XENOPHOBIA in Russia: past and present

XENOPHOBIAin Russia:

past and present

Our team

Liza

We have to find right ways to

prevent xenophobia

Ξένος + φόβος

Xenophobia is the fear or dislike of strangers and foreigners.

Xenophobia may appear when we

feel a threat to our cultural or material wellbeing

We are all so different!

Russia is home for 195 ethnicities

(First coloured photos (beginning of the XX c. Proskudin – Gorsky’s collection.)

Cultural and religious differences

Misunderstanding => agression

Nika

Russia nowadays.

Russia (Kievan Rus) in 10th-12th cent.

Russia, the Mongol Empire, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 14th cent.

Russia expanding by Syberia.

Russia before annexing Syberia (khaki), Russia in 17thcent. including Syberia (all green).

Rurik, Scandinavian Prince (830?-879)

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod resembles Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.

Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

Saint Sophia in Novgorod

Castello Cforzesco & the Moscow Kremlin.

Peter I called the Great.

The Great Embassy, Holland. Russians working on shipyards.

Peter the Great in Holland.

Saint Petersburg.

Nevsky Avenue nowadays.

Kazan Cathedral in 19th cent, postcard.

Saint Catherine’s Armenian Church.

Saint Peter’s and Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church (Petrikirche), 20th cent.

The Dutch Reformed Church.

The Catholic Church of Saint Catherine.

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Mary.

The Swedish Evangelical

Lutheran Church of Saint Katarina.

The Great Choral Synagogue in Saint Peterburg.

The Mosque in Saint Peterburg.

The Buddhist Temple in Saint Peterburg.

Alexandre Dumas, père

(1802-1870)

‘What a manifestation of religious tolerance!’

Essential quality to minimize xenophobia: inclusive culture

Question: what are the limits of being inclusive?

Answer: being non-destructive.

Katya

• ‘Communism’ is a political movement that believes in an economic system in which the state controls the means of producing everything on behalf of the people. It aims to create a society in which everyone is treated equally. – Oxf. Advanced Dictionary

In theory there could not be xenophobia in socialist country

because:• Life in socialism would never hold the main

factors of hatred – inequality and financial ill-being

• There wouldn’t be any religious differences

• All nations should be joined in one ‘Soviet nation’

Peace!

National friendship Fountain (VDNH. 1951-1954)

• The world revolution was absent => idea of socialist formation in one particular country appeared. It resonated with the idea of patriotism.

• Patriotism grew stronger in the years of the Second World War. Motherland was defended by everyone.

• The whole ethnicities were replaced from front-line and borderline regions.

• Manifestations of anti-Semitism showed as in the well-known in Russia “The Doctors’ plot” (1953).

At the same time the government got rid of those, whose loyalty being strongly doubted:

• The state caught some difficulties in explaining people that the political system in the Soviet Union was going the right way.

• More and more dissidents appeared; people tried to emigrate.

• People started associating on the basis of ethnic and religious strings.

• They wanted to be free and live better

• Government tried to cope with xenophobia, but it just turned in a specific way: any dangerous to the regime dissidents were cruelly broken.

• The state proposed general system of values, accepted by lots of people; many large-scale economic projects uniting so different men and women were offered.

Nikita

Territory coloured pink is now russian territory

• Migrants working.

• Unemployed people.

• “Luxury apartments” of migrants in Moscow.

• Benevolent guests of Moscow.

• Our ex-president with Islamic leaders of Central Asia.

Our president with Tartars

• School in Beslan. 334 people died, from them 186 were kids.

• Car blowed up near by metro Rizhskaya. 9 people died, 33 injured.

• Gurianova street. 307 people died.

• 41 person died. 88 got injured.

Terrorist attack on Domodedovo airport.

31 person died, 130 got injured.

Kurban-Bairam in the center of Moscow.

• No, that’s not a rush-time in Moscow. Just Kurban- Bairam.

• Muslims “having fun” on streets of Moscow.

Sonya

How to avoid xenophobia?

• The state policy.

• Personal attitudes and universal values.

The state policy.

1) The state must make better laws, which will defend the national and religious feelings of everyone, who live in this country.

2) The state must allocate money for the intercultural and interreligious dialogue: it should organize festivals, exhibitions to show the culture of other countries and peoples, the state should organize different sport competitions, it should deal with education of migrants, so that they might be able to assimilate.

3) The state should introduce quotas and regulate the flow of migrants.

Personal attitudes and universal values.

• Everyone on personal level, should study the culture of their neighbors, to understand and respect their values, because it stops being apprehensive.

• Focus on universal values.

What might be reason for you to dislike the people around you?

0,00%10,00%20,00%30,00%40,00%50,00%60,00%70,00%80,00%90,00%

Personal qualities Belong to different goups,ethnicities

The qualities that best describe the human

0,00%5,00%

10,00%15,00%20,00%25,00%30,00%35,00%

Honesty,D

ecency

Reason an

d Commo...

Being kind and nice

Appearance

Character

Knowledge

Professi

onalism

Friendlin

ess

Intelligen

ce

Behavior

Culture

Courage

Nationali

ty

The groups, which have negative feelings.

0,00%2,00%4,00%6,00%8,00%

10,00%12,00%

Skinhead

s

The homeless

Nationali

ty

Secta

rians

Addicts

Nationali

ty

Nationali

sts

Drug A

ddicts

Criminals

Nationali

ty

Officials

Youth su

bcultu

res

Nationali

ty

The group, which have positive feelings

0,00%

5,00%

10,00%

15,00%

20,00%

Nationali

ty

Adequate

people

Children

Sports

men

Intellectu

als

Religious B

elieve

rs

The Friends

The Slavs

The Family

Artists

People,love

of work

The Students

Nationali

ty

Friendship of all nations!

CONCLUSIONS

Nika's conclusion:

Russians have always tried to get on well with their neighbours and to

respect foreigners. Russians used other peoples’ experiences.

Katya’s conclusions:

1) In the USSR the state proclaimed deliverance from all the conflicting views for building the community. That's why the state power persecuted all people dissenting from the official views.

2) At the same time the government offered people a system of common values. Many people accepted it.

3) The government concentrated all finances in their hands. There was no social inequality and unemployment. The government pushed forth some large scale projects that ought to unite people.

Sonya and Nikita said:

Nowadays in Russia displays of xenophobia are connected with migratory processes.

We are сonvinced that it's necessary to resist xenophobia!

1)The government should regulate migratory processes emphasizing the role of education and other humanitarian tasks.

2) Everyone should try to cope with xenophobia on their personal level. We have our own values and at the same time we should not be neglectful of values of our neighbours.

3) We think that there are universal values which unite the world!

THANK YOU, PEEP!

Thanks for attention!