student safety in St Petersburg

[Drew S]

Firstly, the survey focuses on the African community because it was carried out by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy, many of whose members are from this community. Those from the Caucasus, East or Central Asia are not likely to be members, or if so, in very small number. If you want a more all-encompassing survey, then perhaps you should petition the Russian authorities to support you in carrying out one yourself.

Secondly, I do not think being verbally harassed with epithets like 'dirty nigger', 'monkey' or being told to 'go home because there are no bananas here' can be construed as anything other than being directed at blacks, and hence 'race'. 

The study simply focuses on one group. It does not negate problems faced by other ethnic groups in Russia, or foreigners in general. Be that as it may, it seems rather obvious that being a member of a "visible minority" in Russia increases the risk of harassment and violence than it does if one is white.


Andrew Swearingen
Medieval and Modern Languages
University of Oxford


On 26.11.2009, at 10:21, Dustin Hosseini wrote:

> Interesting how this survey only focuses on the African community in Moscow,
> but no others.  The comment about fear of the police/officials can be
> applied to everyone that lives in Russia - you don't have to be of a
> particular group to fear the police.  Ask most any Russian, American,
> Filipino, etc. living in Moscow or St. Pete, and I'm sure that more than
> half will tell you to avoid the police at any rate.  
> 
> Drawing on what Paul described, and the way I interpret it is this - is the
> problem a matter of race or of simply being a foreigner, or both?   Here's a
> question people seem to avoid.
> 
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