Igor Sid: Racism is provoked by immoderate patriotic rhetoric

On September 14, 2005, the Newsinfo website published a comment by Igor Sid, editor-in-chief of the Africana.ru portal, in connection with the murder of an African student in St. Petersburg in September 2005.

For several years, the editors of the portal have been monitoring racist crimes, and about a year and a half ago, a decrease in violent racist attacks was recorded. Then, the portal analysts associated this with the tightening of anti-extremist legislation, the beginning of trials against racists, and the first guilty verdicts.

However, now, according to I. Sid, "there is a quite distinct and extensive relapse of the sad phenomenon. This can be explained only by one thing - the negative consequences of the odious patriotic propaganda that is flourishing in our country. Socially dangerous elements give the impression of the priority of "patriotism" over legality " .

Meanwhile, true patriotism presupposes only positive actions, and violence under patriotic slogans, in his opinion, " "can lead the country to a bloody dead end .

* "It is necessary to somehow explain to young people that because of the patriotism they misunderstood, they are causing damage to their country. Other states stop sending their youth to us to study (which means that money for studying will go in another direction), the investment climate is deteriorating , tourists stop coming to us, and the world begins to look at Russia again as an evil empire.

And the foreigners who have been subjected to violence are often representatives of the current or future elite of their countries! - having left, they become convinced supporters of the fact that some kind of "bridle" is needed on Russia.* And the consequences of such an idea about Russia in the distant future are unpredictable, Igor Sid believes.

Sources

• Igor Sid: "true patriots" lead the country to a bloody dead end // NewsInfo.ru. 2005. September 14.