Sorry - this is long - but thought you all might be interested in learning a bit more about the people of Chechnya. My understanding is that the Chechen people have been sorely abused by the Russians - the very fabric of their life nearly destroyed. It's probably comparable to the Palestinian/Israel conflict. Probably won't inspire comparable polarization among Americans, but it is interesting, nonetheless. Its so easy to pin a label "terrorist". These people have lost 1/2 their population - how many children dead is that? I'd say they are pretty pissed off, eh?
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Who are the Chechen?
By Johanna Nichols, on Linguist list
13 January 1995
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/63/077.html
History.
The Chechens have evidently been in or near their present territory for some 6000 years and perhaps much longer; there is fairly seamless archeological continuity for the last 8000 years or more in central Daghestan, suggesting that the Nakh-Daghestanian language family is long indigenous. The Caucasian highlands were apparently relatively populous and prosperous in ancient times. From the late middle ages until the 19th century, a worldwide cooling phase known as the Little Ice Age caused glacial advances and shortened growing seasons in the alpine highlands, weakening the highland economies and triggering migrations to the lowlands and abandonment of some alpine villages. This period of economic hardship coincided with the Russian conquest of the Caucasus which lasted from the late 1500's to the mid-1800's.
In all of recorded history and inferable prehistory the Chechens (and for that matter the Ingush) have never undertaken battle except in defense. The Russian conquest of the Caucasus was difficult and bloody, and the Chechens and Ingush with their extensive lowlands territory and access to the central pass were prime targets and were among the most tenacious defenders. Russia destroyed lowlands villages and deported, exiled, or slaughtered civilian population, forcing capitulation of the highlands. Numerous refugees migrated or were deported to various Muslim countries of the middle east, and to this day there are Chechen populations in Jordan and Turkey. Since then there have been various Chechen rebellions against Russian and Soviet power, as well as resistance to collectivization, anti-religious campaigns, and Russification.
In 1944 the Chechens and Ingush, together with the Karachay-Balkar, Crimean Tatars, and other nationalities were deported en masse to Kazakhstan and Siberia, losing at least one-quarter and perhaps half of their population in transit. Though "rehabilitated" in 1956 and allowed to return in 1957, they lost land, economic resources, and civil rights; since then, under both Soviet and post-Soviet governments, they have been the objects of (official and unofficial) discrimination and discriminatory public discourse. In recent years, Russian media have depicted the Chechen nation and/or nationality as thugs and bandits responsible for organized crime and street violence in Russia.
In late 1992 Russian tanks and troops, sent to the north Caucasus ostensibly as peacekeepers in an ethnic dispute between Ingush and Ossetians over traditional Ingush lands politically incorporated into North Ossetia after the 1944 deportation, forcibly removed the Ingush population from North Ossetia and destroyed the Ingush villages there; there were many deaths and there are now said to be up to 60,000 refugees in Ingushetia (about one-quarter of the total Ingush population). In developments reminiscent of today's invasion of Chechnya, in the weeks leading up to the action the Ingush were depicted (inaccurately) in regional media as heavily armed and poised for a large-scale and organized attack on Ossetians, and the Russian military once deployed appears to have undertaken ethnic cleansing at least partly on its own initiative. (My only sources of information for this paragraph are Russian and western news reports. Helsinki Watch is preparing a report for publication in early 1995.)
The invasion of Chechnya presently underway has meant great human suffering for all residents of the Chechen lowlands, including Russians, but only the Chechens are at risk of ethnic cleansing, wholesale economic ruin, and loss of linguistic and cultural heritage.
Religion.
The Chechens and Ingush are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school, having converted in the late 17th to early 19th centuries. Islam is now, as it has been since the conversion, moderate but strongly held and a central component of the culture and the ethnic identity.
Economy, customs. Traditionally, the lowlands Chechen were grain farmers and the highlanders raised sheep. At the time of Russian contact the lowlands were wealthy and produced a grain surplus, while the highlands were not self-sufficient in food and traded wool and eggs for lowlands grain.
Chechen social structure and ethnic identity rest on principles of family and clan honor, respect for and deference to one's elders, hospitality, formal and dignified relations between families and clans, and courteous and formal public and private behavior.
Kinship and clan structure are patriarchal, but women have full social and professional equality and prospects for financial independence equivalent to those of men.
Academics, writers, artists, and intellectuals in general are well versed in the cultures of both the European and the Islamic worlds, and the society as a whole can be said to regard both of these heritages as their own together with the indigenous north Caucasian artistic and intellectual tradition.
Social organization.
Until the Russian conquest the Chechens were an independent nation with their own language and territory but no formal political organization. Villages were autonomous, as were clans. Villages had mutual defense obligations in times of war, and clans had mutual support relations that linked them into larger clan confederations (which generally coincided with dialects). Each clan was headed by a respected elder. There were no social classes and no differences of rank apart from those of age, kinship, and earned social honor.
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And, given the slant of media coverage - with the knee-jerk "oh the damn terrorists" thing - pretty much no one knows or cares that there is, most definitely, the Chechen side of the story. I looked on CNN and they provided a timeline of Chechen "terrorists" acts dating back to 1995. There was no corresponding timeline of Russian atrocities to the Chechen people. On the scale of things - if you weigh this by lives lost - the Russians have out-killed the Chechens by 1000 to 1 (or more?).
I remember reading something years ago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - who described life in the Soviet Gulags. He said it crushed the spirit and will of all who endured it - except for the Chechens. Egad! Thats pretty tough.
I'd guess, after the last 50 years of virtual genocide - the Chechens don't give a rat's a** about getting glowing reviews from the world media or have much faith that justice will be served to their people. And, given that Russia is our new best friend, the US has withdrawn its condemnation of the slaughter of the Chechens - part of the deal to make "nice-nice" with Putin. Now Chechens are conveniently described as terrorists.
Well, where was everyone when the Russians were slaughtering the Chechen children - by the thousands? Where was the outrage, the righteous indignation? Thousands of Chechen children slaughtered. More horrifying than the pictures plastered across the media today - innocent children killed.
Eye for an eye - in an unequal contest, no less - that is the Chechen way. As a matter of fact - I believe that would be George W. Bush's mantra. Eye for an eye. 2800 people killed on 9-11. How many Iraqis dead? Iraqi children? And, the greatest irony, is that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.
Can't have it both ways. The Chechens are behaving no differently than the United States. Although this is much more similar to Israel/Palestinian conflict than 9-11. However, our world view is now colored by 9-11 and that is how we frame a response to any of these situations. Terrorists - kill them. Knee-jerk, unreasoned, unresearched.
What do you think - shall we divert our bombers from Fallujah and Najaf in Iraq to bomb the crap out of Chechyna? Would that make everyone feel better?
Again, just some food for thought.
