Are We Postcolonial?

Condee condee at PITT.EDU
Fri Mar 10 19:33:36 UTC 2006 

I pass along this (just in from RFE/RL) concerning attempts to move away
from the older identity, whether we think of it as imperial or not.  The
best bit comes toward the end of the piece:

<< one member suggesting the bill looked liked scraps torn at random from
someone's dissertation.>>

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_____________________________________________________________
RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly
Vol. 6, No. 6, 10 March 2006

A Weekly Review of News and Analysis of Russian Politics.

************************************************************
HEADLINES:
	* NEW BILL ON NATIONAL IDENTITY GENERATING PROTESTS
	* RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS HEATING UP
	* A YEAR AFTER MASKHADOV'S DEATH, CONFLICT'S END
	STILL DISTANT
************************************************************

CIVIL SOCIETY 

NEW BILL ON NATIONAL IDENTITY GENERATING PROTESTS. An attempt by Russia's
State Duma to define Russian national identity has run into trouble with the
country's Muslims and national minorities. The driving force behind a new
bill on national identity was President Vladimir Putin himself, who has
argued that Russians and Russia need to have a better sense of who they are.
But when the bill was sent out for discussion last month by Russia's
republican and regional parliamentary assemblies, it ran into a storm of
protest. Deputies in Tatarstan, which has a large Muslim population, say
it's an attempt to strengthen and formalize the dominant role of Russians in
the state and therefore runs counter to the constitution.
	The idea of defining a concept of Russian national identity
is almost as old as Russia itself -- and just as elusive. Yet Russian
leaders cannot, it seems, resist the temptation to try. In post-Soviet
times, Boris Yeltsin made his contribution through the new constitution of
the Russian Federation and the start of a debate on the Russian national
idea.
	Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the opposition Yabloko
party, has appealed for a break from the imperial past. The Russian national
idea, he says, should be based on respect. But such modest ambitions are not
in keeping with President Putin's vision of a muscular new Russia pumped up
by petrol and gas.
	The problem is easily enough defined: how to create a sense
of shared identity in a country divided by race, language, religion and,
increasingly, class and wealth? How to give a sense of purpose to a new
state that is still only just emerging from the ashes of the Soviet Union?
	Putin's answer is taking the shape of a bill on the fundamentals of
state national policy, which sees its main aim as strengthening the
formation of a united multicultural society. Few, it seems, have any problem
with that.
	Where some do have a problem, though, is with the "consolidating
role" assigned by the bill to the Russian people ("Russkii narod") in
"providing the unity of the country and strengthening the vertical of
power." Perhaps they sense an echo of the guiding role assigned the Russian
people in the Soviet Union?
	The proposed legislation has stirred up a hornets' nest
of protest in the predominantly-Muslim republic of Tatarstan, which has
grown used to a considerable measure of autonomy in the years since the
Soviet collapse. On March 3, its State Council Committee on Culture,
Science, Education, and National Affairs flatly rejected the bill. Foat
Galimullin, a deputy in the republican parliament, discussed this issue with
RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service.
	"We have already survived that unrealistic experiment to create a
Soviet nation during the era of the USSR," Galimullin said. "And now, once
more, we have plans to create the Russian nation. I consider this law
provocative in principle and I think that it should be for sure rejected."
	Indus Tahirov, another deputy in Tatarstan's parliament,
said the bill was at odds with the federal constitution, which emphasizes
the multiethnic nature of the Russian people (Rossiskii narod).
	"The bill cannot be accepted in its present form, first of
all because it is not in accordance with the norms of international law,
secondly because it contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation,
and thirdly because it does not strengthen mutual understanding among the
peoples of the country because of the articles, which especially stand out
concerning the Russian language and the Russian people."
	Tahirov and other deputies have taken particular issue with the
provisions of the bill on the Russian language. Tufan Minnullin points out
that a demand contained in the bill that every citizen should know the
Russian language is at odds with the federal constitution. What does "know"
mean, he asks, and what is the punishment to be for not knowing?
	"This is a very insidious law. It gives the impression of defending
the Russian people, but in essence it is directed against the Russian
people. It appears to compliment the Russian people but actually it sets the
Russian people up against all the other peoples. Then there is that terrible
article where it states that citizens of the Russian Federation are obliged
to know the Russian language. What does it mean: "obliged"? If they have to
imprison me, what will they do?"
	It is not just Russia's religious and ethnic minorities
who are alarmed. Russia's Public Chamber -- set up last year as a sort of
collective ombudsman to monitor the work of parliament, as well as federal
and regional bodies -- was dismissive, with one member suggesting the bill
looked liked scraps torn at random from someone's dissertation.
	The chamber has set up its own committee to examine the bill, which
will report back in three months. Valery Tishkov is the head of its
Commission on Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience and a leading expert on
ethnicity and nationalism. He told RFE/RL's Russian Service that he sees no
place for a "consolidating role" for the Russian people in the modern
Russian state.
	"We should be talking not just about the multicultural, complex
composition of the Russian people, but also about its unity. It is
impossible to create one people out of 100 peoples. We should not be talking
about how to make one nation out of 100, but about the recognition --
recognition not formation -- of our genuinely existing unity, while at the
same time preserving all our traditions."
	The fact that this legislation is already running into
trouble suggests how much Russia may be changing. At the heart of the debate
over the new legislation lies the Kremlin's fear over Russia's demographic
future. Russia is a multiethnic country, whose large Muslim population is
growing as fast as the ethnic Russian population is shrinking. The country's
national and religious minorities are becoming increasingly aware of their
growing weight and importance in society. The Russian national idea may
never be quite the same again. (Robert Parsons)


Prof. Nancy Condee, Director
Graduate Program for Cultural Studies
2206 Posvar Hall
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-624-7232


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Tony Anemone
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 2:15 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Are We Postcolonial?

The upcoming issue of _PMLA_ will have a special section ("Are We  
Postcolonial?") based on the AATSEEL roundtable that Gayatri Spivak  
ran, with papers by Vitaly Chernetsky, Nancy Condee, Dragan  
Kujundzic, and
Harsha Ram.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
"Вы считаете, что война необходима?  
Прекрасно. Кто проповедует войну - в  
особый, передовой легион и на штурм, в  
атаку, впереди всех!"

Л. Н. Толстой, Анна Каренина, ч. 8, гл. XVI.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Tony Anemone
Associate Professor of Russian
P.O. Box 8795
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
College of William and Mary
phone:  	757-221-3636
fax: 		757-221-3637




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