Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 2 – Last Sunday,
two Catalan parties that back independence for their land won a majority in the
regional parliament, a decisive step toward independence within Europe and one
that many regionalists in the Russian Federation are watching closely, one of
their number Vadim Shtepa says.
In an article in a new Karelian
portal, Shtepa argues that “it is indicative that the supporters of [Catalan]
independence call themselves ‘independence-ites’ and not in any case ‘separatists,’”
a choice that reflects “the very format of European policy” and offers a way
forward for many groups (mustoi.ru/dojdut-li-katalonskie-nastroeniya-do-karelii/).
The European Union has become “a new
political reality which has replaced the formats of individual states, which
historically were empires – Great Britain, France and Spain,” and thereby
supports federalist arrangements and welcomes “the development of local
self-government.”
In practice,
Shtepa writes, movement in that direction has gone along “parallel paths – on the
one hand, all-European structures have arisen, and on the other, dozens of
regional parties have taken shape in various countries.” Not only do these
processes not contradict one another, but they reinforce each other, with
regionalist parties playing “an integrative role in the EU.”
Consequently, he continues, “it is difficult
to call the Catalans ‘separatists’ because they do not intend to leave the European
Union, even if they leave Spain;” and even in that case, there would not appear
“any borders” between Spain and Catalonia just as there are no now borders
among EU member states.
According to its constitution,
Shtepa points out, “Russia is a federal state, and therefore [it] should be
similar to the EU in the sense of having a great deal of regional
self-administration.” But “in fact, present-day Russia is more like the
historical Spanish Empire,” and its leaders confuse regionalism with
separatism.
The Russian government fails to
distinguish between the two, despite the fact that all dictionaries show the
difference, and bans regional parties as a matter of principle. That just
shows, Shtepa says, that “the country is very far from the principles of
federalism,” whatever name it uses.
In Karelia itself, Shtepa says,
there is no genuine debate about these things and officials are more likely to
engage in conspiracy-mongering than in real discussion, worrying first and foremost
about who is behind this or that movement and demanding that any group drop the
word regional from its name.
And they make those demands despite
the fact that “the goals of the regionalists not only do not go beyond the
framework of Russian legislation but also affirm [the country’s] federal basis,”
asking only for free election of regional leaders, support for regional
cultural uniqueness, and consideration of the region’s economic interests.
For some in Russia, such aspirations
are the same as separatist demands, but “in reality, Karelian and in general
Russian regionalists back the rebirth of the principles of real federalism
which were proclaimed at one time in the Federation Treaty,” an accord in which
“the regions delegated part of their authority to the center and not the other
way around.”
“When that model
was overturned,” he says, “the subjects of the federation were transformed into
‘provinces’ with no rights. The powers that be were appointed ‘from above,’
resources and taxes were carried away, and regional cultural identity became
ever more spectral.”
The current model “hardly can work
in a stable fashion,” Shtepa says. “It will generate growing social protests,” but
the ones responsible for that are not the regionalists but rather those who
deny the legitimate concerns they formulate.
The more Moscow suppresses the regions, the more what Catalonia is doing
will become a model for Karelia and other regions in Russia.
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