Wake up and think

It is clear that the conscious Tatars are now facing a difficult choice, and they are afraid to start the fight because of the possible loss. But you have to start with something until it’s too late. Somehow to demonstrate that there are disagreements, that the people understand the wrongness of the path chosen by Moscow. After all, the Tatars are already suffering unprecedented losses today, the number of people killed in the unnecessary war is measured in thousands. In any way, the power must realize that Tatar patriots  do not agree to obediently become cannon fodder. In contrast, the Tatar people want to give birth and bring up children, and be the masters of their Republic.

There are many examples of repressions against dissidents, to every taste, from the tragic – sending the father to a pre-trial detention center, and his child to a boarding school (for a child’s drawing in a Tatar school permeated with Russian chauvinism) to the comical – arrests for simply holding a blank sheet of A-4 stationery held by an old woman or a young girl. At the same time, everyone sees that the number of arriving coffins is staggering, but the people are persistently told  that these are fakes, that we are winning, defending our national values, we are moving forward and we are about to reconquer Berlin. Those who understand that the jig is up try to hide deeper and pretend that nothing is happening. Many are united only in blaming Ukraine, which they themselves attacked, on the war and victims among the mobilized Tatars. Such people march in a common formation, sing as a choir a victory song, raise their hands saying “I am Russian”,  rejecting their people and common sense respectively.

What can be said about the quagmire of a nightmare fascist dream? How to estimate the degree of Tatar numbness and silence? Thank God, this is not a general phenomenon. Not everyone is silent, some try to speak out and protest. It sometimes looks funny and is subject to ridicule. The self-sacrificing position, the call for an open confrontation causes fear and indignation among the philistines: after all, it is a threat to their well-being. Oppositionists are subjected to various types of ostracism, scolded for detachment from reality and revolutionary romanticism, and immediately accused of siding with the enemy, rocking the boat of peaceful life in RT. Try to make them happy! Is it worth trying?

The author believes that it is not worth it. It is better, in his opinion, to support any, even ridiculous, manifestations of sincere disagreement, and fearsome attempts to influence the situation dragging the people of the Republic into a national catastrophe. And he will try at any cost to convey to the Tatars an understanding of the near future prospects, a critical look at what is happening. So that, they would realize that the construction of a military plant for the production of drones makes the territory of this enterprise in the Tatar hinterland a legitimate target for the enemy. That the recruitment of Tatar boys into volunteer battalions is considered by international law as a war crime that will have to be paid for someday. That the military damage, caused by Tatarstan as a member of the Russian Federation to the enemy side, will have to be compensated by reparations and restitutions, and our people will have to provide monetary payments or damages with our Tatar oil, machinery, agricultural products, construction materials, etc. Or do you think everything will be forgiven?

As a result of these sad thoughts, the author shows some empathy for the naive sparks of independent thinking in his countrymen, who had not previously participated in protest actions. People begin to think… Someone young and strong (“with a leopard’s smile”) can take part in the armed struggle for Free Tatarstan. Someone is just preparing to participate in protest actions, determining for himself which side of the barricade he is ready to stand on. Someone supports the activists of the anti-war and national-democratic movement with money to pay immense fines. Someone is just beginning to listen to the voice of the opposition and learn about the existence of alternative views on political events, about the work of the Government of Tatarstan in exile, about arrested and repressed citizens of the Republic of Tatarstan. There are those who go for single pickets with funny tricks in writing anti-war posters, encrypting and encoding their thoughts. Probably, they fear  most as they are people who have nothing to do with politics or struggle, they have things to lose, but their conscience does not allow them to remain silent, and they go out. It is most difficult for those who are looking for their way and hesitate to stand up or bend down. Let’s all together remember such people in our prayer and ask Allah to help them strengthen their righteous decision.