Discrimination against Russian Speakers in the PostSoviet Baltic States

1
Discrimination against Russian Speakers in the
Post-Soviet Baltic States

• Danielle Wiley
• Rebecca Pardue
• Larissa Zhurakovskaya

2
Background
3
Latvia A Brief History

• 1200s - Latvia originated as a Livonian
  settlement
  
• 1500s The Livonian Order loses power
• 1600-1700s Struggle for dominance between
  Poland, Sweden, and Russia
  
• 1721 1st Latvian county given to Russia in the
  Treaty of Nystad
  
• 1795 All of Latvia incorporated in the Russian
  Empire.
  
• 1918 Latvia declares independence, after
  several years of uprisings
  
• 1940 Soviet powers occupy Latvia again
• 1944 Soviet reoccupation after several years of
  Nazi occupation
  
• 1991 Latvia became independent as the USSR
  collapsed
  
• 1994 Last Russian military troops were
  withdrawn from Latvian territory
  

4
Lithuania A Brief History

• 1795- Lithuania becomes part of Russia
• Early 1800s- Possible recognition for Lithuania
• WWI- Lithuania occupied by Germany
• 1918-1922- Freedom Wars
• 1922-1926- Lithuania becomes a democratic state
• 1940- Lithuania ruled by Russia again
• 1941- Lithuania gets independence
• 1941-1944- Germany occupies Lithuania again
• 1944-1990- Lithuania becomes part of Russia again
  

5
Estonia A Brief History

• 1219 Estonia conquered by Danish crusaders
• 1227-1561 Estonia ruled by German elites despite
  Russian invasions in 1481 and 1558
  
• 1524 Protestant Revolution reaches Estonia
• 1561 Beginning of Swedish control
• 1791 Rule by Russia
• 1869 Estonian nationalist movement with cultural
  revival, development of literature, and Estonian
  education in schools
  
• 1889 Government sponsored Russification
• 1920 Russia grants Estonia independence
• 1940 Estonia falls to Russia again and becomes a
  Soviet Socialist Republic
  
• 1941-1944 Rule by Nazi Germany
• May 1989 Estonian legislature passes early
  declaration of independence including a language
  law making Estonian the only official language
  
• 1991 Estonia gains full independence
• 1994 Last Russian troops leave Estonia

6
Are there laws permitting discrimination against
the Russian-speakers?

• Latvia
• State Language Law of 1993
• State Language Law of 1999
• The citizenship legislation
• Estonia
• - 1989 Independence document
• - 1991 citizenship legislation
• - 1993 Education Reform
• - 1998 Education Reform
• Lithuania
• Lithuania protects minority languages
• Anyone can become a citizen

7
So what happened to all the Russian immigrants?

• Many Russians fled back to the Russian Federation
  after the fall of the USSR
  
• The rest became non-citizens, devoid of basic
  rights
  
• Some choose Russian citizenship but remain
  residents of Baltic states or else opt for
  citizenship states and are naturalized
  
• Many Russians living in the Baltic states are
  unemployed
  
• Discrimination

8
Do the Russians living in Baltic states see
themselves as a Diaspora population?

• P????????? ???????????????? ? ??????? ??? ?
  ?????????? ????????????? ????????? ????
  ????????? ? "????????". ???????? ??????????????,
  ??? ???????? ????? ???????, ??????????? ??
  ????????? ?????????? ????????? ?????? ?? ???????
  ??????? ??????????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ??
  ????????.
• - ?????????? ???????, ???????? ????????? ?????
  ???
  
• __________________________________________________
  ______
  
• Russian nationals in the countries of CIS and
  the Baltic region categorically deny their
  belonging to a diaspora. It is particularly
  emphasized, that the majority of Russians
  remaining beyond the borders of the Russian
  Federation did not emigrate the former state
  left them without consent.
• - Constantene Zatulin, director of the Institute
  of CIS States
  

9
How do the people of the Baltic states feel about
the Russians?

• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Estonia

10
The Language Conflict attitudes towards the
implementation of Russian as a second language in
Latvia
11
How did Russian-speakers feel about this?
12
What is the EU law regarding regional and
minority languages?

• European Charter for Regional or Minority
  Languages
  
• Qualifications
• traditionally used by the nationals of the State
• significantly differ from the majority or
  official language
  
• have a territorial basis (are traditionally
  spoken within the State) or
  
• used by linguistic minorities within the State as
  a whole
  
• spoken by populations of regions or areas

13
So why isnt Russian protected under European
Charter for Regional or Minority Languages?

• Some reasons
• Russians look towards Russia for help and not
  the EU
  
• Russian used to be the language of the Soviet
  Union and is now a majority language of large
  contiguous nation
  
• Russians are former colonizers
• Unresolved issue of the Cold War?

14
Influential Organizations in Language Policy
Decisions

• European Union
• - EU PHARE
• Council of Europe
• Organization for Security and Cooperation in
  Europe (OSCE)
  

15
Sources of Aid in Implementation

• NGOs such as the Open Estonia Foundation
• Individual embassies including those of Nordic
  countries, the Netherlands, Canada, The United
  Kingdom, and The USA
  
• 52.6 of the implementation costs of state
  integration projects have been paid for by
  foreign donors
  
• Benefits Most Russian speakers in the region
  share the consensus that there would have been no
  change in the 1990s without international
  attention, aid, and pressure
• Problems almost all aid has been in the form of
  language training and integration projectsthis
  shows little support or respect for diversity and
  minority language preservation

16
What are the possibilities to relieve tensions?

• Migration
• Border Regulations
• Minority Protection
• Bilingual Education

17
Summary of Transition

• 1991 1994 Period of mutual distrust between
  Russian and Baltic language speakers, marked by
  unrest and emigration
  
• 1995-1998 Accommodation and acceptance of
  realities
  
• 1998-2001 Searching for models of multicultural
  coexistence and official establishment of
  integration policies
  
• 2002- Continuation of integration within a
  multicultural European context

18
Works Cited

• Arnswald, Sven. EU enlargement and the Baltic
  States The Incremental Making of New Members.
  Berlin Institut für Europäische Politik, 2000.
  
• Alapuro, Rist. Ilkka Liikanen and Markku Lonkila.
  Beyond Post-Soviet Transition Micro-Perspectives
  on challenge and survival in Russia and Estonia.
  Saarijärvi Kikimora Publications, 2004.
• Mudde, Cas ed. Racist Extremism in Central and
  Eastern Europe. New York Routledge, 2005.
  
• KolstØ, Pål. ed. National Integration and Violent
  conflict in Post-Soviet Societies The cases of
  Estonia and Moldova. New York Rowman and
  Littlefield Publications, 2002.
• Jubulis, Mark A. Nationalism and Democratic
  Transition. Lanham University Press of America,
  2001.
  
• Smith, David J. The Baltic States and their
  Region New Europe or Old? Amsterdam Rodopi,
  2005
  
• KolstØ, Pål. The New Russian Diaspora Minority
  Protection in the Soviet Successor States.
  Journal of Peace Research. Vol. 30, no. 2.
  (1993) 197-217.
• Brubaker, W. Rogers. Citizenship Struggles in
  Soviet Successor States. IMR. Vol. 26, no. 2.
  (1992) 269-291.
  
• Clemens, Walter C. Jr. The Baltic Transformed
  Compexity Theory and European Security. Oxford
  Rowan Littlefield, 2001.
  
• Berzins, Andris. Latvias Transition to Market
  Economy. Institute for European Studies, Riga 6
  November 2005.
  
• Ozolina, Zaneta. Economic and Political Changes
  after Latvias EU Accession. University of Riga.
  Riga 5 November 2005.
  
• Poggeschi, Giovanni Language policy in Latvia
  Noves SL Revista de Sociolinguistica Secretaria
  de Politica Linguistica. (Autumn 2004) 1-3. 1
  April 2006. /hm04tardor/poggeschi1_3.htm.
• Ozolina, Inese Language Use and Intercultural
  Communication in Latvia. Intercultural
  Communication. 1999. no. 2 (November) n.p. 1
  April 2006. ozolina.htm.