Thread by @ahatanhel

Today Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars. The tragic fate of the people reminds us of the crimes of Stalin's regime and injustice of the Russian settler colonialism and annexation of the Crimea in 2014.
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On settler colonialism there's article by Anna Engelhardt and Sasha Shestakova
cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Next I quote here an excellent piece by @MashaShynkaren1
democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…
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"almost 200,000 Crimean Tatars were torn from their beds in the middle of the night, and forced into cattle wagons."
democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…
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"Accused of collaboration with the Nazis by Joseph Stalin, they were declared the traitors and enemies—despite many of the male Tatars serving in the Red Army and receiving medals for their military bravery."
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"Crimean Tatars arrived in the remote regions of Central Asia, nearly 2,000 miles from home, many had perished from overcrowding and starvation aboard the wagons."
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"In total, almost half the population died in the labor camps from hunger, unsanitary conditions, disease, and fatigue. Those who defied odds and lived through the harsh conditions of exile, committed to return to their homeland Crimea and rebuild their lives."
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"Although they were officially rehabilitated by the Khrushchev government in 1967, they were still not allowed to return to Crimea and fought vigorously to prove their innocence."
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"Returning to Crimea in the early 1990s after almost forty years of nonviolent resistance, Crimean Tatars found themselves living alongside the perpetrators and their descendants. From NKVD officers, directly responsible for the deportation,"
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"to Russian settlers,who came to occupy the Crimean Tatar property after 1944,to local officials,who fought intensely to prevent the return of “Tatar traitors,” the Crimean Tatars have been surrounded by people who neither recognized nor atoned for the violence they committed"
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"the Crimean authorities and local Slavic settlers have perpetuated the colonial relations in the post-Soviet context. They have been contesting the right of the Crimean Tatar for self-determination in Crimea as indigenous peoples."
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"Only 30% of college-age respondents in Crimea regarded the deportation in 1944 as unfair and criminal. The survivors of the deportation recounted numerous stories of settlers who denied them the mere opportunity to visit the houses where they or their ancestors had lived."
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"Blatant racism and Islamophobia against the Tartars is presented as “ethnic tension” as if it is some “civilizational” difference that prevents the groups from living peacefully side by side."
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"In fact, the evidence of bullying and violence against both the Crimean Tatar children and adults in schools, workplaces, streets, and markets is overwhelming."
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"The mechanisms of institutionalized racism have worked perfectly to prevent the Crimean Tatars from rising economically and participating in political processes."
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"eighty years after the tragedy the community still has no protection from the real threat of re-deportation. With a new wave of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, the threat of the repeated deportation is at an all time high."
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democracyseminar.newschool.org/essays/may-18-…

"In 2014 Russian civilians had painted red crosses on the homes of Cr. Tatars, anticipating their exile and hoping to occupy their homes. For eight years now,the Russian Federation occupying Crimea has been putting deliberate efforts to suppress the Crimean Tatars’ culture"
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Those who justify Russia's annexation of Crimea have understood that they support the colonial policy, through which Crimea became Russian and indigenous people are still experiencing oppression.

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I don't know what the optimal solution for Crimea might be. I don't want Ukraine to return Crimea by military means. But I also find it unacceptable to leave everything as it is.
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