Colonial oppression damages the identity of the conquered people, said Professor Sayfullo Mullodzhanov, a PhD candidate in history from Tajikistan. In his opinion, researchers should not be deceived by the “benefits” created by the empires in the conquered lands, since all this was done in the interests of the colonizers themselves.
CABAR.asia: Why hasn’t the issue of decolonization been seriously discussed and researched in Tajikistan so far?
Sayfullo Mullodzhanov: Unfortunately, our historiography is characterized by a certain conservatism and passivity of researchers who should be active in studying the legacy of colonialism. In issues such as assessing the time of colonialism and the struggle against its legacy, we lag behind other Central Asian countries.
Soviet historiography recognized Tsarist Russia as an imperialist state. But at the same time, Soviet historians spoke of Russia’s civilizing role in the region, citing a similar quote from Engels. Do you agree with this? What positive things did the Russian conquest bring to Central Asia?
Indeed, we can notice the transformation of views on the issue of conquest on a concrete example. Academician Bobojon Gafurov in his first book “A Brief History of the Tajik People” (Stalinabad, 1947), when talking about the process of Russia’s advancement into Central Asia, uses the term “conquest”. However, in his famous book “Tajiks” (1972) he already uses the term “accession”, which speaks about the change in the ideology and policy of the Soviet Union. That is, in the 60s and 80s in the USSR, attempts were made to present the process of Central Asia’s accession to Russia as a “voluntary entry”.
Although it is true that in some regions of Central Asia people did address letters to the Emperor of Russia [about joining], however, no one can deny the fact of bloody wars between the Russian army and the formations of Bukhara, Kokand and Khiva, which led to the deaths of thousands of people.
Russia’s conquest of Central Asia nevertheless had positive aspects, including the cessation of internal internecine wars between the willful local khans.Other positive consequences were the laying of a railroad to the region and the introduction to modern civilization. However, all this should not deceive us, since all these “benefits” were primarily created in the interests of the colonizers themselves.
The imperialist nature of Tsarist Russia is more or less clear. However, many of our fellow countrymen disagree with the same assessment of the USSR and do not consider, for example, the USSR’s invasion of Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1972, Afghanistan in 1979 as acts of imperialist aggression. Why can we call the Soviet Union an imperialist state? After all, Moscow built schools and hospitals in the colonies …
In assessing the Soviet legacy, we make mistakes for two reasons. First, after achieving independence, for almost 20 years our historiography was set by those who were brought up during the Soviet era and did not want to discuss these issues seriously.
During the first ten years of independence (1991-2001), our country experienced a severe civil war and its aftermath, and people recalled the security and stability of the Soviet era with nostalgic emotions. This hindered the real assessment of the Soviet time.
During these years in our historiography, especially in the field of general history, due to the shortage of specialists, almost nothing was done to study Soviet foreign policy.
In Russia itself, during the heyday of democratic processes, the communist legacy was condemned, above all, the Soviet invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan.
In Tajikistan, in the first years of independence, the media published many articles about the Soviet military aggression in Afghanistan, as Afghan Tajiks, along with other peoples, also suffered greatly, and we Tajiks on our side of the border reflected this pain and suffering.
Decolonization in Central Asia: Opportunities and Risks
But in Russia itself, the view of the legacy of the Soviet era has now changed, and we can see this in that country’s textbooks. As to whether the Soviet Union should be called an imperialist state, two points should be made. The situation was different in the Soviet Union, which had done much to liberate the countries of Asia and Africa compared to Tsarist Russia, and this country was the leader of the anti-colonial movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Many things were done in the Soviet Union for the development of nationalities, for their access to schools and health care, which is unprecedented in history. Today’s Tajikistan is also a product of this period.
Another achievement of the USSR was the rapid industrialization of colonial territories. However, in many other key policy issues of the USSR leadership, one can see signs of colonial policy.National interests were brutally trampled on in national-territorial demarcation, and borders were demarcated in ways that were acceptable to the leadership of the Union. In the industrial sector of the region, privileges were given to Russian immigrants who settled in the cities, and a process of Russification followed. The language and culture of non-Russian peoples were discriminated against. Didn’t we Tajiks have a written language and alphabet that changed twice in ten years, and wasn’t this a discriminatory imperial policy?
What to you are the main features of an imperialist state?
I like this definition of colonialism as “the domination of a strong country over a weak one in order to use its natural and human resources for the prosperity and leadership of its people”.
How does the propaganda of imperialist countries affect the identity of dependent peoples? Can a resident of a colony simultaneously be a carrier of imperial consciousness?
When a nation in a country is considered to be in charge or is called big brother or leader, its values and norms become paramount. Its language and culture are prioritized. This situation has been repeated many times in history. Does Jesus Christ, whose face we see in the temples of Europe today, look like an Oriental man? Was he really an Italian or a German? Of course not.
Jesus was a Palestinian. He was, according to Christian books, born of a Jewish mother. But when the Romans made this cult a state cult and turned it into a banner of their expansionist policy, religion and rituals became a tool in their hands. Thus, colonialism that has existed since the beginning of history, be it Roman, English, Chinese or Russian, is always a bad thing. Under colonial oppression, the identity of the invaded people is damaged, national culture is displaced, and people lose their freedom.
Why do we need to re-evaluate the colonial past of our countries?
The colonial period should be reevaluated so that history is told not from the point of view of the conquerors, not according to the language of the archives of the occupiers, but from the point of view of the people who survived imperial oppression, discrimination and humiliation. The people know who were the real heroes and who suppressed their culture. The independence of a country is only complete when the people have cultural independence.
Can we say that our countries have completely overcome colonialism with independence?
We are only at the beginning of our journey and will have to fight for years for our independence. Why have we started the processes of Tajikization of surnames, started renaming mountain peaks, rivers and glaciers in the Tajik way?
All this gives us an opportunity to revitalize our identity and make the achievements of independence real.
What impact does this colonial past have on the current politics of the countries of the region?
The example of Ukraine shows that politicization of this issue can lead to dire consequences. Civil society must become active on this issue in order to strengthen the state and the foundations of independence. When we want to get rid of the colonial legacy, it does not mean fighting with countries or making border and territorial claims.
It is just ideas and a worldview that prioritizes state and national interests. Let us promote the need to achieve economic independence and self-sufficiency of the country and make it possible. We must strive for the purity of our language and give it its due place. Let us tell our people that “we have come a long way” and that we have the right to live and be proud of our culture and civilization. But at the same time we should not retreat from universal values, we are part of the world community and we respect its high values.