Cameroonian Kanhem Leon was a student and a devout Christian who came to Russia to attain an education that would guarantee him a better life in his home country. Instead, he met an atrocious fate when he was attacked in St. Petersburg on Christmas Eve 2005 and stabbed to death by skinheads who saw him as an occupant in their motherland. Leon was the second African student in recent times to be murdered by skinheads in St. Petersburg, and dozens more have been injured seriously. Foreign embassies are urging students to avoid the neighborhoods where skinheads are known to congregate, yet little can be done to avoid such violence when the national government takes few preventative steps. Students from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have protested and accused the government for ignoring the Neo-Nazis’ escalating death rampages and who are seen boldly touring the streets in search of ?aliens? to target. But, for the most part, international students and other protesting minority groups have been met with flippancy from the government that seems to view the skinheads as troubled hooligans rather than organized instigators of hate crimes.
Many foreigners in Russia live in fear of the extremists whose xenophobic ideology strives to eliminate their presence in the country they have come to call home. ?Our ideology is racism above all. We don?t like Tajiks, Armenians, Jews; we don?t like anyone of a different race,? one skinhead proclaimed in an interview with Reuters. The skinheads belong to a militant nationalist youth movement exercising a ?white power? ideology that endeavors to fight against those who they see as aliens or occupants of their country. These aliens include all non-Aryans?particularly Jews, Africans, Asians, Middle Easters, and natives of the Caucasus. They see their enemies as genderless and ageless, so they can rationalize their attacks against children, women, and elderly. Further, the extreme number of skinheads raises an even greater concern for the country; according to a report by the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, there are about 50,000 neo-Nazi followers in the Russian Federation whereas the number of skinheads in the world is estimated to circa 70,000 in total. This unquestionably represents more than a simple hooligan problem for the nation. The spread of racist violence is evidently a chronic predicament in the Russian society. Although President Vladimir Putin recently said that the issue is a disease that needs to be eradicated, little has been done to curb the skinheads’ brutal attacks against immigrants in the country.
The death of the young Cameroonian came as a shock, but the immigrant community was hardly caught unaware. The disturbing reality in Russia reveals a steady increase in the number of murders and other brutal attacks perpetrated by skinheads. The escalation of bloodshed has brought the omnipresent issue into the limelight in Russian and foreign media. The issue is also being closely followed by human rights groups. The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights states that the problem is a complex local dilemma, in that skinheads’ unusual high number has penetrated the general Russian society. Comparably, neo-Nazism is widespread throughout other parts of Europe as well as the United States; however, they do not pose as great of a collective danger to society since they remain rather small in numbers, relatively unorganized, and scattered around larger regions. However, in the case of Russia, wide-spread discontent directed toward immigrants who are blamed for societal problems?soaring unemployment and an upsurge in crime rates?among the Russian people compounds the problem. Although most Russians strongly condemn the aggressiveness targeting immigrants, many recent polls have suggested a widespread understated racism. This has been manifested in recent elections where popular parties have used racist slogans to accentuate their disgruntlement. Last year, the Rodina (Motherland) party was banned from the Moscow ballot vote after they advertised the slogan ?let?s clean the city of rubbish? simultaneously showing pictures of immigrants. In addition, some of the recent polls taken showed an increase in the number of people supporting a drawdown in immigration. The polling firm Levada Center confirmed that 53 percent of 1,600 respondents sympathized with the term ?Russia for the Russians,? Illustrating the prevalent frustration that borders on passive racism among the Russian people.
What is still worse is that the Russian government has allowed neo-Nazism to become a fact of life alongside other colossal security issues, such as organized crime and deep-seated corruption. And, while these dilemmas continue to haunt Russian society, they also pose significant security considerations for multinational organizations and NGOs, as acts of violence against foreigners will likely result in the business community pulling out and halting their investments and partnerships. The government must, therefore, act quickly to enhance the security measures for foreigners around the country.
