Paul
Goble
Staunton, August 8 – Moscow has
moved to block the March for the Federalization of Siberia because of its fears
that its own “federalization” campaign in Ukraine will provoke similar demands
inside the Russian Federation, but even if the march is blocked, it has already
achieved its goal by sparking Russian discussions of federalism, Artem Loskutov
says.
In an interview with Sibinfo.su,
Loskutov, an artist who has been involved with the planning of the march, points
out that there was a similar march in Novosibirsk in October 2011 which the
authorities did not try to prevent that that now in the wake of the events in
Ukraine, the powers that be are worried (sibinfo.su/news/nsk/1/51244.html).
That is because,
he continued, when “they see the word ‘federalization,’ they read it as ‘separatism.’”
The reason for that is that Moscow has pushed for that form of government in
Ukraine but “suddenly when this rhetoric is applied to other territories, some
kind of panic immediately begins.”
Whether the march
takes place or not is still an open question, given official opposition. But
the goal of the organizers has been achieved. They have sparked a discussion
about “the real situation of the regions, their lack of self-standingness, and
their dependence on Moscow.” That is
what they sought, Loskutov says.
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