“We all need to decide: to completely dissolve in the so-called “Russian Sea” or to acquire long overdue sovereignty”: an appeal to the Mokshans

The manifesto of the Committee of Representatives of the People of Moksha (in exile) came to the post office of Free Idel-Ural. The committee itself, according to its anonymous founders, is based in Budapest. We publish the English translation of the manifesto.

We are the Committee of Representatives of the Moksha folk (in exile).

We are still alive, and we will be for centuries, no matter how anyone would like the opposite. But at the same time, at this fateful time for the whole world, we cannot stand aside. Because we have no moral right to do so!

Even silent inside the empire, even in exile in foreign countries, we are still bearers of the memory of our people. We were scattered to different corners of the Eurasian continent and many do not mention that they are Moksha. But we are one of the largest ethnic groups in Russia and occupy a vast territory between the Volga, Don and Oka rivers.

Finally, we all need to decide: to completely dissolve in the so-called “Russian Sea” or to acquire long overdue sovereignty. We, the Mokshas, twice had such an opportunity to bring it to life and missed it twice – in 1917 and 1991. Today, the situation is further aggravated by the Kremlin’s conduct of the so-called “special military operation” against Ukraine.

The Russian authorities dared to send our men to an unjustified war (in fact, to a meat grinder in a foreign land), to die themselves and kill innocent people, promising bloody “coffin” money for fictitious propaganda concepts of “demilitarization” and “denazification”. Over the past 100 years, under the specious goals of “saving” our people and our language, the Mokshas have been purposefully exterminated through versatile assimilation. The imperial project called “Russian Federation” turned out to be in the state of the late USSR and is not equal to an hour – it will breathe its last breath, leaving us with nothing.

That is why we appeal to you, the descendants of glorious Puresh and Narchatka! Remember who you really are and stop shunning your roots. We are not “Mordva”, but Moksha!

We have something to be proud of, despite the Russification of a large part of the Mokshas, the self-awareness and subjectivity gradually disappearing among new generations. Our language has been written since the time of the Khazar Khaganate, and history itself calls to us with the voices of the participants in the Battle of Sernya, 2 the Teryushev and Tambov rebellions, to stop being afraid of the oppressors and those who, on behalf of the Mokshas, govern Mordovia at the behest of the Moscow Kremlin. We need to define ourselves and no longer humiliate ourselves by artificially hiding our Mokshan being behind “Russianness”.

We have before our eyes a vivid example of related Finno-Ugric folks of Europe: Finns, Estonians and Hungarians, who were able not only to preserve their uniqueness, but also use it as an advantage. Each of them has achieved the transformation of their Motherland into one of the advanced and democratic countries, and today they are successfully working not for Moscow, but for their future. Perhaps, given the fact that we live in the age of new technologies, we will be able to repeat their thorny path many times faster.

Mokshas!

We are your compatriots, and we appeal to you. Wake up and stop being afraid, first of yourself and your roots, and then of the colonial regime of Moscow, which hides behind good intentions, using our people for its own bloodthirsty interests. It’s already obvious that the Kremlin is weakening and soon will no longer be able to dictate its terms to us, so the time has come for national self-determination.

We, who are here abroad, are ready to help you in any way we can. It is our common task to bring order to our common home for future generations. After all, we all need to realize that nothing and no one will stop an idea whose time has come.

Separately, we want to turn to our tribal brethren in the Finno-Ugric movement. Our people endured for a long time, channeled and pragmatically adapted to the conditions put forward by the colonial regime. There is no more reason to remain indifferent to events far to the west of Mokshan Mastor – in Ukraine and Europe. We will be glad not only to receive words of support, but also proposals for concrete actions. It is in our hands to change the future together and prevent the indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples from falling asleep with eternal dreams under the Russian blanket of unrestrained tyranny, alien to all of us.

With deep respect and best regards,

the Committee of Representatives of the Moksha folk (in exile)

Budapest, October 19 th, 2022