Having followed the Ukrainian crisis
on a daily basis from the beginning of 2014, I can attest that, if the Russian
people spontaneously reintroduced (to the great chagrin of the oligarchs and
standard/liberal political science) the term oligarchy and oligarchs back into
common usage, many people and members of the militia in Novorosssiya have been also
spontaneously defining their struggle from the very beginning as a struggle
against oligarchy and against fascism. Furthermore, in the same spirit, they
have also continued to define the threat presented to them by the combined
forces of old new oligarchy and new Nazism as that of slavery. Such is also the
existing political consensus and prevalent view among the people in
Novorossiya, which is also widely shared among the people in Russia as well as
those who are sympathetic to Novorossiya’s cause.
Alexander Zakharchenko, Prime Minister
of the Donetsk People’s Republic, sees the situation in the same way. For him
too, Nazism is either slavery or death:
In the Soviet Union … we were confident, proud, and we
could look into each other’s eyes. We did not feel to be degraded or oppressed.
Then they changed our psychology and made of us, proud Slavs, slaves. …The
first time I felt that I a slave was when a man in front of me beat up another,
and I went through all the institutions, and there was no justice. He was
excused. Then, I understood that the system sees me as a slave. … We are looked
down upon as people who took up arms because of poverty and hunger. But the
fact is that Donbass is one of the richest regions in Ukraine.[1]
A member of the Novorosssiya militia
under the name de guerre Parpor, who fought together with Igor Strelkov from
the very beginning in Slavyansk, explained the main reason why people volunteer
to fight against fascism and oligarchy not merely in terms of Russian
patriotism, but by defining such Russian patriotism by the revolt of the spirit
against enslavement:
Yes, these are Russian people. The volunteers are
Russian people, with Russian mentality. The [powers that be] attempted to turn
them into slaves. I wouldn’t say that about the Soviet system. That system did
not make slaves, but it did need somewhat passive people who would be
receptive. But the work [that changes people into slaves] certainly reached its
apogee after the territory which is now called Ukraine was separated during the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. In [post-1991] this production [of slaves] has
reached its apogee because people were zombified day and night, day and night,
to make them feel to be slaves, that they are vatniki [slur to call Russians or anyone who does not support
West-supported oligarchs] and so on and so on. They were insulting them
everyday. The slogan “Kill the Moscowite [Russian]” has been a leitmotif of
such propaganda for twenty three years of existence of this Ukraine. And people
were becoming much upset about it, but they also kept tolerating it. But then
change happens quickly. … Information accumulates and grows; one hears this,
sees something else, something is said, and it all gathers. And then something
switches inside, and a man who used to be completely politically passive
yesterday wakes up the next morning and realizes that he must do something to
change such life so that he does not just die in vain, that he must act, that
he must change something in this life and not just die in bed.[2]
[1] Марина Ахмедова, “Начальник
Донбасса,” Русский репортер, No. 9 (367), October 9, 2014
<http://expert.ru/russian_reporter/2014/39/nachalnik-donbassa/>
Accessed on October 15, 2014.
[2]
“Interview with NAF battalion commander Prapor,”
October 12, 2014 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwMjrCdHGyg> Accessed on October 22, 2014.
[1] Марина Ахмедова, “Начальник
Донбасса,” Русский репортер, No. 9 (367), October 9, 2014
<http://expert.ru/russian_reporter/2014/39/nachalnik-donbassa/>
Accessed on October 15, 2014.
[2]
“Interview with NAF battalion commander Prapor,” October 12,
2014 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwMjrCdHGyg> Accessed on October 22,
2014.
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