A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 7 Number 44 - Saturday, November 5, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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By MIKE
ECKEL MOSCOW
- Russia observed a new holiday dedicated to
national unity on Friday with a mix of
celebration, confusion and anger, including a
march in Moscow calling for foreigners to be
expelled from the country. The
Day of People's Unity was signed into law last
year by President Vladimir Putin, replacing the
Day of National Reconciliation and Accord, which
itself was a replacement of the Soviet-era Great
October Socialist Revolution day. The holiday's
date was also changed, from Nov. 7 to Nov. 4. A
poll last month by the respected Levada Center
found that 51 percent of the 1,600 respondents
nationwide did not know what the new holiday was
about and that only 8 percent knew its correct
name. Reflecting
the widespread bewilderment, state-run television
led newscasts with explanations of how the holiday
commemorates Moscow's liberation from Polish
invaders in 1612. "With these heroic events
began the spiritual rebirth of the fatherland, the
formation of a power great and sovereign,"
Putin said at a Kremlin reception, in comments
shown on state-run television. Many
broadcasts showed footage of people performing
traditional music and dances, followed by classic
Soviet-era films and children's cartoons showing
folk traditions and fairy tales. "The
fact that the union of different nationalities and
denominations resulted from the liberation, this
is particularly symbolic and important for our
multinational country," Putin said after
laying flowers at a monument on Red Square.
"As long as we feel this unity inside us,
Russia will be invincible." The
decision to establish the new holiday to replace
the previous one reflects Kremlin efforts to
balance establishing a post-Soviet Russian
identity with nostalgia for the Soviet era. About
63 percent of Russians opposed scrapping the Nov.
7 holiday, said the Levada Center poll, which was
conducted Oct. 14-17 and quoted a margin of error
of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
But
a Russian Orthodox Church leader earlier this week
compared the new holiday to Victory Day, the major
holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945
- a holiday many Russians see as the proudest
moment in the nation's history. The
new holiday comes amid Kremlin efforts to
strengthen patriotism, warning that separatism
could tear the multiethnic country apart. In
the central city of Nizhny Novgorod, where the
uprising to liberate Moscow began, Russian
Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II led a prayer service
extolling national unity. In
Moscow, however, more than 1,000 people and
right-wing political groups protesting illegal
immigration marched down several central streets
under a banner reading "The Russians Are
Coming." Many
of the mainly young people wore masks and beat
drums, shouting: "Glory to Russia! Russians,
Rise Up!" Others yelled: "Russia against
occupiers!" and "Moscow is a Russian
city!" "They
come to our land, they eat our bread which should
be feeding us, they do nothing here except lounge
around," said one of the demonstrators,
18-year-old Anya Lunyova. "They conduct
themselves like rats ... we need to kick them out
and let them live in their own countries." Rights
advocates accuse authorities of turning a blind
eye to snowballing xenophobia and racist
sentiments and warn that if resolute measures are
not taken, ethnic hate crimes will grow - both in
number and in cruelty. At least 59 people have
been killed in racist or xenophobic attacks over
the past years, according to the independent
Moscow Bureau of Human Rights. Human
rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva lamented that
anti-immigrant groups were allowed to hold rallies
on a holiday ostensibly intended for national
unity. "Recently,
I've gotten the impression that Moscow and federal
authorities are infected with xenophobia, or are
afraid of these people or are trying ... to use
them for their own purposes," she said in
comments on Ekho Moskvy.
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