Thread by @Baccietto

🧵 Why the Russian Empire must decolonize and what that should look like (roughly). A long thread targeted at Europeans for brevity.

Russia’s population is an estimated 143 million people, of which Russia claims 131 million as ethnic Russians. Adjusting for proportional population growth since the 1897 census, and discounting assimilation, the "ethnic" Russian population is likely closer to 113 million.

So how did Russia grow a population so much larger than the rest of Europe? The answer is quite simply, assimilation. Which is why "ethnic" Russian needs an asterisk.

“Russian” as we understand it today began, similar to Ukrainians and Belarusians as Slavic tribes banded together to form a unified identity. Unlike Ukrainians or Belarusians however, Russians are no longer predominantly Slavic and their population grew through assimilation.

East of the original homeland of the Slavic Russians, they began to expand assimilating peoples and wiping out cultures. Largely Finnic and Baltic peoples like the Merya and Muroma, among others, who once assimilated established the modern Russian ethnicity.

As recently as the 1897 Russian census there were still over 50,000 Meschera in Russia. Today there are none. This genocide was not with guns, it was a cultural genocide. (See Lemkin, 1944: Intentional destruction of a culture, not necessarily involving killing).

Today, dozens of ethnicities are undergoing the same process. Peoples of subjugated ethnicities are being assimilated over decades and centuries, absorbed into the Russian identity, now identifying as ethnic. Russian themselves. This is how the “Russian” population got so large.

Lenin called this ideology “Great Russian Chauvanism,” and actively fought against Russian superiority. Lenin tried to promote the rights of oppressed nations to self-determination, to equality, and to linguistic/cultural rights. We know now these ideas didn’t get far in Russia.

But who are these oppressed nations? These people under constant threat of assimilation and cultural extinction today? Many in the West are unaware, blissfully ignorant that colonialism is still alive in well in Europe and Asia within the Russian “Federation.”

The Udmurts. In 1897 their population was 420,000. Given the standard European population growth rate, their population should be around 860,000 today but it is only 560,000. In their homeland of Udmurtia they represent only 28% of the population today.

Udmurts are related to Finns. They are Europeans, traditionally with pale skin and red hair. Not what many in the West think of when they think of colonized peoples suffering oppression. A people many Europeans can relate to, who deserve freedom, self-determination, and to exist.

In 2019, Prof. Albert Razin, an Udmurt, set himself on fire to protest Russian assimilation. A banner beside his body read, “If my language disappears tomorrow, I am ready to die today.” But where are the “Free Udmurtia” bags and protests? Perhaps people are too busy with Tibet?

Next, Mordvins. In 1897 their population was over 1 million. Their population today should be over 2 million, but instead their population has declined to 750,000. Their homeland is more than twice the size of modern Mordovia, yet they make up less than 40% of the population.

Mordvins are also related to Finns. They are Europeans, but their language has all but been replaced by Russian. Mordvins are on the front lines of Russian imperialism and assimilation, but their culture and identity deserves to survive as much as any European culture.

Next the Komi. In 1897 their population was 260,000 and today is 430,0000, although the population should be roughly 100,000 more if not for assimilation and oppression. In 1926 they represented 92% of the population in most parts of their homeland, today they are less than 20%.

The Komi are another Finnic people, like Finnish and Estonian. The Komi homelands were, like Australia was for the British, a place for Soviets to send political prisoners. Combined with an active effort to destroy Komi identity, today Komi culture is being destroyed by Russia.

Fourth, the Mari people. In 1897 their population was 375,000. Today it is 560,000, 205,000 less than the growth should have been. Today they represent only 43% of the population in their homeland.

In 2001, Leonid Markelov was appointed head of the Mari Republic and it has since been subjected to intense Russification. The Mari language is no longer taught. In 2005, the European Commission expressed concern over oppression of the Mari - surprise, that didn’t help.

The Mari are European. They are Finnic. You would not look at them twice if you saw them walking through Stockholm or Helsinki or Berlin. Sadly, however, they are not seen by the West and if Russia has its way they may one day never be seen again.

Next there are the Sami people, a people whose territory expands across northern Scandinavia. Their population in Russia from 1897 to today has remained roughly stable at 2,000. There are 700,000 Russian colonists on their land.

Then there are the Finnish peoples. The Ingrians, Karelians, Izhorians, Vepsians and Chuds. Altogether their population in 1897 was 390,000. Today it is 143,000. Compare that with Finland, which went from 2.6 million in 1897 to 5.5 million today.

Further south we have the Circassians, including the Abkhaz and the Kabardians, victims of genocide. From 1763-1867 over 80% of the population was killed or expelled from their homelands. Sochi, in Circassia, has become a favorite symbol in Russia of its dominance and greatness.

Today, roughly 2.3 million Circassians remain in their homelands while over 5 million remain displaced in other nations. Over 7 million Russian colonists occupy Circassian lands. The native population would assuredly be far higher than that 7 million were it not for genocide.

Circassians are a European, Caucasian people. Before the Russian genocide, Circassians were thought by many to be the epitome of European beauty. Today, they are forgotten while Russian colonists build homes on their lands.

Next there are the Chechens and Ingush, or the Nakh people. A population that, to this day, tries to resist Russian assimilated and colonization. In 1944 nearly 1/3 of their population was forcibly resettled to Kazakhstan and other turkic nations.

25.Chechens and Ingush, like Circassians and Georgians are European. Today nearly 2 million are subjection to oppression by Russian imperialism. In 1999 the city of Grozny was bombed by Russia killing 35,000. The penalty for not being Russian in the Russian “Federation.”

Next there are the Lezgins (including Tabasarans, Tsakhurs, Rutuls, and Aghuls). While some Lezgins live in Azerbaijan, over 500,000 live under Russian colonial oppression in southern Dagestan. Like the Chechens/Ingush, in the 1940s the Lezgins suffered mass forced locations.

Unlike in Anzerbaijan, Lezgins in Russia are kept poorly educated with a 32% unemployment rate. While there is a desire among the population for self-determination, a lack of employment and education, and fear of Russia since the attack against Chechnya keeps the Lezgins subdued.

Also in Dagestan are the Laks. A European ethnicity of about 200,000. In 1877 many Laks were forcibly relocated to remote areas of the Russian empire. Lak resistance was oppressed against in 1930 and 1944, and today the descendants of former victims of oppression cry for freedom.

Next, the Dargins with a population of 590,000 were an independent and thriving nation until Russian colonial conquest. The Dargins have fought against Russian oppression since their conquest and Dargins have resisted Russian oppression with most still speaking Dargi.

There are also roughly 1 million Avars in Russian Dagestan. Since Russian colonization began in the 1800s, Avars suffered extreme taxation and property loss leading to large emigration to Turkey. Nearly 60% of Avars now speak Russian.

Avars have tried to resist recent Russian laws making Russian mandatory, but native languages optional in schools, however all Duma representatives of the Caucasus failed to oppose the legislation. A people cannot be said to have self determination if they have no representation.

Altogether, without counting Ukrainians and Belarusians, there are over 8 million European people in Russia, and over 5 million displaced, by Russian imperialism and colonialism. 13 million European oppressed, facing cultural genocide and assimilation.

A population larger than 38 European countries, larger than Greece, Belgium, Czechia, Hungary, or Portugal is been slowly destroyed. Yet where is Europe? Where is democracy? Where is freedom and human rights?

That Europe can forget over 13 million Europeans slowly being wiped out by “Great Russian Chauvinism” is a stain of blood on the European flag. And what of non-European peoples being oppressed, adding to that figure.

Ossetians, Karachay-Balkars, Kumyks, Nogais, Khanty-Masi, Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Samoyeds, Altai, Ket, Tuvans, Shors, Khakas, Buryats, Dolgans, Evenks, Yakuts, Chuchchi, Yukaghir, Itelmen, Udege, Koryaks, and more. All deserving self-determination and freedom from the Russia.

How do we stop the Russian campaign of cultural genocide which has been a policy of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and now the Russian Federation for centuries? How can Europeans not.

For the British and Spanish, it was easy to identify colonial lands because they were oversees. Russia colonized its neighbours. But Russia has got away with colonizing its neighbours for far too long, and it must come to and end.

What now? Ukraine and Eastern Europe may have more friends and allies against Russian imperialism than they think. Formally recognize the genocides, recognize the independence movements, lead Europe by liberating the captive nations of Europe and Asia.

End thread. 🧵