What does it mean to decolonize?
When we, Russians, hear this term — “Decolonize Russia”, we often think it means destruction. But this is a fear based reaction. Decolonization means liberation from the demons of the past — and the possibility for a brighter future.
Some people take decolonization to mean destruction or dissolution. This is absurd — and not just because Russia has a massive nuclear arsenal, which makes external conquest impossible. Look at past colonialist powers — Great Britain, Turkey, France, Japan — some of them were conquered, but were they destroyed? Were they subjugated? No, they are independent and prosperous, just on a smaller scale. Decolonization does not mean destruction. It means liberation from the sinful business of empire building.
Decolonization of Russia means, first of all, abandoning our extensive territorial claims. A colonial power believes that once it conquers territory, it owns it forever. For example, take Crimea. In December 2022, 78% of Russians said that returning Crimea to Ukraine would be unacceptable. You would think that this is the birthplace of Russian civilization — which, of course, it is not. It was forcibly taken by Tzar Catherine in the late 18th century from the Tatar people. In fact, Crimea is a far flung province which was freely given by Russia to Ukraine, a gift recognized by both the Yeltsin and Putin governments as legitimate and irreversible. How can a nation live in peace when 78% of people believe we should seize territory from our neighbors? This attitude has to change.
Decolonization means abandoning Russification of other nations. Over the centuries, Russians forbade the people they conquered from speaking their native tongues. We freely moved people around, often shunting minorities to Siberia, to depopulate centers of ethnic culture. This practice was applied to ethnic Tatars, Chechens, Baltic peoples, and probably many others. In their place, Russians moved in. The practice of eradicating cultures is now known as genocide, but it harms Russia as well as other nations. We feel obligated to demand rights for Russian populations in other countries, populations which can, again, serve as an excuse for the next war. We must abandon our self-appointed role as sole arbiter of Russian-ness and enforcer of Russian heritage in other countries.
Along with russification, we should abandon ethno-nationalism. I have heard from some that the independence of Ukraine was somehow conditional on their alliance with Russia. That, because Ukrainian culture is similar, and the genetic origins of the two peoples are similar, they are bound by a common fate. If this was true, there would only be one country in the world, but there are many nations. Russians themselves, at some point, decided they wanted to be separate from other Viking tribes. Americans decided they wanted to be separate from the British. There is nothing particularly exceptional in two countries with a common heritage wishing to live independently. On the other hand, looking at a country which has been independent for 30 years and somehow claiming you can just roll your tanks over it, is pure madness.
Decolonization means freeing the mind from the shackles of the past. A friend of mine recently pointed out that it has become fashionable to celebrate the USSR. “If a nation cannot take pride in the past, it has no future.” This may sound appealing, but it ignores the older axiom: “those who do not study the past, are doomed to repeat it”. Picking out a few positive moments in the history of the USSR, like the victory over fascism, and ignoring all the lessons on the evil of dictatorship, is a rotten foundation on which to build a nation. And look, the repetition has already come — the invasion of Ukraine parallels the Winter War of 1939 against Finland, another unjust, unnecessary war in which the USSR lost 300,000 men to Finland’s 70,000. If we hope to live in peace, we must examine the past critically, and learn from past mistakes, not gloss over them.
Finally, decolonization means living for the sake of life itself, not for the sake of the nation. For too long, we have considered our lives subservient to the Motherland. I admit that it is normal to love your country. We may even want to give our lives for that country. But it is not normal for the country to own the people, or treat them as cannon foddder. If the country does not promote the welfare of the people who live within it, but instead spends all of its energy on empty, cruel ideals like conquering other countries, it seizes to serve its basic purpose. We have a right to demand that our country takes care of the welfare of its citizens first, and the people will respond with love and loyalty.
It is common for Russians to say that life in the West is somehow empty and meaningless. Capitalism, money, blind ambition, right? Nothing could be further from the truth. How much of the world’s music comes from the West? How much art, movies, TV shows? Look how many religious traditions are followed in the West, everything from Buddhism to Evangelical Christianity! Numerous clubs, social organizations and networks give people’s lives meaning. Sierra Club, Toastmasters, Save the Children, to name a few. Are these the signs of some sort of morally decrepit civilization? No, they are the signs of a righteous one, which has shed the shackles of its past colonialism and embraced a free way of life. They have done it, and so can we.