Sovereignty in Solidarity: National Struggles for Independence and the End of the Soviet Union
Öffentliche Veranstaltung der Universität Zürich in Kooperation mit Forum RGOW

16. Dezember 2026, 18:15-19:45 Uhr
Universität Zürich
Raum KOL-F-104

Speakers:
Madeleine Reeves (University of Oxford)
Una Bergmane (University of Helsinki)
Franziska Davies (ZZF Potsdam)
Moderation: Botakoz Kassymbekova (UZH)

Forty years ago, on December 16, 1986, young people took to the streets of Soviet Kazakhstan to peacefully protest Moscow’s appointment of Gennady Kolbin, a Communist Party official who had never set foot in Kazakhstan, as the republic’s new Party leader. The demonstrations, known as Jeltoqsan, were violently suppressed, yet they marked one of the earliest public challenges to Moscow’s authority in the late Soviet Union. In the years that followed, movements across the Soviet Union increasingly challenged Moscow’s rule and demanded sovereignty. But how did these movements relate to one another? How did they communicate, learn from one another, and express solidarity across national boundaries? This panel explores the connections between sovereignty movements in the late 1980s and early 1990s, examining how anti-imperial struggles spoke to, learned from, and supported one another. 

The event is open to the public. All interested students, researchers, and guests are warmly welcome.