Not long ago we wrote about how one of the Kremlin’s leading propagandists, Margarita Simonyan, took it upon herself to rank the peoples of Russia according to their usefulness and harm to the country. When representatives of the Muslim community expressed outrage at such impudence, she put them in their place (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=36360).
And now, just recently, this story repeated itself, only this time representatives of another influential lobby in politics and the media decided to put Muslims in their place. First, the chairman of the Public Chamber of Russia’s Commission for Harmonization of Interethnic Relations, Iosif Diskin (pictured), called those who spread «rumors» about the lack of mosques in Russia «enemies». It is worth noting that a similar statement was made by none other than Ravil Gainutdin, who was recently elected by his colleagues in the Council of Muftis of Russia as the «Head of Muslims in Russia» (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=37235).
It turns out that a representative of the body responsible for harmonizing inter-ethnic relations called the leader of one of its largest religious communities an «enemy», at least according to one version. «These enemies are spreading rumors. The situation is very calm. If the Muslim community has a strong desire, they should ask for a piece of land. If they have problems, they should go to the human rights ombudsman in the region. Some also go to the Public Chamber. There are no real problems, especially with Muslims,» says Iosif Diskin.
So all a Muslim in Russia has to do is talk about the problems of his community and express his point of view to be labeled an enemy? It turns out that’s the case, as another influential compatriot of Diskin’s, Vladimir Solovyov, made clear by subjecting a Tatar radio listener to xenophobic obstruction, calling him a «lackey» and a «Putinoid» (where’s the lie?) (https://youtu.be/B73Bty1rjvk).
We would like to point out that the radio listener from Tatarstan addressed his complaints to Solovyov not because of his nationality, but because of his political views and principles. In response, he was ridiculed for the apparent «Tatar accent» with which these words were supposed to be pronounced, and was suspected of sympathizing with ISIS, an organization banned in Russia. Based on what? Obviously his nationality, which he was ordered not to «disgrace».
In other words, while the listener from Tatarstan, based on Solovyov’s unseemly behavior, constantly emphasizing his nationality, did not call him a «Zionist» but simply said that he was a «lackey» and a «Putinoid,» Solovyov turned the discussion from a civil political level to a national-religious one, presenting the case in such a way that any Muslim who disagrees with the current government is considered a supporter of ISIS.
In both cases, it is obvious that Muslims in Russia are denied the right to their own opinion and dissent in the discussion. And we don’t want to emphasize the national aspect here, but in fact Muslims are discriminated against and disqualified on the basis of their nationality or religion. Moreover, it is again those who see their historically immigrant community in Russia as privileged who perceive millions of representatives of Russia’s indigenous peoples who practice Islam as disenfranchised non-citizens.
At the same time, we have no doubt that thousands of decent Jews, like us, are outraged by the xenophobic behavior of their compatriots. Like them, we believe that every citizen of a country has the right to express his or her opinion, and it is absolutely unacceptable to insult their nationality in response.
And yet, Muslims, who, unlike in many other countries, are not migrants but indigenous citizens living on their historical lands in Russia, must ask themselves why their actual weight in the media and public space of this country is insignificant compared to the weight of the immigrant but privileged diaspora.