A surprising anti-racist development

Sat Dec 3 05:27:57 UTC 2005

2 Dec 2005

Just a few moments ago I watched newscaster Vladimir Kara-Murza 
broadcast a puzzling new legal development in Russia (on the RTVi 
network).  He reports that today (Friday) a Moscow court had handed down 
a ruling which forbids the party "Rodina" from participating in the 
upcoming elections for Mosgorduma.  As you may be aware, right-wing 
"Rodina" recently ran a TV ad in Moscow advocating that the "garbage" 
("musor") be cleaned from the streets.  The ad shows a very pale, blonde 
woman pushing her baby carriage past a group of "litsa kavkazskoi 
natsional'nosti."  The darkish-skined men are throwing watermelon rinds 
on the sidewalk, there is a close-up of the baby carriage passing over 
one watermelon rind.  The "garbage" in question is clearly people from 
the Caucasus, metonymically represented by the watermelon rind.  It is 
these people who, in the opinion of "Rodina," need to be cleansed from 
the streets of Moscow.

Back to the TV broadcast.  The court held that the ad was unacceptable, 
and that "Rodina" (a sizeable political group) would therefore not be 
allowed to participate in the election.  The judge, clearly 
uncomfortable, was shown reading his ruling.  He referred to the 
offensive ad (speaking of "litsa chernykh volos").  Everyone in the 
courtroom seemed taken aback.

I refer to this odd event in view of recent postings about racism in 
Russia.  The ruling clearly recognizes that there IS a problem.  Would 
anyone out there know how it came to be dealt with in this particular 
instance?  I am astonished and puzzled.

Regards to the list,

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere

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