Moravané (, ''Moravians'') is a small non-parliamentary

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

History

It arose in 2005 through a merger of two older local parties: ''Hnutí samosprávné Moravy a Slezska – Moravské národní sjednocení'' ("The Movement of Autonomous Moravia and

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

- Moravian National Union") and ''Moravská demokratická strana'' ("the Moravian Democratic Party"). Pavel Dohnal became the party chairman. The party first participated in the nationwide parliamentary election in June 2006 and won 0.23% of the national popular vote, falling below the minimum threshold to gain any seats. ''Moravané'' was a member party of the

European Free Alliance The European Free Alliance (EFA) is a European political party that consists of various regionalist, separatist and ethnic minority political parties in Europe. Member parties advocate either for full political independence and sovereignty, ...

until 2018. A youth wing of the party (''Mladí Moravané'' - Young Moravians) also operates. In March 2009, party leadership passed to Jiří Novotný.

Ideology

The main goal of the party is as follows: "''On the principle of the right of self-determination of the Moravian nation, ''Moravané'' advocates for the independence of Moravia via restoration of the Moravian legislative parliament within the territorial scope of the Moravian ecclesiastical province.''" The party strongly disfavours state centralism, and expresses anti-Czech (

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

n) sentiment; "Prague" (both the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

Czech government The Government of the Czech Republic ( cz, Vláda České republiky) exercises executive power in the Czech Republic. The members of the government are the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (Chairman of the Government), the deputy prime mini ...

) is blamed for "suppressing Moravian culture, traditions and language" and for "pauperising of Moravia".Some examples of such statements can be seen in the party's election spots
Vote No. 16
(elections 2009) o
The Moravian Truth and Czech/Bohemian Lie
(both in Czech) According to ''Moravané'', the future of the Europe lies in dismantling the modern European nation-states and establishing new states on historical territorial boundaries. Moreover, the party supports the codification and recognition of the Moravian language, traditionally considered a dialect of Czech by linguists and the public.

Activities

The party organises open air actions, meetings and sit-ins, "candle marches" (founded at 2005) in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

and

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on t ...

, "pilgrimages to the Morava river spring", demonstrations against "Bohemiazation" etc. During a 'candle march' on 27 February 2010, forty party members decorated with numerous Moravian flags marched through the historical part of

to the pre-war Moravian

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

building, which ''Moravané'' claims to be occupied by a "foreign state", and the Moravian Square. The protest was poorly received by passers-by, with one on-looker noting "at this rate, the oravian peoplewill be looked on as fools". The march was not registered with the police and was later halted. On 25 July 2010, ''Moravané'' participated in a demonstration in

Moravský Krumlov Moravský Krumlov (; german: Mährisch Kromau) is a town in Znojmo District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,600 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monum ...

to attempt to halt a collection of

Alfons Mucha Alfons Maria Mucha (; 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist, living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, best known for his distinctly stylized and decorat ...

paintings named ''The Slav Epic'' from being returned to Prague.

Notes

External links

Official website

Official internet forum

Should Moravians be treated as an ethnic minority?
– transcription of the programme broadcast on March 2007 on ČRo 7 (Radio Prague)
Concept of the Constitution of Republic of Moravia
– created "pro futuro" by former party leader P. Dohnal {{DEFAULTSORT:Moravane Secessionist organizations in Europe Separatism in the Czech Republic Nationalist parties in the Czech Republic Moravia Political parties established in 2005 Secessionist parties in the Czech Republic 2005 establishments in the Czech Republic