00:41 26-03-2014
Êàçàêè è "êàçàêè".
Zaporozhian Cossack autonomy declined as the Russian Empire grew in power and reach, imposing its might over the Tatars. With the Cossacks’ role as frontiersmen now redundant, they were forced to make way for the aristocracy’s farming estates. Yet this was not enough for the Tsars, who saw a risk of the Cossack worldview catching on. So the Cossack mystique itself was appropriated by the Russian state, which applied the term to its shock troops and counter-insurgency units (a tradition maintained in Soviet times). The Cossacks were respun to connote militarism, control and obedience to central authority; perversely, in many parts, the symbol of freedom became the symbol of tyranny.
The archetype of the disobedient Cossack who will not stoop to intimidation remains an important part of Ukrainian identity. But in the current crisis, appropriately enough, the nature of a Cossack remains hard to pin down.
There are men referred to as Cossacks in Crimea; they carry whips to beat the rebel spirit out of the protestors. There also are men referred to as Cossacks on the Maidan; they carry drums to beat out a rhythm to try to lift the rebel spirit of the protestors. So who is the real Cossack? Well, that depends on your understanding of the word, and who you think a genuine Cossack would be taking orders from.