Thread: Skinheads

Sorry to bring this topic up, but I just had to ask: How safe would it be for a Chinese(or other person of East Asian descent) to travel around Moscow or St. Petersburg? What about an Asian studying at a university there? It's probably not really a serious problem, but it's a bit of a concern for me. And if I'm seen walking with a white girl? Also, do you think skinheads will have generally died out within 5-10 years from now, or become more numerous?

Originally Posted by Pravit

Sorry to bring this topic up, but I just had to ask: How safe would it be for a Chinese(or other person of East Asian descent) to travel around Moscow or St. Petersburg? What about an Asian studying at a university there?

I think it is not more dangerous than in another big cities. Don't you know that there are some hundred thousand Chinies live in Moscow? But IMHO, if I were you I'll prefer Piter, it is more beautiful, the people more friendly there than in Moscow and a cost of living there is a little bit cheaper.

But Moscow is the real CAPITAL!

Didn't you ask this some months ago as well? You're too race-concious, you are.

There have been a couple of high-profile murders recently - one of a Tajik girl in Petersburg, the other of an Afghan asylum-seeker here in Moscow - which appear to have been both racially-motivated and carried out by skinheads. Whilst not wishing to be a scaremongering Western propagandist or owt, I remain convinced that Russia has more of a problem with racial violence than exists in EU Europe or the United States.

I have an acquaintance, a Chinese student at the Friendship University, who has had some difficulties, including being chased back to his общежитие by a gang of yobs. That said, this is a very racially-diverse city and such problems seem to be more exception than rule. Furthermore, you'd have much more trouble with Caucasian features than with East Asian, I imagine.

This topic, however, has been done to death here.

Oh, but here are some skinheads you just want to hug:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2 ... 1/003.html

.

Righteous goal, utterly wrong means I'd say... But still rather lovely.

Originally Posted by Jasper May

Didn't you ask this some months ago as well? You're too race-concious, you are.

Yeah, but the only answer I got was Dogboy telling me how the father of his Russian friend looks Vietnamese. And that the Russian ESL teacher looks Chinese. Asian-looking people is nice but doesn't really tell me how situations are NOW in Russia... Jasper, if you were Chinese, I bet you would be a little concerned about going to Moscow too...

If I hang around well-populated areas in daytime or early evening and stay away from 'seedy' areas, I should be fine, right? I was thinking about maybe studying there for a while but I don't like the idea of skinheads hanging around dorms for international students...

About those other skinheads, heh, very huggable indeed.

I don't imagine Moscow or St Petersburg are significantly more dangerous for an East Asian than any other big city is for anyone who might stand out a bit there. That isn't to say that they are 100% safe of course, but neither would you be 100% safe in London, or Edinburgh, or Paris, or Sydney, or anywhere else. Hell, I doubt you are 100% safe where you are just now There are xenophobes and racists everywhere.

I can say that during my visits to Russia I have not once seen a gang of skinheads (that's not to say they don't exist, just that I've never seen any), but I have seen plenty of people who are obviously not ethnic Russians. The first time I visited Moscow a large percentage of the guests in the hotel I stayed in were Japanese, for example, and I know my wife's former college in Ivanovo has a large number of Chinese exchange students.

I accept, however, that I perhaps don't have your perspective, given that I don't really stand out while I am there and am in very little danger of being pegged as a foreigner unless I open my mouth.

I don't suggest that you don't worry about it, just that you needn't worry about it any more or less than any person off to a foreign land should worry about their safety as a matter of common sense, ie, remember all the things your mum told you when you were growing up (don't trust strangers, safety in numbers, etc etc etc).

Last summer I lived in the dorm for foreign students (mostly Asian) and there was never any problem with violence or people hanging around trying to bother the students. But the Asians were more likely to be harrassed by the Russians who worked there if rules were broken. They also had to pay a lot more bribes than the anglos.

Scotcher and JB, thanks for your posts. I knew I shouldn't really have worried about it, I think that it's just hyped up in the media too much. At any rate, if I seriously plan on studying in Russia sometime, I won't let skinheads deter me.

About where I am now, you are right, although our town is kind of small(70,000) so I feel fairly safe here. When I go to Bangkok later this summer I will feel safer Interesting, do we have racist youth gangs in Asia? I think not. We just have many people trying to pick your pocket and con you...

I believe Japan has a small sub-culture of racist gangs who have been known to target foreigners, most especially the large Brazilian ex-pat community in the big industrial cities, but I have no idea how prevalent it is. It could, of course, be a very small problem indeed, but in a country with such low levels of personal crime and assaults anything like that is going to gather a disproportionate amount of attention. Thinking about it, it's actually quite surprising that such an insular nation doesn't have a larger problem, especially given it's reasonably recent history.

Or maybe it is just us bloody Europeans afterall

Oh, come on, someone gets beat up in Japan and it's national news I'm not very familiar with that country though. In Thailand there is much more crime and so on, as it's not quite as developed as Japan, but I don't really think they have racist youth gangs over there. Well, most of those gangs are super nationalist, right? It's kind of hard to be nationalist about Thailand... What about in Ukraine? I'd also doubt they have that problem very much.

Originally Posted by JB

Last summer I lived in the dorm for foreign students (mostly Asian) and there was never any problem with violence or people hanging around trying to bother the students. But the Asians were more likely to be harrassed by the Russians who worked there if rules were broken. They also had to pay a lot more bribes than the anglos.

What sorta bribes are you talking about? Whom to? How much?

maybe with the dorm people and lock out times. Or of course with cops harassing them.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2 ... 8/003.html

heres a story for you pravit, although it happened in volgograd. Still pretty scarry though

You are correct drew. If you get back to the dorm past lock out, forget your proposk, want to bring a friend in after hours or without a proposk, these all require having a "cigarette" with a guard away from the security cameras.

And, of course, when the police stop you in the street and find that "your documents aren't in order," that requires some, ahem, "paying of fines."

VendingMachine certainly wouldn't make me pay any "extra fines" if I was walking around St. Petersburg, right?

About that story: Ouch. Has anything similar ever happened in the Vietnamese markets in Moscow?

I suppose it could be worse, at least I don't look like someone from the Caucusus...kind of sucks that this has to be a concern though.

Originally Posted by Линдзи

And, of course, when the police stop you in the street and find that "your documents aren't in order," that requires some, ahem, "paying of fines."

Ever tried to be stubborn asking "что же именно не в порядке? Да, я с удовольствием проследую в отделение, где с удовольствем подпишу протокол"? Of course that does not work when your papers are really not in order, but you sounded as if they were in order.