Ethnofuturism (Estonian : Etnofuturism) is an artistic and philosophic movement originating from Estonia that has gone through different phases. During its initial phase from 1989 to 1994, it was an avant-garde artistic movement with emphasis on futurism and characterized by parody, absurdity and provocative statements. In the second phase, starting with the First Ethnofuturist Manifesto in 1994, the focus shifted to the ethnic elements, foregrounding folklore, borealism and the issues of the Finno-Ugric peoples. [1]
In the late 2010s, the term was adopted by the Estonian and international alt-right movement to describe their ethnonationalistic agenda. It regards imperialism as a force detrimental to identity based nationalism. Its aim is to create a new European civilization based upon identity and roots and led by Eastern Europe, called Intermarium. Bringing about the destruction of both American and Russian imperialism and replacing them with white ethnostates is a goal of ethnofuturism. [2] Ethnofuturism contains a cultural and civilisational dimension that helps cement a geopolitical block of countries from the Baltic until the Black Sea. [3]
Ethnofuturism particularly stresses cooperation between nationalists from different countries. [2] Therefore, regional imperialism and supremacist thinking is seen rather as a hindrance than an asset. As most definitions of ethnicity in the region are blood and soil-based, ethnofuturism centers around unifying these regionally sourced identities with one another. Most Ethnofuturists share an understanding of humans and nature as being inherently intertwined in an all-worldly collective, very much like a living, breathing organism. [3]
The term "ethnofuturism" was coined by Estonian poet Karl Martin Sinijärv. [4] The social background of ethnofuturism was connected with the Singing Revolution movement in Estonia in the late 1980s, after which the philosophy was developed by the nationalists of the Baltic region willing to unify and create a common civilisational platform. [5] Ethnofuturist philosophy has been popular among politicians of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia and the National Alliance from Latvia, most notably Ruuben Kaalep and Raivis Zeltīts. [2] They have been in close cooperation with Ukrainian nationalists and organizations from the Visegrád Group member states who share similar ideas. The National Corps in Ukraine also shares and supports ethnofuturist philosophy. [3]
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes such factors as language, race, ethnicity, culture, religion, and customs of the nation in its primal sense of those who were born within its culture. It can be applied to ethnic nationalism as well as civic nationalism. Romantic nationalism arose in reaction to dynastic or imperial hegemony, which assessed the legitimacy of the state from the top down, emanating from a monarch or other authority, which justified its existence. Such downward-radiating power might ultimately derive from a god or gods (see the divine right of kings and the Mandate of Heaven).
Slavophilia was a movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavophiles opposed the influences of Western Europe in Russia. Depending on the historical context, the opposite of Slavophilia could be seen as Slavophobia or also what some Russian intellectuals called zapadnichestvo (westernism).
Intermarium was a post-World War I geopolitical plan conceived by Józef Piłsudski to unite former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lands within a single polity. The plan went through several iterations, some of which anticipated the inclusion of neighbouring states. The proposed multinational polity would have incorporated territories lying between the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic Seas, hence the name Intermarium.
Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation or globe. Typically used for describing the acquiring or preserving political independence of a nation or a region, a sovereigntist aims to "take back control" from perceived powerful forces, either against internal subversive minority groups, or from external global governance institutions, federalism and supranational unions. It generally leans instead toward isolationism, and can be associated with certain independence movements, but has also been used to justify violating the independence of other nations.
The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union (FSU) or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they existed as Union Republics, which were the top-level constituents of the Soviet Union. There are 15 post-Soviet states in total: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Each of these countries succeeded their respective Union Republics: the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Estonian SSR, the Georgian SSR, the Kazakh SSR, the Kirghiz SSR, the Latvian SSR, the Lithuanian SSR, the Moldavian SSR, the Russian SFSR, the Tajik SSR, the Turkmen SSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Uzbek SSR. In Russia, the term "near abroad" is sometimes used to refer to the post-Soviet states other than Russia.
Russians in the Baltic states is a broadly defined subgroup of the Russian diaspora who self-identify as ethnic Russians, or are citizens of Russia, and live in one of the three independent countries — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — primarily the consequences of the USSR's forced population transfers during occupation. As of 2023, there were approximately 887,000 ethnic Russians in the three countries, having declined from ca 1.7 million in 1989, the year of the last census during the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of the three Baltic countries.
Pan-nationalism is a specific term, used mainly in social sciences as a designation for those forms of nationalism that aim to transcend traditional boundaries of basic or historical national identities in order to create a "higher" pan-national (all-inclusive) identity, based on various common denominators. Pan-nationalism can occur as a specific variant of all common forms of nationalism. In relation to classical state nationalism, pan-nationalism manifests itself through various political movements that advocate the formation of "higher" (pan-national) forms of political identity, based on a regional or continental grouping of national states. In terms of ethnic nationalism, pan-nationalism can also manifest itself through specific ethnic movements that advocate setting up "higher" (pan-national) forms of common identity that are based on ethnic grouping. Other forms of nationalism also have their pan-national variants.
Anarchism and nationalism both emerged in Europe following the French Revolution of 1789 and have a long and durable relationship going back at least to Mikhail Bakunin and his involvement with the pan-Slavic movement prior to his conversion to anarchism. There has been a long history of anarchist involvement with nationalism all over the world as well as with internationalism.
Eurasianism is a socio-political movement in Russia that emerged in the early 20th century under the Russian Empire, which states that Russia does not belong in the "European" or "Asian" categories but instead to the geopolitical concept of Eurasia and the "Russian world", forming an ostensibly standalone Russian civilization.
Estonian nationalism refers to the ideological movement for attaining and maintaining identity, unity, freedom and independence on behalf of a population deemed by many, or most, of its members to be the Estonian people, having one Estonian homeland – Estonia, sharing the common Estonian culture, as well as ancestral myths and memories, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members.
The June deportation of 1941 was a mass deportation of tens of thousands of people during World War II from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, present-day western Belarus and western Ukraine, and present-day Moldova – territories which had been occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939–1940 – into the interior of the Soviet Union.
The history of Ukrainian nationality can be traced back to the kingdom of Kievan Rus' of the 9th to 12th centuries. It was the predecessor state to what would eventually become the Eastern Slavic nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. During this time, Eastern Orthodoxy, a defining feature of Ukrainian nationalism, was incorporated into everyday life.
The Polish–Lithuanian identity describes individuals and groups with histories in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or with close connections to its culture. This federation, formally established by the 1569 Union of Lublin between the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, created a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state founded on the binding powers of national identity and shared culture rather than ethnicity or religious affiliation. The term Polish-Lithuanian has been used to describe various groups residing in the Commonwealth, including those that did not share the Polish or Lithuanian ethnicity nor their predominant Roman Catholic faith.
Estonia, officially 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, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,335 square kilometres (17,504 sq mi). Tallinn, the capital city, and Tartu are the two largest urban areas. The Estonian language is the official language and the first language of the majority of the population of 1.4 million.
The Conservative People's Party of Estonia is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Estonia led by Martin Helme. It was founded in March 2012 with the merger of People's Union of Estonia and Estonian Patriotic Movement. Its first leader, Margo Miljand, served as the chairman until 2013 when he was succeeded by Mart Helme. Its popularity remained low until late 2014, when the party began to draw supporters from the right; in the 2015 Estonian parliamentary election, it passed the electoral threshold and won seats in parliament for the first time. Since then, its support has grown, turning it into one of the largest parties in Estonia. In the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election, EKRE placed third, winning 19 seats in total. Mart was succeeded as party chairman by his son, Martin Helme, in July 2020.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. It also brought an end to the Soviet Union's federal government and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to stop a period of political stalemate and economic backslide. The Soviet Union had experienced internal stagnation and ethnic separatism. Although highly centralized until its final years, the country was made up of 15 top-level republics that served as the homelands for different ethnicities. By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics already departing the Union and Gorbachev continuing the waning of centralized power, the leaders of three of its founding members, the Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian SSRs, declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. Eight more republics joined their declaration shortly thereafter. Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991 and what was left of the Soviet parliament voted to dissolve the union.
The Three Seas Initiative, known also as the Baltic, Adriatic, Black Sea (BABS) Initiative or simply as the Three Seas, is a forum of thirteen states, in the European Union, running along a north–south axis from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic and Black Seas in Central and Eastern Europe. The Initiative aims to create a regional dialogue on questions affecting the member states.
Ruuben Kaalep is an Estonian politician, poet and a far-right philosopher. He has been member of XIV Riigikogu. He is a founder of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia's youth organization Sinine Äratus. Since 2012, he is a member of Estonian Conservative People's Party.
Derussification is a process or public policy in different states of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union or certain parts of them, aimed at restoring national identity of indigenous peoples: their language, culture and historical memory, lost due to Russification. The term may also refer to the marginalization of the Russian language, culture and other attributes of the Russian-speaking society through the promotion of other, usually autochthonous, languages and cultures.
The Intermarium region comprises a group of geographically contiguous Central and Eastern European countries that share a common historical, social, and cultural identity. Many were socialist buffer republics, either Soviet republics or otherwise subordinate to the USSR. As a region, they form a land buffer from the Baltic to the Black Sea that could balance future Russian influence in Europe.