Paul
Goble
Staunton, November 5 – Activists of
the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation in the Middle
Volga republics of Chuvashia, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan organized demonstrations
in their capitals and other major cities on Russia’s Day of National Unity in
defense of the national languages.
The one-day pickets had a common
program that was detailed in a memorandum prepared by the constituent groups of
the Association and sent to the leaders of these three republics and to Russian
Federation leaders in Moscow, including President Vladimir Putin (irekle.org/news/i1965.html).
That
memorandum calls for ensuring the Constitutionally-mandated equality
of their national languages with Russian in their republics by providing
non-Russian language educational opportunities at all levels, allowing
non-Russians to take examinations in their languages, requiring that local
officials conduct business in the language of their republics, and drop plans
to end the obligatory study of non-Russian languages there.
The Association which links
non-Russian activists across the Middle Volga is becoming increasingly active,
although it has not yet had any breakthrough successes. At the end of last
week, it called on the republics to block plans for Russian Marches there
because such actions have the “negative” consequence of setting Russians
against non-Russians.
Moreover, the group said in its message,
“such actions deny the right of non-Russian peoples to their own lands, culture
and language. Bashkirs, Tatars, and Chuvashes like many other peoples are
within Russia and have their own territory, something that apparently the
organizers of the Russian March want to cast doubt upon.”
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