Geopolitics of Racism and the Nation-Building Processes

Abstract

The Soviet project sought to successfully carry out an ambitious task, namely, to be civilized, or ‘white’, without being European, or racist. Today’s new project of Russian identity attempts to solve the same complex task with one variable less, that is, simply by becoming ‘white’. In this respect, those constructing a new Russian identity today are leading a fierce fight against the colonization of public discourse by ‘political correctness’. For example, the Russian nationalist Valeriy Solovey (2007, p. 15) complains in his ‘Preface’ to the second edition of Vladimir Avdeev’s Rasologiya (Avdeev 2007) that ‘Even in the face of invasions by other races, Europeans do not regard Russians as their brothers.’ The influential pro-Kremlin politician and Dean at Moscow State University Vyacheslav Nikonov (2012) recasts the same argument, but also adds that race is the main source of misunderstanding on the international level:

Such an attitude towards us [Russians] is connected not least of all with the fact that we are white. Europe and America expect from us the same type of behavior as the Western white man. And they are very upset when our reaction is different. They think that we should constantly demonstrate to them our European image, but Russia is an independent civilization because of its entire historical experience.