Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 13 – A decision
by Karelian Republic officials to “liquidate”
the Periodika publishing house that has been issuing books, magazines and
newspapers in Karelian, Finnish and Wepsi and combine it with another that
issues only Russian-language materials has sparked protests in that republic
and appeals to neighboring Finland for help.
According to an article posted on
the Kauppatie.com portal yesterday, Petrozavodsk has taken this decision so
that it can sell the building publisher has occupied for the last decade to a
private business concern and use the proceeds to cover the republic government’s
current deficit spending (www.kauppatie.com/2012/12-2012/rus-13.shtml).
The authorities say this decision
will not affect publishing in the non-Russian languages, but more than 60
journalists, cultural figures and minority activists have signed a letter of
protest to the government because they believe this “’unification’ will destroy
the specific nature of the press and
book publishing in the languages of the native peoples of the republic.”
But because republic head Aleksandr
Khudilaynen has not responded, the signatories of this petition have decided to
increase pressure on him by appealing to concerned social groups elsewhere in
the Russian Federation and in Finland as well, according to Anatoly Grigoryev,
the leader of the Karelian Congress.
The Karelian Congress chief said
that Petrazavodsk’s plans to create “a common republic media holding where ‘in
one bottle’ there will be everything including ,television and popular Russian
newspapers and then put the editorial offices of publications in the national
languages” could not fail to disturb those concerned with the survival of the
communities the latter serve.
The non-Russian publications are “completely
different” in their content and approach, Grigoryev said, and combining them
with the larger Russian-language editorial offices will ineluctably lead to the
decline of the former, something that the current leadership in Petrozavodsk
either doesn’t oppose or even actively supports.
Journalists working in the
non-Russian media “and what is most important, the readers of these [outlets]
justly say that this will lead to the final wiping out of the cultural-linguistic
particularities of these publications” and thereby convert them into “’a cog’
of the state media machine.
Grigoryev said that the activists
supporting non-Russian media had appealed to Khudilaynen, himself an ethnic
Finn, three times without receiving a clear answer. The republic head was
especially dismissive of their requests at a meeting of the Council of Karels,
Finns and Wepsi earlier this fall.
The republic head, however, ignored
their arguments and even refused to discuss the issue claiming that he had to “prepare
himself for a meeting with [Russian Federation President Vladimir] Putin.”
Consequently, Grigoryev said, the activists have no alternative but to appeal
to Finnish groups which he said “support us.”
But now that the national minorities
of Karelia have succeeded in generating international attention, Petrozavodsk
has backed off, answering “neither yes nor no” to all requests. But apparently,
the powers that be have already made promises about the sale of the building
Periodika has occupied and they are only waiting until “the public protest dies
down.”
In addition to the consequences for
the ethnic groups in Karelia, Grigoryev noted, the decision of the government
to raise money to meet its debt by the sale of buildings and natural resources
to outsiders reflects a problem that should infuriate all the residents of the
republic: the complete collapse of the economy there.
The Karelian government has ignored
all suggestions about the creation of a free economic zone and limited contacts
between people in Karelia and Finland expand.
Some businessmen are interested, he noted, but because of the
indifference or hostility of the regime, it sometimes appears that a new ‘iron
curtain’ has gone up, one even worse than in Soviet times.”
|
No comments:
Post a Comment