Where diasporas run the show
Whose diasporas are there, and whose are not?
It is believed that it was the Lord who parted the proud people, who decided to build the Tower of Babel to the sky, into national apartments. The current rapid growth in the number of migrants and refugees in the world has forced sociologists to talk not just about the role of immigrant communities, but about the "diasporization of the world" as one of the scenarios for the development of mankind.
The fact is that, indeed, the role of various diasporas in the world is increasing. For several years now, discussions have been going on in the scientific community on the topic of “diasporization”. But everyone agrees that a sharp increase in the scale of migration goes hand in hand with the consolidation of immigrant ethnic communities.
Once in a new country, the settlers seek to unite in order not only to survive, but also to preserve their customs, traditions and language in an ethno-cultural environment alien to them. Often they join an already existing diaspora or create a new one.
It is clear that most often members of the diaspora do not seek to assimilate, learn the language and customs of this new country, it is more convenient for them to live in their own closed community. Henry Schaeffer, a professor at the University of Jerusalem, tried to determine the number of the most famous diasporas in the world.
According to his calculations, the number of the largest of the so-called "historical"(that is, existing since ancient times) diasporas - Chinese - currently 35 million people, Indian - 9 million, Jewish and Gypsy - 8 million each, Armenian - 5,5 million, Greek - 4 million, German - 2,5, 1 million, Druze diaspora - XNUMX million people.
Among the "modern" diasporas, the largest, African American, has 25 million people, Kurdish - 14 million, Irish - 10 million, Italian - 8 million, Hungarian and Polish - 4,5 million each, Turkish and Iranian - 3,5 million each, Japanese - 3 million, Lebanese (Christian) - 2,5 million people.
He wrote.
As a result, in his opinion, a different, diasporal form of settlement of peoples arises. Please note that the professor from Jerusalem did not write anything about the Russian diaspora. But in 1991, there were about 30 million Russians in the countries of the present-day CIS and the Baltic states.
True, it is believed that now the number of Russians in the CIS and Baltic countries is from 16 to 20 million people. A total of 30 million people live outside the Russian Federation. Agree that it is quite a large number. But it turns out that there are no Russian diasporas? Why? I have not found any clear answer to this question. But let's go further.
Diasporas in Russia
According to the demographer and economist Anatoly Vishnevsky, the history of Russia in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries is closely intertwined with the history of the two most ancient and famous diasporas - Jewish and Armenian. In the USSR, the concept of "diaspora" was not very popular, and the phenomenon itself almost did not attract the attention of researchers. The scientist sees the explanation for this in the fact that both the Russian and the Soviet empires were characterized by the territorial settlement of peoples, and this did not contribute to the formation of diasporas.
In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, conditions arose for the free movement of people in the post-Soviet space, which contributed to the formation of powerful migration flows, primarily from the former republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. As a result, the process of diasporization of Russia was launched, according to the pace of which, according to economists, our country undoubtedly occupies one of the first places in the world.
Does a certain number of people of a different nationality always lead to the formation of a diaspora? Of course not. Here, as mentioned earlier, Professor Schaeffer did not find the Russian diaspora in the world. Thus, we can say that the presence of a set of people of the same nationality is not yet a diaspora, but only a necessary condition for its implementation.
Before the diaspora, you still need to grow if they live outside the national home, and even if there are many of them and they have taken root in their new homeland. In other words, the same people may or may not be diaspora. Diaspora is not a given, its emergence and disappearance can be a response to the challenge of time, place and circumstances. It may not be.
What's wrong with diasporas?
Many scholars draw attention to the danger posed by this process of diasporization of the country. Thus, the researcher of migration processes Viktor Dyatlov notes that
And
the scientist adds.
It should be noted that after the official policy of internationalism ordered a long life in the new countries formed on the fragments of the USSR, everyone began to talk in unison about the revival of nationalism. And the importance of ethnicity immediately grew, and the national factor became the main instrument of the struggle for power among politicians.
Moreover, many social conflicts are increasingly taking on ethnic overtones. Existing national prejudices, prejudices, real and imaginary grievances and discontent spilled out in the media and became the subject of fierce discussions. What do you think, by chance or not in the Baltic countries and in other countries of the former USSR, they suddenly started talking about the Russian occupation?
Is it just such a national revival on an ethnocratic basis, when other peoples are responsible for everything bad? In this case, the most numerous people of the collapsed Union became the culprit, and this Union, as you know, “rallied Great Rus'».
It is this Rus' that has become to blame for all the troubles and problems of the new free republics. And what is even more interesting, people who blamed the Russians for the occupation began to go to work just in time for the occupiers. But is it any wonder that not all newcomers, brought up on hatred of the occupiers, respect the country that gave them a job?
Time for a change
By the way, an integral part of the radical changes in the post-Soviet period was the formation of a completely new migration situation, more precisely, the rapid growth of the flow of migrants. Yesterday's compatriots have become "citizens of the near abroad". At the same time, the type of migrant, his system of motivations, image and lifestyle have changed.
If thirty years ago any inhabitant of the USSR was fluent in Russian, then a new generation of new sovereign countries deleted this language from their school curricula. And in some places they decided to abolish the Cyrillic alphabet altogether! This means that young residents of the Central Asian republics who came to work in Russia in the new century do not know Russian. From the word at all.
And often they are not going to teach him. For what? They live in settlement areas, in the settlements of their diaspora, the diaspora provides them with work. And if something happens, it is the diaspora that will help solve all the problems that have arisen. But what will happen when problems are solved not by local authorities, but by diasporas?
High-profile crimes with an ethnic component in Russia have long caused a discussion that migrants do not recognize the laws and do not respect law enforcement agencies. According to experts, one of the key problems in this matter is the work of diasporas, which either put pressure on the security forces or resolve the contradictions that have arisen through corruption.
And more and more often news that the problems that have arisen are solved not by the local authorities, but by the diaspora. And no one is surprised, for example, by such a message from February 2022:
Around the diasporas are grouped "ethnic entrepreneurs" and a layer of activists who nominate their representatives to the authorities. Ethnization of social and economic problems by representatives of the authorities is becoming commonplace. Thus, a situation arises when the diaspora can become an effective tool for the political and economic life of a large territory.
Moreover, diasporas begin to have a number of material and cultural advantages over the original inhabitants of the region. For example, diasporas begin to control entire sectors of the economy of the host country. Diasporas not only preserve their traditions, customs, rituals, but often impose alien values on society.
Yes, Russia has always been a multinational and multi-confessional country. In addition to numerous indigenous peoples, communities from neighboring states have always lived in it. Today, about 147 million people live in Russia (2021 data) and about 200 peoples, which include both the indigenous peoples of the country and the peoples of the former Soviet republics.
Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Tajiks and Kirghiz, Uzbeks live in almost any city in the country ... Citizens of many post-Soviet countries have the opportunity to enter Russia without a visa, and it is they who basically form the most numerous diasporas in Russia. But still, Russia has always been an Orthodox country, with its own traditions and culture.
Impressive, isn't it - Uraz-Bayram at the capital's Cathedral Mosque at the intersection of Durov and Shchepkina streets
And now it is difficult to say which holidays gather more people: Orthodox Easter or Muslim Eid al-Adha? The fact is that diasporas are changing the demographic structure, ethnic and confessional composition of the host country. Not so long ago, Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Council of Muftis of Russia, said that in 15 years the number of Muslims in Russia could increase to 30%.
Who lives in Moscow today?
The population of the main city of the country, according to Rosstat, has reached 13 people and continues to grow. The number of Russians in Moscow is 097% of the number of persons who indicated their nationality. This is followed by Ukrainians, Tatars, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Azerbaijanis, Jews... And they are allegedly either a little more than a percent, or even a miser.
However, official data does not take into account illegal migration. Therefore, the estimates of independent demographers are different. According to their information, in the last ten years alone, Moscow has received about eight million immigrants, most of whom arrived in the city illegally. This unofficial number of illegal immigrants significantly increases the population of Moscow.
If this information is to be believed, Moscow turns out to be not as "Russian" as the census data show. So, Evgeny Sigal, in his study “The Moscow Ghetto”, published in 2007, proceeded from the fact that only 31% of Muscovites are Russians. It’s even hard to imagine how many illegal immigrants live in Moscow in 2023. And what is the real percentage of Russians in the capital today. Sometimes on the subway train, you get the feeling that you are in some other, purely Muslim city, where no one speaks Russian at all!
And how many people know that in Moscow, for example, there is an Uzbek national-cultural autonomy? On the website of this autonomy among the news you can read:
Here they can! By the way, there are Tajik cultural autonomies in the Penza and Rostov regions. I wonder if there is a Russian national-cultural autonomy in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan? Personally, I didn't find it. Maybe I didn't search well?
And yet, why are there no Russian diasporas?
As a rule, the corresponding states stand behind the ethnic diasporas. But the state of the Russian Federation, it seems, is not very concerned about the situation of Russians and Russian-speakers abroad. Russia has its Embassies in a bunch of countries around the world and such an organization as Rossotrudnichestvo, which should support compatriots abroad and promote Russian culture. But in fact?
For example, I remember very well how on August 31, 1994, the brigade of the North-Western Group of Forces stationed near Riga, the last military unit of the Russian Armed Forces in Latvia, left the territory of Latvia. This day has become a milestone of great historical importance, a starting point for a new stage in their coexistence.
On this occasion, the Russian Foreign Ministry held a briefing, which was attended by many foreign journalists. Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigory Karasin immediately said that the decision to withdraw troops from the Baltics was made because Russia had no national interests in the Baltics. You see, "Russia has no interests”, so that the Russians who lived there were not interested in Russia at all.
Curiously, there were no questions for Karasin. No, as they say, and there is no trial. The journalists silently left the room. This is the only briefing in my journalistic practice when no one asked a single question. But that was still under Yeltsin. And what then?
Well, you can clearly see how the Russian Embassy in Ukraine actually missed the preparations for the Maidan, did not react in any way to the revival of Nazism. And what wonderful ambassadors worked there: Viktor Chernomyrdin and Mikhail Zurabov. What were they doing there? They say that they often held banquets with caviar and expensive wines for local businessmen.
And Rossotrudnichestvo turned out to be completely out of business. Our people abroad know for sure that you can't get even a penny from Moscow for a real job. The question now stands as follows: will the model of “Ukrainian Nazism” be repeated in any other country of the post-Soviet space? For example, in Kazakhstan?
The reports from this republic are quite disturbing: they write about language patrols and the oppression of Russians. But what about Russia? Let's read the news: in December 2022, Russian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Alexei Borodavkin, in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, admitted that there are organized Russophobic movements in Kazakhstan, including the so-called "language patrols" and everyday nationalism.
These statements were immediately criticized by Kazakh officials. Thus, the speaker of the lower house of the Kazakh parliament Yerlan Koshanov noted that some statements of the Russian diplomat do not correspond to his status. But then, in general, from my point of view, there was a complete “tryndets”: the Russian side apologized. The question is, for what reason?
In connection with the sensational statement by Russian Ambassador Alexei Borodavkin about "nationalists and Russophobia" in Kazakhstan. This was announced by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Aibek Smadiyarov.
This is how Russia protects its citizens. Neither add nor subtract. Do you have any more questions?
- Anna Kozyreva
- yaplakal.com, static.life.ru, sun9-26.userapi.com
Information