Sabirzyan Badretdinov

What can an ordinary citizen of the Russian Federation do to speed up Russia's eventual disintegration?

Here are some of the peaceful but nevertheless quite effective practical ways in which any Russian citizen can make a personal contribution to this worthy cause:

ECONOMY

1. Support protectionist measures of your regional government (for example, raising tariffs on goods imported from other regions, thus promoting economic independence, etc.) Such measures weaken economic links connecting various regions to each other and thus contribute to Russia's dissolution.

2. Keep your savings in a local bank, rather than in a local branch of a Moscow bank.

3. Support the idea of the introduction of a local currency. (Some governors, such as Edward Rossel of the Yekaterinburg region, have long been in favor of such a measure).

POLITICS

1. Vote for separatist-leaning candidates in local elections.

2. Boycott federal elections.

3. Support the idea of creating a local separatist party. If such a party already exists in your region, encourage its leaders to support separatist-leaning politicians.

CULTURE

1. Encourage the interest in local history, customs, folklore, etc. This will strengthen local patriotism and make separatism more acceptable.

2. Demand that the local authorities give more air time to local radio and TV broadcasts at the expense of broadcasts from Moscow.

3. Learn and promote local dialect of the Russian language and try to get rid of your Moscow accent. Remember that linguistic peculiarities strengthen local identity.

4. Support and promote local celebrities, artists and performers. This is important because many Moscow-based celebrities often become symbols of ethnic unity.

RELIGION

1. Support laws guaranteeing freedom of religion. This will benefit the local Muslim and Jewish communities and allow Western religious sects operating in Russia to continue their work, which (whether they realize this or not) spiritually divides Russia.

2. Support the Russian Orthodox Church's plans to change its administrative-territorial structure to make it coincide with the administrative-political structure of the Russian Federation. Ideally, each Russian region must have its own religious leader connected to the local governor. (For example, Archbishop Mefodiy is currently in charge of both Lipetsk and Voronezh regions. The Governor of Lipetsk region, Oleg Korolev, wants his region to have a separate diocese.)

EDUCATION

1. Demand the establishment of a department of regional studies at your local university.

OTHER AREAS

1. Support the idea of using local stamps for regional mail delivery.

2. Support the idea of creating local sports teams. Loyalty to one's local sports team promotes regional mentality and ultimately contributes to separatist tendencies.

3. Support the idea of adopting the local flag, local coat of arms, local identity cards and local anthem. Support the idea of adopting a regional charter. Many ethnically Russian regions already have these attributes of statehood.

A real Russian patriot is someone who would favor Russia's disintegration and who supports the right of self-determination of the ethnic minorities. It is not a coincidence that such outstanding Russian patriots as academician Andrey Sakharov, Yelena Bonner, human rights advocate Sergey Kovalev, political activist Valeria Novodvorskaya, etc. have always supported self-determination of the ethnic minorities in Russia.

On the other hand, such people as the leader of Russia's communists Zyuganov, leader of the Russian fascist party Barkashov, Russian chauvinist and anti-Semite Zhirinovsky, etc. have always been in favor of the "united and indivisible Russia." It is important to understand which side of this problem, brought about by Russia's historical expansion, deserves our support.

fra: Johnson's Russia List nr. 3485, 6 September 1999 davidjohnson@erols.com