Adventures in Identity Politics; Or, Return of the Cossacks

Cossacks attack members of Pussy Riot in Sochi, Russia, during the 2014 Winter Olympics (from video for “Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland” by Pussy Riot)

Once upon a time, Jews in Europe were targeted in a policy of ethnic cleansing, igniting a reaction of popular Jewish support for a national-messianic movement. This happened in 17th century Ukraine as a pogrom, in the form of an uprising initially led by Cossack chieftain Bognan Chmielnicki, that led to a messianic mass migration to Ottoman Jerusalem by the followers of Shabbetai Zvi.

“History does not repeat itself but it often rhymes,” as Mark Twain may or may not have said. But history is rhyming again. This is not to say that fate dooms us to repeat history verbatim as much as it reveals patterns of behavior and policy priorities on the part of both despotic leaderships and in the responses of affected communities and with a myriad of unforeseen consequences.

Today, of course, a Jewish state of Israel is more or less a functional member of the family of nations. Meanwhile, in eastern Europe, Cossacks are registered by the Russian Kremlin and deployed in service to domestic policy, including security matters. With or without specific discipline, Cossacks have attacked Russian demonstrators protesting Vladimir Putin’s recent reelection and the members and production crew of punk rock artists Pussy Riot as they recorded an action at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for a Russian language song and music video…