MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Marianna Belenkaya.) "I'm certain that if society doesn't come to its senses right now, criminals armed with knives will break into every house," said chief rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar in response to an attack on a synagogue in central Moscow.
But can society "come to its senses" at all? And what should this process look like?
Many Russian experts - political analysts, scientists, journalists and public figures - have been reporting an escalation of national extremism and xenophobia in Russia, with nationalist movements on the rise. Ever since Vladimir Putin became president, the authorities have been speaking about the danger and inadmissibility of xenophobia. "We will boost the activities of law enforcement agencies and do our best to remove skinheads and fascist elements from the political map of this country," said the president in a TV conference. On December 20, Putin demanded that the Federal Security Service step up its fight against nationalism and xenophobia and expose instigators of interethnic discord. But will police and legislative actions be enough to settle the problem?
Last year's distressing trend has continued into 2006. According to the mass media, in the first 11 days of 2006 three nationalist crimes were committed in Moscow alone, including the tragedy in the synagogue. (On January 11, a Moscow resident Alexander Koptsev, 20, burst into a synagogue on Malaya Bronnaya Ulitsa and injured eight people with a knife.) There are continued reports of attacks on foreigners in St. Petersburg and Voronezh.
According to VTsIOM, the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center, over 70% of Russians are sure the country is facing the "threat of fascism." Sociologists do not specify whether people are afraid that the country will be run by a fascist regime, as in Germany and Italy in the 20th century, or that a state nationalist policy will be instituted, or that household xenophobia is likely to escalate? Who poses the most serious threat - skinheads or State Duma deputies who call for a ban on Jewish organizations and want to oust foreigners from the city? Is it teenagers who attack people in Russian cities or perhaps philosophers, the so-called "respectable nationalists," discussing the loss of sovereignty? There is no single answer, for everyone has his own fear.
The reasons for xenophobia in Russia are just as varied. The first and most common one is the old anti-Semitism that goes back to the Middle Ages. The notion of a Zionist conspiracy has proved as tenacious in Russia as in the rest of the world. However, common everyday manifestations of anti-Semitism are equally dangerous. Perhaps, the majority of Russians do not consider themselves anti-Semites: they would not kill people in synagogues or damage monuments in Jewish cemeteries. In fact, they find such actions shocking. Yet, they can find justifications for these crimes, arguing that Jews have made fortunes by monopolizing Russian natural resources. These words neatly sum up the statements made by some people during the discussion of the synagogue attack and Russian xenophobia in general that took place live on the Ekho Moskvy and Liberty radio stations, whose audiences are believed to consist of liberal Russian intellectuals.
There is also Islamophobia. The phenomenon is relatively new to Russia, Europe and the United States. However, it has taken roots there and some public polls show it is becoming stronger than anti-Semitism. Much has been said about the reasons behind the phenomenon. They include the fear of terrorist attacks that causes mistrust toward Islam and Muslims; intolerance toward immigrants, the majority of whom, as things stand in Russia and Europe, come from Muslim countries. Much has also been said about the unwillingness of immigrants themselves to become integrated in western societies and the difficulties they have in their new homes. So, both the immigrants and local residents voice complaints against each other. And in Russia Islamophobia manifests itself in the hatred of immigrants from the Caucasus.
Intolerance toward immigrants has lead to the hatred of people from China and other Far Eastern countries. The escalation of xenophobia is explained more by social injustice and a split society than by poverty (xenophobia is being accompanied by a growth of incomes now). The same could explain the violence outside Paris (although it was the immigrants who instigated hostilities there). These factors, in addition to the lack of efficient policy on youth, also explain why Russian teenagers join skinheads while older people cling to passive xenophobia.
Would we be relieved if we were told that there was an increase in robberies, murders committed by young people and a growing number of young drug addicts rather than an increase in nationalist crimes? I for one would not. But who or what is behind nationalist crimes? Experts differ here and there is no clear answer to the question.
Another aspect to keep in mind is that Russia has lost its status of a superpower, and as a result its national consciousness has suffered a blow. The mentality of some people remains imperialistic, and these moods can by easily manipulated. The question is, by whom?
If we attempt to answer this question, we will quickly discover that the gap between patriotism and xenophobia is extremely narrow, as is the gap between household xenophobia, public indifference and their radical manifestations in the form of attacks on people, vandalism in cemeteries and places of worship. What matters here is the social response to different intellectual theories.
I think the situation is appalling. It is appalling when teenagers, and not those who made them pick up a knife, end up behind bars. It is appalling that the circumstances that shaped their consciousness remain unchanged and new generations of teenage criminals will inevitably replace previous ones.
Laws can be toughened, but they must be used to punish those who call for nationalism and its manifestations, and to ban publications that propagate hatred. We have to educate young people, consolidate social and national policies, improve the economic situation and resolve the problems of immigrants. It is not easy to fight household xenophobia and "respectable" nationalism. There is only one solution: to create a healthy society that will resist the ideas of violence. But we still have a long way to go.
