After the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Tuvinian Dankhaya Khovalyg moved to Berlin, where she is engaged in anti-war activism and helping refugees. She hosts the Republic Speaks podcast, a project about six Asian national regions of Russia: Kalmykia, Buryatia, Tuva, Sakha, Khakassia and Altai. Each issue is dedicated to one of these republics and includes conversations with local residents and expert interviews, including in their native languages.
“The desire for decolonization began earlier than the war in Ukraine, but it was more moderate. Then, when there was a full-scale invasion, everything changed. People began to massively talk about the manifestation of racism and chauvinism against them. It became a kind of dam failure. As if what was holding the river had collapsed, a huge wave began to overflow the banks and people realized the extent of the trauma that was happening to them. Daily, systematically – small, large, but constant aggressive attacks that greatly affect the personality. When we first started talking about racism en masse, a new round of decolonization began. We have become more aware of our request. They began to understand what was happening, why, for example, native languages аre not really taught in our schools, why these languages аre dying,” Danhayaa says.
In our republics, small, closed, where everyone knows each other, a person walking out into the street with an anti-war poster is big news. It’s not just “someone got out there”. It has a real impact on relatives, loved ones, friends. Because of this, they press very hard.
Our regions bring in the most money as resource appendages, as one of the main sources of the country’s economic wealth. The Kremlin is very afraid of the growth of national consciousness in the republics. There still live nations that are different from the Russian. Since the 1990s, especially after the two Russian-Chechen wars, national self-consciousness has changed a lot. At some point, everyone wanted autonomy for themselves, everyone remembered that the Russians, in fact, colonized us at one time.
I have very little faith in the beautiful Russia of the future. When Putin leaves, which is inevitable, and this Russian liberal opposition cohort comes to power, I am sure that the situation in our republics will not change. Everything will only get worse, because reparations will have to be paid”, – the writer predicts.
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