Udmurt Scholar who Committed Suicide 7 Years Ago to Protest Murder of His Native Language Remembered by Others Moscow is Oppressing

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 10 – Seven years ago, Albert Razin, a 79-year-old Udmurt scholar, burned himself to death in front of government offices in his republic because he said that “if tomorrow my language is going to disappear, then I am prepared to die today” to protest against that future and to urge others to find ways to protest against it as well.

            Since then, Razin’s influence has only grown; and this year, representatives of may nations in Russia not only in the Middle Volga where Razin’s Udmurtia is located but across that country are remembering his tragic but heroic act as a call for action against Kremlin policies (facebook.com/groups/former.russia/permalink/2304109040369367).

            They are acting, as one Tatar now living in Germany put it, out of the conviction that “a people is alive as long as its language, memory, and people prepared to defend its national dignity are still alive.” What Razin did was an extreme act of protest, but others, these activists say, can and must do more to ensure their languages and peoples survive.

            Not surprisingly, most of these commemorations have been taking place among those non-Russians who have been forced to emigrate. But as the time from  his death has lengthened, Razin’s influence has only grown. For discussion of Razin’s death and  his influence in Udmurtia and more generally, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-last-udmurt.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/09/udmurt-scholar-gave-his-life-not-for.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2020/09/udmurts-remember-self-immolation-of.html.