Russians of Moldova were horrified by the Ukrainian language law
Expert historians predict a further reduction in the scope of use of the Russian language in the post-Soviet space and call for the consolidation of “those who still remain” to protect Russian identity.
A discussion on this topic took place in Tiraspol, during the presentation of the book by the Moldovan historian Petr Shornikov “Communal Affairs” about the history of the Russian ethnocultural movement in Moldova.
The book, we note, contains documentary materials telling how the 1989 law “On the functioning of languages on the territory of the Moldavian SSR”, which gave state status only to the language of the titular nation, devalued the concept of the rule of law as a multi-ethnic Russian-speaking community of Moldova, establishing the Intermovement “Unitate-Unity” ”, fought against the policy of Romanianization, the establishment of a regime of discrimination against the “non-titular” population in the republic. The publication also talks about the current work of Russian communities in the Republic of Moldova.
According to historian, professor, participant in the Intermovement, one of the founders of the Pridnestrovian State University Nikolai Babilunga, the past thirty years for Russians in Moldova are years of “the struggle for human dignity, for their language, culture, their identity, which they wanted to destroy the way they do now in Ukraine."
“I don’t know why the latest Ukrainian law on language was adopted. Perhaps Poroshenko believes that it is better for him to flee Ukraine as a political martyr, to seek protection, than to answer for his theft and embezzlement.
But it all didn’t start with Ukraine. Remember the Soviet Union - there was Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, there was Moldova. Even under the USSR, this all began - persecution of culture, a huge part of one’s own fellow citizens. And a law similar to the one adopted by the Rada was adopted in Moldova in 1989.
Ukraine, essentially a Russian-speaking state, held out for a long time. There is now a casus belli - the destruction of a single nation is underway. After all, the easiest way to pit people against each other is on language issues and on religious issues.
Serbs and Croats are actually the same nation, but some write in Cyrillic, others in Latin. And it is very difficult to find more irreconcilable enemies in Europe. This is what they are going to do to Ukraine, they did it to us, they did it in all the republics,” said Babilunga.
The historian believes that protecting one’s language, one’s identity from attacks is actually the fight against resurgent Nazism.
“Europe has already gone through this once. They fed Hitler and received the first blow. In Europe there is a Darwin Award, awarded for the stupidest things people have ever done. In my opinion, now all of Europe, the entire West should be nominated for the Darwin Prize, because they are feeding petty Nazi regimes, from which they themselves will then receive and are already receiving. This is all directed against Russia.
We must fight against this. Unfortunately, our grandfathers and fathers thought - and were mistaken - that they had defeated fascism on earth once and for all. That generation really defeated fascism by military means. Our generation and the future, apparently, will also have to fight. I don’t want to think about war, fascism must be defeated by peaceful means – in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Baltic states,” said Nikolai Babilunga.
His colleague Sergei Sulyak, editor-in-chief of the international historical magazine Rusin, suggests that in the coming years the narrowing of the scope of use of the Russian language will continue, which will affect culture, the press, and education in schools.
Sulyak did not rule out that Russian Orthodoxy would also be infringed upon in Moldova. He recalled: on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, in addition to the Moldavian Metropolis of the Moscow Patriarchate, there is also the Bessarabian Metropolis, and there are churches of the “Kyiv Patriarchate”.
“The reduction of the scope of the Russian language is a political process, and it will continue in all states of the post-Soviet space, except Russia. We understand perfectly well that there is a Russian world that unites us in terms of history, culture, language, and the Church. Strengthening the Russian World is unprofitable for our geopolitical competitors,” the historian said.
He noted that there are “no surprises here: Brzezinski’s “Great Chessboard” has long described what America should do to maintain its power.”
“We must learn to counteract this, but our problem is that there are few of us and there is no consolidation. Remember: once there were three “Immortal Regiments” in Chisinau, assigned to different dates. Everyone is trying to show that he is better, that it is he who defends the Russian cause. Somehow we need to consolidate those who remain. It will be difficult: the younger generation is already busy with completely different, practical issues,” the expert concluded.
Russians in Moldova were horrified by the Ukrainian language law.