The Russian army’s military assault on Chechnya has been truly barbarous. Almost every town and village has been devastated. Houses burned down. Fields strewn with mines. Homes ransacked by Russian soldiers. Witnesses speak of rapes. Aerial bombardments have killed thousands. Over two thirds of the population, some 200,000, have fled into exile. Russia is reasserting its control over the country through a policy of ethnic cleansing, forced migration and scorched earth.
The first Chechen war (1994-6) left eight thousand dead and large parts of the country in a wreck before military defeat, unfavourable Russian public opinion and foreign pressure forced Yeltsin to withdraw. After the first war Russia refused to help the country rebuild itself and boycotted the moderate elected president of the country, Aslan Maskhadov. Economic life came to a virtual standstill with factories, farms, hospitals, schools … bombed into ruins and was replaced by theft, kidnapping, and murder.
Lawlessness and chaos in the country – the blame for which lies principally on Russian shoulders – gave the Kremlin an excuse to begin an intense propaganda campaign against the Chechens. Even before the terrorist bombs, which were later uses as an excuse to reinvade Chechnya, persecution and taunting of Caucasians had reached a shrill in Russia, especially in Moscow.
An undercurrent of racism against Caucasians had become part of common culture. Russian comedians called Chechens “cockroach”. In roundtable discussions the issue of whether Chechens are genetically murderers or not was a subject of serious debate. The mass media was full of racist and chauvinistic propaganda and anyone who objected was accused of supporting terrorism.
All these were part of a planned programme to prepare public opinion in Russia and the West for an invasion of Chechnya. Yeltsin and his collaborators needed this invasion. The mafia ruling Russia could plunder the national wealth better and speedier in conditions of war and heightened nationalistic sentiment. And to organise, strengthen and consolidate free market capitalism in Russia. The orchestrated uproar over “terrorist gangs”, “Islamic fundamentalists” and “Caucasian Taliban” served these criminal aims and acts. Indeed they were a necessary prelude.
The Russian Communist Party, still the main party of the left in that country, has been unable to undertake any major ideological house cleaning. The party still dreams of USSR and uses the excuse of “political expediency” to ignore the most basic tenet of Marxism: defending democratic rights. It fans Russian nationalism against oppressed nationalities within the Russian Federation or beyond its borders, in concert with chauvinist and nationalist currents.
In reality, the fighters in the first Chechen war were mainly, and before all else, nationalists fighting for freedom from Russian domination. Islamists did not have a significant social influence in the region where Islam was only introduced some 250 years ago and did not have deep roots. People’s religious beliefs were only superficial. Until the second Chechen war, fundamentalist Islamist groups were highly marginalised and their very existence dependent on Saudi financial and Taliban military training and support. This aid fits directly or indirectly the strategy of the new “green belt” (of Islam) which US imperialism is using to surround Russia.
Yet the growth of Islamism in the Caucasus cannot be totally blamed on outside military and financial backing. Here belief in Islam – as a set of values – is the expression of a form of nationalism standing in opposition to the onslaught and humiliation imposed by the Russian nation (and its Christian persona).
The US and the West have their eyes on the Caspian basin. The fact that the USA, and its steward Turkey have been, and continue to be, behind much of the disturbances in the Caucasus is no secret. The US wants to dominate one of the most important regions of the world.
On first glance it might seem odd for the US and its allies to apparently support the Russian government both morally and materially, and at the same time provoke the countries of the region against it. Yet a Russia weakened by a war in Chechnya is more amenable to western influence. And a Russia with less influence over its southern republics must be welcome to the US and Nato. The huge oil and gas deposits of the region, not to speak of its geo-political importance makes such a gamble worthwhile. The victims, as always, are the people of the region.
Wars and upheavals in the Caucasus inevitably effect the economic and political future of Iran. National separatist movements undoubtedly play into the hands of the USA. This underlies the essential reason for the close alliance between Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region. Yet one cannot use this to ignore the independence and separatists struggles of the peoples of the region. In a longer-term perspective the most important question in the Caucasus is to recognise the rights of its peoples to self-determination and to defend the democratic rights of those people to lay the foundations of democracy.
Much of the left in Iran approaches the savage carnage imposed on Chechnya in total confusion. Some ascribe the independence movement of the Caucasian peoples, including Chechnya, to a US orchestrated and inspired plot and find themselves echoing Russia and the Islamic Republic in blaming all the ills and crimes in the region to “American imperialism”.
Others clear their conscious by labelling the Chechen fighters “terrorists Islamic gangs” – and reduce the rape of Chechnya to a power struggle in Moscow. Yet others declare themselves against both Chechen separatism and its suppression – thus indirectly condoning that suppression. Thus the Iranian left, as a whole, does not support the independence movement of the Chechens because it believes this struggle to be under the leadership of Islamic fundamentalists. The left here, as in many places, does not deep down believe in democracy and popular sovereignty.
Yet one cannot limit support to those with one is in agreement intellectually and politically. The best way to free people from the clutches of the reactionaries is to resolutely defend their struggles. A key attraction of Islamists for the Chechens is the absence of support by left and democratic forces in the face of savage Russian repression. The same blindness is seen with regards to the various national struggles inside Iran. Clearly, to approve of the right to separation is not the same as approving separation as a particular project. Indeed opposing the right to self-determination is more likely to push nationalities towards secession.
The independence movement in Chechnya is just. The real responsibility for the Chechen war lies with the mafia ruling the Kremlin which wants to maintain its control over the country through bullying. The nations of the Caucasus must decide their own fate. It is natural for the USA and the West to use these struggles to extent their influence. But such schemes must not lead us to support Moscow’s policies or lose sight of the rightful demands of the people of Caucasus. Indeed only by respecting these rights that the plots of the great powers can be neutralised, and for democracy and freedom to have a chance to become institutionalised in the region.
February 2000
Mohammad Azadgar is a veteran political activist. He has a special interest in the national issue, especially the issue of Azari nationalism, in the region.
1231 words