{"id":447508,"date":"2002-02-19T06:54:57","date_gmt":"2002-02-19T06:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=447508"},"modified":"2020-07-30T07:26:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T07:26:31","slug":"memorandum-making-russian-language-official-moldova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/memorandum-making-russian-language-official-moldova\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorandum Against Making the Russian Language Official in Moldova"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 7<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The letter to the OSCE Mission in Moldova, written on January 17, 2002, was authored by Dr. Ionas Aurelian Rus, currently Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Cincinnati Blue Ash, at that time a graduate student (Ph.D. candidate) at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The opinion does not necessarily represent the opinion of the editorial staff of Moldova.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

My name is Ionas Aurelian Rus. I am a graduate student (ABD) in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers, New Brunswick<\/span><\/span>. I am also the President of the European Studies Graduate Student Association (ESGSA)<\/span><\/span>. This is apparently the only organization of its kind in the country whose citizens both of us are, the United States.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to take this opportunity to express my concern and disapproval concerning the recent attempts by the Communist-controlled government and the Communist-dominated legislature to change the policy on the public use of languages in the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, there is a need to intervene in order to minimize the danger of gross violations of the freedom of assembly and association in Moldova. I shall elaborate on all of these issues below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the mission statement of the OSCE mission in Moldova, it is the responsibility of your mission to “investigate specific incidents and assess their political implications … provide advice and expertise on human and minority rights, democratic transformation”, etc. I believe that the OSCE Mission in Moldova has the right, and indeed the duty, to express its concerns to the Moldovan government and to recommend a return to status quo ante.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am sure that you are aware that a recent decision of the Minister of Education of the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Ilie Vancea, has been hotly contested. The minister had decided to make the study of the Russian language mandatory (between the second and the tenth grade) in schools where the main language of instruction is not Russian. This provision applies overwhelmingly to Romanian language schools. This decision is unconstitutional, and it violates the Law of Education of 1995.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another hotly contested measure is the submission to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova by the Communist members of the legislature, under the leadership of Victor Stepaniuc (Stepaniuk) of the text of a proposed amendment to the constitution of the Republic of Moldova. According to this proposed amendment, Russian <\/span><\/span>would become the second official language of the Republic of Moldova.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Both of these positions are unpopular in the country as a whole. According to an opinion poll conducted in November 2001, both of these measures are disapproved by 58% of the population. The former is supported by only 35%, and the latter by 33%. According to another opinion poll conducted earlier in the year, the percentage of individuals who were in favor of an official status for the Russian language was 38%. This number includes 26.3% among ethnic Moldovans\/Romanians, as opposed to <\/span><\/span>19% in November.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This apparent decrease in Moldovan\/Romanian support for the policy might be a sign of increasing ethnic polarization on this issue and in general. An even better example is the increase in the proportion of the members of the ethnic minorities, and particularly of the Russian-speaking inhabitants, whose views are moving in the other direction. The proportion of inhabitants who believe that Russian should become a second official language has increased from 52.7% to 71% among ethnic Russians.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The increasing polarization on the linguistic issue over time (which is further documented below) has been caused by the propaganda of left-wing political forces. In 1994, this was done primarily by the Socialist Party and “Unitate-Edinstvo” Movement Bloc, which obtained 22% of the votes in the national elections. Between 1995 and 2002, the group that has been mainly responsible for this has been the Party of Communists in the Republic of Moldova. The electoral performance of this political group has improved from 15.74% of the vote in the local elections of 1995 to 50.07% of the vote in the national elections in 2001, that is, 33.40% of the individuals with the right to vote). These groups, as well as a few parties that obtained very few votes, have promised to give Russian the status of an official language. Yet this topic has moved increasingly toward the back of the Communist programmes, and has been de-emphasized, as the Communists have increasingly obtained support from individuals who do not favor this position.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, the support for the new proposed Communist linguistic policies has been in some ways “soft”. The proportion of the Romanian population that has been against mandatory education in Russian for Moldovans has not changed substantially (74% in 1992 and 69% in November 2001). By contrast, the proportion of the members of the Ukrainian minority that favor this has increased dramatically. Whereas only 19.5% of the ethnic Ukrainians believed that everyone should be taught Russian in 1992, the proportion in 2001 was 53% (the questions were not fully identical). Among ethnic Russians, the percentage has increased from 20.1% to 65%.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, when different, but related, questions were asked in 1992, the proportions were different, which indicates the existence of certain complexities and ambiguities. The affirmative response to the question “Romanian Language should be required for minorities” was 80% among Moldovans, 43.2% among Ukrainians and 50.3% among Russians. In the case of the question, “Each group should be required to learn only its own language”, the proportions were 13.1% among Moldovans, 37.4% among Ukrainians and 27.2% among Russians. It would be false to claim that a majority of the members of the national minorities disapproved of the linguistic policies of the Moldovan government in 1992.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The bottom line is that the uncompromising attitude of the non-Romanian population has not been a constant since 1989-1991. Instead, it has increased because it has been fostered by the various political forces that have been mentioned above for both ideological and electoral reasons. I do not believe that this kind of politics should be rewarded through by overruling a clear majority that approves the status quo rather than the plans of the Communists.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For the results of the very informative and methodologically sound 1992 survey conducted by Professor William Crowther of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, whose data I have used above, one should consult his various published scholarly articles and manuscripts. The data presented above is from William Crowther, “Nationalism and Political Transformation in Moldova”, in Donald L. Dyer (ed.), STUDIES IN MOLDOVAN: THE HISTORY, CULTURE, LANGUAGE AND CONTEMPORARY POLITICS OF THE PEOPLE OF MOLDOVA, (East European Monographs, Boulder, 1996).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What explains the relative softness and lack of consistency of the opinions of the members of the national minorities. First of all, Russian is a quasi-official language according to the constitution and various statutes, a language of interethnic communication, a kind of associate official language. Moreover, until now, Russian has been mandatory in the predominantly non-Russian language schools between the grades five and nine, for five years. This is the same number of years in which the English-speaking inhabitants of Anglophone Ontario, a province of officially bilingual Canada, study French.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Among ethnic Moldovans\/Romanians, who represent more than 70% of the population in the areas controlled by the Chisinau government, the support for the status quo has been constant in surveys (see above), and has manifested itself through massive protests. At any rate, the supporters of the efforts to make and keep Romanian as the sole official language have included a large number of committed individuals. An estimated one million individuals assembled in Chisinau participated in a rally in late August 1989 in favor of making Romanian the official language in the republic. Thousands of individuals have participated in street demonstrations and rallies since January 9, 2002 against the changes pushed by the Communists.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By Thursday, January 17, 1:47 AM EST, over 26,000 plus 5,517 individuals have signed the text of two petitions, a regular and an inline one, against these policies. The former has been sponsored primarily by the Christian Democratic People’s Party. The latter has been organized by the Civic Attitude Group. The author of these lines has signed the latter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The complete lack of street demonstrations in favor of making Russian a second official language since 1990 is interesting. It is another indication of the fact that the supporters of this position are less likely to be committed to it than the supporters of the Romanian language. Of course, this is not to minimize the fact that an overwhelming majority of these individuals have voted for the Communists since 1998. They have done so due to their nostalgia for Soviet times, including, but not primarily focusing on, an affinity for the status of Russian as the dominant official language during the period before the emergence of Moldovan\/Romanian as the official language in 1989.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, this has been the pattern outside of the secessionist areas of the country. I am referring to Transnistria, the self-styled Dniester Moldovan Republic, the secessionist area in the eastern part of the country, and, during the early 1990’s, to Gagauz-Yeri. One of the factors that has led to the secessionist movements was the change in the primary\/dominant official language from Russian to Romanian, but this was not the main factor.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In both 1989 and 2002, the opponents of the Romanophone demonstrators have not been counter-demonstrators but rather the state apparatus. During the past few days, two of those who were spreading leaflets for the rally in Chisinau were arrested. Another one of them, a parliamentary deputy from the opposition Christian Democratic People’s Party was threatened with a gun by a policeman. The demonstrators have been threatened with punishment for violations on technicalities such as demonstrating outside the area for which they had obtained the permit to rally. Even more ominously, Justice Minister Ion Morei has threatened on January 15 to outlaw (suspend) the Christian Democratic People’s Party because its deputies have engaged in these kinds of violations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The use of these techniques in favor of these goals do not augur well for democracy in Moldova, or for interethnic relations in the country. It needs to be pointed out that whereas 35-38% of the population favors the use of Russian as a second language, and 24.3% of the population supports the status quo. There are also the others, a group equal in number to those holding the first position. They who do not believe in any kind of a special status for the Russian language. A <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

swing in one direction right now may very well be followed by a swing, past the mid-point, in the opposite direction.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that the leadership of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, including the current president of the country, Vladimir Voronin, had promised earlier in the year that the issue would be determined through a referendum. It has subsequently gone back on its promise.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ideally, the OSCE Mission, the Council of Europe, and various foreign governments and organizations should intercede with the Moldovan government to change its plans on the linguistic issue. The above-mentioned order of the Minister of Education should be cancelled. These third parties should also demand or request that the issue of whether Russian should become a second official language should be decided through a referendum. Moreover, the maintenance of Moldovan democracy, including the freedom of assembly and the freedom of association, including the right of the Christian Democratic People’s Party to function, should be upheld. All of us have the right and the duty to push for all of these.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 7<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>The letter to the OSCE Mission in Moldova, written on January 17, 2002, was authored by Dr. Ionas Aurelian Rus, currently Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Cincinnati Blue Ash, at that time a graduate student (Ph.D. candidate) at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. The opinion does not necessarily represent the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":442887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 7<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The letter to the OSCE Mission in Moldova, written on January 17, 2002, was authored by Dr. Ionas Aurelian Rus, currently Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Cincinnati Blue Ash, at that time a graduate student (Ph.D. candidate) at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The opinion does not necessarily represent the opinion of the editorial staff of Moldova.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

My name is Ionas Aurelian Rus. I am a graduate student (ABD) in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers, New Brunswick<\/span><\/span>. I am also the President of the European Studies Graduate Student Association (ESGSA)<\/span><\/span>. This is apparently the only organization of its kind in the country whose citizens both of us are, the United States.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to take this opportunity to express my concern and disapproval concerning the recent attempts by the Communist-controlled government and the Communist-dominated legislature to change the policy on the public use of languages in the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, there is a need to intervene in order to minimize the danger of gross violations of the freedom of assembly and association in Moldova. I shall elaborate on all of these issues below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the mission statement of the OSCE mission in Moldova, it is the responsibility of your mission to “investigate specific incidents and assess their political implications … provide advice and expertise on human and minority rights, democratic transformation”, etc. I believe that the OSCE Mission in Moldova has the right, and indeed the duty, to express its concerns to the Moldovan government and to recommend a return to status quo ante.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am sure that you are aware that a recent decision of the Minister of Education of the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Ilie Vancea, has been hotly contested. The minister had decided to make the study of the Russian language mandatory (between the second and the tenth grade) in schools where the main language of instruction is not Russian. This provision applies overwhelmingly to Romanian language schools. This decision is unconstitutional, and it violates the Law of Education of 1995.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another hotly contested measure is the submission to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova by the Communist members of the legislature, under the leadership of Victor Stepaniuc (Stepaniuk) of the text of a proposed amendment to the constitution of the Republic of Moldova. According to this proposed amendment, Russian <\/span><\/span>would become the second official language of the Republic of Moldova.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Both of these positions are unpopular in the country as a whole. According to an opinion poll conducted in November 2001, both of these measures are disapproved by 58% of the population. The former is supported by only 35%, and the latter by 33%. According to another opinion poll conducted earlier in the year, the percentage of individuals who were in favor of an official status for the Russian language was 38%. This number includes 26.3% among ethnic Moldovans\/Romanians, as opposed to <\/span><\/span>19% in November.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This apparent decrease in Moldovan\/Romanian support for the policy might be a sign of increasing ethnic polarization on this issue and in general. An even better example is the increase in the proportion of the members of the ethnic minorities, and particularly of the Russian-speaking inhabitants, whose views are moving in the other direction. The proportion of inhabitants who believe that Russian should become a second official language has increased from 52.7% to 71% among ethnic Russians.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The increasing polarization on the linguistic issue over time (which is further documented below) has been caused by the propaganda of left-wing political forces. In 1994, this was done primarily by the Socialist Party and “Unitate-Edinstvo” Movement Bloc, which obtained 22% of the votes in the national elections. Between 1995 and 2002, the group that has been mainly responsible for this has been the Party of Communists in the Republic of Moldova. The electoral performance of this political group has improved from 15.74% of the vote in the local elections of 1995 to 50.07% of the vote in the national elections in 2001, that is, 33.40% of the individuals with the right to vote). These groups, as well as a few parties that obtained very few votes, have promised to give Russian the status of an official language. Yet this topic has moved increasingly toward the back of the Communist programmes, and has been de-emphasized, as the Communists have increasingly obtained support from individuals who do not favor this position.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, the support for the new proposed Communist linguistic policies has been in some ways “soft”. The proportion of the Romanian population that has been against mandatory education in Russian for Moldovans has not changed substantially (74% in 1992 and 69% in November 2001). By contrast, the proportion of the members of the Ukrainian minority that favor this has increased dramatically. Whereas only 19.5% of the ethnic Ukrainians believed that everyone should be taught Russian in 1992, the proportion in 2001 was 53% (the questions were not fully identical). Among ethnic Russians, the percentage has increased from 20.1% to 65%.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, when different, but related, questions were asked in 1992, the proportions were different, which indicates the existence of certain complexities and ambiguities. The affirmative response to the question “Romanian Language should be required for minorities” was 80% among Moldovans, 43.2% among Ukrainians and 50.3% among Russians. In the case of the question, “Each group should be required to learn only its own language”, the proportions were 13.1% among Moldovans, 37.4% among Ukrainians and 27.2% among Russians. It would be false to claim that a majority of the members of the national minorities disapproved of the linguistic policies of the Moldovan government in 1992.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The bottom line is that the uncompromising attitude of the non-Romanian population has not been a constant since 1989-1991. Instead, it has increased because it has been fostered by the various political forces that have been mentioned above for both ideological and electoral reasons. I do not believe that this kind of politics should be rewarded through by overruling a clear majority that approves the status quo rather than the plans of the Communists.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For the results of the very informative and methodologically sound 1992 survey conducted by Professor William Crowther of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, whose data I have used above, one should consult his various published scholarly articles and manuscripts. The data presented above is from William Crowther, “Nationalism and Political Transformation in Moldova”, in Donald L. Dyer (ed.), STUDIES IN MOLDOVAN: THE HISTORY, CULTURE, LANGUAGE AND CONTEMPORARY POLITICS OF THE PEOPLE OF MOLDOVA, (East European Monographs, Boulder, 1996).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What explains the relative softness and lack of consistency of the opinions of the members of the national minorities. First of all, Russian is a quasi-official language according to the constitution and various statutes, a language of interethnic communication, a kind of associate official language. Moreover, until now, Russian has been mandatory in the predominantly non-Russian language schools between the grades five and nine, for five years. This is the same number of years in which the English-speaking inhabitants of Anglophone Ontario, a province of officially bilingual Canada, study French.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Among ethnic Moldovans\/Romanians, who represent more than 70% of the population in the areas controlled by the Chisinau government, the support for the status quo has been constant in surveys (see above), and has manifested itself through massive protests. At any rate, the supporters of the efforts to make and keep Romanian as the sole official language have included a large number of committed individuals. An estimated one million individuals assembled in Chisinau participated in a rally in late August 1989 in favor of making Romanian the official language in the republic. Thousands of individuals have participated in street demonstrations and rallies since January 9, 2002 against the changes pushed by the Communists.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By Thursday, January 17, 1:47 AM EST, over 26,000 plus 5,517 individuals have signed the text of two petitions, a regular and an inline one, against these policies. The former has been sponsored primarily by the Christian Democratic People’s Party. The latter has been organized by the Civic Attitude Group. The author of these lines has signed the latter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The complete lack of street demonstrations in favor of making Russian a second official language since 1990 is interesting. It is another indication of the fact that the supporters of this position are less likely to be committed to it than the supporters of the Romanian language. Of course, this is not to minimize the fact that an overwhelming majority of these individuals have voted for the Communists since 1998. They have done so due to their nostalgia for Soviet times, including, but not primarily focusing on, an affinity for the status of Russian as the dominant official language during the period before the emergence of Moldovan\/Romanian as the official language in 1989.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, this has been the pattern outside of the secessionist areas of the country. I am referring to Transnistria, the self-styled Dniester Moldovan Republic, the secessionist area in the eastern part of the country, and, during the early 1990’s, to Gagauz-Yeri. One of the factors that has led to the secessionist movements was the change in the primary\/dominant official language from Russian to Romanian, but this was not the main factor.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In both 1989 and 2002, the opponents of the Romanophone demonstrators have not been counter-demonstrators but rather the state apparatus. During the past few days, two of those who were spreading leaflets for the rally in Chisinau were arrested. Another one of them, a parliamentary deputy from the opposition Christian Democratic People’s Party was threatened with a gun by a policeman. The demonstrators have been threatened with punishment for violations on technicalities such as demonstrating outside the area for which they had obtained the permit to rally. Even more ominously, Justice Minister Ion Morei has threatened on January 15 to outlaw (suspend) the Christian Democratic People’s Party because its deputies have engaged in these kinds of violations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The use of these techniques in favor of these goals do not augur well for democracy in Moldova, or for interethnic relations in the country. It needs to be pointed out that whereas 35-38% of the population favors the use of Russian as a second language, and 24.3% of the population supports the status quo. There are also the others, a group equal in number to those holding the first position. They who do not believe in any kind of a special status for the Russian language. A <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

swing in one direction right now may very well be followed by a swing, past the mid-point, in the opposite direction.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that the leadership of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, including the current president of the country, Vladimir Voronin, had promised earlier in the year that the issue would be determined through a referendum. It has subsequently gone back on its promise.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ideally, the OSCE Mission, the Council of Europe, and various foreign governments and organizations should intercede with the Moldovan government to change its plans on the linguistic issue. The above-mentioned order of the Minister of Education should be cancelled. These third parties should also demand or request that the issue of whether Russian should become a second official language should be decided through a referendum. Moreover, the maintenance of Moldovan democracy, including the freedom of assembly and the freedom of association, including the right of the Christian Democratic People’s Party to function, should be upheld. All of us have the right and the duty to push for all of these.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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