Canada day
Jul. 1st, 2024 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avreliaI’ve got to a point where I want to read/listen about US politics as little as about Russian ones. I still do – about both. And I will, of course vote in November, as opposed to “no idea when”, but I am, let’s say, miffed, that my vote in the presidential election would have little weight by itself.
Don’t get me wrong, I am glad to live in a state that will vote for a Democratic nominee, no matter whom I vote for, but also I feel that it is a stupid system more strongly than ever. And yes, if everybody decide not to vote, then the few votes would matter, and it is not an outcome we want. I feel I have to actively care about politics more that I have energy for. I am sorry, I cannot save democracy here and restore it over there. I can only sit right here, cursing them all.
In a way I am glad I cannot vote in Canadian elections now.
What I did do. I started a tiny conversation and reading club in Russian for kids. Where I collected 5-6 kids of elementary school age and reading them, talking to them and playing word games with them in Russian.
I have thoughts and I have plans, and I am happy to have them.
There are some eternal conversation among the Russian diaspora about the Russian diaspora and how bad it is – compared to other diasporas and in general. This conversation intensified in the last two years. The pivot point is of course, understandable, but it is not one reason for it. The people who prefer Russian in their daily lives while living outside of Russia are not necessarily Russians, and the definition of “A Russian person” is vague to be almost non-existent. I usually go by self-identification. You say that you are Russian, and I have no reasons to believe otherwise. It may coincide with ethnicity, history and cultural leanings, or not, it may coincide with citizenship or not. You might speak Russian well or not at all. Which of them belong to the Russian diaspora? No idea. Lots of people stopped speaking Russian after February 2022. Lots of people didn’t. Lots left their homes in Russia, Ukraine and other countries and came somewhere else, bringing with them their ideas of being Russian. Lots of people who like me didn’t think of themselves like diaspora that much, just moving from place to place, going to Russia and back, now are kind of trapped. Nothing stops me from going back to Russia except for fear that I have no idea where I would be able to return home, and now my home are unequivocally here. So… yeah. I am here, being Russian. And American. And a bit Canadian.
Thinking about being Russian in this weird world.
Don’t get me wrong, I am glad to live in a state that will vote for a Democratic nominee, no matter whom I vote for, but also I feel that it is a stupid system more strongly than ever. And yes, if everybody decide not to vote, then the few votes would matter, and it is not an outcome we want. I feel I have to actively care about politics more that I have energy for. I am sorry, I cannot save democracy here and restore it over there. I can only sit right here, cursing them all.
In a way I am glad I cannot vote in Canadian elections now.
What I did do. I started a tiny conversation and reading club in Russian for kids. Where I collected 5-6 kids of elementary school age and reading them, talking to them and playing word games with them in Russian.
I have thoughts and I have plans, and I am happy to have them.
There are some eternal conversation among the Russian diaspora about the Russian diaspora and how bad it is – compared to other diasporas and in general. This conversation intensified in the last two years. The pivot point is of course, understandable, but it is not one reason for it. The people who prefer Russian in their daily lives while living outside of Russia are not necessarily Russians, and the definition of “A Russian person” is vague to be almost non-existent. I usually go by self-identification. You say that you are Russian, and I have no reasons to believe otherwise. It may coincide with ethnicity, history and cultural leanings, or not, it may coincide with citizenship or not. You might speak Russian well or not at all. Which of them belong to the Russian diaspora? No idea. Lots of people stopped speaking Russian after February 2022. Lots of people didn’t. Lots left their homes in Russia, Ukraine and other countries and came somewhere else, bringing with them their ideas of being Russian. Lots of people who like me didn’t think of themselves like diaspora that much, just moving from place to place, going to Russia and back, now are kind of trapped. Nothing stops me from going back to Russia except for fear that I have no idea where I would be able to return home, and now my home are unequivocally here. So… yeah. I am here, being Russian. And American. And a bit Canadian.
Thinking about being Russian in this weird world.
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no subject
Date: 2024-07-02 01:02 am (UTC)I see the Russian language in the apartment complex, and I see it on the subway. We have so many languages, and they are all present in varying ways on subway, apartment, voter ballots, banks, etc. In a way it is very reassuring to see, but also weirdly overwhelming.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-03 09:09 pm (UTC)Yes, people now more often use "Russian-speaking" as a more precise and easy indentifyer, since it might be the only thing we really have in common with one another - Russian as a native language. And it is enough, since eccentricities, nationalities, countries of origin, races, all could be very different. There is also usually shared history and culture. Twenty years ago I could easily spot a person from USSR countries by the common fashion sense. Now - not really.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-05 12:45 am (UTC)Language keeps the culture alive. The Welsh explained that to me. There are just things that make more sense in the origin language and are lost in the translation to another language.