{"id":111876,"date":"2022-11-11T00:11:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T21:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theukrainians.org\/nemichna-imperiia\/"},"modified":"2024-11-21T15:55:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T12:55:18","slug":"three-features-of-russian-imperialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/three-features-of-russian-imperialism\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Features of Russian Imperialism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ukrainians Media<\/a> is an award-winning independent media company focusing on high-quality, long-form, and visual journalism. Our mission is to foster positive social changes in Ukraine.<\/mark><\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was created thanks to the support of our readers. Please join The Ukrainians Community on Patreon<\/a> and help us publish more important and interesting stories.<\/mark><\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time to describe Russian imperialism thoroughly, diagnose it in detail, and start looking for a cure. Therefore, I propose several theses that can help formulate its diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thesis 1: It is the imperialism of imposed sameness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western imperialism of the maritime empires of the 15-20th centuries colonized distant peoples and cultures. To become a ruler, one had to travel beyond the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The differences between the colonizer and the colonized were physically observable. One did not have to feel or understand them; one could see them. Then one had to develop a theory explaining and justifying these differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ideology of European imperialism sought to cement these differences as an instrument of domination. The concept of \u201cdifference\u201d began to be interpreted hierarchically (as the difference between \u201cthe superior\u201d and \u201cthe inferior\u201d), and the difference became an instrument of power. At first, it was a hierarchy of religions, which then turned into a hierarchy of races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian imperialism is of a different kind. It is continental colonialism, targeting neighboring peoples rather than distant ones. Russia first tested it on Ukrainians and Belarusians. Instead of emphasizing differences, the instrument of domination here consisted in their denial. Sameness, rather than difference, became an instrument of power. And it was an imposed sameness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 19th-century European imperialist told the colonized: You will never be like me. But a Russian imperialist tells the colonized: You will never be anything other than me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, the strategy of Russian colonization implied not only colonization but also assimilation and denial of the right to identity and difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the idea of \u200b\u200bsameness has firmly taken root in Russian culture, and not only in the concept of \u200b\u200ba \u201csingle nation:\u201d it acquired bizarre metaphysical dimensions in the \u201cunitotality\u201d of Vladimir Solovyov and then in Lenin\u2019s idea of \u200b\u200bworld revolution. Russia turned out to be sick with sameness, destroying differences and reducing everything to a common denominator\u2014as a rule, the most primitive of all available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thesis 2: Russians colonize not only others but also themselves<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another feature of Russian colonialism is that, in addition to colonization, Russians also engage in self-colonization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are internally colonized persons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is evident that Russian citizens have been reduced to the status of colonized, that is to say, rightless and voiceless serfs. Russians seek to colonize others precisely because they have been colonized themselves; they commit violence primarily because they are regularly subjected to it within their own society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia is an empire that directs the energy of violence at itself\u2014and only later, traumatized by its own sadomasochism, spews it on others. It first despises its citizens and then, consequently, everyone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian society comprises not only war criminals or those who support them. It is primarily a mass of passive individuals incapable of making decisions for themselves\u2014who outsourced responsibility and amputated their ability to be independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Russian Empire falls, these people will not become free citizens. They will remain colonized slaves who, paraphrasing Plato\u2019s famous metaphor, were suddenly brought out of the cave into the light\u2014and got frightened by this light. They will probably covet the empire again and wish to return to the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thesis 3: Russia is an empire of the feeble and old<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many parallels between modern Russia and 20th-century fascism and Nazism. Russia has a totalitarian society, a cult of violence, and the syndrome of a \u201cwounded empire\u201d that sees its only salvation in a deep (and illusive) past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is one major difference. Fascism and Nazism were the ideologies of the young. They contrasted themselves with the \u201cold\u201d Europe and old conservatism and relied on the image of a militant young man who had either gone or wanted to go through a Great War. They relied on radical youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putinism is different\u2014it is hopelessly old: biologically, ideologically, and emotionally. It is incapable of invoking empathy and creating new energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Putinism and Alexander Lukashenko\u2019s regime in Belarus were born out of fear of the unpredictable, chaotic, brutal, yet vibrant 1990s. They evidenced the desire of the Soviet people to return to the USSR\u2014not even to the 1980s but to the 1970s, to stagnation and Brezhnevism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s dream was to restore the USSR\u2014the \u201cvictor of Nazism,\u201d the ruler of half of Europe and half of the world, the USSR of the times before the death of Stalin. Yet, Putinism restored the USSR of the times before Brezhnev\u2019s death\u2014the old, feeble, and despairing USSR, which is still spoiling for a fight and receiving new blows. Russia wanted to rise from her knees, but when she got up, she wavered and fell face-first into the mud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, Russia is not a case of classical fascism but rather its feeble copy. It is a country that very much wanted to become fascist, but it failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s slogan, “We can do it again,” is a direct symptom of its impotence. Because if they can only \u201cdo it again,” they are incapable of doing anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an empire of imposed sameness, internal colonization, and hopeless senility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is much more defenseless than we think. An imposed sameness crumbles fast, internal colonization gives rise to violent slave revolts, and senility leads to chronic backwardness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every new step this organism takes becomes an even bigger mistake and an even bigger crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia attacked us, but it would be more accurate to say it collapsed on us. That feeble old body collapsed on us from weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we will definitely have enough strength to cope with this weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher, writer, columnist, President of PEN Ukraine, Editor-in-chief at UkraineWorld.org, Analytics Director at Internews Ukraine, lecturer at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, author of Liquid Ideologies, Closer People, Distant People, and The Catcher of the Ocean.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Stanislav Ostapenko.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ukrainians Media<\/a> is an award-winning independent media company focusing on high-quality, long-form, and visual journalism. Our mission is to foster positive social changes in Ukraine.<\/mark><\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was created thanks to the support of our readers. Please join The Ukrainians Community on Patreon<\/a> and help us publish more important and interesting stories.<\/mark><\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko on the idea of \u200b\u200bimposed sameness, self-colonization, and hopelessly old Putinism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2220],"tags":[2283,2280,2284,2285],"class_list":["post-111876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-en","tag-kolonializm-en","tag-opinion-en","tag-rosiia-en","tag-totalitaryzm-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111877,"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111876\/revisions\/111877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.theukrainians.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}