Marijn Markus

Sept 11, 2024

“𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 russia is 𝐛𝐚𝐝” says Navalnya
🙄 Why russian “opposition” is a joke.

Arguing the many millions oppressed by Moscow to this day shouldn’t be set free because of shared #history

Yulia, what is the “common background and cultural context” of Chechens, Dagestanis, Bashkirs, Yakuts, Chuvashs, Circassians, Buryats, and Ingush besides the fact that they were all 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 by Russia?

❗ This is assimilatory imperialist rhetoric.

Not to mention #Georgia and #Ukraine – nations invaded and occupied by russia today. Invasions which her husband Navalny applauded at first.

⚖️ Is Russian liberalism democratic in nature and, above all, does it accept the concept of self determination, embedded in the UN charter itself?

Guess not.

It doesn’t fall upon russian liberals to decide the fate of many native ethnicities – Asians, Tatars, 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐬 – the russian empire conquered in the past and occupies today.

Russian liberals should work with the anti-regime activists from those ethnicities – not silence them, like Navalnya does here.

💬 The rhetoric of “dismember1ng Russia” is an old talking point of the regime and should not be parroted by opposition. Liberals should make it clear that they fully respect the free identities of various ethnicities in Russia in political terms.

Decolonization isn’t just about redrawing international borders. It’s about self-reflection, recognizing the historic and current colonization and assimilatory policies of the russian state and abandon them, not only in practice, but in fundamental belief as well.

❗️ And as long as the “russian opposition” refuses to do so, it will remain a sad joke, whose words and actions only enable and aid the Moscow regime.

As their criticism of Putin and Putin alone distracts and deflects from the REAL issue:

Russian Imperialism persisting from the Tsars to the Soviets till today.

StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦

…………

Comment from:

Henrik Norstrom

Marijn Markus nails it!

There seems to be only two individuals opposing and speaking out loud, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Garry Kasparov.

There’s only solution to lasting peace: the total breakup of the “federation”

Matthias Knab

Yep for sure. They want to be the next Czars. I said this before: I am pretty confident we’ll witness Russia falling apart like the UdSSR.

I surely remember that as exactly 30 years ago the last Sowjet soldiers left “East-Germany” which they occupied for almost 70 years. My grandfather, a wealthy industrialist, left everything behind, fleeing the “Russian world”.

Luckily, he owned patents – intellectual property- and after years of deprivation- soon had his factories running again in Western Germany. For my mother, 14 at the time, those were traumatising years.

Ingrida Šimonytė, PM of Lithuania, says we also shouldn’t forget what Russia did to Europe post 1945: “Sometimes I hear that we should be grateful to the Russians, because they liberated the continent from the Nazis. Then I say: Yes, but then they forgot to withdraw their troops. In our case for 50 years. That makes it very personal for me. I spent 16 years of my life under Soviet occupation. That was more than enough for me.”

“75 years ago, my family, together with 20,000 Estonians, was deported to Siberia by the Soviets. These crimes should remain a dark chapter of history, but Russia is using the same cruelty in Ukraine.” Kaja Kallas, former PM of Estonia.

Marijn comments on his own piece:

I’m a huge fan of Kasparov myself.

But the example he sets shows how silly other russian dissidents truly are.