Moldova's ethnic-based independence movement and the River of Blood

Moldovan nationalists warned all Russians to leave Moldova, or else ... (Artificially enhanced photo of Dniester river)

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - The dirty secret of Moldova's independence movement is that it was built on the persecution of ethnic minorities, particularly Russian-speakers. Beatings, torture and other forms of physical violence was the direct cause of government-sponsored hate language in the nation's media.

This article takes a closer look at the background facts of Moldovan mistreatment of ethnic minorities, which was concentrated in the years between 1988 through 1992 but which is still lingering today and costing the lives of Russian-speakers on a regular, recurring basis.

The post-Communist liberalization in Moldova was accompanied by a strong nationalistic fervor directed against ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers living in the country.

The democratization and political mobilization of the masses in Moldova, which started (as in the other republics of the former Soviet Union) on the eve of the Nineteenth Party Congress in the spring of 1988, took place under national and nationalistic slogans. In demanding recognition of the identity of the Moldavian and Romanian languages, transfer of the Moldavian language to the Latin alphabet and the status of state language, the new Moldavian political leaders hit upon extremely attractive slogans that proved to be effective mobilizers.

The heated discussion of the language problems in the republican press in 1988-89 was accompanied by a great number of openly Russophobic publications with direct appeals for ethnic violence. For instance, on August 31, 1989, the popular newspaper "Literatura si arta," the organ of the government-funded Writers' Union of Moldova, published a poem by Petr Kerare titled "Unwelcome Visitor:"

There is a thief in our home.
With whom we sit at the table.
You must call him "brother."
But instead of bread
Better give him a block of DYNAMITE.

Using slogans and language remarkably similar to that which sparked Rwanda's Hutu-Tutsi ethnic genocide, many otherwise talented Moldavian writers, such as Grigore Vieru, engaged in the state sponsored manufacturing of ethnic hatred. The frequency of such publications, and the strong language used by leaders of the Moldavian national movement, testified to the fact that Russophobia was considered an important mobilizing factor in political strategy, a kind of fast track to power.

"Let us wash the streets of Chisinau with Russian blood"

It became evident that the nationalistic-minded Moldavian leaders had chosen a strategy for deepening the ethnic-linguistic split in society and considered the flare-up of interethnic strife advantageous to their own advancement to the highest posts of the leadership.

August-September 1989 witnessed the first confrontation, when during a session of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR language laws were adopted at the behest of the Moldavian national movement. A popular slogan at the time was "Let us wash the streets of Chisinau with Russian blood". It was made into a jingle and played over the radio, and in the first of a series of ethnic hate crimes a Russian teenager in Chisinau was murdered by young Popular Front Moldavians.

Elections in Moldavia, in February-March 1990, were conducted largely along ethnic-linguistic lines. The nationalist party Popular Front won a majority on a "hate-Russia" platform. By exploiting the acuteness of the contradictions between the two basic ethnic-linguistic groups, presenting the Russian-speaking deputies and the population as enemies, building up nationalistic hysteria, and even resorting to direct physical violence against their opponents, the Front succeeded in forming the "Moldavian Bloc"; uniting 65% of Parliament in its favor.

Beatings of democratically elected minority lawmakers

Its supporters saw the Front as a paramilitary stormfront. The "Frontul Popular Moldovenesc", in its native name, openly promised to eradicate Russian-speakers. When it became the largest party in Moldova's government, the Slavic minority had good reason to worry.

The remaining 35% in Parliament were excluded by methods adopted from the Romanian fascist movement and Hitler-Germany's Reichstag: In April-May 1990 the beating of Russian-speaking deputies at the entry to the parliament became a common occurrence (historical source: Vladimir Solonar, "The New Russian Diaspora," pp. 72-90.)

At the same time, ethnic Russians were discriminated against in the work place. Most were either fired or forced to leave their jobs; aided by a language law with racist overtones in which they had to learn Moldavian, face mandatory testing, or leave within a four year period. Using the law as an excuse, the practice of discrimination based on nationality became permanent and widespread.

Educational discrimination was also used a political tool. The first government of the newly created Republic of Moldova took active measures to phase the Russian language out of the system of education, both higher and secondary. Russian schools were closed down or turned into Moldavian schools, and admission to Russian groups in schools of higher learning was reduced or closed altogether.

Censorship, ransacking, burning, beatings

Censorship restrictions on media became common. In June 1990 the republic's new leadership placed Moldovan radio, television, and regional newspapers under its strict control and set up new publications (first of the parliament and then of the government). The publication of Russian-language periodicals was either disrupted or stopped, and acts of state sponsored terrorism against their employees were encouraged.

In an incident involving the newspaper "Molodezh' Moldavii" the newspaper's office was ransacked by extremists in September 1990 and then burned down in October. Newspaper employees were threatened with physical violence and some fell victim to such violence. Most were fired. The paper was allowed to continue, but with new Moldovan editors and journalists which resulted in a 180 degree change in the political views of the paper.

Moldova's government not only did not prosecute the offenders but even expressed their solidarity with them. In May 1991 Moldovan President Mircea Snegur declared: "In my view, the newspaper has drawn the right conclusions from such lessons. Now I read it with pleasure for it has completely changed" (verbatim quote, Moscow News, May, 19, 1991).

The censorship continues even today. Russian-language opposition newspapers in Moldova are practically non-existent and Russian-speaking leaders have limited access to radio and television. As late as 2005, the circulation of Pridnestrovian newspapers and periodicals was stopped and forbidden in Moldova despite the fact that Moldovan papers are sold freely on Pridnestrovian territory, with no censorship or other restrictions whatsoever.

Ethnic violence against Pridnestrovians

Ethnic violence, although less today than in the 1988-1992 period, is also prevalent. The use of violence for political purposes has always been an important weapon of Moldovan leadership in its efforts to establish the superiority of the Republic of Moldova over its much smaller neighbor, Pridnestrovie.

On November 15, 1990, less than three months after Pridnestrovie had formally declared independence, there was massacre of the Russian-speaking population in Chisinau which claimed more than one hundred victims. No measures were ever taken against the perpetrators of the ethnic mass-murders.

The scale of ethnic violence can be ascertained from survey data. A survey conducted by the Center for the Study of Public Opinion in early 1991 registered a high rate of violence against members of ethnic minorities (25 percent of the respondents expressing fear). 70+ percent of the Russian-speaking respondents considered the main problem to be the aggravation of interethnic relations.

In the aftermath of Moldova's failed military invasion of Pridnestrovie in 1992, the local press uncovered many facts which were made public concerning the training of groups of saboteurs by the Moldovan State Ministry of National Security which took upon itself the supervision of operations such as murder, arson and kidnapping, all intended to destabilize the situation.

Moldovan treatment of its minorities took on an ominous fascist overtone as a new mantra rang out - "chemodan, vokzal, Rossiya!" "suitcase, trainstation, Russia!" - giving the Russian population their marching orders. And so, in Pridnestrovie, the ethnic Russians grew convinced that the natural historical independence of Pridnestrovie from Moldova had to be restored in order to avoid persecution and the very real risk of ethnic genocide.

As a peaceful symbolic protest, the local authorities throughout Pridnestrovie first refused to recognize the Romanian tricolor as the state flag and continued to fly the country's originally legal flag. When this didn't work, they held town hall meetings and organized a referendum to find out what the people wanted. The vote was clear: In the face of an intolerant Moldova, a country with no prior historical ties to Pridnestrovie, everyone wanted out. The obvious solution? Independence.

Ethnic conflict was one of the key causes for PMR's 1990 declaration of independence, to a large a measure of self defense. But Pridnestrovie is itself a multi-ethnic society. Although the unrecognized country is 64% Slavic, it has a large Moldovan minority of nearly 32%.

However, few families in Pridnestrovie are pure ethnic Moldovans. Most are mixed race, with the territory having been an old traditional border territory and the mixed bloodlines of many families going back centuries.

During the struggle for independence, there was very little ethnic strife on the Eastern bank of the Dniester. Most members of the Moldovan minority supported independence, too. Pridnestrovie first vice president, Alex Caraman, was an ethnic Moldovan. The Speaker of Parliament, Grigore Maracutsa, was also an ethnic Moldovan, and many top posts in Pridnestrovie's leadership has traditionally been held by members of the Moldovan minority.

Job discrimination rampant, hate crimes continue

Today, separated by the natural border of the Dniester River, Pridnestrovie has protected itself from inter-racial violence. The Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica is now in its 17th year of independence. For the region as whole, and for the protection of minorities in particular, a free and independent Pridnestrovie has proven to be the preferred solution.

In Moldova, however, the results of officially sponsored hate speech are still felt today, with some Moldovans stating that feel justified by attacking and murdering Russians. In May 2007, a court in Israel convicted a Moldovan immigrant for a string of serial killings targeted exclusively against Russians. No Moldovan has ever been convicted by a Moldovan court for politically motivated attacks on Russians.

Discrimination is also rampant against ethnic minorities in Moldova. According to Councilman Valery Klimenko, a popular Moldovan politician and member of the Municipal Council of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, says that minority rights are not protected in his country and top jobs are reserved for pure ethnic Moldovans.
" - In reality, less than 0.5% of Moldovan officials are not Moldovans."

More than 99.5% of high-level government jobs are held by ethnic Moldovans, and Klimenko warns of the consequences of this discriminatory policy:
" - Moldova are using all means to liquidate the mere concept of ethnic minorities, and everything that it stands for."

See also:
» Chisinau councilman warns about ethnic cleansing in Moldova
» Moldovan serial killer gets life for anti-Russian murder spree
» Ethnic Moldovans in Pridnestrovie prefer independence over unification with Moldova