Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 17 – Most
gastarbeiters from Central Asia head to major Russian cities; but some who come
from agricultural areas in their home countries are moving into Russian
villages that would otherwise likely disappear in the near future. Their role
in saving these traditional Russian settlements has sparked a sharp debate.
On the one hand, many of the leaders
of these villages are pleased with the new arrivals who work hard, don’t drink,
are polite and have proved more prepared to do whatever is necessary to save the
villages that are their new homes, a sharp contrast to native Russians whose
children are leaving and who themselves often drink to excess rather than work
to change things.
On the other, many Russians in these
villages and even more Russians in cities who have read about this trend are
outraged not only by the suggestion that Tajiks and Uzbeks may be able to
salvage what Russians have not but also by the presence in the most Russian of
areas of people they consider to be alien.
The latest round of this controversy
was triggered by an article on the Fergana News portal describing the
remarkably happy life of Tajik families from the Gorno-Badakhshan district of
their country who have moved to the village of Rozhdestveno in Tver Oblast (fergananews.com/articles/9741).
In that article Mansur Mirovalyev, a
Fergana journalist, says that the Tajiks speak their own language, have large
families, and settle their own disputes but have impressed officials and
residents there with their happy upbeat approach to life, their large number of
children, and their commitment to bringing the village back from near death.
The Tajiks there “aren’t afraid of
work in contrast to the native population,” Dmitry Kirdanov, the head of the
village administration, says. “They are unaggressive and cultured people, and
the main thing is that they don’t drink.”
They have large families and their children now make up half of the
pupils in the local school.
But others are not so pleased. In
the words of one native, “better [the Tajiks] than the Chinese” but not much
better.”
Central
Asian migrants are an increasing feature of Russian villages: Only one in 12
Russian residents of these places says that there are now migrants in his
village. But many of the Russians are
afraid that as a result, they will end up a minority in their own land and many
appear ready to sacrifice the Russian countryside rather than allow Central Asians
to save it.
Today’s
Novyye izvestiya surveys the debate
about the Central Asians now living and working in Russian villages. It cites
both those who see no problem in the arrival of Central Asians and others who say
it will lead to the imposition of a new alien “yoke” on Russia (newizv.ru/news/society/17-01-2018/vopros-dnya-spasut-li-migranty-russkuyu-derevnyu).
But what appears to animate many is
less fear about the future of Russian villages than about what this development
says about Russians and Central Asians.
If the Central Asians represent “the bright future of the Russian
villages,” some ask, then what fate can possibly await Russia, Russians, and
their way of life?
Not surprisingly, in one
self-selected poll conducted by one website, only six percent of those who
responded said they didn’t have any problem with Central Asians living in
Russian villages, but 90 percent declared that in their view such people should
be “forcibly sent back” to where they came from (dostalo.livejournal.com/824564.html).
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