here is what's in store for you this week:
(estimated reading time: 10 min)
Reading russian literature after 225,000+ war crimes committed by russians in Ukraine: Oksana Zabuzhko on the two centuries of great novels that taught a country to pity the criminal instead of condemning him.
The parallels between indigenous resistance in North America and Ukraine.
Qazaqstani economists tracked 811,000 export transactions and found that sanctioned microchips flow to russia from exactly the regions where Qazaqs speak russian at home.
From pulling down minarets for the lead to bulldozing Crimean Tatar cemeteries for a highway: two Ukrainian historians expose the same erasure playbook russia has been using in Crimea for 250 years.
The final stage of imperial erasure is when a place stops appearing in news reports. A Ukrainian colleague writes a personal essay from such a place, in the region I grew up in.
Before we move on with a usual weekly reading list, here is a short personal message. It has been an especially dark week in Ukraine, facing extra russian evil. Gathering thoughts and energy to write this brief has not been easy for me, to be honest. However, every time you feel powerless, hear a Ukrainian speak. I want to share this clip of Kateryna from my native city, Zaporizhzhia: after surviving russian bombing, she still managed to send a very clear message to russian terrorists that their efforts are futile.
russia’s main objective, in all situations, is to paralyse our action - of any kind. So we feel too powerless or too disillusioned or too heartbroken or too angry or too confused to do anything. But here’s a simple fact: one cannot do everything, but everyone can do something. And that something, taken together, is what has kept russia from winning for almost five years. It is the same thing that paved the way for the largest failures of russian imperial expansion in the past, too.
So do something every day. If you don't know where to start today, supporting this frontline fundraiser for a friend would make a great choice. Vlad Solodovnyk is a brilliant marketing guru who recently enlisted in Ukraine’s Armed Forces to defend all of us living in democracies. (Bank wire or PayPal: vladyslav.solodovnyk @ gmail.com)
Russian Colonialism 101 is the first newsletter to shed light on Russian colonialism and is part of the Volya Hub network. What is happening to Ukraine has happened many times before, and the rest of the world has been conditioned to overlook or misdiagnose it. This isn’t history. It’s how you stop being shocked by what was always predictable.
“I am a big fan of your work and find it accessible for seeing the larger picture that people seem to be misunderstanding—without this digestible explanation of the history—to appreciate empire strategy and mindset at play currently.”
by Jessica Bee, a paying supporter of Russian Colonialism 101.
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For centuries, russia has hidden its dark imperialistic side behind a facade of romantic myths. Myths that paint it as a victim, a liberator, a misunderstood missionary. But what if the truth is much simpler? If you are in Prague on Monday, October 12th, stop by the legendary publishing house Laichter House for a special event on russian colonialism, featuring my lecture, a performance by Crimean-Tatar artist Aziza Eskender, and a conversation led by Ukrainian-Czech artist Darja Lukjanenko. Seats are limited, so register here.
THIS WEEK’S READING LIST:
