Anti-national sentiment in Russia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gathering of National Bolsheviks saluting in the Fascist style in Moscow, 2006
Gathering of National Bolsheviks saluting in the Fascist style in Moscow, 2006

Anti-national sentiment in Russia as a negative attitude 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

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Any material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed at any time. This article has been tagged since March 2007.

Negative attitude towards Africans traces back to the days of the Soviet Union, in spite of its internationalist propaganda and its "fight for peace in the whole world" (a Russian political cliché, based on a wordplay, both "peace" and "world" translating as "mir" in Russian). As a part of its support of decolonisation in 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, most famously at Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, then known as the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University, after the Congolese revolutionary and prime minister Patrice Lumumba.

Initially the students from "oppressed" countries were met in a friendly way,[citation needed] due both to propaganda efforts and to natural curiosity, as foreigners were at that time rare in the Soviet Union.[citation needed] However, it became apparent that a significant portion of these students, especially in prestigious institutions such as Peoples' Friendship University, were wealthy, bourgeois members of privileged groups or families, not particularly oppressed or necessarily sympathetic to the Soviet proletariat.[citation needed] Furthermore, while the planned economy of the Soviet Union led to acute shortage of consumer goods, particularly those perceived as luxuries, such as jeans, chewing gum, elegant underwear, western musical records, etc.[citation needed], and the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens were not permitted to leave the country, African students could travel freely to Western Europe, purchase imported merchandise, and practice small business with relative impunity (a criminal offense known as "spekulacia" in the Soviet Union).[citation needed] Because of their wealth and access to luxury (as well as indiscreet sexual rumors about Africans) foreign students were attractive to their Russian peers,[citation needed] aggravating social tensions. These social factors permit a comparison to the Nanjing anti-African protests in China, as a xenophobic sentiment has developed 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../../../a/n/t/Anti-national_sentiment_in_Russia_b4c0.html"