Moscow criminologist outlines sources of xenophobia and nationalism in Russia

[pampango]

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/detail/93831/

Yakov Gilinsky, one of Russia’s most distinguished criminologists has outlined the sources of xenophobia and nationalism behind the ethnic clashes this month in major Russian cities and discusses why the reactions of the powers that be thus far have been not only ineffective but counterproductive.

The first of these causes, he suggests, are “the biological preconditions,” the differences in human appearance that have been the basis for humans at all times to make distinctions between “we” and “they,” “our own” and “the outsider.” With the development of civilization, these differences have come to matter less. Indeed, Gilinsky says, “the more civilized the society, the more tolerant it is to ‘outsiders.” But “not all societies are sufficiently civilized and politically correct…” a formulation that suggests the Moscow criminologist believes that Russian society is among those that is not as far along as many others.

The fourth, Gilinsky, says involve “the economic basis” of xenophobia and nationalism. On the one hand, many Russians currently live in extreme poverty, while on the other, the difference between them and the rich is greater than ever, patterns that have often given rise to xenophobic attitudes elsewhere.

Second, people from the Caucasus and Central Asia serve as a perfect “’scapegoat’” for the powers that be who “are not capable of solving a single one of the social problems – poverty, housing, the military, education, medicine, science and so on” and who are please to have someone other than themselves that they can pin the blame on.