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Alexei Vlasov, Director General of the Expert Club "North - South"
Today we are holding a media round table discussion "Stereotypes about the Chechens: Myths and Realities."
The topic is complicated and difficult.
My acquaintance with the Chechens and the Chechen people began at school,
when I read the banned book by Solzhenitsyn "The Gulag Archipelago",
in which he described his stay in the camps and in exile, giving a description of the Chechens,
whom he had to face in probably the most uneasy stage of his biography.
He wrote about them that the Chechens are a proud, indomitable people who are willing to defend their honor,
who are held together and in this sense are different in a much better way
from many of those representatives of the camp whom Solzhenitsyn had to face in the late 1940s - early 1950s.
That was the first introduction, the first-rooted stereotype in the mind of a student.
This was followed by the tragic events of the early 1990s.
And in the media, in print, the electronic media, a completely different image of Chechens was formed which,
you know very well, put its stamp on the attitude towards the Chechens,
the perception of Chechnya over the next decade.
Finally, the third image is the image of the modern Chechnya,
which we too often see in many different interpretations in different assessments.
The latest one is a story with the image of "Russia-10 ", which also caused a lot of arguments.
I would like to understand to what extent, in the opinion of Chechens,
the stereotypes that we're talking about, especially among young people,
are a reflection of the objective picture of Chechnya and Chechens, or is it imposed,
if we're talking about the negative image, by the media,
some detractors trying to sow discord in inter-ethnic relations in Russia...
What is the core of the myths about the Chechens, which we often encounter in the pages of our media?
Said Bitsoyev, deputy editor of the newspaper "Novye Izvestiya"
In many media editions, I will not mention any, there are publications that do not just admit profane,
offensive, biased remarks against a whole people, when any of its members gets into some sort of crime reports, but more
– they are targeted at anti-Chechen propaganda,
which ultimately led to the fact that already in the minds of people the Chechens
are associated with people who are not able either to integrate or to adapt to the environment of Moscow.
This is really a myth, nothing more.
Someone wants to get that moment and replicate it to the entire world.
Now even there is a talk that Masha Gessen has conceived a book about how the Chechens have turned into terrorists.
The shadow falls upon all the people, that is, it is identified with a whole people.
In Chechnya, I'll maybe open a secret to someone, in 2012 the crime statistics suggest
that there were 2,444 crimes committed.
For the whole year!
In Chechnya itself, if the crime rate is not the lowest in Russia, it is one of the lowest.
The people are either not quarrelsome or prone to violence or crime.
Sometimes crimes are occurring, but they have to be reported about mentioning criminals,
rather than all the Chechens, not accusing all the people.
Earlier, the Jews carried the cross of collective responsibility.
Now we have this cross to bear it.
Yavuz Akhmadov , Doctor of Historical Sciences
The reasons for Chechenophobia in Russia, as well as Caucasophobia and Islamophobia,
primarily lie in the social and political tensions in Russia.
It is the way of 1933 in Germany which was followed by 1945.
Aslambek Aslakhanov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation
Having graduated from the university, no one from the Caucasus, I mean Dagestan, Kabardino –Balkaria, the other republics
- even having graduated with honors, no native can get a public service job.
Moreover, even businesses say that the command was given from somewhere.
It happens all the time.
Young people say: "We are no one in Russia. We are not needed here."
Why do we have this happening?
Because our younger generation, as well as the older generation - we do not know each other.
If a Russian film is shot, the ***, dirt, filth, murderer, coward, and so on is usually a Chechen terrorist.
There is a demonization even in these films.
We say all the time that they cannot do that.
They cannot, because the most powerful weapon is the word,
and the word's most powerful weapon is in the electronic media and cinema.
Zulay Hamidova, Academician
We need to seek common ground which unites us rather than divides us.
Now, when I meet with young people, I always tell them: "Our salvation is in education. Learn well.
Commit good deeds. This will give you the opportunity to be discussed from the good side."
To date, educational work is not carried out among young people of any ethnic origin.
Here is a negative, and we escalate it by ourselves.
And, of course, all the rest contribute to this - the press, radio, television, the internet and so on.
When we start looking at the positive aspects that unite us - we'll get to, perhaps, the time of the Soviet era,
when friendship between peoples was promoted.