Don't Go to Russia

Yeah, I know that the Romanian revolution was the bloodiest out of the entire Socialist block. :cry: :cry: :cry: In Russia, we lost three people, three young men. One of them was crushed by a tank inside an intersection tunnell. People pulled out and almost tore in pieces the soldier who drove that tank.

The courage... well you know how it is when a revolution takes place. Everyone is united for a cause, adrenalin is pumpin'... We just refused to be pushed back into the past. Whoever may try to take credit now for 'bringing down the USSR" - let them, because I know who it was in reality, it was regular people like those who were in the streets that night, people who have had enough.

My mom was also going to spend the night out there but President Yeltsin urged women and children to stay home in safety, so she obeyed. We did go however, before dark fell, and donated food, medicine and our gas mask to those who were staying for the night. Romantic, huh?

LEKSIE: did you get my email??? :?:

 

Are you all for real? why can't we get along, you guys are just arguing over absolutely nothing as far as i can tell

 

You're right.

 

It would be interesting to compare the American hate crime stats with the stats from East European countries. Maybe someone has them handy?

 

I'll let you be the judge of that...



and, I was unable to dig up any stats comparing the rate of hate crimes in Europe to the USA, but here's what I have (so far):



'95:


http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hatecm.htm



'01

http://www.adl.org/Learn/hate_crimes_laws/HCSA_FBI.asp



'04

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004885.html

 

Also, the FBI hasn't released the latest incidents for this year yet.

 

Well, let's see:

USA '01:
9,730 hate crime incidents
11,451 separate offenses
12,020 victims
9,239 known offenders.

Racial bias-motivated incidents (44.9%),
Ethnic/National Origin Bias (21.6%),

highest numbers of hate crime were:
California (2,246 incidents, 23.1% of total reported incidents)
New Jersey (767, 7.9%)
New York (712, 7.3%)
Massachusetts (584, 6.0%)
and Michigan (442, 4.5%).
These five states comprise 48.8% of all incidents reported in the United States.

USA '04
Anti-black hate crimes:
Number of incidents 2,731
Number of offenses 3,281
Number of victims 3,475
Number of known offenders 2,694

Russia '05
28 killed
366 assaulted


Well, looking at these numbers and considering the fact that Russia is almost twice as big as the USA (6,592,800 sq mi/Russia compared to 3,718,695 sq mi/USA) then, IMO, the title of this thread should be changed to:
"Go to Russia if you are interested in a saver environment"

 

yeah, very romantic ....every girl's dream

here there were regular people too, especially youngsters, and mainly university students, who did the revolution and who we owe democracy today, even though every "who knows who" took credit afterwards. Can you believe up untill this day we still don't know who fired in the people??

well thank God it's over. Being so little at the time being and not understanding what was happening, I can't even imagine what it would've been like growing up and living under dictatorship.

 

so am I just being overly sensitive and quick tempered?

 

:smt043



Well, given the fact that Russia is a communist country, and far bigger than the United States all on it's own (I would say HUGE, since it's the 2nd biggest continent in the world) where blacks are very much outnumbered, especially by xenophobic extremists, I can't completely agree with that one, though I see what you're gettin' at. And, the corrupt laws there in Russia make America seem like a utopia in comparison as well, you know, with the Mafia having so much power?

And, despite the stats outnumbering Russia from here, there is far more opportunity in this land than Russia for us, along with much more tolerance.

 

There are really no accurate numbers for Russia. It has so much corruption and news reports have said the cops are reporting racist attacks as hooliganism. Plus Russia's population is 142 million compare that to 300+ million US. It looks like you can dodge pretty much the hate crime in US with a few states having the highest. But Russia is something else. Where someone of a different race will stick out.

 

:lol: I think the best way to know exactly about Russia is to go there and see (if you're alive after that then i was worth it) or else no one can be certain by reading newspapers or watching TV ( they probably say the truth to some extent). Whatever the reality, if i have the opportunity to travel to Eastern Europe i will take the chance. :wink:




Life is made of experience-good or bad- and that's why we can talk about it here... :shock:

 

This reminds me of a Russian article I recently read. It was written in 2002 and talks about a new book which is comprised of works, that were written by today's high school students, about past experiences of their grandmothers and other older family members, their memories, etc. - mostly horrible, horrible things.

The last two paragraphs of the article say (I just have to shorten it a bit):

"...Today's high schoolers, the first generation who have the not seen the epoch of the building of communism, write about it with human sympathy and bewilderment: who had to create this frightening absurdity?... They are truly far away from the things that we were raised on. These children were not members of Young Pioneers or Communist Youth... At the same time they are not familiar with the official Soviet lies, nor with the truthtelling forbidden radiovoices, they have not lived the ideological battles of Perestroika (which I remember very well - Moskvichka). They are the new socium, they look at it all with widely opened eyes. But they know that it's their history. They have a healthy human outlook on things, it does not occur to them to excuse children's hunger with the needs of the industrialization of the country..., nor to blatantly condemn greatgrandma who was member of the NKVD ("she is a relative, - writes a young girl, - and I want to understand what motivated her!"

Those, who are older than these kids, practically cannot speak of the Soviet history without joining the old debate: for the Communists, against the Communists. Respectively, shades fall on one side, light on the other. It seems that our schoolkids are already beyond this game of light. And they are very talented. They write the way that we could not write at their age. Grammatically properly, intelligently, with skill even. And the book, created by their hands, fills us with joy and hope. Like the painting of a forest that comes to life after a big fire: everything is black, tens of kilometers of burned wood, but already the burned ground is being covered with fresh flowers of ivan-chay. It is the first plant that grows after fires, enlivening the black with pink and preparing the land for the new forest."

 

nice

 

I lived in Germany for 3 years. Good times. This was around when the wall came down.

I've always had a fascination with cities that preserve their medieval architecture, castles, cobble stone streets, things like that. Almost like stepping back in time.

 

I just been to Germany and enjoyed every minute of it. On the eastern part of the country it is iffy since there are more skinheads there. As for eastern europe the brother has to do more research before visiting. Also Russia is not safe because of the police who do mostly nonething in racial attacks. There should be a book for Blacks visiting eastern europe to avoid the drama.

 

Perhaps you could write one?

 

If I had a big grant I would write a book,Being a Black Tourist in Eastern Europe.

 

Doudou UN special rapporteur reports on racism in Russia

A Moscow based english language daily summed up the end of Doudou Diene fact finding mission to Moscow with the following heading: 'Doudou Diene is shaken after meeting Africans "scared to go outside".' Below is the excerpt of the newspaper report.

'With attacks on the rise, the state must do more to combat racism and xenophobia, a United Nations official said Friday.

Doudou Diene, the UN's special rapporteur on racism, said he would urge Russia, in a report to be filled with the UN in the fall, to track the growth of racist attacks, adhere to international standards on protecting minority rights and encourage tolerance.

Diene spoke at a news conference in Moscow after a weeklong trip to Moscow and St.Petersburg.

Today, racism is not an official policy, he said. But there are signs that the problem is serious: Political parties run on racists and xenophobic platforms; skinheads perpetrate violent crimes, with many going unpunished; and some police have been accused of attacking minorities.

Diene said he was especially shaken after meeting with Africans.

"I met with people who have lived in Russia for 20, 30 years, and they are completely isolated," he said. "They are alone, frightened, and scared to go outside."

Eighteen people have been murdered and 147 injured in racially motivated attacks since the beginning of the year, said Galina Kozhenikova, deputy director of the sova center, which monitors extremist activity.

Kozhenikova, among the NGO representatives who met with Diene during his trip, said Sova registered at least two or three attacks every week.

The actual number of non-fatal attacks is probably three or four times higher than what the center registers, she said, because beatings of illegal migrants often go unreported. Others who met with Diene included Supreme Court Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev, head of the presidential council for civil society Ella Pamfilova, ombudsman Vladmir Lukin, and Justice and Foreign Ministry officials, among others, a Foreign Ministry spokesmen said.

 

The PoPo in Russia is very slow and corrupt. Those Blacks should defend themselves or tell their story loudly to bring boycotts to that country.