"AiF" against political correctness and the West

In the 46th issue of the newspaper "Argumenty i Fakty" dated November 14, 2007, an article was published "Why does Russia need political correctness? Unlike the West, we do not need to turn into a "melting pot" for many peoples."

As stated in the editorial introduction, "AiF" "continues a difficult conversation about what nationalism is and whether people with different customs can get along in one country" . This conversation essentially turned into an anti-Western speech. Political correctness of Russia, according to the authors of the material, is not needed, and the "melting pot" in the West (and by "West" I mean not America, but Europe) has proved its inconsistency.

Readers are offered two interviews - State Duma deputy Natalia Narochnitskaya and writer Anatoly Gladilin, who lives in Paris - combined with an introduction and information about nationalistically motivated violence (dating back to the statistics of the SOVA Center).

N. Narochnitskaya argues that in Russia, even without any political correctness, it is possible to develop a multinational state sanctified by "the highest, including Orthodox values . " "Russia is a unique civilization in which hundreds of peoples and nationalities have been interacting and developing for centuries ," she explains. It is a mistake to say that "they say, we are all only Russians, stop dividing into Russians, Tatars, etc." . It is necessary to develop the Russian "national feeling", not to be ashamed of "calling Russians Russians" .

And not the West to teach us. “Here Europe is a cemetery of peoples, because where the French and Germans now live, dozens of peoples once lived . ” The West generally looks at Russia as "material" - an empty space that can be colonized (and does not understand that "Russian civilization" will do just fine without any West).

The interview with A. Gladilin, formally devoted to his book "Crooks, welcome to Paris!", apparently, is intended to illustrate the correctness of N. Narochnitskaya. A. The material repeats numerous publications and interviews of the writer, for example, in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, in which he openly declared his nationalist position.

Gladilin makes very aggressive anti-migrant, xenophobic statements. "... the poor French are being swept with terrible force by blacks and Arabs. But you can’t talk about this, because it’s politically incorrect," he claims, for example. " And if a black man is accidentally hit somewhere, then the French press starts yelling wildly: This is racism!"

Most people from Africa, according to Gladilin, have "a completely different mentality . " And this difference is manifested in “attitude to life” : “they live in separate apartments, often do not study, do not work, live on benefits. classmates money for breakfast" .

Immigrants, according to Gladilin, defeated the Europeans. "When Africa really comes to Europe - very soon, in 10 years, there will already be more of them than native Europeans - then I'll see with what face the French will say that Paris is a quiet and calm city" .

The newspaper not only did not comment on this interview, but also illustrated it with a photograph of a demonstration with slogans in French held by participants with different skin colors. The photograph is captioned: "Poor immigrants from third world countries have already achieved free housing and social benefits. Europeans will soon be of no use to them . " Thus, the editors expressed open support for the nationalist position.

It should be noted that although anti-Western rhetoric appears constantly in Arguments and Facts, as a rule, it still does not have an openly xenophobic character.

Sources

• Zyatkov N., Yakubovskaya V. Why does Russia need political correctness? Unlike the West, we do not need to turn into a "melting pot" for many peoples // Arguments and Facts. 2007. No. 46.