Albert Alexeyevich Razin (russian: Альберт Алексеевич Разин, 12 June 1940 – 10 September 2019) was an

Udmurt language Udmurt is a Permic language spoken by the Udmurt people who are native to Udmurtia. As a Uralic language, it is distantly related to languages such as Finnish, Estonian, Mansi, Khanty, and Hungarian. The Udmurt language is co-official with Ru ...

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory ...

activist and Neopaganist who committed traditional

self-immolation The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself ...

(tipshar) in the centre of

Izhevsk Izhevsk (russian: Иже́вск, p=ɪˈʐɛfsk; udm, Ижкар, ''Ižkar'', or , ''Iž'') is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city i ...

as an act of protest against the language policy of the Russian federal government and the Russification of the

Udmurt people The Udmurts ( udm, Удмуртъёс, ) are a Permian ( Finnic) ethnic group in Eastern Europe, who speak the Udmurt language. In the course of history, Russian-speakers have referred to them as ' (), Otyaks, Wotyaks or Votyaks. Etymology The ...

Biography

Albert Razin was born into a peasant family in Alnashsky District of the Republic of

Udmurtia Udmurtia (russian: Удму́ртия, r=Udmúrtiya, p=ʊˈdmurtʲɪjə; udm, Удмуртия, ''Udmurtija''), or the Udmurt Republic (russian: Удмуртская Республика, udm, Удмурт Республика, Удмурт � ...

. In 1962 he graduated from the Udmurt State Pedagogical University. He later became

Candidate of Sciences Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "d ...

in philosophy. In the early 1990s, Razin led an institute at the

Udmurt State University Udmurt State University (Udmurt language, Udmurtian Удмурт кун университет; russian: Удмуртский государственный университет) is a public university in the city of Izhevsk, Russia. Establishe ...

. Razin was an activist of the Udmurt national movement and was actively engaged in the protection of the

. Together with other activists, he issued numerous formal protests against the Russification policies of the federal government, such as the cancellation of obligatory teaching of minority languages at schools.Man Dies After Self-Immolation Protest Over Language Policies In Russia's Udmurtia
–

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

, 10 September 2019 He was also known as an active revivalist of Udmurt traditions and Udmurt neopaganism.

Self-immolation

On 10 September 2019 Albert Razin came out in front of the State Council of

in the Udmurt capital city of

together with fellow Udmurt language activist Andrey Perevozchikov. Razin was holding posters in Russian language, saying "If my language dies tomorrow, then I'm ready to die today" (a quote from

Rasul Gamzatov Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov ( av, ХӀамзатазул Расул ХӀамзатил вас, Ħamzatil Rasul Ħamzatil vas, ; russian: Расу́л Гамза́тович Гамза́тов, p=rɐˈsul ɡɐmˈzatəvʲɪtɕ ɡɐmˈzatəf, a=Rasu ...

, the Avar poet) and "Do I have a Fatherland?". He then doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire. Perevozchikov, unaware of Razin's intentions, attempted to extinguish the flames using a fire extinguisher from the Council building, but the extinguisher turned out to be faulty. Razin was brought to a hospital in a critical condition, with burns to nearly 100 percent of his body, and died several hours later. The Udmurt State Council postponed its session following the incident. Linguistic rights activists from several regions of Russia ( Chuvashia,

Bashkortostan The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, Bashqortostan Respublikahy; russian: Республика Башкортостан, Respublika Bashkortostan),; russian: Респу́блик� ...

and others) as well as academics and officials from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

expressed their solidarity with Razin's demands.

Family

Razin was survived by a wife and an 18-year-old daughter.Russian Scholar Dies From Self-Immolation While Protesting to Save Native Language
–

Moscow Times ''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates su ...

, 10 September 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Razin, Albert 1940 births 2019 suicides Anti-Russification activists Language activists Suicides by self-immolation Suicides in Russia Udmurt people Russian sociologists Russian philosophers Russian ethnographers Russian activists Russian modern pagans 2019 deaths

Biography

Self-immolation

Family

See also

References