Flags of Non-Russian Republics Increasingly Important Mobilizing Tools, Garifullin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 29 – More than coats of arms or national hymns, flags of the non-Russian republics are easy for people to remember and helps them to identify both with their own republic and their own nation, something that suggests both activists and officials should do more to promote their display, Ilnar Garifullin says.

            The IdelReal commentator makes those points in considering the flag of the Republic of Tatarstan (idelreal.org/a/30973798.html). But his point extends the arguments of others like regionalist Pavel Luzin who has argued that what is true for republics is also true for regions (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/07/flags-increasingly-important-symbols-of.html).

            The first Tatars to appreciate the power of the republic flag, Garifullin says, were activists in the Azatlyk yough organization who pushed for the celebration of a republic Day of the Flag and beginning in 2013 handed out flags of various sizes including lapel pins. Some in the republic government but far from all took up their cause.

            But what has not happened and needs to, Gariffullin says, is to expand the use of the republic flag not only as a symbol of the statehood of Tatarstan but also of the identity of Tatars regardless of where they live. Thus, Tatars who live beyond the borders of Tatarstan, must be encouraged to view the flag as their symbol too and thus boost the power of the nation.

            That is especially important now, the commentator continues, when the remnants of federalism at the state level are under such concerted attack and when nations must become more important to the extent that state institutions named for them become less so. Wearing a flag is a way to make that happen.

            Efforts in regions and republics during the 1990s and 2000s to promote civic identities at these levels and at the all-Russian level have failed, and ethno-national identities must fill the gap if those who bear them are to enjoy any collective survival, Gariffullin argues.  And those who engage in protests must feel free to use their national flags at those times as well.

            That is already happening in Krasnoyarsk, Kushtay and Shiyes. The Tatars must ensure that their national symbol, the Tatarstan flag, is there as well.