#5 - RW 270
Inostranets
August 12, 2003
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP MEASURES XENOPHOBIA IN THE RUSSIAN MEDIA
On the hate list: Chechens, Americans, Jews, and the Chinese
Author: Valery Ponomarev
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS THE NUMBER OF MEDIA ITEMS DISSEMINATING INTOLERANCE AND HATRED OF PEOPLE IN RUSSIA WHO ARE NOT ETHNIC RUSSIANS HAS RISEN SHARPLY. THE RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES ARE NOT RESPONDING IN ANY WAY TO MEDIA ITEMS OF THIS NATURE.

The Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) has released the results of its study of racist, nationalist attitudes and other xenophobic ideas in the Russian media. According to the MHG, over the past three years the number of media items disseminating intolerance and hatred of people in Russia who are not ethnic Russians has risen sharply in Russian- language newspapers, magazines, radio, and television in all 89 regions.

According to the Prima news agency, the MHG found that xenophobia is expressed most strongly against Chechens and other people from the Caucasus. Americans are next, followed by Jews. Chechens are hated because of terrorism. Everyone from the Caucasus is disliked because of late they have "taken over" all major cities and frequently do not behave as befits their position of resettlers and guests, not respecting local customs and lifestyles.

As for Americans, MHG chairwoman Liudmila Alexeeva says dislike of them is primarily due to "an inferiority complex among Russians, who envy Americans - they have higher living standards, and a stronger military, so there's no reason to like them." The MHG considers that anti-American attitudes were not as marked in the Russian media a few years ago.

But there's something odd happening with the Jews. It turns out that the number of anti-Semitic media items has risen six-fold over the past year. What's more, the researchers were unable to identify any apparent reasons for such an increase.

Finally, the study noted that the Chinese have been included in the "hate group." Even a year ago, they were not distinguished as a particular focus - but now anti-Chinese attitudes are noticeably present in the Russian media.

The MHG points out that the Russian authorities are not responding in any way to media items of this nature; even though any propaganda inciting ethnic hatred is supposed to be a criminal offense, according to the law.

The researchers single out "Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Moskovskii Komsomolets", and "Zavtra" as newspapers most inclined to permit themselves to express nationalist attitudes; they also point to the first and second television channels (ORT and RTR). Moreover, they assume that there might be some people within President Putin's team who think it would be no bad thing to add some imperialist spirit and ethnic xenophobia to the Russian media - for "patriotic consciousness- raising", so to speak.

(Translated by Arina Yevtikhova)

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