Russia’s Anti-Colonial Struggle
31, October, 2012
By: Kerkko Paananen
“[Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s regime should be regarded as a colonial power,” wrote Alfred Koch, Russia’s former deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin, on his Facebook page. “All the signs of a colonial regime were there for anyone to see,” he noted.
“Firstly, the regime regarded the population as an unsophisticated, savage mass, who could not be left alone with itself, lest they tore each other to pieces,” Mr Koch argued.
“Secondly, the regime was only interested in that part of the population that lived in areas rich with natural resources and only to the extent that the population could be used to extract those resources,” he explained.
“Thirdly, the regime quite openly and totally ignored all popular demands for self-government on the grounds that “we higher-ups had a better view” of what was really necessary,” Mr Koch pointed out.
“Fourthly, the regime’s foreign policy and military gestures were in no correlation with the actual interests of the local population, but were instead entirely directed at serving the interests of the colonial powers themselves,” he stated.
“Equally, it was impossible to explain to the people of India why their soldiers had to fight in the First and Second World Wars and what harm did, for instance, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Germany pose to India,” Mr Koch compared.
“It would then seem that the methods to fight against such a regime were to be found in the arsenal of anti-colonial movements,” Mr Koch suggested. “One should study closely the actions of the Indian and African National Congress.”
“And, god forbid, the Algerian fight for independence,” Mr Koch concluded.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=491582504208813&id=100000712037223
By: FINROSFORUM
http://finrosforum.fi/russias-anti-colonial-struggle#more
