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The future articulation of the Russian
national identity and State is extremely complex insofar as, until now, it does not seem
that they have planned either any coherent plan for development or any precise
orientations on economic, social and national policies that would allow for the
consolidation process of democracy in the Russian Federation. Faced with the outbreak of
national and identity cohesion of post-Soviet Russia, the foundations on which the new
identity and the new State should be based contain major contradictions, while the general
context hinders the articulation of a civil society traditionally underdeveloped, given
the fact that, neither the concept of an ethnic Russia nor that of the imperial Russia can
mobilize or unite the Russian citizens under the same national project; that the
intensification of the economic and regional particularities threaten to dislocate the
territorial structure of the Federation; that the moral and social disorientation is
widespread among a population lacking in points of reference and core-values (very
especially the youngsters) due to the disappearance of the old pre- and post-Communist
values; and that the endemic economic crisis has driven tens of millions of people to
subsist below the poverty level. In short, the facts and circumstances made explicit
throughout these pages constitute a complex network that Russia will have to solve in
order to begin the process of democracy, political, social and economic stability and
national reconstruction.
3. The awakening of national groups in Russia
The Russian
Federation is made up of 176 national groups and an almost equal number of languages
spoken. These minority communities represent approximately 28 million people, 20 % of the
total population. (11) This ethnic, linguistic and
cultural diversity is reflected in the Federal Statutes of the country, with 21 National
Republics, to which we have to add the Autonomous Regions and Districts. Minority areas
are characterized by a very strong interweaving of peoples. The Russian population
represents between 30 and 80 % of the population of the Republics in Siberia, between 30
and 70 % of the central and northern regions, and between 10 and 40 % in the Caucasus. To
it we have to add the presence of other national groups which represent between 5 and 40 %
of the Republics population. Besides, the titular nationality (eponym of the
Republic) constitutes the majority only in 8 of the 21 Republics. Taking this
multiculturalism into consideration has implied the acknowledgement of a considerable
political power in the titular minorities, although this power often has to be relativised
due to the absence or scarcity of financial means and that Moscow still keeps an important
influence through the subsidies (that may reach 90% of some Republics budget) and
the granting of credits for the acquisition and provision of energy supplies. In addition,
the important sociocultural crisis that provoked the fall of Communism still perpetuates.
Letting aside the North Caucasus, the UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages reports
in Russia on only three minority languages that are not endangered. (12) All the others are considered as
being "on the verge of extinction" or "threatened". This contrast
between the will of reconstructing national identity and the real situation may imply a
feeling of urgency that sometimes force titular nationalities to take radical action in
order to protect their language and their identity, while often at the same time political
and social tensions feed on ethnical and cultural conflicts.
Within this
context, the linguistic issue crystallizes in the demand for the recognition of the
identity of the different peoples of Russia, while this constitutes in itself a source of
tensions. In the territories of the former Soviet Union, linguistic decrees and laws have
very significantly contributed to the worsening of the tensions in Moldova and language
issues still mark the agenda of political action in the Baltic States, especially in
Estonia and Latvia. In Central Asia, Russian minorities are in a delicate situation
because the use of national languages has become an important indicator of the
citizens political loyalty, although very often they lack the necessary structures
from which to learn them. The situation seems less serious in Russia, where Russian still
is globally accepted as a lingua franca and where each Republic can add one or more
official languages. But quite often the problem is to be found in the criteria for
choosing these official languages. All the Republics, excepting four of them, have adopted
linguistic laws that give priority to the language of the titular nationality. In
Bashkiria, the official status of the national language together with Russian is the
object of major controversy given the opposition of the Tatars -the second most important
community in demographic weight after the Russians and before the Bashkirians- because of
the refusal of the Bashkirians to proclaim the official status of Tatar in the Republic.
The situation is especially complex in Dagestan where 80% of the population is Dagestani
but more than 30 languages cohabit. Also, some decrees establishing the adoption of the
Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic one (for instance, the Decree of July 1999 in
Tatarstan) are usually interpreted as an overt challenge which aims to increase the
distancing from Moscow.
In addition, the
adoption of constitutional clauses that limit and even impede the access to political or
administrative responsibilities for citizens that do not know the national language of the
titular ethnic group, as in the case of Adygea, Northern Ossetia, Bashkiria and Mari El,
also represent a danger for the stability of interethnic relationships. There also exists
the temptation on the part of some titular nationalities to use the linguistic issue to
provoke demographic changes that would imply a higher representation of their community:
what the French call "le vote avec ses pieds" ("the vote with
ones feet") is also a reality in Russia, despite the fact that the exodus of
Russians towards Republics with a majority Russian population is mainly due to economic
problems. The lack of local structures for mediation to look after the legitimate
interests of the Russophone communities and of the other minority groups is even more
dangerous if we take into account that Moscow does not always have enough capacity or
legitimacy to play this role.
The linguistic and
cultural processes that take place in the Russian Federation are determined by a
combination of factors reported on in the previous pages: the great cultural, linguistic
and religious diversity of the population throughout the entire territory; the
demographically predominant presence of the Russians in most of the Autonomous Republics;
the influence of the national-territorial criteria established by the Soviet regime in
order to manage linguistic and ethnical diversity; and the processes of economic
restructuring that are taking place in a disorderly fashion.
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