Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-12-Speech-4-182"
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"en.20050512.25.4-182"2
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".
The violations of human rights and democracy we are debating today are taking place in the small Republic of Mari El, which is part of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, this Republic belongs to the Mari only in name, as it is one of the numerous countries and nations that have been subordinated and annexed by Russia. Like the Armenians, the Chechens and many others, the Mari people have fought for years to retain their identity and independence. Even though the Mari ASSR declared its sovereignty in 1990, the situation of this nation is unfortunately becoming ever more difficult. Its inhabitants, known to us all from Russian and Polish literature as the Cheremis, speak a Finno-Ugric language. They have repeatedly been the victims of repressive measures, particularly during the Stalin era, when Komsomol groups chopped down their holy groves and the Mari were exiled to Siberia. It is for this reason that only half of the Mari people currently lives in the Republic of Mari El, with the rest scattered around Russia and forced to integrate with the Russian population.
President Markelov, who rules over the Republic of Mari El, came to power following a controversial election. He was born in Moscow and does not identify himself in any way with the nation, and in fact cannot even speak Mari. He systematically curtails the rights of the population, in particular with regard to freedom of speech. The Mari people find it difficult to receive education in their own language, as Mari schools have been closed and there are not enough schools or universities. Ethnic Mari civil servants have lost their jobs, and opposition journalists suffer persecution, as do the independent, private media. This has prompted them to seek help, both from the Finno-Ugric nations of Finland and Estonia, with which they share many cultural similarities, and from the European Parliament.
The Mari people have a right to sovereignty, independence and their own identity, as do all those fighting for the independence of countries and nations in the former USSR and elsewhere in the world. We are therefore opposed to the persecution they are suffering, as well as to the attempts at denationalisation and human rights violations that are taking place in the country. Although history provides us with many examples of the spirit and staying power of occupied nations, and even though their efforts have often been crowned with success, the price of such success is frequently the suffering and death of a large number of people. As the late Holy Father John Paul II once said, one nation must never expand at the expense of another, that is at the expense of another nation’s subordination, conquest, coercion, exploitation and death.
If different countries and nations are forced to live together under one government, sooner or later this will always result in a threat to peace and a struggle for independence and sovereignty. An emerging superpower like the European Union would do well to heed this warning."@en1
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