Identities can Change Overnight When They Shift from Compulsory to Voluntary, Chernyakhovsky Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec 2 – Far too many assume that ethnic and religious identities are eternal, that once an individual adopts one he or she will stay with it forever. But in fact, as Sergey Chernyakhovsky points out, identities can change overnight, especially if they are expressed in compulsion disappears and any self-identification becomes voluntary.

            That has happened throughout history, including in Russia, the co-founder of the Izborsky Club says. In support of his argument, he offers statistics about what happened in the Russian Army when participation in Orthodox services went from being a requirement to being voluntary (business-gazeta.ru/article/615719).

            In 1916, 96 percent of the soldiers and officers in the army of the Russian Empire took part in Russian Orthodox Eastern ceremonies, he recalls; but a year later, only 16 percent did. The reason for the change? In the first case, the authorities made participation compulsory; and in the second, they allowed people to decide for themselves.

            That should be a warning to all those who assume that they can effectively impose an identity by compulsion, and it should also be a warning to those who think that existing identities, including membership in this or that nation will stay the same when power relations change and individuals and groups can choose for themselves.