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Article: Trouble, trouble, trouble. (Moldavia votes to make Romanian official language of republic) (Europe)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 2, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Trouble, trouble, trouble
IN FAVOUR, 300,000; against, 80,000: the numbers spoke for themselves and no doubt Moldavia's parliament was listening. It was expected this week to bow to the majority, who had massed on August 27th in the central square of Kishinev, the republic's capital, and pass a controversial law making Romanian, rather than Russian, the official language of the republic. By midweek about 80,000--mostly Russian--workers in moldavia had downed tools in protest at the prospect. But they, like their equally affronted Russian brethren in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, seem powerless to slow the nationalist surge that threatens ...