City walls "sick" with xenophobia

In October 2005, the Foundation for Civil Society published the second collection of regional reports on the manifestation of national extremism and discrimination in Russia in 2004.

Practically all published reports especially noted the presence of xenophobic graffiti in Russian cities and the distribution of radical nationalist leaflets.

Ryazan

Sofia Ivanova's report cites the most typical slogans, some of which have been "flaunting" on the walls of houses in Ryazan for several years.

• * "For the Russian order, for the Russian people, the motherland calls"

• "No mercy for enemies"

• "Russia to Russians"

• "Death to Aliens! Skin Head Ryazan"

• "Chocks be afraid" *; and so on.

Almost all such slogans are accompanied by images of stylized swastikas, Celtic crosses, etc. symbols of national radicals.

One of the inscriptions, notes S. Ivanova, "became for the city in a sense -" exemplary " - it is a bridge overpass on Pervomaisky Prospekt of Ryazan, in the very center of the city.

Literally the next day after the Ryazan School of Human Rights held the "Clean City" action on April 6, 2004 (activists of the organization painted over fascist swastikas), the Nazi symbol reappeared on the fence in the very center of the city on the still wet fresh paint. After the activists of the School appealed to the city administration, the swastikas disappeared on the central streets of the city, but again not for long.

It is noted that in another place of youth "hanging out" at the summer stage in the park behind the Philharmonic, inscriptions like "Beat the blacks, white pride!", "Death to the chumps," etc. were liquidated by the municipal services of the city only after the intervention of the prosecutor of the Soviet district, Yuri Monakhov.

Another xenophobic inscription has been "flaunting" for a long time in front of the Department for Education, Science and Youth of the Administration of Ryazan, i.е. institution directly responsible for the implementation of the program "Formation of attitudes of tolerant consciousness and prevention of extremism in Russian society" in the city.

At the same time, S. Ivanova notes that in 2004 there was also a spontaneous opposition to such inscriptions. This is, in particular, the case when two townspeople painted over a swastika on the wall of a trading pavilion, motivating it as follows: "Our fathers shed blood in the fight against fascism, but here we are ... Shameful ..." (accompanied by profanity) .

Pskov

In the review of Anna Vanina, it is noted that both in the regional center and in many regional centers of the region, stylized swastikas can be found on the streets. Recently, such "drawings" can be increasingly found in the villages of the region.

If stylized Nazi symbols are ubiquitous, then anti-Semitic and anti-Caucasian inscriptions are more typical of the cities of the Pskov region. As a rule, notes A. Vanina, these inscriptions are, firstly, updated by radicals, and secondly, they are not destroyed by city services.

The only case of mass destruction of inscriptions in the city of Pskov by city services occurred in the summer of 2003, on the eve of the celebration of the city's anniversary. But similar inscriptions appeared again almost immediately and in the same places.

National-radical leaflets in the region are mainly distributed by Russian National Unity.

Kazan

In Kazan, as in other cities of Russia, the fascist swastika also occasionally appears on the walls of buildings and fences. Its distribution does not depend on the "prestige of the area" - there are similar "arts" in the central and sleeping areas of the city.

Examples of 2004 - the inscription "Chokam death!" on st. Bauman, one of the central streets of the city of Kazan. Other examples include the slogans "Tatars to Mongolia" and "Glory to Russia", accompanied by swastikas.

But the distribution of leaflets and stickers of an ethna-nationalist nature, according to the observations of the author of the report, Guzelya Davletshina, was not observed in Kazan in 2004.

Permian

In Perm, the activity of neo-Nazi street "artists" is approximately equal to the activity of their ideological anti-fascist opponents. As a result, the walls of the city become a place of real artistic "fights". "It looks like this. A swastika appears on the wall, a call to "beat khachiks" or something like that. After a short time, either the text is crossed out until it is impossible to read it, or anti-fascist inscriptions appear nearby. "

However, as the author of the report, Mikhail Plaksin, notes, "the number of such" graffiti battles "is quite small. In the central districts of a city with a population of one million, the author managed to find about a dozen of them . "

There are practically no nationalist leaflets in Perm either. The author managed to find only two samples, of a small format, in non-populated parts of the city. In contrast to previous years, the leaflets did not contain any imprint, no contact numbers, or an indication of the place of gathering of the nationalists.

Monitoring of discrimination and national extremism in Russia. Collection of reports. M.: Foundation "For Civil Society". 2005