Presentation of Erzyan poem banned in Mordovia

On October 11, Syres’ Boliayen’,  chief elder (Inyazor) of Erzyan people,  started his visit to Estonia.

The European Language Equality Network (ELEN), the NGO that works for the protection and promotion of European lesser-used languages, has written to the leader of the Udmurt Republic, Alexei Prasolov, and politicians in the Russian Federation, concerning the death of Udmurt scholar Dr. Albert Razin, and to call on the government for new measures to protect and promote Udmurt, as well as all indigenous languages in Russia. Dr. Razin died after burning himself to death after a protest last month in support of the Udmurt language.

In the city of Turku, Erzya activists brought flowers and commemorative postcards to the building of the Russian consulate, the IdelReal website reports.

he self-immolation of Albert Razin on September 10 intended to attract attention to the problems of the Udmurt language has certainly done that, but it has also drawn enormous attention to the man himself. One of the most moving is a commentary of Galina Sakharevich on Moscow’s Takiye dela portal.

On the day last month that hundreds paid their last respects to Albert Razin, the 79-year-old activist who burned himself to death in support of his native Udmurt language, the Moscow newspaper Izvestia published an op-ed column by a prominent scholar and Kremlin adviser on minority issues.