Prosperity is not for the good

Forwarded from Princeps writes, “The Tatars will follow the winners. Figuratively, if the Bashkirs achieve freedom and, accordingly, the disintegration of the underempire, and EVERYONE around is against us, then the Tatars will also happily secede from the Russian Federation. And vice versa, if we do not succeed, they will simply remain with their people.

No offense, but this strategy is very profitable and it allowed them to get rich. And it fuc…ing works!”

There is not much to argue here! What advantages do the Tatars have against the Bashkorts? I will express my personal opinion. My fellow countrymen have a higher degree of involvement in business; the success of the business often evokes, let’s say, positive stimulating envy among the Bashkorts. The economy is well organized – in the financial sector, industrial production, and agriculture. These successes of the Republic of Tatarstan give rise to a higher standard of living for citizens – salaries, pensions, social assistance, hospitals, schools… The percentage of national intellectuals, people of creative work is higher (presumably). All this is transformed into a higher degree of subjectivity of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. Bashkortostan has a better chance of participating in federal programs as an object. The authorities do not seek to increase the level of its subjectivity in the federal field… Why? And here we need to look at the differences not listed above. We are talking about the rebellious potential of the Bashkorts.

Residents of the republic, especially its rural areas, repeatedly deceived and humiliated by the authorities, may look outwardly submissive, sometimes even downtrodden, giving up in front of the arbitrariness of officials, the police, in front of numerous unresolved land and other property issues. Their miserable pensions, lack of access to social assistance programs, inaccessibility of social elevators (with the exception of the army contract) force them to focus on physiological survival… These processes are superimposed by the reflection of the indigenous residents of the republic on the dilution of the Bashkort ethnic group through manipulations with the population census, squeezing out the Bashkort language, distortion of national culture, vulgarization of national heroes, etc. The Bashkorts have the impression that their Republic is being “squeezed out” from them, being replaced with an imperial surrogate. But the humility of the Bashkorts is rather outward! Because as a result of such processes, grapes of anger ripen in the souls of people. If injustice is not stopped, no measures are taken to combat it, then people begin to look for alternative ways to explain the current events, to look for ways to resolve the crisis. Chance of a way out of a critical situation for the people and the country through a social explosion becomes very probable.

Therefore, in Bashkortostan, opposition manifestations are recorded noticeably more often than in Tatarstan (and they are systematically different from the opposition struggle in the Republic of Tatarstan, they are more militant and the actions taken have the national liberation color). A number of informal social and political (mainly youth) organizations declare their commitment to carrying out actions of disobedience to the authorities, including armed actions. Individual Bashkort oppositionists have managed to overcome obstacles in their path, join the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are fighting Russian fascism in Ukraine. At the same time, they declare the goal of creating in this way the beginning of the national armed forces of Bashkortostan. Among the Bashkort youth, the tendency to fight is expressed in their unambiguous deeds. Dissidence is expressed in action.

With Tatarstan everything is different…

The Tatars have the opposition; it would be surprising if it did not exist. There are also enough worthy intellectuals who, together with experienced leaders of the national democratic movement, have prepared the theoretical platform for the struggle for sovereignty. There are many different kinds of patriots from national democrats to the followers of Navalny. But the national character of the Volga Tatars played a cruel joke on them…

Hard work, foresight and diligence in management of the economy, tendency to demonstrative wealth and prosperity have borne fruit – the Tatars still live, in general, well. The standard of living in the Republic of Tatarstan is high, the well-being of the residents, at first glance, is not threatened, the mental trend still points towards conscientious work, obedience to elders (including superiors at work), and the stereotype “Tatar is a faithful servant” remains unshakable.

Today, in difficult times for the country and the people, even if this is not noticeable to everyone, it is stupid to make accurate forecasts of the future national revolution – too many factors influence this process. But it is permissible to express certain assessments and outlines. And one should not listen to the words that “the Tatars will follow the winner,” since some unpleasant statements sometimes explain the situation quite accurately. As they say, the puzzle is coming together. It is worth once again reading the words of Forwarded from Princeps, “If the Bashkirs achieve freedom, then the Tatars will also happily secede from the Russian Federation. And vice versa, if we do not succeed, they will simply remain with their people. No offense, but this strategy is very profitable and it allowed them to get rich. And it fuc…ing works!”