A reflection on Captive Nations Week
A personal reflection explains the meaning of Captive Nations Week for someone from Tatarstan and connects it with solidarity among peoples affected by colonialism and imperialism.
Last week was the week of enslaved peoples, an annual week held in the third week of July to support the occupied countries and peoples suffering from colonialism and imperialism.
Last week seemed like a busy week for me, but it's better late than never, so I'm still celebrating it now. What's the point? Because I'm from a slave country, Tatarstan. And please don't tell me this is part of Russia. It's like calling the hostage a "volunteer resident".
Throughout its history, Tatarstan experienced short periods of independence, which were again and again destroyed by Russia. In 1992, Tatarstan voted for its independence, but was again betrayed and manipulated by Russia. Our aspiration for independence is presented as a "Rusophobic threat" then and now, and many of us are forced to live in exile abroad.
Today, Tatarstan faces cultural genocide, ongoing ecocide on its land, language decline and population decline (while the share of Russians continues to grow, while Tatars and other indigenous peoples of Tatarstan are gradually being displaced in sophisticated and destructive ways), as well as huge financial inequality due to the plundering of resources by Russia. Tatar men are sent to war in Ukraine as cannon fodder. Tatar teenagers are turned into cheap labor in Russia's military factories. Mosques are being persecuted and destroyed. Neo-Nazis from the far-right organization "Russian Community" (approved by the Kremlin) patrol the streets of Kazan, Yar Challa, Bögelma and other cities in search of another non-Russian victim.
And yet the rest of the world continues to treat Russian dominance over Tatarstan (and other countries, such as Ichkeria, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, etc.) as something natural, not as the disgusting anomaly that it has.
It is.
Please listen to us, the representatives of the enslaved nations, before our voices are finally removed from all attempts to be heard.
Alğa, Tatarstan!
With all due respect,
Alina Koltsova - activist of the Government of Independent Tatarstan in Exile, Sweden
Sources in English: Sources on facebook.com
#makerussiasmallagain
#russiaisaterroriststate
#CaptiveNationsWeek
#TatarstanğaAzatlıq
#FreeTatarstan
#stoprussia
#decolonize
Sources in Telegram