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I’ve Changed My Vocabulary About Russia
Former Russian colonies have to re-evaluate our attitudes and communication.
When I grew up in Finland, I learned there were some words we shouldn’t use in society. Slurs for our neighbors, Swedes and Russians, the latter one being among the most common I heard in those days.
In Finnish society, there are several oppressed groups, of course, but Russians have always received a lot of hate, as they (and people from other Eastern European countries) have elsewhere in Western Europe. In Finland, you also have to remember the legacy of the Winter War that adds to our strained relationship with our Eastern neighbor.
Decent, smart people will of course not employ these kinds of slurs, or use the actions of politicians as an excuse to hate innocent civilians.
But lately, I’ve been thinking that we also policed some effective and accurate vocabulary about Russia out of our political conversation. I’ve started using these words only now, after the invasion of Ukraine.
Empire. Colonization. Genocide. Dictator.
Words Matter
I’ve always tried to remain a little critical about Finnish nationalism and the myths that built us, most importantly the Winter War. I don’t want to buy into every commonly held belief, not even the necessity of nation-states themselves.
But lately, I’ve noticed I tend to use extremely vague words whenever I explain the history of my country to people in Latin America who are not familiar with it. Maybe it’s the shadow of our Cold War-era neutrality, but there's always been some self-censorship in the way I present things.
“Finland was a part of Sweden and then a part of Russia,” is what I usually say. But this is false. Finland was colonized. Saying anything else is not recognizing the truth.
I realized this last month when I was reading the interview of Odesa-born violinist of the famous Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, Natasha Shishmonina, in an Argentinian newspaper. Shishmonina expressed grief over the situation in Ukraine, but didn’t condemn Russia, using disinformation as the basis of her reasoning. And the journalist — or the newspaper — didn’t care to…
