%0 Journal Article
%T Renewed Circassian Mobilization in the North Caucasus 20-years after the Fall of the Soviet Union
%A Lars Funch Hansen
%J Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe
%D 2012
%I European Centre for Minority Issues
%X The renewed ethnic mobilization among Cirsassians in the North Caucasus region in Russia that has unfolded since the latter half of the 2000s is illustrated by the establishment of new civil society organizations and a substantially increased number of internet-based initiatives. All of this reflects a new and increased form of agency and unity among the Circassians in which youth activism has played a key role. It also illustrates how Circassian civil society actors and cyber-activists have not only been able to establish a counter-public sphere or develop a new space for action, but also increasingly have been able to move key issues from Circassian spheres into the wider public sphere of mainstream Russian media and politics. The upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in particular, has functioned as a lever in this process, which has also resulted in increasing support among Circassians for calls for recognition of the nineteenth century forced expulsion of the majority of the Circassians from the Caucasus as an act of genocide. In this manner, a mega-event such as the Sochi Olympics has contributed to generating a more radical or politicized understanding or framing of the Causasian exodus that, since the fall of the Soviet Union, has generally been known "as our national tragedy". The million-strong and geographically dispersed Circassian diaspora have undergone a similar civil society and internet-based mobilization since the mid-2000s, which includes increased transnational communication, coordination, and cooperation-and increasingly also includes Circassian actors in the North Caucasus.
%K Circassians
%K civil society
%K youth
%K nationalizing state
%U http://bit.ly/13asXME