Azamat Junisbai 🇰🇿🇺🇦
@azamatistan
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almaty native, california transplant @pitzercollege sociology professor RT≠E
Los Angeles
Joined December 2012
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Successfully obscuring the reality of the Soviet Union as a ruthless colonial power has got to be one of the most astonishing propaganda accomplishments in modern history and, simultaneously, one of the most consequential and problematic legacies of the USSR. 🧵
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The undeniably broad domestic support for Russia’s brutal attack against Ukraine has baffled and horrified people around the world. How could so many ordinary Russian people fall for Kremlin’s crude and outlandish anti-Ukrainian propaganda? A long 🧵
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Like many Russified Qazaqs of my generation, I ceased to be Soviet twice. First, in 1991, when the USSR disintegrated. Second, in 2022, when Russia escalated its attack on Ukraine to genocidal levels, blasting away the last bits of residual good will toward the Soviet Union. 🧵
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As a Qazaq who found himself in the US in the 90s, I was surprised to find that many Americans equated the entire former USSR with Russia. Most were simply unaware that Moscow used brutal repression to subjugate people with distinct cultures and histories under the Soviet rule 🧵
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The decisions by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland to ban Russian citizens with tourist visas from entering their countries have provoked indignant responses from many prominent “good Russians.” This indignation is telling and deserves a closer look. 🧵
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“Countries with relatively recent experience of Soviet occupation, see no benefit in holding what they have in reserve until the Russian army arrives on their territory.”
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Russia today, like the Soviet Union before it, is a successor of the Russian Empire. An enduring characteristic of Russian self-conception is a view of Russia as a profoundly benevolent power bringing development and modernity to the places it colonizes. 🧵
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The world needs to see Russia for what it is - a disintegrating empire desperate to turn back time by reasserting control over a former colony. Every single day, Ukrainians are paying with their lives to stop Russian imperial revanchism. 1/3
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During the Soviet period, Russian language was portrayed as a priceless gift to all the non-Russian people in the USSR. As a kid going to school in the 1980s Almaty, I was taught that Russian was the all-important gateway to modernity, science, and civilization. 🧵
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The desire to portray Russian people as blameless in Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine is depressingly widespread among Russian opposition leaders. Their insistence on the “Putin’s War” narrative deliberately brushes off an inconvenient truth. 🧵
Stop saying that the war in Ukraine is being waged by Russia and the Russian people. It's a war of Putin and his regime. The narrative that Russia as a whole is at war benefits Putin and is not true. A thread 1/8
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As someone who grew up in Soviet-era Qazaqstan, I am struck by how different it feels these days. When I was growing up, Russian language and culture were dominant among young urban Qazaqs. In Almaty, speaking Qazaq was seen as something that only people from rural areas did. 🧵
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When non-Russian speakers ask me where I am from, I respond with “I’m from Qazaqstan” or “I’m Qazaq.” This is the direct transliteration from Qazaq to English. However, I have always used the conventional, Russian-derived “Kazakhstan” and “Kazakh” in my written work. 1/3
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Another Qazaq yurt opened in Ukraine. This one is located in Lviv. Similar yurts were installed earlier in Bucha, Kyiv, and Kharkiv. These yurts are beautiful manifestations of anti-imperial solidarity between two nations formerly colonized by Russia.
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I noticed that my efforts to draw attention to the imperialist character of Russia’s war against Ukraine often generate the “what about the US imperialism” responses from folks who identify as leftists in the West. Defending 🇷🇺 because it stands up to 🇺🇸. I find it sad. 1/2
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As long as Russia views itself as a benevolent empire and sees the sovereignty of its former colonial subjects as a “geopolitical catastrophe” that needs fixing, no one is safe. The sooner the world recognizes this, the better. THE END
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Image of Navalny promoted in the West omits inconvenient facts. The record must be set straight. It is true that
@navalny
is imprisoned on politically motivated charges. His opposition to Putin and his bravery are real. Unfortunately, this is not the whole story. 1/4
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The fact that these exiled Russian opposition figures have nothing to say about today’s vote in the House is as predictable as their continued insistence on the obscene “Putin’s War” narrative. That this is so predictable is quite depressing.
Вы тут шутки шутите, а я, похоже, прямо сейчас в серьезной опасности
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Qazaqstan celebrates Independence Day on December 16. For Qazaqs, Russia’s long colonial rule yielded a list of horrors that is hard to match. A man-made famine that killed about 40% of the population. A wholesale destruction of intelligentsia. And 456 (!) nuclear tests. 1/2
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Growing up my last name was Junisbaev. As was the case with most Qazaqs during Soviet rule, my actual family name - Junisbai - was given a 🇷🇺 makeover in the form of a 🇷🇺 ending (-ev). The brazen Russification of Qazaq family names is but one example of Russian colonial rule. 🧵
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Whenever I hear Western politicians and pundits talk about Russia’s “legitimate sphere of interests” being threatened by NATO expansion, I am struck by the way in which this framework erases the humanity and agency of those Russia once colonized.
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Soviet school curriculum taught us that colonialism was something perpetrated by evil European powers on people in faraway lands. My country, USSR, covering 1/6th of the Earth’s land surface, was a strong and loyal friend to colonized people everywhere. 1/4
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I have decided to do my small part in changing this. From now on, I will use Qazaq and Qazaqstan when writing on Twitter and elsewhere. I recognize that this is a symbolic action but I think it is important.
#RussianColonialism
#VolyaHub
#Qazaqstan
#Kazakhstan
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Russian insistence that Ukrainian is merely a quaint dialect of the “great & mighty Russian language” is part of 🇷🇺 imperial narrative. In case of Ukraine, it erases Ukrainians as separate people. In case of Qazaqstan, 🇷🇺 imperial narrative was different but equally brazen. 🧵
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Putin’s propaganda is so effective because it taps into the imperial idea deeply held by Russians. In fact, the imperial idea has been the trump card in 🇷🇺 politics and society for a long time. It’s not Putin’s war, it’s Russia’s war. It’s not Putin’s Russia, it’s Russia’s Putin.
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When people from societies formerly colonized by Russia reject Russian in favor of English for communicating with the outside world, it’s a political act. A middle finger to the old colonial master. Failure to see this betrays ignorance about Russia as a ruthless colonial power.
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Kremlin’s barbaric war in
#Ukraine
️ has been widely condemned by Western politicians. What has received much less attention is the fact that a grossly disproportionate share of servicemen in the Russian army are from non-Slavic ethnicities previously colonized by Russia. 🧵
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I have been wondering about the identity of some of the unnamed “officials” that the doom & gloom piece about Zelenskyy in the Time magazine relies so heavily on. And then I saw this post by
@arestovych
. He can’t help himself: “I personally spoke with Simon several times..” 1/2
- Сначала кто-то ведет себя, как диктатор и вместо того, чтобы пойти нормальным путем ускоренного развития, выбирает стагнацию.
Потом кто-то плодит массовую коррупцию.
Потом кто-то плодит ненависть к любому мнению, отличному от своего.
А потом - спустя полтора года -
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As a Central Asian, I have always been struck by the way in which
@Navalny
and his colleagues focus on corruption as the most pressing problem in 🇷🇺. When their country wages a brazenly imperialist war against 🇺🇦, the unwavering focus on yachts and mansions seems oddly myopic. 🧵
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To understand xenophobia, one must listen to immigrants. To understand sexism, one must listen to women. To understand 🇷🇺, one must listen to those with history of 🇷🇺 occupation. Ukrainians pay with their lives for our failure to grasp the threat posed by 🇷🇺 imperial revanchism.
Today we, the Baltic States 🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹 and Czechia 🇨🇿 come to this Council to address the entire international community with a very simple message:
For all our sakes, wake up. 🧵
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Societies with history of Russian aggression and occupation seek the security of NATO membership to ensure that Russia won’t be able to occupy them again. When Moscow decries “NATO expansion” it is protesting the loss of ability to violate its former colonial subjects. Short 🧵.
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The genuine inability to see why Russia’s neighbors are weary of allowing in a large number of Russians lays bare the fact that even the so called “good Russians” routinely fail to see their own country as their neighbors see it. As a ruthless and genocidal colonial power.
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To halt the resurgence of Russian imperialism, Ukraine is paying with the lives of its sons and daughters. To halt the resurgence of Russian imperialism, the US is paying with a modest percentage of its overall defense budget, much of it going to American manufacturers. 1/4
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One of the most enduring and bitter legacies of Russian colonial rule in Qazaqstan has to do with the destruction of Qazaq language across multiple generations of urban Qazaqs. I’m 47 and my Qazaq is painfully limited. The same is true for my mother (81) and my cousin (27). 🧵
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“Russian is my mother tongue and liberation means ripping it out of my throat.” This sentence by
@sasha_weirdsley
has haunted me ever since I first read it several months ago. I’m a middle aged Qazaq man born and raised in Almaty. Russian is my “mother tongue”. 🧵…
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After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, few expected that Ukraine could resist. Russian officers packed dress uniforms for a victory parade. Within hours of Russia’s attack, with 🇷🇺 army closing in on Kyiv, the US offered to evacuate Zelenskyy. 🧵
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The propaganda which rendered the brutal colonization and the colonized themselves largely invisible to the outside world is perhaps Russia’s most ambitious and successful export. This invisibility provides cover for Russian atrocities and it must be challenged and disrupted…
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Inside Russia, the view of itself as a selfless and benevolent “big brother” that gifted modernity & prosperity to non-Russian societies which comprised the USSR is ubiquitous. The term “colonialism” is routinely used to condemn OTHER nations but the gaze seldom turns inward.
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I am a middle-aged man now and I’m just starting to untangle myself from this. This process has a long way to go still but I am taking the first steps. 4/4.
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The continuing use of “Kazakhstan” and “Kazakh” instead of the phonetically accurate “Qazaqstan” and “Qazaq” in written English is a testament to the enduring legacy of Russian colonialism and illustrates the way in which Russian framing of the region remains influential. 2/3
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Putin’s war оr Russia’s war. Many prominent Russians are adamant that this is Putin’s war. They despise Putin and his cronies and love their homeland. Many had to flee Russia due to their opposition to the war. Some are imprisoned. Yet, the facts are stubborn. Long 🧵
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No decent person would deny the many sins of the US imperialism. It’s just that as Central Asians we experienced Russian imperialism. It’s tragic that folks who rightly criticize US imperialism refuse to hear voices from places that were devastated by Russian imperialism. 2/2
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Last but not least, Navalny has refused to say that Crimea must be returned to Ukraine. So while he is indeed fighting Putin, the reality of Navalny is messier and uglier than his supporters would have you believe. 4/4 .
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The refusal to recognize, let alone genuinely engage with, the issues of Russian colonial legacy & modern day Russian imperialism is a defining trait of modern Russia. This trait is shared by a wide range of people including, troublingly, some prominent critics of the Kremlin.
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However, this is not the whole story. On the international stage, there is also a troubling lack of recognition that Moscow used terror to colonize and control vastly diverse societies. And that the people of these societies are determined to never fall under Russian rule again.
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The sentiment expressed by the Russian gentleman is quite common among perfectly ordinary Russians. Putin did not create it, he uses it. People in societies that Russia once colonized know this all too well. The challenge is getting the world at large to understand this.
💬 Kazakhs are a fictional nation, Kazakhstan is too big and it’s wrong, when we finish with Ukraine we’ll deal with Kazakhstan - this is a summary of a conversation between a Russian and a Kazakh, generously flavored with racist statements from the Russian
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The practice of Russifying last names by adding the -ov/ova and -ev/eva endings was rampant in Central Asia during Russian rule. After Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many people updated their documents to get rid of them. I did this. It felt right. 1/2
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When I was growing up, Qazaqs who spoke Qazaq instead of Russian in Qazaqstan’s capital were seen as “nationalists” and thought of as disagreeable and obnoxious. I know this all too well because, as a thoroughly Russified Qazaq, I shared this view. I’m deeply ashamed of this. 1/2
Why Tokayev’s brief remark in Kazakh in front of Putin became so sensational among Central Asians? Because we’ve been shamed, belittled and even threatened when speaking our indigenous languages in front of Russians. Often in our own lands and when we are a majority.
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I started writing on Twitter regularly a few months ago because of a foolhardy hope that I can make those without firsthand experience of Russian colonization see Russia the way that it is seen by those it once colonized. 1/2
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The fact that even the most outspoken opponents of Putin’s regime fail on this count demonstrates the continuing potency of the imperial mindset in Russian society. That the idea of Russian exceptionalism is deeply internalized even by Russia’s liberals is telling.
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Navalny has a history as a far right Russian nationalist and a record of racist & xenophobic statements about migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus. His supporters want everyone to focus on his brave fight against Putin but, as a Central Asian, I struggle with this. 2/4
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In contrast, the language of my own ancestors - Qazaq - was disparaged as hopelessly archaic. The opposite of worldly. Woefully inadequate for learning about the outside world and communicating with it. For these tasks, only “the great and mighty Russian language” would do.
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The remarkably stable and enduring phenomenon transcending different historical periods and regime types is the self-conception of Russia as a great power that brings good to those around it and Russian people as bearers of superior culture and morality.
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I was fortunate to spend most of October in Kazakhstan. Amazing to witness the influx of Russian men fleeing mobilization. Lots of illuminating conversations with friends and strangers. These conversations linger in my mind, some more than others. A short 🧵
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Russia’s view of Central Asians is unabashedly and unapologetically racist, of the “we taught you how to piss standing up” variety. Russia’s long-standing view of Ukrainians is more complex but equally pernicious and condescending.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is a result of a centuries-old dangerous mainstream ideology of Russian chauvinism, and of the oppression this ideology has produced. Let’s take a look at the cultural dimension of this oppression through the lens of Russia’s stereotyping of Ukrainians🧵
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As long as Russian society continues to view itself as a benevolent power that gifted modernity to societies it once controlled and view the collapse of the USSR as a tragedy to be reversed, it will continue to be a menace for its neighbors and peace will remain elusive.
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Indeed, the hearty approval rating jumps enjoyed by Putin whenever 🇷🇺 launches wars against former 🇷🇺 colonies are hard to miss. Of course, there are those who recognize that 🇷🇺 is a crumbling colonial power engaged in a futile attempt to turn back time but they are a minority.
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The heinous nature of 🇷🇺invasion has erased any stray bits of nostalgia. The attack on Ukraine made it impossible to see Russia as anything other than a revanchist empire desperate to reverse the flow of time by reestablishing control over a sovereign country it once colonized.
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When Putin lamented the collapse of the USSR as a “geopolitical catastrophe” he was capturing the zeitgeist of his people. Insistence on the “Putin‘s War” narrative by the 🇷🇺 opposition is politically expedient but fails to acknowledge the imperial yearning of the Russian people.
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Qazaqstan or Kazakhstan. During the Soviet period, the ambition of 🇷🇺 colonial rule in Central Asia went beyond military & economic control. In Qazaqstan, language & even alphabet itself were targeted. Cyrillic alphabet was imposed and we were taught that 🇷🇺 gave us writing. 🧵
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Trying to make sense of this has become an obsession for me. My conclusions are undoubtedly informed by my own positionality as a Central Asian. In short, the propaganda works because it taps into something that has been a crucial part of Russian identity long before Putin.
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The unabashedly imperialist zeitgeist of Russia’s war against
#Ukraine
has been deeply unsettling and has spurred much reflection about my own identity and my family’s history. This long🧵 is an attempt to begin to make sense of my relationship to the Kazakh language and culture.
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The view of Russia as a big brother bestowing its blessings on the lesser people around it is ubiquitous among Russians of all political persuasions. In this narrative, Russia’s neighbors are perpetually indebted to it. The relationship is always unequal.
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I love being in Qazaqstan. I read, write, & teach about it regularly. Yet, physical presence affords a visceral sense of societal changes taking place that is hard to fully grasp otherwise. And there are big changes underway. A short 🧵…
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A central part of this worldview is a refusal to accept that nations formerly under Moscow’s control could have agency of their own. Attempts by Kyiv, Astana, or Tbilisi to set a course diverging from that of Russia are seen as a result of manipulation by great powers elsewhere.
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Predictably, they usually insist on referring to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine as Putin’s war rather than Russia’s war. This conveniently absolves regular Russians of responsibility for the horrific attack perpetrated against a sovereign nation. But there is more to it.
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Deeply internalized, the idea of its own benevolence has long permeated and shaped Russian society. In this narrative, unlike the old European powers guilty of ruthless colonial conquest, Russia is a selfless bringer of culture, prosperity, and order.
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In Navalny’s videos, Central Asians were likened to flies and cockroaches that ought to be swatted away. Navalny supported the 2008 attack against Georgia, called for expulsion of all Georgians from Russia, and referred to Georgians as rodents. 3/4
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Personally, I find the invisibility enjoyed by Russian colonialism among a segment of Western left particularly heartbreaking. I am grateful to Alaric DeArment and
@Salon
for the opportunity to share my thoughts about this. 3/3
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Russian propaganda extolling the Soviet Union and pushing anti-Ukrainian narratives is a major part of Moscow’s imperial revanchist project in societies that became independent after USSR’s collapse. Is it working? Results from an empirical investigation in Qazaqstan. A long 🧵.
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A brilliant 🧵 by
@MuKappa
lays out how Russia is seen by its neighbors today. Until and unless this reckoning happens among the Russian population, Russia’s neighbors are right to be weary whether or not Putin remains in the Kremlin.
Nazism is mainstream in russia.
What is nazism? Abstract away from the distractions of economics and markets. Nazism is a form of fascism founded on the delusional belief of one group of people, generally based on ethnicity, being superior to another group of people. 1/
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In this worldview, Ukraine that seeks to decide its own affairs, free of Moscow’s control, is an aberration, a result of gullible/corrupted Ukrainian leaders being manipulated by Washington, London, etc. Because why else would they want to escape Russia’s “sphere of influence”?
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Those who argue against support for Ukraine because Ukrainian society is imperfect remind me of those who, upon hearing about a horrific assault, immediately want to know what the victim was wearing or drinking. Victim blaming on steroids. 1/2
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In my defense, our curriculum brushed over certain historical facts, such as hundreds of nuclear tests in the Kazakh steppe, deaths of over 40% of Kazakhs in a man-made famine, or Stalin’s purges that destroyed most of the Kazakh intelligentsia. 3/4
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What Russia needs is a reckoning with its own history and a wholesale rejection of the imperial idea. But this process can only begin once Russia is defeated in Ukraine. Helping Ukraine achieve victory is arguably the most important task facing the world today. THE END
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Their outraged reaction is prima facie evidence of unexamined imperial mindset. Or, to borrow
@BotakozKassymb1
and
@EricaMarat
elegant formulation, “imperial innocence.”
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The word “gift“ features prominently. The gifts include Russian language, literature, music, and art. But also science and, even, modernity itself. Naturally, in this worldview, Russians are superior and those on the receiving end of Russia’s largesse are expected to be grateful.
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Lately, Arestovych has been launching increasingly personal attacks against
@ZelenskyyUa
in hopes of advancing his own political ambitions. If the Time article named him as one of the sources, it would be deservedly ridiculed. Glad that the man’s vanity is helping to clarify it.
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There’s a reason why the “Putin’s War” narrative promoted by Russian opposition leaders doesn’t gets much traction in Russia’s former colonies. Ukrainians, Estonians, Central Asians know that Putin is but a symptom of an old malady that Russia has yet to confront – imperialism.
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To understand Russian public support for the horrible attack against a sovereign nation, Russia’s long history as an unapologetic colonial power and its long-held view of itself and its neighbors must be taken into account.
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Powerful stuff from
@BotakozKassymb1
. “While Russian opposition figures are often critical of the Putin regime, they are typically far less outspoken on the topic Russian colonialism…” .
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A reckoning with history and a rejection of the imperial idea for future Russia is urgently needed. Without it, none of Russia’s neighbors are safe, no matter the person in the Kremlin. For such a reckoning to occur, Russia must be defeated in Ukraine.
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In the depressingly ubiquitous narrative, colonialism is something that only the old European powers were guilty of, never Russia. And even among Putin’s most prominent critics, reckoning with
#RussianColonialism
is typically nowhere to be found.
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@ZelenskyyUa
P.S. One would hope that a major publication like
@TIME
would do a better job vetting sources for their cover story. Especially, when the author has a pretty amazing streak of getting Ukraine very wrong.
All you need to know Simon Shuster, an author of the recent
@TIME
article about Zelensky is in this screenshot with his titles from 2014. Dead wrong on every account. Oh, wait, he also emigrated from Moscow to the US in 1989, then got back to MSK to in 2006. More in the thread:
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I learned this as a nerdy Kazakh kid in the 1980s Almaty. Although I was in the capital of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, very few of my classmates were Kazakh. I grew up speaking Russian and felt genuine disdain for all things Kazakh. The awful irony was lost on me. 2/4
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Qazaqstan has been independent since 1991, yet the impact of 🇷🇺 colonialism lingers. Decolonization is slow as some of the most durable artifacts of 🇷🇺 rule are not physical. The horror of 🇷🇺 attempt to regain control over Ukraine has ignited my own decolonization journey. 🧵
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Russia’s war against Ukraine is a doomed attempt to reverse the irreversible flow of history by reasserting control over a former colony, made by an empire unwilling to accept its own demise. Unfortunately, the dying empire is still capable of causing great harm.
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Qazaq culture was not seen as cool or interesting. It’s striking to hear Qazaq being used by young people downtown or see hipsters integrating traditional Qazaq design elements into their wardrobes. A lot of young people in Almaty now follow Qazaq language artists and musicians.
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In societies formerly colonized by Russia, Russian imperialism is well-known and intensely despised. However, in societies without direct experience of Russian occupation, awareness about Russia’s history as a brutal colonial power is often lacking. This has to change. 2/3
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Ominously, according to Russian politicians from Putin on down, in case of
#Ukraine
and
#Kazakhstan
, the list of Russian “gifts” includes chunks of territory or even statehood itself. Sovereign nations since 1991, both 🇺🇦 and 🇰🇿 have been described by Putin as artificial states.
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This was unimaginable in my youth. New Qazaq language content makes a life-long Russian speaker like me regret that I can’t fully understand what is being said. Basically, these days, Qazaq is cool. I can’t emphasize enough how different it is from the late Soviet period.
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Russian society famously underwent extreme upheavals in the 20th century. Revolutions, World Wars, emergence and collapse of the USSR - the dizzying magnitude of change and disruption is hard to exaggerate. Yet, amidst all the turmoil, one part of the Russian worldview persisted.
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The power of this idea in Russia’s public imagination is impossible to overstate. To wit, consider the much touted expectation that invading Russian soldiers would be met with flowers by “liberated” Ukrainians.
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Insistence on “Putin's War” narrative is misleading since it hides the role of 🇷🇺imperial revanchism in the war. It is especially disheartening to see 🇷🇺opposition members do it. When Russia’s best and brightest refuse to acknowledge the problem, it is hard to be optimistic.
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I draw on my background growing up in a former Russian colony - Qazaqstan - to make sense of Russian aggression against another former colony - Ukraine. I write in English because I want to convey my perspective to those without direct experience of Russian colonization.🧵
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Russia’s most prominent propagandists engage in belligerent talk about Kazakhstan. The content of the short segment is illuminating and worth unpacking. A long 🧵
Attention, Kazakhstan!
They're saying you're next.
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Today, just like in the 1990s, those lucky enough to have been spared the blessings of Russian domination need to learn the truth. In fact, amidst Russia’s genocidal aggression in Ukraine, the need to raise awareness about 🇷🇺 as a bona fide colonial power is more urgent than ever
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Awareness about Russia’s legacy as a ruthless colonial power is essential for the fight against the resurgence of 🇷🇺 imperialism. Kremlin knows this and never misses an opportunity to deny its very existence. Good people need to push back.
#RussianColonialism
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To fully understand the logic of Russia’s horrific actions in Ukraine, the world needs to see Russia for what it truly is – a crumbling empire desperate to reverse the flow of history by reasserting control over a former colony.
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As Putin opponents and Ukraine war critics, they are furious about Russia’s neighbors’ reluctance to open their borders. Their response reveals an important “blind spot” in the way that even the most outspoken and liberal Russians see themselves.
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Contempt for all things Qazaq as backwards and hopelessly parochial, so common among the relatively more privileged Qazaq city dwellers during Russian rule, is a thing of the past. The brazenly imperial character of Russia’s war against Ukraine has dramatically accelerated this.
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