I have been wondering how Ukrainians are faring in the Russian Federation.
On Thursday, 20 March 2014, <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> Xenophobia in Russia at an All-Time High, Experts Say
>
> http://www.interpretermag.com/xenophobia-in-russia-at-an-all-time-high-experts-say/
> Paul Goble
> March 20, 2014
>
> Staunton, March 20 -- Xenophobia and hate crimes against members of other
> ethnic groups, after having declined in Russia between 2009 and 2012, have
> now risen to unprecedented levels, the result of what many see as the Putin
> regime's backing for ethnic Russian pride, according to experts in Moscow.
>
> In yesterday's Yezhednevny Zhurnal, Vera Alperovich says that "the
> outburst of ethnic violence" in Russia "is visible even to the uninterested
> observer" and that the main victims are migrants from Central Asia and the
> Caucasus who suffer both from organized attacks and individual violence.
>
> Two other trends are especially worrisome, she writes: the growth in the
> number of attacks by organized groups and increases in the number of
> attacks against anyone with a dark skin, Jews, ethnic Chinese and Roma
> (gypsies), the latest confirmation that xenophobia tends to spread from new
> targets to old ones, especially if officials do not counter it.
>
> 2013 was a record year in terms of the number of attacks against
> immigrants, she says, and she recounts some of the most notorious cases,
> including the July violence in Pugachev in Saratov oblast. What made that
> clash stand out is that ultra-right groups were not involved; instead, the
> population appears to have acted more or less spontaneously.
>
> The local authorities kept the former away from the site of the violence,
> but what that meant in the event, Alperovich continues, is that the
> ultra-right groups sought to spark copycat ethnic violence elsewhere. As a
> result, the efforts of the authorities to prevent things from getting worse
> had exactly the opposite effect.
>
> Unfortunately too, she says, the Pugachev case "not only emboldened the
> nationalists" but led many candidates in last year's elections to play
> "'the anti-immigrant card'" and promote the idea that it was necessary to
> take addition steps to "struggle" against the appearance of "'illegal'"
> migrants. Few who heard this distinguished between the illegal and the
> legal ones.
>
> These campaign slogans were replicated by "changes in the ways the
> authorities' behaved and those in turn emboldened the ultra-right to adopt
> more open and aggressive actions against immigrants," Alperovich says.
> Raids by Russian nationalists against migrant quarters became a regular
> feature in Russian cities.
>
> Participating in this anti-immigrant wave gave the nationalists the
> opportunity to "strengthen their ties with the police and the power
> structures." The latter increasingly often have asked ultra-nationalists to
> help them in their operations against immigrants, a pattern that limits the
> likelihood that the police will rein in the radicals.
>
> That danger was clearly seen in the October clashes in Moscow's Biryulyovo
> where the police did much less to contain the radical nationalists than
> they had done earlier. As a result, what began as simple fighting ended in
> "open pogroms."
>
> Last fall, she says, "the general level of ethnic xenophobia rose to
> record high levels," with "anti-immigrant discourse spreading more broadly
> than ever before," leading to demands for the imposition of a visa regime
> for gastarbeiters and even for the expulsion of migrants already in Russia.
>
> This too encouraged the radical nationalists and allowed them to encourage
> more radical element to their marches and demonstrations, as was the case
> during the Russian March last fall. In earlier years, these events had
> attracted older but more moderate people; this year, they attracted younger
> and more openly radical and racist ones.
>
> Summing up, Alperovich says that during 2013, "the achievements of
> previous years [in the fight against xenophobia] were gradually lost, and
> the problems [in this year] intensified." Blame for this lies solely on the
> regime which has signaled that it will not mount any intense effort against
> xenophobic elements.
>
> And consequently, the problem feeds upon itself. The authorities'
> increasingly tolerance for or even exploitation of ethnic extremism makes
> it more acceptable and as it becomes more acceptable, the authorities feel
> themselves pressed to be even more tolerant of intolerance.
>
> Polls show this. Over the last year, the percentage of residents of the
> Russian Federation who support the slogan "Russia for the Russians" has
> risen from 56 percent to 66 percent, and the share of the population who
> favors expelling immigrants rather than helping them adapt has gone up from
> 64 percent to 73 percent, according to the Levada Center.
>
> As a result, Alperovich concludes, "the social base of ethnic nationalism
> in the country continues to grow," a trend which, in the absence of
> official efforts to counter it, is creating a situation in which "outburst
> of xenophobic attitudes will occur ever more frequently."
>
>
>
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