On environmental consequences of the soviet project in the countries of Central Asia, Southern Caucasus, and Eastern Europe. November—December 2023

Social researcher Anna Kalinina discusses the key features of organizational practices and principles of the protest against the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Republic of Tatarstan is often described and presented in terms of “multiculturalism” as an example of a region where different ethnicities live in harmony without conflicts. It is said not only by officials and pro-government media but also by representatives of the academic community, tourists, and residents of the republic. At the same time, the ethnic “diversity” usually narrows to the two “main” ethnicities—Tatars and Russians. This state of things is especially characteristic of Kazan, the republic's capital.

With the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, people were forced to leave their homes. Legally speaking, they became internally displaced and refugees. Forced displacement is not always a spontaneous but at least partially controlled process. It is built within a state or international infrastructures, which can both smoothen and intensify the negative consequences: from so-called ‘interethnic conflicts’ to the loss of part of traditions and inability to integrate into a new life due to a change of lifestyle.

“Public commemoration in the form of memorials and monuments; the aggressive patriotic upbringing of children and adolescents over the past 22 years; the cult of the power of the state; the cult of victory, in which Russia is presented as the liberator of the world and Europe, and the previous generations who died for their homeland are perceived as immortal: these are the factors that formed a war-oriented Russian identity.“

We provide you with the most important concepts, take a brief overview of historical examples of decolonization, and argue that decolonization is different from separatism.

An interview with Ruslan Gabbasov, a Bashqort political activist and one of the former leaders of the political organization “Bashqort”, banned in Russia. We spoke with him about the colonization of Bashqortostan, the reasons behind the participation of different ethnic groups in the war in Ukraine and his views on the republic's future.

An interview with Victoria Maladaeva—an activist from Buryatia and a co-founder of the international anti-war foundation Free Buryatia

The “Multan case”, initiated in 1892, took its place among numerous false accusations of blood libel and once again demonstrated how the Russian Empire treats ethnic minorities. Accused of the ritual murder of a Russian peasant, the Udmurts endured torture and spent several years in prison until, thanks to the intervention of human rights activists and wide publicity, they received a well-deserved acquittal. In addition to interrogation methods inherited by today's Russia, an ethnographer approaching his work from pro-imperial position also played an essential role in the prosecution.

Beda & Feminist Translocalities present to you Valdo's text, in which he traces the history of the Erzya, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia's Volga region, from the beginning of the 12th century subjected to brutal colonization, forced russification and attempts to erase their culture. Who are the Erzyas and how did Erzyan Mastor survive colonization by the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and modern Russia?