Xenophobia in Russia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Gathering of National Bolsheviks saluting in the Fascist style in Moscow, 2006
Enlarge
Gathering of National Bolsheviks saluting in the Fascist style in Moscow, 2006

Xenophobia in Russia, defined as hostilty towards non-Slavic persons, can be traced far back into the history of Russia. In some cases it was based on negative experience in dealing with neighbors, in others it was based on prejudices. In many cases it amounts to various forms of racism (e.g., anti-Semitism or a general demeaning attitude to Northern indigenous peoples of Russia, stereotyped, e.g., in Russian jokes about Chukchi).

Contents

[edit] Modern times

Anti-national sentiment is present, for example, in the statements of Liberal Democratic Party of Russia[citation needed] and Russian Movement against illegal immigration (Russian language site).

According to the New York Times:

'Police moved to block thousands of ultranationalist demonstrators rallying in Russian streets on Saturday, arresting hundreds who gathered in defiance of a ban on far-right demonstrations . . . Triumphant music played over loudspeakers. At one point, many in the crowd stretched out their hands in a Nazi-type salute."

—NY Times, nov 4 2006

Earlier rallies, the New York Times tell us, included chants of "Heil Hitler."' [1]

[edit] Hostility towards Caucasians

Caucasophobia is a neologism, introduced in the Russian and Caucasian media (as Кавказофобия), denoting hostility towards people of Caucasian origin in contemporary Russia, especially hostility towards all non-Slavic ethnicities of the Caucasus and towards ethnic Caucasian migrants in Russia.[citation needed] In common usage in former Soviet countries, the term "Caucasian" is a collective term which refers to anyone descended from the native ethnicities of the Caucasus. Confusingly, the Russian language stereotypes of Caucasian people are in an opposition to the common colloquial English language meaning of "Caucasian" as the "white race": Caucasus peoples (together with Central Asians) fall into the category of "black" in Russian slang, due to their dark complexion. [citation needed]

Caucasophobia is often associated with views that almost any evil or folly of contemporary Russia may be attributed to the non-Slavic inhabitants of the Caucasus, especially Chechens and other Muslims.[citation needed] Members of these ethnicities are often depicted as dangerous and savages and a threat to public safety, both individually and on a social scale.

A number of pogroms, directed particularly against Caucasian merchants and migrants have been reported in the Russian capital,[citation needed] Moscow Violent attacks against Caucasian businesses and migrants are reported in other Russian cities,[citation needed] the pogrom of April 21, 2001 in "Yasenevo market" in Moscow, against merchants from the Caucasus countries,[citation needed] and well organised massive attack on all Caucasian businesses and migrants in Eastern-Russian town of Ekaterinburg on September 9, 2004 being particularly violent.[citation needed]

Racially motivated attacks against Armenians have grown so common that the President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan brought the issue up with high ranking Russian officials.[2]

Following the Russian-Georgian crissis of September and October, 2006, Russian authorities have proceeded to rounding up Georgians, demanding schools to draw up lists of pupils with Georgian last names, as well as other actions which has deemed many protesters in Moscow to draw a parallel between modern-Russian initiatives and the Nazi initiatives to round up Jews in 1930's Germany.[2]

[edit] Hostility towards Central Asians

[edit] External links

[edit] Anti-semitism in Russia

Main article: History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union

[edit] Hostility towards Chinese

Russian attitudes towards the People's Republic of China have focused on the fear of Russia (especially the Russian Far East and Siberia) being overwhelmed by Chinese, because of China's much larger population.[3] It is also noted that there is illegal immigration coming from China into Southeastern Russia, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.[4]

[edit] Hostility towards Africans

[edit] Soviet roots

Negative attitude towards Africans traces back to the days of the Soviet Union, with (and despite of) its propaganda of internationalism and "fight for peace in the whole world" (a Russian political cliché, based on the wordplay: "mir" in Russian means both "peace" and "world"). As a part of the support of decolonisation of Africa, the Soviet Union offered free education for citizens of African states. African students (as well as other foreign students) were placed in many higher education institutions throughout the country, but the most famous place was Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, known as Patrice Lumumba University.

Initially the students from "oppressed" countries were met in a friendly way,[citation needed] due to both propaganda efforts and natural curiosity: at these times foreigners were rare in Soviet Union.[citation needed] It turned out, however, that a significant part of these students, especially in prestigious institutions, like Lumumba University, were members of privileged groups or families, and hence were rich,[citation needed] in stark contrast to most Soviet people.[citation needed]

Further, the planned economy of the Soviet Union led to acute shortage of certain things, in particular those goods the Soviets saw as luxury goods, such as jeans, chewing gum, elegant underwear, western musical records, etc.[citation needed] African students could freely travel to West-Europe, unlike the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens, and most of them naturally did their little business (which was a criminal offense in the Soviet Union, known as spekulacia).[citation needed] These constituted a reason of the next aggravation: money and access to luxury made African students attractive to Russian girls,[citation needed] which was enhanced by rumors about "superb sexual abilities" of Africans[citation needed] (bearing in mind lack of efficient sexual education in Soviet Union[citation needed]). (For a Chinese incident with similar motives, see Nanjing Anti-African protests.)

The factors mentioned above have eventually led to the development of xenophobic prejudices towards African students.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hundreds of Nationalist Russians Held, November 4, 2006, New York Times
  2. ^ [1] Russian Euronews report of Racism and Xenophobia in Russia
  3. ^ Russia in Global Affairs:Chinese Migration in Russia
  4. ^ http://www.russiansabroad.com/russian_history_111.html

[edit] External links

In English:

In Russian:

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../x/e/n/Xenophobia_in_Russia_24ce.html"