Eating with Wolves, Crying with Shepherd
Adel Bashqawi
19 March, 2022
It is not surprising that cards’ shuffle, even ideas and intentions are mixed in the midst of the grinding war that is taking place these days in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion, which began on the twenty-fourth of February, and is still at its most intense. What mitigates the impact of this devastating catastrophe is that it resulted in the solidarity and concerted efforts of dozens of European countries and others with the Ukrainian people, who collectively deplored this unjustified and unprecedented invasion with great courage, and decided to defend the freedom and independence of this country with the participation of its armed forces and volunteers from all categories of the Ukrainian people, despite all the humanitarian, social and economic repercussions.
Circassia
What is happening in Ukraine at the present time, should distract neither attention nor concern from another important and relatively similar issue, which is the Circassian Question that remained where things ended at the time on May 21, 1864, in terms of not finding a suitable solution that would restore the Circassian legitimate rights. It must be confirmed that Circassia did not find a trusty and devoted friend who could stand by its side, even though the Russo-Circassian war lasted for 101 years.
It remained unresolved, despite all the catastrophic consequences that afflicted the Circassian nation, which included, but were not limited to, destruction, occupation, extermination, ethnic cleansing, and forcibly displacing 90% of the nation’s population into permanent exile, that consisted more than thirty countries in the world today. Knowing that 10% of the Circassian population of about 800,000 remains in the homeland and resides in non-contiguous administrative regions of the Russian state.
Here it can be seen that there are two sides to this equation:
The first party: the Circassians who represent the victims and their descendants, and they are the ones who were expelled from their homeland, and have not yet been able to restore their legitimate rights that do not fall under the statute of limitations. Standing with this party are friends who, as soon as they knew the documented facts of what happened with the Circassian nation, have been standing by their side, defending their rights, and even demanding their restoration in accordance with international laws and norms. “They do not fear in truth the blame of a blamer.”
The second party: the Russian state, which represents Tsarist and Soviet colonial ambitions and modern projects represented in the eradication of language, culture and even the Circassian presence in the homeland by stopping and even preventing the right to return to the homeland by various means, and some beneficiaries and opportunists are moving in this direction who, although they knew and understood the issue clearly, but they stand on the side of falsehood, which has no explanation other than: “For a need within the soul of Jacob.”
The conflict is an intellectual par excellence, because the Circassians and even all the supporters, from brothers, friends, human rights activists, writers, intellectuals, researchers, research and academic institutions, do not wait to obtain a certificate of good conduct from anyone, especially the party that refuses to fulfill the truth and return it to its owners, rather, they stand by rights and they do not believe in violence as a means of restoring legitimate rights.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we find those who know a deep background and the extent of the severity of some of the problems that have not yet found a solution, do not take the appropriate decision, or at least take the logical view that suits the situation of a nation that was not able to recover its rights from the state that succeeded the evil Soviet Union and its predecessor the Tsardom of Russia (Russian Empire). We find those who do not have a principled position on the side of good and justice against evil, as if they are waiting to know who is the losing party to take the opportunistic position that suits their whims. Or whoever considers himself watching a Hollywood movie, and remains in solidarity with, supporting and encouraging the main criminal (the star and the leading man of the movie) who commits the crimes and remains so until the end. A human rights activist commented:
“We have prepared for you generations that will follow the path no matter how long it takes, for they grew from under the piles of destruction, and grew up in the school of deportation, diaspora and alienation. What a misfortune!”
