Ekaterina Anastasova, Sofia Migratory Process in Europe: Evolution of the Migratory Interactions of the EU and Central and Eastern European Countries Odessa, September 23 –

The transition of an ethnic community from a “majority” to a “minority” and vice versa is not only a problem of definition or of formal features. How a community could be identified as a minority? Subjects of discussion:  dynamic changes in the identity and self-esteem of two different (historically and culturally) Russian trans- national communities: Russian Old Believers and “Soviet” Russians, who live in the EU today: 1) as Russian minorities in the “new” European democracies; 2) their activity in the post-modern processes of revival of their own culture, traditions and identity.

The position of the minorities depends on the national context. In the Baltic and the Balkan regions the relevant minorities are different.

The Soviet Russians are the object of complicated legislative initiatives. They are excluded from participation in the civic and political life. The status of “non-citizens” in Latvia and Estonia, fundamental change of the national conceptions and new treatment of history turn the Russians from “liberators” into “occupiers”, from bearers of the “bright communist future” into representatives of a repressive regime. The Russian Old Believers as a traditional Russian population in the region enjoys a totally different attitude. They are a natural opposition to the atheistic “Soviet propaganda” and Soviet Russians. After the democratic changes the Old Believers made use of the restitution and of privileges given by the national and the European legislation to the ethnic and religious minorities. They formed a network of Old Believers’ organizations developing religious, cultural and scientific activity.

The Soviet Russians and the Russian Old Believers have never considered themselves as one community. The two communities have experienced inversion of the positions in the national discourses of the Baltic States. Many Old Believers, who were voluntarily “Sovietised”, currently return to and demonstrate their “cultural and ethnic roots”.

After the changes the Old Believers in Romania actively participated in the civic and political life. In the new situation they experience a real ethnic and religious Renaissance. They participate for the first time in the government of the state exactly as a minority. The Old Believers’ elites successfully situate the community in the new national and European reality.

In Bulgaria there is no term “minority” in the Constitution. The minority organizations (practically of all ethnic minorities in the country) are non- governmental institutions and their activity is funded by NGO’s. Despite this, the idea of “minority” in the social mind is strong and specific. The most numerous communities in the country are considered as “significant” minorities – the Turks and the Gypsies, as only the latter are called “minority” in the popular discourse.  Soviet Russians: The former Soviet citizens in general get Bulgarian citizenship. They turn into an ethnic minority.  Russian Old Believers: The Old Believers are a small peasant community, which did not have their own elites.

The two nationalisms are typologically different:  Soviet Russians – “cultural nationalism” ;  Russian Old Believers – “minority nationalism” (ethnicism).  Russian Old Believers: Minority nationalism has another important effect: it raises the self-esteem of the contemporary Old Believers who finally consider themselves rehabilitated after age-long persecutions and social neglect.  Soviet Russians: Among the “Soviet Russians” the situation is more complicated – it depends on the generation; on the social status; sometimes on the “success” of the individual during the socialism and many other factors.

 The most interesting is the process of transition from “Great-Russian chauvinism” to the self-consciousness of the ethnic minority among the Soviet Russians in the post- Soviet and post-socialist space 20 years after democratic changes.

Ekaterina Anastasova Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Sofia, Bulgaria