Russia's Heritage of Alien Offspring

[PizzaTheHutt]

Rewards of Marxism?

lp2

When the ex-Soviet Union threw open its universities to students from developing countries, the intermingling of races produced thousands of African-Russian children. These children face racism, reports Lina Rozovskaya in Moscow, but the tolerance they show provides some hope.

AYOUNG woman in a headscarf, holding a baby in her lap, sat on the porch of a church in the small Russian town of Vladimir, three hours by train from Moscow. She begged passersby for money.

An everyday scene from modern Russia. But there's one difference: the baby in the lap of 22-year-old Polina is black.
"I make more money with my baby because she is so unusual and cute. Other beggars envy me," says Polina, who took to begging after her employer, a local dairy factory, failed to pay her wages for three months.

Blacks are not commonly associated with Russia, but the country and the former Soviet republics are home to upwards of 10 000 families of mixed African-Russian heritage, according to experts. Over 20000 African-Russian children have been born since the 1960s -- 80 percent are being raised without fathers.

Natalya Krylova, a professor at the Moscow-based Institute of Africa, part of the prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences, has conducted interviews with dozens of young women like Polina -- mostly single mothers who sometimes know very little about the fathers of their children. "Their stories start out with the same preamble: 'I met him in Moscow. He was a student'," Krylova says.

In Soviet times they were called "the children of the festival" -- a reference to the International Youth Festival held in Moscow in 1956, which opened the city to "progressive youth" worldwide, including Third World countries.

Russia attracted thousands of young scholars from developing countries, including Africa, to its colleges and universities. From the late 1950s to the Soviet collapse in 1989, some 60 000 African students arrived in Russia. Many stayed on and began families with their Russian partners.

But Russia was never an easy place for an African to settle in. In spite of the Soviet-era ideology of internationalism, most Russians looked at Africans with curiosity, and sometimes with suspicion.

Natalia Miafuna, who married a student from the Congo (ex-Zaire) in 1974, experienced racism from the very start. She recalls: "When we came to the registry office to get married, the woman at the counter said: 'My dear girl, what is wrong with you? Are you worse than everyone else? Why are you marrying this African?'"

Emilia Tynes, who heads the Metis Foundation, a Russian charity working with African-Russian children, says over 90 percent of children registered with the organisation are raised by single mothers, grandparents or orphanages.

Igor Frolov's mother met her Ethiopian lover as a fellow college student. But he left her before Igor was born. "She didn't tell me she was pregnant at first. And when she did, it was too late to do anything. So that's how Igor was born," explains Igor's grandmother Galina, who brought him up.

"A dark-skinned child often becomes a stigma for a Russian woman," says researcher Krylova. "Especially in the province, she is considered a slut or someone who is unmarketable as a bride."

Igor, who is now 19, was abandoned by his mother after her new boyfriend told her he hated "negroes". Igor was bullied at school, he recounts: "When I went to school others knew right away I wasn't like the rest of them. They chased after me, pricked me with pens, beat me up, didn't let me go to the restroom."

And then Igor started asking his grandmother that unanswerable question: "I was born in Russia. Why do they call me a negro?"

Not surprisingly, Igor is not the only African-Russian child to puzzle over it. Volunteers from the Metis Foundation visit orphanages and give children of African-Russian parentage black dolls.

"The most important thing for us is to show them that they are not alone, that there are other people with dark skin," Tynes explains.

Despite growing up in a Russian cultural environment and knowing little about their African heritage, many Russian-African children are still frowned on.

"When I was a child, I didn't know I was different from others. I was nine years old when children at the pioneer camp explained to me that I was black. They explained it by calling me names," says Misha Polyakov, who was abandoned as a baby.

A Russia-wide survey by Moscow's Russian Centre for Public Opinion (RCPO) suggests most Russians are tolerant about other races. 85 percent of respondents over 16 years old said their attitude towards people of African origin was "indifferent, as towards any other people", six percent looked at them with "sympathy and interest", six percent "with irritation and hostility" and three percent felt "distrust and fear".

Recently Russia has seen a spurt in attacks by skinheads and hate groups on people of 'non-Slav' appearance. Oliver Kenyi from Sudan, who lives in Moscow with his Russian wife and three sons, was beaten up several times in an underground station. He says: "No one tried to help me. They silently approve ..."

Yuri Levada, director of RCPO, insists that to most Russians, especially to those who live away from big cities, people with African features still look exotic. "Africans are not regarded negatively by the majority of Russians. They are rather viewed as far-away people. Like a kind of alien."

But Valeria, who lives in Moscow with her husband from Sao Tome and Principe and their nine-year-old son, said her "multicoloured" family can never feel lost in the crowd: "People in the street look back at us -- some with interest, some with hostility. I wish they left us alone."

Misha, who works as a butcher in one of Moscow's markets, says: "When I am walking on the street, they look at me. But they've been staring at me since I was born, so I have stopped giving a damn."

But children like Katya -- she comes from a small town called Vidnoye in the Moscow region -- also show that there may be some hope in the future. After some serious head-scratching, this gregarious 12-year-old admitted to one difference between her and her friends: "I'm lucky to have dark skin -- I don't need to sunbathe like my girlfriends to get a tan." -- Gemini News

This is an outrage. Russian beautiful women bedding down with these simians.

[Kernunnos]

Not only Russia is being affected, alas.

[PizzaTheHutt]

It is all over the Western world, even in Italy we have these negro "men" come and get local women pregnant. Then they leave. It is same viscious cycle, again and again.

[Heretik]

In Italy, the only blacks I've seen working were the ones selling watches and belts on the street.
Italians accepted too many of them.

[Marcus Marulus]

Blacks are not commonly associated with Russia, but the country and the former Soviet republics are home to upwards of 10 000 families of mixed African-Russian heritage, according to experts. Over 20000 African-Russian children have been born since the 1960s -- 80 percent are being raised without fathers.

It's negligible for a country of 150 millions. And this statistics, nota bene, refers to the former USSR as whole, which can only mean that there are even less of such cases in Russia.

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by Plethon

It's negligible for a country of 150 millions. And this statistics, nota bene, refers to the former USSR as whole, which can only mean that there are even less of such cases in Russia.

I hope they'll not grow...

[Carnyx]

This is an outrage. Russian beautiful women bedding down with these simians.

You will always find women ready to corrupt themselves with aliens. No matter how you try to prevent it. Its caused by close contacts.

[svin]

A lot of half-black children appeared after Olympic games in 1980. I know such half-black guy from moscow state university, he is intelligent and is going to be cardio surgeon. Still so alien... I honestly said to him that it's better for him to return to Africa and help African people after he ends university (not in hostile way, we just had conversation and I told him what I thought), I think there is great need in surgeons and other doctors in Africa. He said to me he considered himself Russian but he promised me to think about it.

[PizzaTheHutt]

Originally Posted by svin

A lot of half-black children appeared after Olympic games in 1980. I know such half-black guy from moscow state university, he is intelligent and is going to be cardio surgeon. Still so alien... I honestly said to him that it's better for him to return to Africa and help African people after he ends university (not in hostile way, we just had conversation and I told him what I thought), I think there is great need in surgeons and other doctors in Africa. He said to me he considered himself Russian but he promised me to think about it.

I am sure your friend is a nice guy but it was a mistake to let Africans into Russia in the first place. The white women there are so beautiful, and so many of them whored around at the Olympics. Why could the half-black children have not been aborted? The women were stupid to keep the children, of course they aborted the white Russian babies.

[svin]

Well, he is not my friend. And I agree that it was a horrible mistake.

[PizzaTheHutt]

I guessed he wasn't your friend but I wanted to make sure I was right or not. There is not nearly the number of half-black children in Russia as there is in Western-Europe. There is not many in Italy but that can change very soon. German women are notorious for sleeping with blacks, Dutch come close. It is not all of their women but the ones who do it seem to like black "men". A lot of German men come to Northern Italy where it is mostly German speaking to find a woman since their own don't want them. Northern Europe is too liberal, their women are beautiful but it is hard to find one who hasn't been touched by a dirty negro or Muslim.

[Carnyx]

Originally Posted by PizzaTheHutt

Rewards of Marxism?

Actually, if you think about it, compared to USSR the situation was far worse in capitalist countries such as the USA and I'm pretty sure 70 years of communism in Russia didn't damage Russian racial stock as much as did capitalism there in the last few years.

It is not all of their women but the ones who do it seem to like black "men".

And men do let it happen. Women are unsteady and men are guilty too for being not enough protective and possessive. It's like they lend their own women to aliens. And it's what they do since a majority of they show no reaction of hostility at the view of interracial couples. Like if it was something "normal".

A lot of German men come to Northern Italy where it is mostly German speaking to find a woman since their own don't want them.

If they weren't such wussies, things would be better.

Northern Europe is too liberal, their women are beautiful but it is hard to find one who hasn't been touched by a dirty negro or Muslim.

This sounds quite exaggerated. Pessimism sucks. It's rather pathetic ; sometimes I get the impression we want to convince ourselves with such lines. Where is our pride, people?

[Heretik]

Originally Posted by svin

Well, he is not my friend. And I agree that it was a horrible mistake.

Thank god Russia is poor so there's not as many immigrants as it could be. The same thing goes for Croatia.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by svin

I honestly said to him that it's better for him to return to Africa and help African people after he ends university (not in hostile way, we just had conversation and I told him what I thought), I think there is great need in surgeons and other doctors in Africa. He said to me he considered himself Russian but he promised me to think about it.

That's little realistic. You only have to look at the volunteers in Africa to realize that they are not Black returnees. And it is not like if in countries like Britain or The Netherlands many Blacks or Mulattoes are recent arrivals.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Carnyx

This sounds quite exaggerated. Pessimism sucks. It's rather pathetic ; sometimes I get the impression we want to convince ourselves with such lines. Where is our pride, people?

You have changed your mind, then.

[Crvena zvezda]

Originally Posted by Porcelain