{"id":69251,"date":"2024-06-09T22:06:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T22:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/09\/ukrainian-activist-traces-roots-of-war-in-centuries-of-russian-colonization-2\/"},"modified":"2024-06-09T22:06:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T22:06:04","slug":"ukrainian-activist-traces-roots-of-war-in-centuries-of-russian-colonization-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/09\/ukrainian-activist-traces-roots-of-war-in-centuries-of-russian-colonization-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian Activist Traces Roots of War in \u2018Centuries of Russian Colonization\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/23\/multimedia\/00ukraine-decolonization-01-hvbc\/00ukraine-decolonization-01-hvbc-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Ukrainian Activist Traces Roots of War in \u2018Centuries of Russian Colonization\u2019\" title=\"Ukrainian Activist Traces Roots of War in \u2018Centuries of Russian Colonization\u2019\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a recent afternoon in Kyiv, a professor of literature and a stand-up comedian \u200bgot together to talk about Russian colonialism, a subject that has become \u200ba preoccupation among Ukrainian activists, cultural figures and bookstore owners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u200bThe moderator of the discussion, which was recorded for a new podcast for Ukraine\u2019s national public broadcaster, was Mariam Naiem, a graphic designer and former philosophy student who has become an unlikely expert on the topic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis war is just the continuation of centuries of Russian colonization,\u201d said Ms. Naiem, 32, \u200breferring to Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. \u201cIt\u2019s the same playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russia\u2019s long cultural and political domination of Ukraine, first through its empire and then the Soviet Union, had left an indelible mark, the podcast guests agreed, as they lamented being more fluent in Russian poems and films than in their own nation\u2019s cultural treasures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The goal of the podcast, Ms. Naiem said, was to solve this problem and \u201ctalk about our personal and social path of decolonization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It may have seemed an odd moment of cultural introspection in a war-battered country with urgent problems like how to repel <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/07\/world\/europe\/ukraine-war-russia-artillery.html\" title=\"\">Russian troops advancing along the front line<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Ms. Naiem and many Ukrainians say that to understand Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine \u2014 and its trail of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/06\/30\/world\/europe\/russia-war-avdiivka-ukraine.html\" title=\"\">razed cities<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2023\/12\/26\/world\/europe\/ukraine-war-children-russia.html\" title=\"\">displaced children<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/14\/world\/asia\/ukraine-art-russia-steal.html\" title=\"\">looted museums<\/a> \u2014 it is crucial to examine how Russia has long exerted its influence over their country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The daughter of a Ukrainian mother and an Afghan father, Ms. Naiem is emblematic of a new generation of Ukrainians who, since Moscow invaded in February 2022, have been trying to rebuild their identity free of Russian influence. Much of this effort has focused on examining Russia\u2019s history in Ukraine and highlighting its colonial imprint.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Naiem has emerged as a leading voice in this movement. She studied philosophy at the Kyiv-based Taras Shevchenko National University and has also done a stint as a researcher with Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last year, she hosted an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/%D0%B4%D0%B5-%D0%BC%D0%B8\/id1695847361\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">award-winning podcast<\/a> on the theoretical foundations of Russian colonialism. In addition to the new podcast she is currently recording, she is now writing a book to help Ukrainians \u201cdecolonize\u201d themselves, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShe has seriously influenced me intellectually,\u201d Mr. Stanley told <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/babel.ua\/en\/texts\/97131-yale-university-professor-jason-stanley-has-been-researching-fascism-for-years-he-assures-that-modern-russia-is-very-similar-to-nazi-germany-only-the-basis-of-its-ideology-isn-t-race-but-language-and-\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Babel.ua<\/a>, a Ukrainian online news outlet, last year. He added that she convinced him that Ukraine\u2019s post-colonial history was not being studied enough and that \u201cit should be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That is not an easy task. To call Russia a colonial empire is to challenge decades of scholarship that has shied away from viewing Russia\u2019s history through a colonial prism. Russia\u2019s shared history with Ukraine is complex and less marked by relations of racial hierarchy and economic subjugation typical of colonialism, many scholars have argued.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Ms. Naiem and others say Russia\u2019s centuries-long efforts to impose its language on Ukraine, occupy its territory with settlers and rewrite its history from Moscow\u2019s perspective are all hallmarks of colonialism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Naiem said it took the war for Ukrainians to take stock of this legacy and finally begin to \u201cdecolonize\u201d themselves. She cited the example of the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/29\/world\/europe\/ukraine-russia-language.html\" title=\"\">many people who have switched from speaking Russian to Ukrainian<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is exactly a decolonial act,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While many Ukrainians have devoted their time to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/07\/world\/europe\/ukraine-war-donations-crowdfunding.html\" title=\"\">raising money for the army<\/a> or <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/16\/world\/europe\/ukraine-war-cleanup-rave.html\" title=\"\">rebuilding destroyed houses<\/a>, Ms. Naiem\u2019s activism has been more intellectual, focused on deconstructing Russian influences, including those that shaped her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She was born into a Russian-speaking family in Kyiv in 1992. Her father was a former education minister in Afghanistan who left Kabul after the Soviet invasion in 1979. She has two brothers, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2023\/nov\/18\/the-man-who-sparked-the-maidan-revolution-and-is-now-tasked-with-rebuilding-ukraine\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Mustafa<\/a>, a leading figure of Ukraine\u2019s 2014 Maidan revolution, and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/hromadske.ua\/en\/posts\/losing-an-eye-an-arm-or-a-leg-is-a-small-death-the-story-of-masi-nayyems-rehabilitation\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Masi<\/a>, who lost an eye fighting Russian troops in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When she grew up in a newly independent Ukraine in the 1990s, the country\u2019s cultural scene was dominated by Russian music, TV shows and books.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At school, classes were in Ukrainian, but \u201cit wasn\u2019t cool\u201d to speak it in the playground, she said. Russian literature was also \u201ccooler\u201d than Ukrainian literature, she recalled thinking, \u201cmore mysterious, more complicated.\u201d Some of the novels she read belittled Ukrainians as uneducated people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTurgenev pushed me to consider myself more Russian than Ukrainian,\u201d Ms. Naiem <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CifsnJpuMAJ\/?img_index=5\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote on Instagram two years ago<\/a>, referring to the 19th-century Russian novelist. \u201cBecause I didn\u2019t want to be that funny Ukrainian.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It took Ms. Naiem many years, and many new books, to shake off these views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During the pandemic, she buried herself in \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yumpu.com\/en\/document\/read\/63257907\/a-thompson-imperial-knowledge-2000\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Imperial Knowledge: Russian Literature and Colonialism<\/a>,\u201d a book by the Polish American scholar Ewa Thompson that argues that writers like Pushkin and Tolstoy helped legitimized Russia\u2019s colonial ambitions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI realized that centuries of colonialism had seeped into my mind,\u201d Ms. Naiem said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the Russian invasion, she <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CkLkUNosLNe\/?img_index=1\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote about her research<\/a> on her <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CkvheWHOrLJ\/?img_index=1\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram page<\/a>, which is followed by 22,000 people, arguing that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/15\/arts\/design\/ukraine-war-culture-art-history.html\" title=\"\">Russia\u2019s efforts to erase Ukrainian culture and identity<\/a> are rooted in a long history of colonialism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her posts attracted attention and persuaded her to spread the word further. In addition to her podcasting, she has given interviews to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.radiosvoboda.org\/a\/mariam-nayyem-ukrayinskyy-natsionalizm-zakhid\/32429588.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Ukrainian<\/a> <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/suspilne.media\/culture\/531875-dekolonizacia-ce-misce-dla-lubovi-a-ne-soromu-mariam-najem-pro-vpliv-imperii-termin-maloros-ta-sraci\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">media<\/a> on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pravda.com.ua\/eng\/podcasts\/65c2310fc902c\/2024\/05\/17\/7456245\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">colonialism<\/a> and filled her Instagram page with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C2aUanSslyB\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">more<\/a> <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CkzEA6Evcw0\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">posts<\/a>, questioning, for example, the place of Mikhail Bulgakov, a Kyiv-born Soviet writer who ridiculed Ukrainians, in Ukrainian school curricula.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The response has been overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a recent afternoon at a music festival in Kyiv, a passer-by thanked her for her efforts, one of several people that day who told her they had learned a lot from her podcasts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, much of her time remains spent trying to convince people that talking of Russian colonialism is relevant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/04\/12\/opinion\/ezra-klein-podcast-volodymyr-yermolenko.html\" title=\"\">Volodymyr Yermolenko<\/a>, a Ukrainian philosopher, said the topic had long been viewed with skepticism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Unlike Western colonies, which were often far-distant, overseas places, Russian colonies were adjacent territories, he said. Russian colonialism also never made racial exclusion a core policy, he added. Instead, it was based on the no-less violent \u201cidea of sameness,\u201d meaning that the colonized should surrender their identity and adopt the norms of the colonizer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Yermolenko said colonial motives were evident in President Vladimir V. Putin\u2019s claim that Ukrainians and Russians were \u201cone people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPeople long didn\u2019t want to hear about Russian colonialism,\u201d Mr. Yermolenko said. \u201cOnly now are we kind of seeing the first steps of intellectual debunking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since Russia\u2019s invasion began, some scholars have described it as a \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/essay\/the-war-in-ukraine-is-a-colonial-war\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">colonial war<\/a>\u201d or one of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/16\/world\/europe\/putin-war-ukraine-recolonization.html\" title=\"\">recolonization<\/a>. President Emmanuel Macron, who himself has had to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/29\/world\/africa\/algeria-france-emmanuel-macron.html\" title=\"\">confront the legacy of French colonialism<\/a>, has accused Russia of being \u201cone of the last colonial imperial powers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukrainian authorities have also launched efforts to break free of Russian influences, such as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/world\/europe\/100000008321404\/kyiv-soviet-friendship-monument.html\" title=\"\">toppling Soviet-era statues<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/22\/world\/europe\/zelensky-russian-ban-ukraine.html\" title=\"\">banning Russian place names<\/a>. But they have stopped short of calling it a process of \u201cdecolonization,\u201d to Ms. Naiem\u2019s frustration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019re doing the cake without the recipe,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need the recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, she is pleased that a discussion about Russian colonialism has taken root.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a recent afternoon in central Kyiv, Ms. Naiem stepped into a large bookstore and stared at a long table covered with recently published books.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLet\u2019s see how many are about colonialism,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis one, this one,\u201d she said, as she grabbed book after book \u2014 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/humanitarka.com\/product\/kulturna-ekspansiya\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">one<\/a> on Russia\u2019s dominance of Ukrainian cultural life, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/nashformat.ua\/products\/bunt-proty-imperii-ukrainski-shistdesyatnyky-930433\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">another<\/a> about rebellious Ukrainian writers of the 1960s \u2014 and piled them up on a corner of the table.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After a few minutes, the pile had grown to 21 books.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/09\/world\/europe\/ukrainian-activist-russia-colonization.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a recent afternoon in Kyiv, a professor of literature and a stand-up comedian \u200bgot together to talk about Russian colonialism, a subject that has become \u200ba preoccupation among Ukrainian activists, cultural figures and bookstore owners. \u200bThe moderator of the discussion, which was recorded for a new podcast for Ukraine\u2019s national public broadcaster, was Mariam [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/23\/multimedia\/00ukraine-decolonization-01-hvbc\/00ukraine-decolonization-01-hvbc-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14188,16622,64592,42572,1461,19350,9292,3102],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69253,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69251\/revisions\/69253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}