commentary to student safety in St Petersburg

Sun Nov 29 00:59:01 UTC 2009

Quoting Jane Costlow <jcostlow at BATES.EDU>:

>
> What I want to note here is that a particularly helpful outcome of this
> lengthy discussion would be a list of potential readings, films, etc.,
> that we as teachers might use to frame discussions on the issues that
> have been raised here.  These would ideally be readings that are not
> just about the problems and challenges but also about ways in which
> different groups within Russia are addressing (or not) those issues.
>
> Any of this material - and lots of other materials, for sure - could
> become the basis of really interesting classroom work or preparation for
> study abroad.  I for one would love it if there were a web-based or
> somehow easily available resource list that we could contribute to/build
> on and tap into for classes, whether they're in Russian or English.
>
> Jane Costlow
> Bates College
>

Jane,

I've included a unit on xenophobia and racism in Russia in two of my
advanced-level Russian topics courses here at Harvard, one on current events and
the other on nationalism and nation-building in the post-Soviet region (the
latter course includes other former Soviet republics as well, allowing
comparisons with the situation in the Russian Federation). The list below
provides a sampling of materials that Ive used recently in my classes; if
youre interested, Id be happy to send additional links and references.

     One of the best sources for up-to-date information on hate crimes and the
activities of radical nationalist groups in Russia is the website of the SOVA
Center. In addition to breaking news, the site also includes SOVA's annual
reports:

http://xeno.sova-center.ru/

Here's an interview on "Ekho Moskvy" from last spring with Galina Kozhevnikova,
deputy director of the SOVA Center, where she notes that there has been some
improvement in the situation, at least with regard to law enforcement:

http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/razvorot/586751-echo/

SOVA also conducts monitoring of "jazyk vrazhdy (hate speech) in the Russian
mass media; indeed, many commentators blame the media for contributing to the
problem of violence against "visible minorities":

http://xeno.sova-center.ru/213716E/

There are often interesting articles on inter-ethnic relations in Russia on the
site Demoskop," for example, this article discussing the results of a
September 2009 VTSIOM survey of Muscovites views of the state of inter-ethnic
relations in the city (51% had a negative view of the current situation):

http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2009/0397/opros02.php

In May of 2008 the (now discontinued) talk show Bolshaja strana on Channel 5
(St. Petersburg) aired the following segment on Ksenofobija i nacionalizm,
with participants representing a range of public opinion, even including
members of DPNI (Dvizhenie protiv nelegalnoj immigracii)(parts of this program
could be used with students in intermediate-level classes as well):

http://www.5-tv.ru/video/502199/

From Russia with Hate: a disturbing 2007 English-language documentary about
skinheads and hate crime in Russia, focusing on the overtly neoNazi NSO
(includes interviews with a number of non-white foreigners studying in Moscow,
as well as with NSO activists):

http://current.com/items/84906361_from-russia-with-hate.htm

In the current events course I'm teaching we discussed the issue of xenophobia
and racism in Russia in connection with the controversial new Nov. 4 holiday
("Den' narodnogo edinstva") and the "Russkij marsh" by right-wing groups that
has become a tradition since the holiday was was established in 2005. While the
authorities this year did not allow a march by DPNI and Slavjanskij Sojuz in
central Moscow, for some reason they permitted them to hold it in Ljublino, a
spalnyj rajon where inter-ethnic tensions have been increasing steadily since
the influx of a large number of foreign (mainly Chinese) traders from the
now-closed Cherkizovskij rynok. This choice of location created the impression
that the local authorities are once again using the nationalists to intimidate
migrants (legal or otherwise). The following is a DPNI video of this years
Russkij marsh in Ljublino:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htpGZSR8M6Q&feature=related

In addition to the "Russkij marsh" in Ljublino this year, the Moscow authorities
also permitted a demonstration and rock concert by radical nationalists at
Bolotnaja Square in central Moscow. Here's a video from "Novoe vremja," with an
interview with one of the organizers:

http://newtimes.ru/content/media/9329

What made this year's celebrations of Nov. 4 in Moscow unique was the fact that
the pro-Kremlin youth group "Nashi" organized its own "Russkij marsh" in
downtown Moscow, attempting to "rebrand" this event as something more festive
and inclusive, using the slogan "Vse svoi!" The event was publicized by
television ads featuring a number of "non-Slavic-looking" Russian celebrities:

http://russia.ru/video/godmol_7104/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KC5fLXjw-k&feature=related

Here's a video from the "Nashi" website about their "Russkij marsh," including
interviews with "Nashi" activists:

http://nashi.su/video/page4

And an article about the event from "Kommersant":

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1242556

While the slogan "vse svoi" is a great improvement over DPNI's and Slavjanskij
Sojuz's "Rossija dla russkix," it doesn't inspire much confidence that this
alternative "Russkij marsh" was organized by the same group that just recently
picketed Aleksandr Podrabinek's apartment and demanded that he leave the
country if he didn't apologize to Soviet veterans and retract his "anti-Soviet"
article in "Ezhednevnyj zhurnal."

    As far as popular attitudes are concerned, it seems that Russia does indeed
have a long way to go. Stereotyped portrayals of non-whites are still far more
widespread and "acceptable" in Russian popular culture than in the western
European/North American context, for example in this scene from the animated
film based on Filatovs 1985 modern fairy tale Skazka pro Fedota strelca,
udalogo molodca (produced by Pervyj kanal and released in December 2008):

The Tsar, who is more concerned with currying favor with foreigners than
promoting the welfare of his own people, attempts to marry his daughter off to
the chief of a tribe of cannibals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69BCdapt7t4&NR=1

==============================
Curt F. Woolhiser
Preceptor in Slavic Languages
Department of Slavic Languages
and Literatures
Harvard University
12 Quincy St., Barker Center
Cambridge, MA 02138-3879 USA

Tel. (617) 495-3528
Fax (617) 496-4466
email: cwoolhis at fas.harvard.edu
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