Who are those Russians, for whom � The incident about the three Poles that were beaten up in Moscow gives me no rest. As if this was some kind of answer to the three Russian school children that were beaten up by skinheads in Warsaw. And as if this happened by chance � even though it is quite a mystery how you could possibly tell a Pole from a non-Pole on Moscow streets. Even if he, God forbid, says something in Polish. I am quite sure that nearly no Muscovite who would beat someone up just like that (because the assailants didn�t even take anything away from their victims) could distinguish the Polish language from Czech or Croatian. So I think the intent in this case is obvious: somewhere in our country we have defenders and avengers, who obviously think they have to help their feeble state to properly react to� well, I don�t even know to what. Especially since, as I might remind you, in Russia people have always been suspicious towards Poles � when they were conquering us (this year on November 4th we�ll even have a holiday to celebrate the liberation of Russia from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders) as well as when we were conquering them and suppressing the Warsaw revolt. At this point, fresh data from sociologists and human rights activists comes into play: it turns out that 60% of Russia�s population are xenophobic. The majority of people asked on this topic say: Russia is for Russians. The logic here is quite easy to understand. This is a reflection of the army habit of older soldiers bullying the younger ones in the society as a whole: �We are Russians, we�ve been here for a very long time, so everybody else is human scum.� We are ready to use this scum when it comes to doing filthy work, but they better not even think about marrying here, imagine that they have any rights here or that they can strut around here like at home. On the one hand, you could address this rubbish at its roots: there is no such people as �Russians�, it is just a monstrous mixture of Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic tribes that takes up the territory that used to belong to those tribes. You could say that genetically a native from Arkhangelsk is just as different from a native of Rostov as he is from a black African, yet both are considered to be Russians. There is another argument: the majority of Russians consider themselves to be Orthodox; so, Christ said: �There is no Greek or Jew.� Plus, he told us �You shall love your neighbor as yourself�. On the other hand, where is the sense in bristling up about the fact that Poles beat up Russians in Poland? If Russia is for Russians, you�d think that Poland is for Poles, right? So if Russians are floating in there, it means the Polish should treat them the same way there that we treat Poles, Azerbaijanis and black Africans here. And now, let us imagine what will happen if the xenophobia we have today in Russia escalates. Why not take another recent incident: on a square near to three stations some nut stabbed eight people. Three of them were Armenians, three were Azerbaijanis. So now as an answer to that the result should be two stabbed members each from the Russian embassy in Armenia and the one in Azerbaijan, plus one stabbed Russian journalist in each of those countries. Arguments that this would be totally crazy won�t work here. After all, the Poles in Warsaw said that the men who attacked the children are scumbags, who can be found in any country. By the way, they tracked them pretty fast. The investigations of the Moscow incidents have so far not led to any result, and I dare to predict that they won�t. That is, it is totally possible that they will find someone, and probably this declassed, unlucky party will be taken to a very strict court. Yet it is unlikely, very unlikely this person will be the one who planned the well organized and parallel beatings. However, an after-taste of what happened, an effect of this unpunished symmetry will definitely stay. In society, in the mass media and in the official statements the subject was dealt with somewhat sparingly, unwillingly, under constraint. In Russia, people understand very well what the authorities really want, despite what they say pro forma. This means, the people got it right: A dislike for Poles, or more general xenophobia, is what we want. Kirill Kharat�yan [17.08.2005] Source: gazeta.ru
Who are those Russians, for whom �
Even if he, God forbid, says something in Polish. I am quite sure that nearly no Muscovite who would beat someone up just like that (because the assailants didn�t even take anything away from their victims) could distinguish the Polish language from Czech or Croatian. So I think the intent in this case is obvious: somewhere in our country we have defenders and avengers, who obviously think they have to help their feeble state to properly react to� well, I don�t even know to what. Especially since, as I might remind you, in Russia people have always been suspicious towards Poles � when they were conquering us (this year on November 4th we�ll even have a holiday to celebrate the liberation of Russia from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders) as well as when we were conquering them and suppressing the Warsaw revolt.
At this point, fresh data from sociologists and human rights activists comes into play: it turns out that 60% of Russia�s population are xenophobic. The majority of people asked on this topic say: Russia is for Russians.
The logic here is quite easy to understand. This is a reflection of the army habit of older soldiers bullying the younger ones in the society as a whole: �We are Russians, we�ve been here for a very long time, so everybody else is human scum.� We are ready to use this scum when it comes to doing filthy work, but they better not even think about marrying here, imagine that they have any rights here or that they can strut around here like at home.
On the one hand, you could address this rubbish at its roots: there is no such people as �Russians�, it is just a monstrous mixture of Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic tribes that takes up the territory that used to belong to those tribes. You could say that genetically a native from Arkhangelsk is just as different from a native of Rostov as he is from a black African, yet both are considered to be Russians. There is another argument: the majority of Russians consider themselves to be Orthodox; so, Christ said: �There is no Greek or Jew.� Plus, he told us �You shall love your neighbor as yourself�.
On the other hand, where is the sense in bristling up about the fact that Poles beat up Russians in Poland? If Russia is for Russians, you�d think that Poland is for Poles, right? So if Russians are floating in there, it means the Polish should treat them the same way there that we treat Poles, Azerbaijanis and black Africans here.
And now, let us imagine what will happen if the xenophobia we have today in Russia escalates. Why not take another recent incident: on a square near to three stations some nut stabbed eight people. Three of them were Armenians, three were Azerbaijanis. So now as an answer to that the result should be two stabbed members each from the Russian embassy in Armenia and the one in Azerbaijan, plus one stabbed Russian journalist in each of those countries.
Arguments that this would be totally crazy won�t work here. After all, the Poles in Warsaw said that the men who attacked the children are scumbags, who can be found in any country. By the way, they tracked them pretty fast. The investigations of the Moscow incidents have so far not led to any result, and I dare to predict that they won�t. That is, it is totally possible that they will find someone, and probably this declassed, unlucky party will be taken to a very strict court. Yet it is unlikely, very unlikely this person will be the one who planned the well organized and parallel beatings.
However, an after-taste of what happened, an effect of this unpunished symmetry will definitely stay. In society, in the mass media and in the official statements the subject was dealt with somewhat sparingly, unwillingly, under constraint. In Russia, people understand very well what the authorities really want, despite what they say pro forma. This means, the people got it right: A dislike for Poles, or more general xenophobia, is what we want.
Kirill Kharat�yan
[17.08.2005]
Source: gazeta.ru
