Translated material
Fleet of despair?
Udmurt scientist committed an act of self -immolation before the building of the State Council of the Republic
On Tuesday, at about 10 a.m. local time in Izhevsk, a tragedy broke out. Near the building of the State Council of Udmurtia, where the State Council session was supposed to open, the 79-year-old civilian activist Albert Razin, a candidate of philosophical sciences, associate professor, and honored science of the Udmurt Republic, performed in the picket. Having received burns incompatible with life, the scientist died in the hospital, where he was taken by an ambulance. At the scene there was a poster that he brought to the protest. Lines were drawn on it from the poem by Rasul Gamzatov: “And if my tongue disappears tomorrow, then I am ready to die today.”
The New Gazeta contacted the National Assembly of the All -Udmurt Association "Udmurt Kenesh" Leonid Gonin.
“I saw Razin shortly before what happened,” said Leonid Mikhailovich. - He handed me copies of two letters - deputies of the State Council of Udmurtia and deputies of the State Duma. And before that we met him on September 4. In an interview with me and a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Alexei Zagrebin, he raised two questions. The first is about excavations in the Chelyabinsk region, where he visited and where they found something important for studying the history of the Udmurt people. In this regard, he expressed a wish to organize an expedition for a deeper study of finds. And the second question is about the preservation of the birch grove in Izhevsk, which is for the sacred Udmurts. Albert Alekseevich was quite calm. He always made the impression of an adequate person ...
The letter of Razin to the deputies of the State Council begins with the words: "The Udmurt ethnic group disappears before our eyes." He further expressed disagreement with recent changes to the Law on languages, according to which the study of national languages in the national republics was translated on a voluntary basis, and concluded that this would lead to the final loss of the Udmurts of his native language.
Having designated a number of measures aimed at preserving the language, the scientist showed concern in the letter by the disappearance of Udmurt villages and suggested, in particular, to increase investments in the village.
Razin noted that the Udmurts are poorly represented in the leadership of the republic and Izhevsk, and in the deputy corps they make up only a sixth part. In his opinion, this forms an inferiority complex in Udmurts.
Razin expresses bewilderment: we are fighting for the preservation of certain species of animals and bring them in the Red Book, but at the same time there is no concern for the preservation of the indigenous peoples of Russia.
In the nine -based dying message of Albert Razin there is the chapter “So what to do?”. In it, the scientist sets out his vision of steps, which must be taken to preserve the Udmurt language and balance of national policy.
It is difficult to objectively evaluate the act of an elderly scientist. We can say only one thing: in Udmurtia there are no visible manifestations of any discontent on national soil, but this does not mean that it is not at all. There are always national problems, and no festivals of Udmurt culture in Moscow, no “Buranovsky grandmothers” can obscure them. This is such a sphere where, with a dismissive attitude to her, something can flare up any day.