Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Another Singing Revolution Breaks Out – This Time in the Nenets Autonomous District


Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 12 – In 1988, more than 100,000 Estonians came together to sing their national songs in what many have since described as the beginning of “the singing revolution” which ultimately led to the restoration of the independence of their nation.  Now, more than 30 years later, the Nenets people are doing the same thing.

            They attracted unprecedented attention and gained widespread respect ten days ago when they became the only federal subject to vote against Vladimir Putin’s constitutional amendments (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2020/07/being-nenets-or-nenets-resident-no.html). But that vote, while important, was hardly a one-off event.

            Both before and since, residents of the district have come together in the main square of their capital city Naryan-Mar and sing songs in order, in the words of the Nazaccent portal, “to continue their protest against the possible unification with Arkhangelsk Oblast” (nazaccent.ru/content/33594-zhiteli-neneckogo-okruga-s-pomoshyu-peniya.html).

            The Nentsy began to sing on May 13 when officials announced the signing of a memorandum calling for the amalgamation of the two regions. That was supposed to take place this year; but two weeks later, after meetings in Naryan-Mar, leaders of the two federal subjects agreed to postpone it until next year.

            But despite that, the Nentsy continued to sing, and possibly as a result, their governor has now said that any talk about uniting the Nenets AD with Arkhangelsk Oblast is “premature,” an indication that the voices of the singers have been heard and that Vladimir Putin’s much-ballyhooed restart of his amalgamation campaign may have been stopped before it began.
           
            For the Nentsy, who are a minority in their own republic, this is an enormous but far from final victory. But it certainly deserves to be included in the history of other singing revolutions like the Estonian which achieved with their voices raised in song more than many more obviously political steps could.   

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