Unlike Britain and France, Russia has have Never Undergone Decolonization Mentally, Moscow Psychologist Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 8 – Seeing one’s colonies become independent is only one part of the decolonization process, Marina Travkova says; and it may be the less important part. Far more significant not only for the people in the country that has lost its empire as well as for those who have gained their independence is mental decolonization.

            Such decolonization, which involves the recognition of the wounds the empire inflicted on its colonies and the wealth it extracted from them without giving back, has occurred at least in part in Britain and France, the Moscow psychologist who has taught at the Higher School of Economics (holod.media/2022/12/08/otnoshenie-k-rossiianam/).

            This process is never easy but requires both government acknowledgement of what was involved with colonialism and also the personal understanding and acceptance of responsibility for that by those who live in the former metropolitan country, something that is especially difficult if that country still has colonies within its borders.

            Russians in contrast, Travkova says, “have not yet realized the wounds that were inflicted on neighboring countries” or that “the welfare and well-being of their country was achieved by pulling out resources from the colonies and suppressing these places.” Russia thus has not reached “this stage of awareness” and reassessed Soviet history.

            Instead, she continues, “we have isolated ourselves from an understanding of how people in the countries of the former socialist camp and especially the CIS experienced and are still experiencing the period of colonialization” and thus Russians aren’t able to understand why all these peoples view the attack on Ukraine as possibly pointing to an attack on them as well.

            And they can’t understand why people in these countries view Russians as a threat, are hostile to them, and want to exclude them or at least have some evidence that the Russians today are not the same as the Russians were who colonized them in the past. If both sides are to get beyond this, Russians must decolonize mentally first, Trakova concludes.