Mikhail Fedotov on the danger of nationalism

The explosion in the Moscow metro provoked a wave of anti-migrant, anti-Caucasian and anti-Chechen rhetoric. At the same time, the deputies of the State Duma turned out to be one of its initiators. In addition to the statements of Rogozin and Nevzorov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky did not fail to speak out on this topic, urging Moscow policemen to "meet trains with migrants at the stations and turn them back ," and deputy Alexei Ostrovsky (also the Liberal Democratic Party) suggested sending an inquiry to Minister of Education Filippov about the situation in Moscow dormitories universities, places in which "are rented and sold to representatives of Caucasian nationalities, and students of Slavic nationalities do not have the opportunity to live and study in peace" .

In fact, Mikhail Fedotov's article in Novye Izvestiya became a commentary on the deputy's statements. He notes that the next manifestation of terrorism makes "some of us think again about the origins of this absolute evil and effective means of combating it, while others become even more embittered in order to inject an agitated, shying from side to side society with an extract of hatred for everyone who is different. skin color, eye shape, nose shape .

Not without causticity, M. Fedotov notes that despite V. Putin's statement about "provocateurs" and "morons", nothing prevents the latter "from excelling in putting forward the wildest initiatives, moreover, in public, on the air of radio stations and TV channels. It was proposed, in in particular, to evict all Caucasians from the capital, declare a state of emergency and cancel the presidential elections, destroy the houses of terrorists, subject them to public execution, repress their family members ... " . At the same time, few people remember that such statements directly fall under Article 282 of the Criminal Code.

However, according to the author, the most dangerous phenomenon is not the rhetoric of those who are explicitly or implicitly considered nationalists. If terrorism is savagery, then "the virus of savagery is surprisingly easily transmitted from terrorists to people who consider themselves civilized, educated, modern-minded" .

Meanwhile, the issue of protection against terrorism cannot be resolved by discriminatory and forceful methods. “First of all, [it is necessary] to separate the issue of ensuring the safety of the civilian population from the issue of settling in Chechnya. Let the first one be dealt with by people in uniform who can catch criminals, introduce agents into terrorist organizations, place all sorts of cunning detectors, and the second – by people without shoulder straps. And not vice versa " .

Sources

• Fedotov Mikhail. Savagery virus // New news. 2004. February 9.
• Kolesnichenko Alexander. "Meet the trains and turn around" // There.