Ambrosio Spinola
12-14-2005, 11:34 AM
I thought in Russia stuff like this was still ok...
http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2005/12/racist_party_barred_in_moscow.php
MOSCOW—To the tune of accordion music from the Caucasus, four men sit on a Moscow park bench eating watermelon and throwing the rinds onto the ground. A blond, Slavic-looking woman strolls by, pushing a baby carriage through the trash.
Nearby, two men in suits shake their heads disapprovingly. One of them tells the men to pick up the rinds they’ve discarded; the other grabs one by the shoulder and asks menacingly: “Do you understand Russian?”
The advertisement, aired recently on Moscow television, ends with the logo for the nationalist Rodina (Motherland) party and the ominous slogan: “Let’s clear our city of garbage.”
Its none-too-subtle message was central to Rodina’s campaign to win seats in tomorrow’s election for Moscow city council. The party, a growing force in Russian politics since its inception two years ago, ran under the slogan “Moscow for the Muscovites” but insisted its campaign was not xenophobic.
But the accents and appearance of the men in the ad make it clear they are not ethnic Russians and opponents said the television spot played on Russians’ deep animosity to immigrants from the Caucasus regions and Central Asia.
Russia’s courts agreed and yesterday the Supreme Court upheld a ruling striking the party off the Moscow ballot for inciting ethnic hatred. News agencies quoted Rodina leader Dmitry Rogozin last night as saying “the authorities have again proved that they cannot stand the opposition in this country.
“We are not against anybody, we are for Muscovites,” said Yury Popov, who headed the party’s list in Moscow and appeared in the ad with Rogozin. “In fact, this is an ecological ad. All we were saying is that our city has to be clean and nice.”
Tomorrow’s civic election, the first under new rules that will see the 35-seat city council elect Moscow’s mayor, is widely seen as an important gauge of Russia’s political future ahead of parliamentary elections in 2007 and a presidential vote in 2008. Democratic reformers say the campaign has painted a grim picture of that future.
The Kremlin has thrown its considerable weight behind the United Russia party loyal to President Vladimir Putin—virtually guaranteeing that the party will win all but a handful of seats on city council.
Muscovites, long considered the most liberal voters in the country, appeared set to choose Rodina to take over from liberal parties and the Communists as the main opposition force at city hall before the party was barred.
A recent opinion poll by the Levada Centre predicted United Russia would win the election with 43 per cent of the vote, while Rodina would come second with 15 per cent, followed by Yabloko, which is representing various liberal parties in the election, with 14 per cent. The poll gave 10 per cent each to the Communists and ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party.
“Russian democracy is increasingly under threat from dark authoritarian forces,” said Ivan Novitsky, the lead candidate for the liberal party coalition. “Democratic forces are being completely excluded from power. We’ve already had a repressive regime in Russia. Do we want to go back?”
For Putin, whom critics accuse of steadily cementing Kremlin control over public life in Russia, the Moscow elections represent a crucial step in extending his influence.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov, the capital’s powerful and popular boss for the past 13 years, has announced he will step down when his term ends in 2007. Luzhkov is one of the few prominent politicians in Russia with any independence from the Kremlin and observers say Putin’s team is now keen to install a loyalist as head of Europe’s most populous city.
With its more than 11 million people, $10 billion (U.S.) budget and an economy the size of New Zealand’s, Moscow could play a decisive role in choosing Putin’s successor in 2008 or extending the president’s rule beyond his two-term limit.
With so much at stake, United Russia, a Kremlin creation that already dominates Russia’s federal parliament, has pulled out all the stops for the Moscow campaign.
Luzhkov, who many Muscovites credit with fostering the city’s economic boom, is heading the United Russia ticket despite his pending retirement. Billboards and posters featuring United Russia candidates blanket city streets and public transport.
Media have reported that schools have held meetings to tell parents to vote for the local United Russia candidate and street cleaners have been ordered to glue posters of United Russia candidates on the walls of apartment buildings while removing those of any other party. In central Moscow, it’s nearly impossible to find posters for opposition candidates.
“The authorities have been using all their resources to ensure that United Russia wins this election,” Novitsky says.
Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov, a United Russia candidate, sees no problem with state resources being used to his party’s benefit.
“It is the same in any country, for any party, if they are the party of the state,” he says.
http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2005/12/racist_party_barred_in_moscow.php
MOSCOW—To the tune of accordion music from the Caucasus, four men sit on a Moscow park bench eating watermelon and throwing the rinds onto the ground. A blond, Slavic-looking woman strolls by, pushing a baby carriage through the trash.
Nearby, two men in suits shake their heads disapprovingly. One of them tells the men to pick up the rinds they’ve discarded; the other grabs one by the shoulder and asks menacingly: “Do you understand Russian?”
The advertisement, aired recently on Moscow television, ends with the logo for the nationalist Rodina (Motherland) party and the ominous slogan: “Let’s clear our city of garbage.”
Its none-too-subtle message was central to Rodina’s campaign to win seats in tomorrow’s election for Moscow city council. The party, a growing force in Russian politics since its inception two years ago, ran under the slogan “Moscow for the Muscovites” but insisted its campaign was not xenophobic.
But the accents and appearance of the men in the ad make it clear they are not ethnic Russians and opponents said the television spot played on Russians’ deep animosity to immigrants from the Caucasus regions and Central Asia.
Russia’s courts agreed and yesterday the Supreme Court upheld a ruling striking the party off the Moscow ballot for inciting ethnic hatred. News agencies quoted Rodina leader Dmitry Rogozin last night as saying “the authorities have again proved that they cannot stand the opposition in this country.
“We are not against anybody, we are for Muscovites,” said Yury Popov, who headed the party’s list in Moscow and appeared in the ad with Rogozin. “In fact, this is an ecological ad. All we were saying is that our city has to be clean and nice.”
Tomorrow’s civic election, the first under new rules that will see the 35-seat city council elect Moscow’s mayor, is widely seen as an important gauge of Russia’s political future ahead of parliamentary elections in 2007 and a presidential vote in 2008. Democratic reformers say the campaign has painted a grim picture of that future.
The Kremlin has thrown its considerable weight behind the United Russia party loyal to President Vladimir Putin—virtually guaranteeing that the party will win all but a handful of seats on city council.
Muscovites, long considered the most liberal voters in the country, appeared set to choose Rodina to take over from liberal parties and the Communists as the main opposition force at city hall before the party was barred.
A recent opinion poll by the Levada Centre predicted United Russia would win the election with 43 per cent of the vote, while Rodina would come second with 15 per cent, followed by Yabloko, which is representing various liberal parties in the election, with 14 per cent. The poll gave 10 per cent each to the Communists and ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party.
“Russian democracy is increasingly under threat from dark authoritarian forces,” said Ivan Novitsky, the lead candidate for the liberal party coalition. “Democratic forces are being completely excluded from power. We’ve already had a repressive regime in Russia. Do we want to go back?”
For Putin, whom critics accuse of steadily cementing Kremlin control over public life in Russia, the Moscow elections represent a crucial step in extending his influence.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov, the capital’s powerful and popular boss for the past 13 years, has announced he will step down when his term ends in 2007. Luzhkov is one of the few prominent politicians in Russia with any independence from the Kremlin and observers say Putin’s team is now keen to install a loyalist as head of Europe’s most populous city.
With its more than 11 million people, $10 billion (U.S.) budget and an economy the size of New Zealand’s, Moscow could play a decisive role in choosing Putin’s successor in 2008 or extending the president’s rule beyond his two-term limit.
With so much at stake, United Russia, a Kremlin creation that already dominates Russia’s federal parliament, has pulled out all the stops for the Moscow campaign.
Luzhkov, who many Muscovites credit with fostering the city’s economic boom, is heading the United Russia ticket despite his pending retirement. Billboards and posters featuring United Russia candidates blanket city streets and public transport.
Media have reported that schools have held meetings to tell parents to vote for the local United Russia candidate and street cleaners have been ordered to glue posters of United Russia candidates on the walls of apartment buildings while removing those of any other party. In central Moscow, it’s nearly impossible to find posters for opposition candidates.
“The authorities have been using all their resources to ensure that United Russia wins this election,” Novitsky says.
Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov, a United Russia candidate, sees no problem with state resources being used to his party’s benefit.
“It is the same in any country, for any party, if they are the party of the state,” he says.