{"id":1104,"date":"2008-07-25T23:13:21","date_gmt":"2008-07-25T20:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2008-07-25T23:13:21","modified_gmt":"2008-07-25T20:13:21","slug":"captive-nations-inside-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2008\/07\/25\/captive-nations-inside-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Captive nations inside Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Europe view no 90<\/p>\n

Europe.view<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s captive now?
\nJul 17th 2008
\nFrom Economist.com<\/p>\n

A question about Russia
\n<\/strong>
\nEach year since 1959, in the third full week of July, America has
\nmarked Captive Nations Week. The original Congressional resolution is
\nworth reading. It highlights both what the drafter, the late Lev
\nDobriansky, saw as the success of the United States in \u201ce pluribus
\nunum\u201d (making one nation out of many), and the failure of Communist
\nempires to do the same. The continued celebration of the week is
\nsomething of a totem for old cold warriors who believe that the
\nvictories of 1989-91 are still sadly unconsummated.<\/p>\n

Yet the resolution’s wording rings oddly. The list of \u201ccaptive
\nnations\u201d reads: \u201cPoland, Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia,
\nLatvia, Estonia, White Ruthenia, Rumania, East Germany, Bulgaria,
\nmainland China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, North Korea, Albania,
\nIdel-Ural, Tibet, Cossackia, Turkestan, North Viet-Nam, and others
\n[sic, throughout]\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is hard to find rhyme or reason in that, even in its original
\ncontext. Cossacks are Russian patriots; their beastly treatment under
\nSoviet rule does not equate to a desire for national independence.
\nOthers whose history gives them every cause for complaint, such as the
\nCircassians, don’t appear at all. Is the aim of the resolution ethnic
\nself-determination, or the destruction of communist rule? As it
\nstands, the two are conflated.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the phrase \u201cCommunist Russia\u201d is wince-making. Many Russians
\nfind it unfair or outright racist to link Soviet rule, under which
\nmore Russians perished than any other nationality, with Russia itself.
\nFrom a Russian point of view, it can be argued that the motherland was
\nthe greatest captive nation of all, its destiny hijacked by murderous
\nideologues (many of them, incidentally, not Russians).<\/p>\n

A seminar this week in Moscow may mark the start of another push to
\nhave the resolution revised. One of the initiators, the
\nRussian-American academic Edward Lozansky, believes that a differently
\nphrased resolution could be the start of a real rapprochement between
\nmodern Russia and the countries of central and eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

But there are two snags. One is that Soviet rule, particularly in its
\nlatter decades, did indeed mix Russian chauvinism with proletarian
\ninternationalism. The forcible Russification policies in the Caucasus,
\nthe Baltic states and elsewhere have left lasting bitterness.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the Russian Federation is a work in progress. Around a fifth
\nof the population are not ethnic Russians. Some are deeply integrated
\nand count themselves as patriotic citizens of a common state. But
\nothers aren’t. The spectrum of discontent ranges from separatists
\npursuing their cause by violent means (so far, thankfully, confined to
\nthe Caucasus) to moderate demands for greater cultural autonomy.<\/p>\n

Bad government stokes such grievances, just as the rule of law and
\npolitical freedom defuse them. America conquered the Sioux and the
\nCherokee, and treated its aboriginal population abominably for
\ndecades. But the political and legal systems at both state and federal
\nlevels, albeit imperfect, now work well enough to make separatism both
\nfanciful and unnecessary.<\/p>\n

The pervasive feeling of injustice and voicelessness in the Soviet
\nsystem stoked captives’ desire to be free, and fatally corroded a
\nsystem already vulnerable because of its economic failure. But if
\nSoviet legitimacy was based on phoney ideology, what of the new
\nRussian state’s identity? Is it a Swiss-style federation of equally
\nsovereign peoples? Or is it an ethnically Russian state in which
\nnon-Russians are outsiders, guests or immigrants? The first would
\nrequire an unprecedented degree of tolerance from ethnic Russians. The
\nlatter would relegate the 20% of the population to permanent
\nsecond-class status.<\/p>\n

Ever since 1991, the answer, usually unspoken, has been \u201cdon’t know\u201d.
\nNext week’s Europe.view will suggest some answers\ufffd”and, if anyone is
\npuzzled, have more on the mysterious country of \u201cIdel-Ural\u201d.<\/p>\n

Europe View no 91<\/p>\n

For your freedom and ours
\nJul 24th 2008
\nFrom Economist.com<\/p>\n

Captive nations inside Russia
\n<\/strong>
\nIs Cornwall a \u201ccaptive nation\u201d? As last week\u2019s Europe.view noted,
\ninfluential Russians are pushing for America to rewrite the resolution
\nthat marks its Captive Nations Week (the third week in July), to make
\nit clear that communism, not Russia, is the target. An even trickier
\nquestion is not what other former Soviet-ruled countries make of this,
\nbut of Russia\u2019s own internal composition\ufffd”which includes places that
\nsome might also count as \u201ccaptive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Countries\u2019 borders grow and shrink, partly by consent, but also by
\nconquest. Nations\ufffd”defined, loosely, as people sharing a common
\nlanguage or culture\ufffd”may find themselves no longer masters in their own
\nhouse. Some may despair. Others start plotting.<\/p>\n

Practicality is not the main determinant. In Cornwall, which lost its
\nindependence around 875AD, a doughty band of campaigners has revived
\nthe language and hopes to win back more rights. But compared to
\nScotland, where the separatist tide is running strongly, theirs looks
\nlike a lost cause. So does secession in Vermont, say, or Hawaii. In
\nRussia, at least for now, those reviving, say, the Siberian language,
\nor commemorating the short-lived and abortive independence of the
\nSiberian republic in 1918, look a lot closer to Cornish nationalism
\nthan Scottish. But for how long?<\/p>\n

Since 1991 the state calling itself the Russian Federation has been a
\nminiature, de-communised version of the Soviet Union, paying
\nlip-service to multi-ethnicity, but withholding actual cultural or
\npolitical freedom from non-Russians: when Tatarstan wanted to write
\nthe national language in the orthographically better-suited Latin
\nalphabet, the Kremlin insisted that Cyrillic was the only script to be
\nused officially in the Russian Federation, regardless of practicality.<\/p>\n

Since 1989, Russia’s Muslim population has increased by 40% to about
\n25m. By 2015, Muslims will by some estimates make up a majority of the
\narmy, and by 2020 a fifth of the population\ufffd”by far the majority in
\nsome regions.<\/p>\n

How many of those Muslims will look to the tolerant \u201cEuroislam\u201d
\npioneered in the Tatar capital, Kazan, in the early years of the last
\ncentury, or to indigenous Sufi forms, and how many may look abroad for
\nmore radical forms of Islam?<\/p>\n

Added to ethnic and religious discontent is a growing regional
\nconsciousness. The colossal bribe-collecting opportunities created by
\nPutinism have heightened the divide between big cities (particularly
\nMoscow) and the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

Heightened resentment does not mean that Russia is going to fall apart
\nas the Soviet Union did. For now, no part of the Russian Federation
\nlooks remotely like being a viable independent state. Even the most
\nardent supporter of Captive Nations Week would not argue that the
\n\u201cIdel-Ural\u201d that it cites (present-day Tatarstan, Bashkiria and their
\nFinno-Ugric neighbours, briefly independent after 1917) has any chance
\nof a Baltic-style breakaway.<\/p>\n

But if anything can upset the post-1991 apple cart it will be
\nethnic-Russian chauvinism and heavy-handedness. As Paul Goble
\nchronicles in his \u201cWindow on Eurasia\u201d bulletins (a must-read for
\nanyone interested in the politics of post-Soviet ethnicity), the Sochi
\nOlympics have fuelled the revival of national consciousness among the
\nCircassians. For this far-flung ethnic group, scattered throughout
\nAsia Minor and the Levant by near-genocidal Czarist brutality, seeing
\nthe Olympics being planned at the site of their greatest historical
\ntragedy is hugely offensive: some compare it to how Jews would react
\nto a big international sporting festival being held at Ravensbr\u00fcck or
\nDachau.<\/p>\n

Russian ethno-nationalism, coupled with bad government, may
\ndisillusion Russians of all stripes with the lingering imperial
\nfeatures of Russian statehood. If talk of \u201ccaptive nations\u201d jars
\nRussian sensibilities, the best answer is the great slogan of
\nfreedom-lovers in the Czarist empire: \u201cfor your freedom and ours\u201d.<\/p>\n

Captive Nations Resolution (original)<\/p>\n

The original Captive Nations resolution of the U.S. Congress
\nPUBLIC LAW 86-90<\/p>\n

Whereas the greatness of the United States is in large part
\nattributable to its having been able, through the democratic process,
\nto achieve a harmonious national unit of its people, even though they
\nstem from the most diverse of racial, religious, and ethnic
\nbackgrounds; and<\/p>\n

Whereas this harmonious unification of the diverse elements of our
\nfree society has led the people of the United States to possess a warm
\nunderstanding and sympathy for the aspirations of peoples everywhere
\nand to recognize the natural interdependency of the peoples and
\nnations of the world; and<\/p>\n

Whereas the enslavement of a substantial part of the world’s
\npopulation by Communist imperialism makes a mockery of the idea of
\npeaceful coexistence between nations and constitutes a detriment to
\nthe natural bonds of understanding between the people of the United
\nStates and other peoples; and<\/p>\n

Whereas since 1918 the imperialistic and aggressive policies of
\nRussian communism have resulted in the creation of a vast empire which
\nposes a die threat to the security of the United States and of all the
\nfree people of the world; and<\/p>\n

Whereas the imperialistic policies of Communist Russia have led,
\nthrough direct and indirect aggression, to the subjugation of the
\nnational independence of Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine,
\nCzechoslovakia, Latvia, Estonia, White Ruthenia, Rumania, East
\nGermany, Bulgaria, mainland China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, North
\nKorea, Albania, Idel-Ural, Tibet, Cossackia, Turkestan, North
\nViet-Nam, and others; and<\/p>\n

Whereas these submerged nations look to the United States, as the
\ncitadel of human freedom, for leadership in bringing about their
\nliberation and independence and in restoring to them the enjoyment of
\ntheir Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist, or other religious
\nfreedoms, and of their individual liberties; and<\/p>\n

Whereas it is vital to the national security of the United States that
\nthe desire for liberty and independence on the part of the peoples of
\nthese conquered nations should be steadfastly kept alive; and<\/p>\n

Whereas the desire for liberty and independence by the overwhelming
\nmajority of the people of these submerged nations constitutes a
\npowerful deterrent to war and one of the best hopes for a just and
\nlasting peace; and<\/p>\n

Whereas it is fitting that we clearly manifest to such peoples through
\nan appropriate and official means the historic fact that the people of
\nthe United States share with them their aspirations for the recovery
\nof their freedom and independence:<\/p>\n

Now, therefore, be it<\/p>\n

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
\nStates of America in Congress assembled, That:<\/p>\n

The President of the United States is authorized and requested to
\nissue a proclamation designating the third week in July 1959 as
\n“Captive Nations Week” and inviting the people of the United States to
\nobserve such week with appropriate ceremonies and activities. The
\nPresident is further authorized and requested to issue a similar
\nproclamation each year until such time as freedom and independence
\nshall have been achieved for all the captive nations of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Europe view no 90 Europe.view Who\u2019s captive now? Jul 17th 2008 From Economist.com A question about Russia Each year since 1959, in the third full week of July, America has marked Captive Nations Week. The original Congressional resolution is worth reading. It highlights both what the drafter, the late Lev Dobriansky, saw as the success […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":179175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}