Since Vladimir Putin\u2019s rise to power in 1999, the Russian authorities have responded to any threat, whether real or imagined, with repressive legislation.<\/p>\n
The history of the power vertical is thus one of the methodical restriction of citizen\u2019s rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s over-centralised state is increasingly isolating itself from the \u201cmultinational people of the Russian Federation\u201d, which is, as the Constitution states, the sole source of authority in the country.<\/p>\n
Thus, Russia\u2019s political elites are not only losing their so-called \u201cconnection with the land\u201d, but eroding popular faith in the elite\u2019s legitimacy as rulers.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because in Russia today, relations between the centre and the regions are reminiscent more of an imperial metropolis and its colonies. The authorities see Russia as a never-ending source of natural and human resources.<\/p>\n
The elites usurp the income derived from these resources as colonisers: the majority of the population are paid enough just to survive. And if you\u2019re dissatisfied, there\u2019s always an appropriate charge to be found in the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n
The end of 2015 saw Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, host a congress of the Kalmykian people. For a republic of this size, the congress was large. But neither national media, nor the local official press covered this event in any way.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the lack of coverage was a mistake.<\/p>\n
The forum\u2019s 200 delegates ended up voting for a resolution that led with the demand for a new constitution for the republic, one that would reflect the \u201cinviolable right of the Oirat-Kalmyk people to decide their own fate.\u201d This is important, because when Kalmykia first became a subject of the Russian Federation, its legislature did not mention self-determination \u2013 unlike the legislatures of other national republics that joined Russia after the fall of the USSR.<\/p>\n
Kalmykia returned to national news at the start of April 2016 when an athlete from neighbouring Dagestan was forced to apologise publicly for desecrating a statue of the Buddha.<\/p>\n
These stories reveal the Russian media\u2019s priorities. Russian viewers find interethnic conflicts far more interesting than people\u2019s attempts to self-organise and defend their rights.<\/p>\n
The events themselves are also revealing.<\/p>\n
The Kalmyk people\u2019s congress may have been representative, but it was the second incident \u2014 when an offending \u201coutsider\u201d had to be punished \u2014 that turned out to be more powerful in bringing people together. Statue of a lama at Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume, the largest Buddhist Khurul (temple) in Elista, Kalmykia. Photo CC: Oleg Akamatsu \/ Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.\u00a0\u201cPeople only react to strong, direct sources of displeasure. However, when it\u2019s a case of other important matters, no one comes out to protest,\u201d a Kalmyk blogger complained, speaking of the local population\u2019s preference \u201cto not react to the authorities at all\u201d. \u201cAfter all, you can boil a frog alive if you raise the temperature in a pan slowly \u2014 it won\u2019t jump out.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
The blogger\u2019s metaphor might be a bit heavy-handed, but it reflects the relationship between Russia\u2019s authorities and the public all too well. There is one thing missing from this metaphor, though: the ability to very gradually raise the temperature is a good one to have if you\u2019re a cook \u2013 but not when you\u2019re running a country.<\/p>\n
A week before the incident in Kalmykia\u2019s capital Elista, Igor Barinov, the head of Russia\u2019s Federal Nationalities Agency (FADN), declared that ethnic and religious tensions in the country were likely to flare up.<\/p>\n
At the State Duma\u2019s Question Time on 23 March, Barinov stated that, \u201cNational conflicts are directly connected to economic problems and the ineffectiveness of the authorities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Barinov, certain regions of Russia are seeing \u201cradicalised religious structures join with the non-systemic opposition to criticise the state\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the mean time,\u201d Barinov said, \u201cthis criticism is mainly connected to social welfare issues, housing, utilities and ecology\u201d. By the time the parliamentary election campaign starts, though, this criticism will take on a \u201cpolitical, national and religious overtone\u201d, he warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barinov thus called on Russia\u2019s regions to \u201cbe ready to react accordingly\u201d and proposed legislation for extrajudicial blocking of websites that \u201cdo not formally come under the definition of \u2018calls to mass disorder\u2019, but that further escalate interethnic and interfaith conflicts.\u201d
In Russia today, relations between the centre and regions are reminiscent more of an imperial metropolis and its colonies\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u00a0Thus, a top public official confirmed that potential mobilisations on ethnic or religious grounds will be directly connected to economic problems and the state\u2019s lack of response \u2013 but chose to amp up Russia\u2019s anti-extremism legislation instead of tackling the roots of the problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barinov\u2019s action plan is not surprising. The state is not involved in solving the problems of hundreds of different ethnic groups in Russia. Instead, the Kremlin is busy creating the appearance of stability. In particular, it is creating the right conditions for local authorities to deploy the \u201cadministrative resources\u201d at this year\u2019s elections, and thus forestall any unexpected (read: unpleasant) results for Moscow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barinov doesn\u2019t hide the fact that one of his ministry\u2019s main tasks is to \u201cbuild a power vertical in the regions\u201d. Indeed, the FADN believes that \u201cunifying the approach to nationality issues in all regions\u201d is an important step in this direction.<\/p>\n
It goes without saying that, in these conditions, a genuine federal political structure cannot exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a recent court decision from Khanty-Mansiisk shows, the word \u201cfederalisation\u201d is now being used synonymously with \u201cstirring up interfaith antagonism\u201d, \u201cchanging the system of administrative-territorial management\u201d, \u201cseparatism\u201d and \u201csubverting the constitutional order\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The federal authorities\u2019 colonising mentality is thus heavily regulating and even criminalising any small attempts at self-determination.<\/p>\n
In March, the Ministry of Justice declared the Batani Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting indigenous peoples in Russia\u2019s north, Siberia and the Far East, a \u201cforeign agent\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Pavel Sulyandziga, Batani\u2019s chairman, the root of the conflict with the bureaucracy comes down to indigenous peoples\u2019 rights to traditional hunting grounds, fishing areas and territory for grazing their animals.\u00a0\u00a0 Vladimir Putin and Pavel Sulyandziga during a meeting with representatives of Russia\u2019s communal and religious organisations. Moscow, 2011. Photo (c): Aleksey Druzhinin \/ visual RIAN. All rights reserved.\u00a0Such conflicts have led to a rise in the number of criminal cases opened against indigenous people in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region. Rights activists state that most resource companies prefer not to negotiate with indigenous representatives any more, but act via the most powerful state ministries.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
News along this theme regularly appears in the Russian press.<\/p>\n
For example \u2013 a village leader from Primorsky krai reported on the terrible situation in Russia\u2019s Far East at the Moscow Economic Forum in March of this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A day after the report, news broke of how Kursk\u2019s regional council publicly obstructed Olga Li, a local councilwoman and newspaper editor. Li\u2019s sharply critical video address to Putin, which was dedicated by and large to regional politics, has now resulted in a criminal case for slander.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But what is really happening in Russia\u2019s regions? Can we talk about any signs of anti-colonial resistance?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, while Duma deputies have begun to talk about the possibility of a \u201crevolutionary situation\u201d in response to the growing gap between Russia\u2019s rich and poor, experts such as Denis Volkov and Natalia Zubarevich agree that we\u2019re unlikely to see an outbreak of mass protest activity any time soon.\u00a0
The risks associated with protest are so high, it\u2019s simpler to adapt to falling living standards than fight for a better future\u00a0<\/p>\n
With national television networks firmly under control, the Russian government is managing to maintain order. The opposition is yet to offer an alternative agenda on political or social issues that would attract a significant section of the population. And the risks associated with protest are so high, it\u2019s simpler just adapt to the falling living standards than fight for a better future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That said, Zubarevich, the author of the \u201cFour Russias\u201d concept, believes that Russia\u2019s regions are, by and large, conservative, and a bulwark of support for the current regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Zubarevich, the only exceptions are the \u201cunderdeveloped\u201d regions with a more volatile political atmosphere, such as the North Caucasus and southern Siberia, where possible future scenarios even include state violence unleashed against the populace.\u00a0 Krasnoslobodsky region, Republic of Mordovia, Russia, 2008. Photo CC: Marina Flickam \/ Flickr. Some rights reserved.\u00a0The North Caucasus, in particular, is witnessing a growing ideological divide between state and society, though regional experts vary in their estimations of the threat it may pose.<\/i><\/p>\n
According to Nikolai Silaev of the Center of the Problems of the Caucasus and Regional Security, the threat of nationalism doesn\u2019t really work as a tool of public politics in Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe single ideological base for movements that threaten an open fragmentation of the state could become political Islam,\u201d writes Silaev. However, he continues to say that \u201cpolitical Islam has no realistic model of the state or clear spatial boundaries.\u201d This kind of political community will come to form a networked \u201cparallel world\u201d, one that will both fight the state and try to find forms of integration.<\/p>\n
Denis Sokolov is less optimistic. As he sees it, \u201cthe ideology of the secular state has completely lost to Islam in the east of the North Caucasus due to its problems with the courts and social mobility\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sokolov believes that 2016 will see \u201ca confrontation between the security services and a significant number of Muslims living in the North Caucasus rise to the fore\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sokolov is the first specialist on the Caucasus to investigate the curious news stories coming out of Dagestan. Here, jamaats<\/em> (village communities) have started to pay medical professionals to visit their villages at their own expense (as a rule, these visiting doctors are kinsmen who\u2019ve been working in the big cities.) This turned out to be successful, and now this practice has extended to teaching staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n Society has thus made headway in an area where the state has failed in spite of its multi-billion rouble projects. Taking responsibility for their own infrastructure, villagers have set up quality medicine and education for themselves, at the same time addressing an often emotional issue \u2014 bringing back their kin to the mountains. Russian soldiers in Khushet village, in the mountains of Dagestan, 2007. Photo CC: Timur Abdullaev \/ visual RIAN. Some rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n Of course, we\u2019re talking about a maximum of ten villages here. This is a local success even for Dagestan. But nothing is stopping other communities from trying this out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the most important thing here is how this problem is being solved. If inviting doctors is a matter of survival (it was prompted by a rising death rate, including of patients during simple operations), then finding good teachers is a signal that education is in demand, an investment in long-term development.\u00a0<\/p>\n An ineffective state can only welcome these initiatives \u2014 the story about Dagestan was shown on federal television.\u00a0<\/p>\n But if you take into the account the fact that secular ideology is losing out to Islam in Dagestan, then we can assume that something bigger is behind these developments. Perhaps it is what Hannah Arendt described as the elite\u2019s temptation to substitute violence for power when it begins to slip from their grasp.\u00a0 Arendt\u2019s diagnosis is all too reminiscent of the modern Russian Federation. Putin\u2019s concepts of the \u201cRussian World\u201d and patriotism as the only possible national idea are closely intertwined with how Russia\u2019s law on separatism and the law on foreign agents are applied \u2013 and, more often that not, with anti-extremist and anti-terrorist legislation.<\/p>\n The way they are applied is evidence of a full-blown crisis in Russian domestic policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Social media is an apt reflection of the mood of ordinary people. Take this recent question from a user in a VKontakte group in Kalmykia: \u201cCan you point to any positive results of the head of Kalmykia Alexei Orlov, who\u2019s ruled the republic for six years now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can only see one,\u201d the same user states, \u201cPeople in the regions don\u2019t rely on the authorities. They solve their problems themselves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a blogger from North Ossetia updates his status: \u201cI\u2019ve had enough. The hassle, intrigue, politics, money (and its absence), the idiocy inside and outside the system\u2026 People have had their priorities wrong for too long.\u201d<\/p>\n Every day, my newsfeed is full of these kinds of posts. Apathy and the realisation that you can\u2019t expect anything from the authorities are the main motifs of discussions on Russia social media.<\/p>\n At the core of this sense of emptiness, this ideological vacuum that became obvious after the fall of the Soviet Union, lies nothing but a longing for the homeland. No one feels at home here: neither ethnic minorities, who experience discrimination due to their ethnicity, nor Russian Slavs, outraged at the corruption of public officials and the courts willing to avert their gaze when so-called \u201cpeople from out of town\u201d commit crimes. All railways lead to Moscow. Vanadzor, 2012. Photo CC: Tim Waters \/ Flickr. Some rights reserved.\u00a0Emil Pain, a prominent political scientist and ethnographer, recently spoke of Russia as \u201ca country without a society, a country without a nation\u201d.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Yet the transformation of a population into a nation is not a task for the state. Ruling elites are more interested in subjects than citizens. A nation emerges when people are ready to fight for their own rights.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easier for national republics to form a common agenda on this issue. Although the fact that a congress of Kalmyk people, rather than peoples, was recently held suggests that the ideology of ethnic, rather than civic nationalism, is what brought people together.<\/p>\n Multiethnic Dagestan could, in principle, overcome these narrow borders. While local nationalism divides society, Islam offers a platform for consolidation in the future \u2014 to form the political nation of Dagestan. But here the authorities have successfully maintained the artificial confrontation between \u201ctraditional\u201d and \u201cnon-traditional\u201d Muslims for a long time. In an over-centralised political system, there\u2019s little point talking of society\u2019s chance to take back the state in a single region. The Leviathan that is the state will react to what Arendt described as the \u201cslipping away of power\u201d with an intensive build-up of the power ministries, which remain capable enough to prevent any attempt to monopolise the centre.<\/p>\n Given that Putin\u2019s new National Guard is subordinate only to the head of state, we can see how the vertical sees the solution to the national question.<\/p>\n But is there something that will prompt the population to fight for their rights and thus create a nation along alternative, democratic lines? Liah Greenfield, a scholar of nationalisms, believes that a new elite is needed for this kind of future \u2014 an elite that will fight not for its own power, but for the people\u2019s respect, given the connection between individual dignity and national identity<\/p>\n Unfortunately, as the Kalmyk people\u2019s congress in Elista shows, people are always ready to \u201cforce others to respect them\u201d on a local level, but are far less ready to defend their dignity when it comes to the arbitrary rule of public officials and law enforcement.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s Russia, it\u2019s more realistic to wait for the state to reach the final stage of exhaustion and let power slip from its grasp. Of course, then we\u2019ll have to deal with the same questions: you can\u2019t build a nation without civic activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, please consider following oDR on\u00a0Facebook\u00a0or\u00a0Twitter.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since Vladimir Putin\u2019s rise to power in 1999, the Russian authorities have responded to any threat, whether real or imagined, with repressive legislation. The history of the power vertical is thus one of the methodical restriction of citizen\u2019s rights and freedoms. Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s over-centralised state is increasingly isolating itself from the \u201cmultinational people of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The transformation of a population into a nation is not a task for the state\u00a0<\/p>\nFrustration that turns to apathy\u00a0<\/h2>\n
At the core of this sense of emptiness, this ideological vacuum that became obvious after the fall of the Soviet Union, lies nothing but a longing for the homeland\u00a0<\/p>\n