02/07/2025
Over the weekend we attended the first of its kind Indigenous Peoples of Russia conference in NYC! We met activists, educators, organizational leaders, artists, and academics working toward peace, sovereignty, liberation, and cultural preservation. It was a joy to be together, get to know each other, and learn about each other’s histories directly from the source, free from the whitewashing of colonial propaganda.
Not many Americans have heard of the Chăvash, Buryat, Sakha, Kalmyk, etc. We are invisible to Americans, almost as if we don’t exist, and this invisibility affords a level of safety. We are off the radar, we are not the ones being actively persecuted in the US, so we are able to speak more freely than in Russia. But this invisibility comes with the trade offs of isolation and accelerated erasure. For this reason, this extended network is vital. Our destinies are intertwined and we will cherish these relationships.
Thank you for organizing!
