Page 53 - BNE_magazine_03_2020 wellness

bne March 2020
Opinion 53
First World War. Following World War Two, Moldovans found themselves annexed by the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union fostered strong identities amongst its constituent republics, with Moldovans encouraged to view themselves as a nation, distinct from Romanians, and to regard their language as Moldovan. It was written in Cyrillic instead of the Latin script used by Romanians, hence the Russified Jack London novel I borrowed from my mother’s book shelf. The Soviet experience did leave its mark on
“The country’s political landscape has been divided between politicians advocating closer ties with Russia and those calling for further European integration”
Moldovans, not least because of the influx and influence of ethnic Russians and the state education system. I learnt Russian at school in the 90s, even after independence, and the language remains widely spoken across Moldova.
In more recent years, the language issue has been politicised as splits in Moldova over its future course and identity have deepened. The country’s political landscape has been divided between politicians advocating closer ties with Russia and those calling for further European integration. The former usually define the national language as Moldovan, the
latter Romanian.
Politicians’ adoption of the language issue is seen by some as rather cynical, just like the rival political camps’ frequent scaremongering about the fate that awaits Moldova should
it come under Russian or Western European sway. Many Moldovans see the geopolitical rivalry embraced by their politicians as a means of distracting attention away from widespread corruption in business and government, which is the country’s most pressing problem.
The politicians’ stance on language is often reduced to point- scoring. In TV interviews, pro-European and pro-Russian politicians might object respectively to an interviewer’s reference to the Moldovan or Romanian language. When
in government both factions do not miss an opportunity to take a linguistic position, even to the extent of removing navigation bar references to either Moldovan or Romanian – depending on which of them is in power – from official websites.
The tensions over language are not confined to domestic Moldovan politics. The Romanian and Russian governments are also inclined to get involved. For example, last month,
the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, a government-supported cultural organisation, criticised the promotion of the “idea”
of the Moldovan language as distinct from Romanian. It followed President Dodon, a pro-Russia politician, speaking in favour of Moldovan at the Council of Europe – which added weight to predictions that he will take up the issue
in the presidential campaign.
Yet for many Moldovans, whose attention is mostly focused on making ends meet, these spats whether at home or with Romania are seen for what they are: distractions from the real issues – perennial economic problems. And, as long as these remain unresolved, it seems the political class will likely be reluctant to end their exploitation of the language divide.
Nicolae Reutoi is an associate at Alaco. Alaco Dispatches is the business intelligence consultancy’s take on events and developments shaping the CIS region.
Detail from a 1925 map of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova, which at the time broadly corresponded to present day Transnistria. The Soviet border was moved westwards after the Second World War, when the whole of Moldova was annexed by the Soviet Union.
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