Post -colonial Siberia. Denis Greeks about what the war can lead to

By the anniversary of the beginning of this war, you should not take stock - they are still ahead. But recently, I often think about the prospects of the region with which my personal and family history connects me. Namely, about Siberia, about the forever colonial position of the Siberians and how this war will affect them.

Since the “development” of the Russian pioneers of Siberia in the 16-17th centuries, by the 21st century, not so much has changed-Moscow is still acting as an autocratic ruler who takes away resources, appoints loyal “governor”, and those who are insufficiently loyal, rigidly punishes. Recall the vangal . Only the "resource profile" of colonial goods from Siberia has changed. Now this is not Pushnin in exchange for vodka, as in the time of Ermak and his successors. And even the hydrocarbons that Gazprom sells so profitably (for Moscow) are also people.

One of the brightest diasporas somewhere in Moscow or St. Petersburg is Siberians. Lomonosov’s “wealth of Siberia will grow”, I think that is about this. Mikhailo Vasilievich himself was like this - the northern fate - and therefore understood what power the character is in place in the places of the remote, what wealth there in the bowels and how much one irresistible and talented person can achieve and others. But this thought of Lomonosov is still imperial and colonial, in it neither the fate of people, nor the wealth of lands are thought without a center. As well as the approach to Siberia as an imperial resource center.

The first ideas of the Siberian "regionalistry" formulated the Yadrintsev and Shashkov in the proclamation "Patriots of Siberia" back in 1863. They were quite obvious to the list of problems caused by colonization. They wrote about the operation of Siberian natural resources, and about the intentional prevention of the economy independent from the center of the economy, the incomplete system and the system of private and state -owned monopolies (now in their place of the state corporation). As you can see, nothing new.

The authors of the proclamation and the destructive nature of "social engineering" from the metropolis noted. They wrote about the obstacles to the development of culture and education in Siberia. In addition to massive settlement by the exile criminals and at the same time there are a mass of obstacles to the settlement in Siberia of free people, the empire destroyed the life of indigenous peoples there and led a violent, and therefore ineffective Russification. About the same problem, like now, represented corruption, even having eaten from that small part of the resources that could be aimed at developing the region. As now, we see federal officials sent to "feeding" to the Siberian regions.

However, the Siberian Republic that absorbed the ideas of the Siberian regionalism lasted only from June to November 1918. And then there was a military coup, which led to the authorities of Admiral Kolchak, who had a just over a year wore the title of the Supreme ruler of Russia. The events of the Civil War showed that Omsk was not suitable for the role of the capital of Siberia (and even more so the whole of Russia), because it did not (and not) with Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, etc. Uniting them of the Siberian idea, on which an independent state could arise.

Why it happened is a very interesting question. I suppose the reason is that we are dealing with symbolic and cultural hegemony. As at the very beginning of the conquest of Siberia and the Far East of the Watams of the discoverers and the founders of the prison on the front -line, the idea of independent statehood did not come, so today the majority of the population of Siberia and the Far East identifies themselves with the metropolis. So it turns out due to the fact that the empire appropriated the status of national Russian identity - replacing the national self -consciousness of imperial discourse. That is why for many centuries in Siberia there is no mass protest against the colonial policy of the center.

Although Siberia is already noticeably exhausted by the consumer attitude of the metropolis - the pre -war annual budgets of the Siberian villages and even the district centers were slightly more budgets for the graduation evening of one metropolitan school. A constant outflow from the province to the center is not only resources and money, but also young and active people or qualified specialists leads to a clearly noticeable degradation of the regional hinterland. And the war, unleashed by the Putin regime, will have strategic consequences for all Russian regions beyond the Urals. Including Siberia.

Firstly, of course, the war only aggravated all the problems associated with colonial operation. It is no secret, for example, that the main part of the Russian army, which is now trying to destroy Ukraine, consists of residents of the regions. And to a large extent, these are representatives of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. In fact, this is a war that Moscow wages with the help of its colonial troops, recruited from local residents.

And in the near future, these regions will face the consequences - in addition to the emigration and depopulation, caused by enormous losses, which intensified repeatedly, a social crisis will occur. The level of violence and crime will increase sharply. Against the backdrop of the stagnant economy, men who returned from the war will be maladaptated and disoriented. Most likely, Siberia awaits the next surge in the epidemic of dependencies, alcohol and narcotic. What will lead to an even greater spread of HIV-works, in the level of which Siberia is already “competing” with African countries, judging by pre-war statistics .

Secondly, it is not difficult to imagine a picture of the further colonial operation of Siberia and the Far East in connection with the walking war. For a long time, the Putin regime has long allowed the wealth of Siberia in the personal interests of officials who were put there "for feeding." Take at least the story of the “ first lady ” of Kuzbas Anna Tsivileeva, who rose well thanks to the true or imaginary kinship with Putin. The main task of Putin’s vassals is to ensure the "vertical of power", the work of state corporations and the flow of resources. And for this they can earn extra money at the sale of forests and their export to the same China (one of the striking examples: the Altales Holding, whose economic activity is accompanied by corruption scandals) or lease huge areas of Russian Far Eastern land for Chinese companies.

The growing dependence of Russia on China will lead to the fact that the Kremlin will enhance the operation of regions to obtain resources. This, of course, will lower the level and quality of life in the regions even more. On the other hand, the “federal” center will be more and more open to open the Siberian and Far Eastern regions for the economic expansion of China-and in order to receive any payments, and in order to receive political preferences. Naturally, this "trade" will be very one -sided: the Chinese side will receive everything she needs, because it will have much more serious levers of pressure.

In the end, Russia is waiting for the quite obvious status of satellite, and the Siberian and Far Eastern regions will be economically operated by Chinese companies. China is unlikely to be interesting to seize these territories - the costs of their maintenance are too large. But to exploit the African script is quite profitable and does not carry any burdens. Therefore, the most likely script will be just such an indirect and not creating obligations to these territories.

What role will the Siberians play in this script? Definitely disenfranchised. The land and its subsoil will be operated by "colonialists" (the Kremlin, or Beijing, or both together), and the inhabitants of the regions will be in demand only as maintenance personnel. Poprazing Napoleon, we can say: who does not have his own identity, is forced to endure someone else's. In the long run, one can imagine the "oxidized" Siberians included in the list of small indigenous peoples of the PRC.

Because the more direct and short the logistics and infrastructure shoulder between Siberia and China becomes, the more useless the gasket becomes the center of the elimination and distribution of resources, the weaker its pressure levers are becoming weaker. Yes, and politically reversal to China, Japan and Southeast Asia for Siberian territories are often much more profitable.

Under such a sad perspective, the Siberian ideas for the Siberians could become the Siberianity, a realization of themselves as a commonality, which has the right to dispose of their fate and their natural resources. The history of the regionalists - Potanin, Yadrintsev and others sent to hard labor and to exile only for the Russian government scares the Russian authorities and only for the fact that they dared to talk about the autonomy of Siberia.

Denis Grekov - philosopher, political scientist

The "Opinion" expressed in the heading of the point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial office