I dream. I dream of russian anti-colonial allies who will condemn russian colonialism, racism, supremacy, listen to the colonized, learn from them, unite with them, platform Ukrainians, condemn discrimination and subjugation of the colonized.

From my conversations with russians since feb22 who are genuinely anti-war and with real moral outrage about the genocide I finally understood where the red line lies between us. We not only live in different stories, we want different stories. What can bring us closer?🧵 Crucial is the realization that russians fear most fiercely losing their privileges, greatness status, power to speak for the rest of us and dominate. It is ok to feel sorry for us, but it is very difficult to join the common struggle against russians‘ privileges.

Lviv Media Forum @LvivMediaForum was the most inspiring, moving and thought-provoking conference in my life. Learning from Ukrainian analysts who are also heroes and from war correspondents who speak through tears was a true honor and privilege. Thank you @EuromaidanPress

It is out! „The Road to Democracy in Russia Runs Through Chechnya - Russia will only democratize when it faces its war crimes in the Caucasus and abandons imperial nostalgia.“ foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/11/rus…
Argument: There will be no democratic Russia without independent Chechnya A Chechen colleague, who must stay anonymous, and I trace how russia gave up democracy for imperialism and why there will be no democratic Russia without independent Chechnya. Some excerpts:

Qazaqs know that the world would care little if russia attacked and genocided us, and we still stand with Ukraine. We know that we would share the fate of Chechens, Georgians, Syrians. We still stand with Ukraine. Ukraine will become EU, we will not, we still stand with Ukraine. Ukranians are Europeans, we are not, we stand with Ukraine. Ukrainians are white, we are vastly not, we stand with Ukraine. Ukrainians are Christian, we are mostly Muslim. We still stand with Ukraine.

Many of us, ex-colonial subjects of the russian empire, had russian friends before the genocide. We didn’t hold grudge for the past. We spoke russian and thought we shared a culture, even if forcefully imposed on us. For russians, too, went through horrors of stalinism. But during my countless interactions with russians (academics and ordinary people) on the subject, i realized - in addition but also due to colonial differences - we came out from the soviet past with different stories.

On silence: the great-great- grandfather was sent to Siberian exile for poetry, grandmother was the only family survivor of genocide, grandfather -political prisoner during Stalinism, my parents‘ house was regularly militia raided in late 1980s. I was raised to fear and be silent Until 1991 I was socialized to feel inferiority because qazaqs were considered inferior in everything to Russians. I felt so and I kept silence.

There is an emerging narrative about Russians as helpless victims of a bloody dictatorship, which makes them innocents who should be treated just as genocided Ukranians. This framework rests on an assumption that there is Russian “bad” government and “good” people.

https://twitter.com/abarbashin/status/1574002530291425283

It fails to understand Russian governance system which operates through the practice of “feed and rule” (Tamara Kondrat’eva). Russian governance is conducted through feeding; the loyalty is secured through good life. Moscow is called kormushka, the feeder. Well fed are loyal.

Michel Friedman, Germany’s famous publicist, son of Holocaust survivors, whose parents were saved by Oskar Schindler, explaned in a recent interview why Schindler was not a hero in Germany after WWII: „there was a collective myth in Germany: I am not guilty, I would have done

https://twitter.com/den_kazansky/status/1563753741697916928

something, but what can an individual do against those at the top, they would send me to the concentration camp. Oskar Schindler was a living contra-proof and therefore a big danger

Today is the remembrance day of the Soviet made hunger in Kazakhstan, which killed up to ca. 40 percent of its population. What unites Kazakhstan and Ukraine is not only borders with Russia, Moscow‘s denial of the two countries‘ statehood, but also Bolsheviks‘ use of food requisitioning for subjugation, and cultural erasure. Consequence: Kazakhs were an ethnic minority in Soviet Kazakhstan. Speaking and being Kazakh was shameful. Ukraine 2022 sparked cultural emancipation in Kazakhstan, where people learn to appreciate