etc) it is not the USSR in very important ways. The USSR identified itself as socialist, aiming to achieve communism one day, & atheist.

5/8 The Russian Federation on the other hand is an oligarchic capitalist state with the Russian Orthodox Church as an important source of power. The current government espouses white nationalism & conservative values. (In practice we see these values in Ukraine as well)

6/8 It’s in pursuit of these values that Russia is a major funder of rightwing European parties such as National Front (France), Jobbik (Hungary), Freedom Party (Austria), Golden Dawn (the Greek neo-fascist party). Russia is the major inspiration of Trumpism in the USA

7/8 That is why this week at CPAC, the annual conservative conference in the USA, all the Republican leaders there were full of praise for Mr Putin. They state it unequivocally that Russia is the last bastion for the survival of both the white person & Christianity in the world.

8/8 The deep romance between present-day Russian and USA white nationalism (main faction of the Republican Party, Fox News, January 6 Movement etc) is therefore not just a fleeting Trumpian idiosyncrasy. It is deeply ideological and is a function of shared values.