Racism in Russia
I remember there was a moment around March/April day after day reading Russian newspapers about a crime after the crimeS I became more and more appalled by what was and is going on in the main cities of my country.
I know that if this is going on in the center of Russia, it, of course, is in the peripheries, maybe not on the same scale. But racism is THERE.
I also listen almost every day my classmates from the former Soviet Union (Tajikistan and Azerbaijan) telling me about the attitudes of people every time they visit Moscow/St. Petersburg - how they imagined Russia to be and how it turned its back on them with rude arrogance and fake superiority.
I talk to my student of Russian, an 18-year old immigrant from the Soviet Union, who wants to visit Russia some day, but persuades me not to go back after reading about the incidents and the social and political processes that are going on in Russia.
Many of my friends want to visit Russia. They are interested. Of course, I tell them that it is a beautiful country with beautiful people, but I ask them to wait. I ask them to wait, when it gets better, more respectful of other cultures, races, countries, identities.
I think that racism comes from the disillusionment by the collapse of the SOVIET EMPIRE and our inability to adjust. It comes both from the people and the government. There should be a policy from the government, local and federal, to deal with the education of the young and the old. And, there should be a lot of work to be done by the people themselves, by the CIVIL society. Unfortunately, the reality is that it will take time until the society grows up spiritually. We have enough intellect in Russia, but we do not have spirituality, humanity, tolerance, love. There is so much little LOVE in Russia, today. I feel it every time I go back. And, I hope that I will contribute to the growth of civil society in Russia some day. But one person can do nothing in Russia until it changes its old-style Soviet "red tapism" (that is my opinion from my personal experience), many people can do. There should be lobbying from a group of fair-minded people to the government of Russia, lobbying of Putin to put money into the education of the young, educational projects on racism. People should what it means to be racist, liar, thief. There should be special lectures in schools, kindergartens, universities on humanism, ethics... There should be a moral education - not in abstract manner (the way I was taught at the university), but in a human language that any person - from 5-year-old to 60-year-old can understand. There should be special programs on TV, maybe a special channel that is promoting a healthy thinking - not only about sex (if about sex - then show tenderness and softness and beauty it renders) and violence... To me, mass media both reflect and educate the society. So, why not encourage mass media make attempts at educating, not only entertaining???
So, there are two major things that should be reformed - educational system and mass media.
TakignItGlobal is great and I hope that with the help of the Canadian (Global) TIG, Russia will be one step closer to what it really is - beautiful country with beautiful people - that gave birth to Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky!