Hotmail  |  Gmail  |  Yahoo  |  Justice Mail
powered by Google
WWW http://www.JusticeForNorthCaucasus.com

Add JFNC Google Bar Button to your Browser Google Bar Group  
 
 
Welcome To Justice For North Caucasus Group

Log in to your account at Justice For North Caucasus eMail system.

Request your eMail address

eMaill a Friend About This Site.

Google Translation

 

 

Window On Eurasia: Russia’s Small Nationalities Need State Autonomy To Survive

posted by eagle on September, 2010 as Imperialism


WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Window on Eurasia: Russia’s Small Nationalities Need State Autonomy to Survive

Paul Goble

Staunton, September 9 – As ever more of their members recognize, Russia’s numerically small nationalities need state autonomy if they are to survive, a conclusion that puts them on a collision course with Moscow which is seeking to amalgamate some of them with larger and predominantly Russian units and to reduce the meaning of autonomy for those who retain it.
But it is not only the threat from Moscow that is of concern for many groups, either because they are combined together in officially bi-national republics like Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria or because they are subordinate to another non-Russian group either one completely different as in Daghestan or one relatively similar as in Mordvinia.
The last case is especially instructive about the state of place of ethnic relations in the Russian Federation, and today, on the Svobodnaya pressa portal, Anton Razmakhnin considers the case of the Erzya, a Finno-Ugric community in Mordvinia that increasingly feels itself to be oppressed by their fellow Finno-Ugrics, the Moksha, as well as by the Russians.
Indeed, he says, while most Russians lump the two groups under the common designator of Mordvin, the rule of Nikolay Merkushkin, a Moksha, and his Russifying language and culture policies has made the life of the Erzya minority "unbearable” and is prompting that community to think about the formation of a separate republic svpressa.ru/society/article/29858/).
Razmakhnin spoke with Ivan Yelayev, an Erzya lawyer, who now lives outside of Mordvinia "because of security considerations”, given his opposition to Merkushkin’s Moksha-dominated regime and his support for Erzya causes, including the embattled Erzya language newspaper there.
Yelayev said that since Merkushkin came to power in 1995, the Erzya have been mistreated, with the Moksha powers that be there refusing to fulfill even their most "elementary” responsibilities toward the Erzya. Indeed, he said, within the last year, he had buried several relatives who had been denied medical treatment because of their nationality.
Moreover, "Merkushkin and his clan” have done everything to prevent the Erzya from developing their own businesses, setting up obstacles and blocking their participation in public life. Consequently, also officially, the Erzya are part of the Mordvin nation, "we do not have freedom of speech in our own republic!”
Yelayev said that the only way out, one that he and others have long opposed but now conclude is necessary for the survival of the Erzya, is the formation of a separate autonomous republic. "Now patience is already running out and not only with me but with the majority of Eryzans.”
The Erzya people, he said, are subject to double discrimination: first by the Moksha of Merkushkin and then by Russians who "discriminate against the small peoples of Russia,” Yelyayev said. Russians criticize him for not speaking Russian well, forgetting that his native language is not Russian but Erzyan.
As a result of this situation, even though the Mordvin constitution specifies that the republic has "three national languages – Russian, Erzyan, and Moksha – only the first of these is used.” Government officials exclusively and the media overwhelmingly do not use either of the Mordvin languages.
Many Erzya had assumed, Yelayev said that separatism and the formation of a separate republic would not solve things. "But now, it seems, [he and they] are prepared to struggle for the separating out of Erzya autonomy,” thereby creating a territory on which their nation could survive and develop.
. To that end, the Erzya have appealed to international organizations, and at least some of the deputies in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have begun to take up their cause, if not to promote the formation of a new republic than at least to ensure that Moscow and Saransk follow their own constitutions and laws.
Similar problems and processes can be seen in other republics, Razmakhnin continues. The national republics, "one of the artifacts of Leninist and in fact Stalinist nationality policy combined peoples who were hostile to one another,” something repression kept out of sight but not out of mind.
"At a minimum,” the journalist says, "two examples of a good life constructed on the basis of national identity exist in the Russian Federation. One of them is Tatarstan where the standard of living is higher than the all-Russian … and [the other is] Chechnya,” where incomes are lower but "which is proud of the absolute defense of its residents before Russian laws.”
"It is another question whether the numerically small Erzyan will achieve such a degree of autonomy as the Tatars and Chechens. But it is important that they try. [And] it is completely possible that genuine federalism in the final analysis will bring Russia much more good than harm,” whatever some people think now.

comments (0)


1 - 1 of 1



 RSS FEED


New Posts



Search Imperialism



Imperialism



Archive


 january 2015

 march 2014

 november 2013

 september 2013

 july 2013

 march 2013

 february 2013

 january 2013

 december 2012

 november 2012

 september 2012

 july 2012

 april 2012

 february 2012

 july 2011

 june 2011

 april 2011

 march 2011

 february 2011

 january 2011

 december 2010

 november 2010

 october 2010

 september 2010

 august 2010

 july 2010

 june 2010

 may 2010

 april 2010

 march 2010

 february 2010

 january 2010

 december 2009

 november 2009

 october 2009

 september 2009

 august 2009

 july 2009

 june 2009

 may 2009

 april 2009

 march 2009

 february 2009

 december 2008

 november 2008

 october 2008

 september 2008

 august 2008

 july 2008

 june 2008

 may 2008

 april 2008

 march 2008

 february 2008

 january 2008

 december 2007

 november 2007

 october 2007

 september 2007

 august 2007

 july 2007

 june 2007

 may 2007

 april 2007

 march 2007

 february 2007

 january 2007

 december 2006

 november 2006

 october 2006

 september 2006

 august 2006

 july 2006

 june 2006

 may 2006

 april 2006

 march 2006

 february 2006

 january 2006

 december 2005

 november 2005

 october 2005

 september 2005

 august 2005

 july 2005

 june 2005

 may 2005

 april 2005

 january 2005

 july 2000





Acknowledgement: All available information and documents in "Justice For North Caucasus Group" is provided for the "fair use". There should be no intention for ill-usage of any sort of any published item for commercial purposes and in any way or form. JFNC is a nonprofit group and has no intentions for the distribution of information for commercial or advantageous gain. At the same time consideration is ascertained that all different visions, beliefs, presentations and opinions will be presented to visitors and readers of all message boards of this site. Providing, furnishing, posting and publishing the information of all sources is considered a right to freedom of opinion, speech, expression, and information while at the same time does not necessarily reflect, represent, constitute, or comprise the stand or the opinion of this group. If you have any concerns contact us directly at: eagle@JusticeForNorthCaucasus.com


Page Last Updated: {Site best Viewed in MS-IE 1024x768 or Greater}Copyright © 2005-2009 by Justice For North Caucasus ®