Natalia Geidar, how are you involved in the topic of illegal immigration in Russia?
Geidar I’ve been interested in the topic of displaced persons as a broad topic for a long time. Those who end up in other countries and sometimes form Diaspora and sometimes don’t. People, who are forced to function in a different cultural or ethnic environment. There are many stages. First, these people have to focus on their ethnic origins the so home they came from. This can create ghetto or Diaspora.
Natalia Those who come here to make money do they form Diaspora?
Geidar Not yet, but they are in a process. Right now where they are, where they live is bedevil, the worst form of ghetto. In terms of people, there are different cases. Some came here in early 90s, who fled for political reasons. In recent years illegal immigrants have been coming here to just make some money. They are mainly Muslim. Political element is what turns ghetto into Diaspora.
Natalia How does the government treat them?
Geidar Well, on the one hand they need this cheap work force. They also have to stay within some form of political correctness. But they create negative reaction from the rest of the society and say, well, this is how people feel. Those who express their dislike with the presence of the immigrant workforce here also differ. There are skinheads who cut off Tajik workers and students heads off; as we know, there have been many cases. This part is done for media. There are also former militia whose function is to put pressure on immigrants and use them. They are very severe in their methods to put it mildly. Their practice is to come to those ghettos and take people away as slaves. Actual slaves. Young men are taken away by force to unload carriages, lay bricks etc for no money. These poor people work for 15 hours or more and are given a loaf of bread for 10 people. Then they’re taken back to the ghetto.
Natalia This militia don’t do it for themselves, right? So where does the order come from?
Geidar It’s business for them. They get an order from someone to bring such and such amount of slaves and they do what they do, since it goes completely unpunished.
Natalia Immigrants have no one to complain to?
Geidar They can’t do anything, since even the official work papers they were given get destroy.
Natalia So they have no rights at all…
Geidar They have no rights. The facts I’m giving you are a result of a journalistic investigation that I initiated. We went to these ghettos and talked to people. Most of it was cut out and they aired only some of the material we shot. Propaganda tells you that those workers are non-people. Even journalists like the ones I was doing the investigation with felt the same. But what they saw when we went to those ghettos shocked them. They saw educated people, teachers, nurses, middle class really. Living in those appalling conditions they manage to preserve dignity and a moral values; they even feed some Russian homeless sometimes. Within the ghetto there is no crime. When they saw it they weren’t sure what to do with it.
Natalia What are the living conditions like there?
Geidar Awful. Imagine a doghouse enlarged to the size of a room. No electricity, no heating, no windows and around 8 people live in it.
Natalia Where are these ghettos located?
Geidar They are all over, just outside Moscow. They are very much out of the sight.
Natalia Can the immigrants go home?
Geidar Many can’t. They often don’t have any valid papers for their own country anymore. They speak many languages but legally they don’t exist. People, who don’t exist. There are officially 12 million people like that in Russia. I can’t say how many of them are Ukrainians or Belarus. But in terms of Muslims I know that there are around a million immigrants from Tajikistan, more than a million of those from Kyrgyztan and around 2 million Uzbeks.
Natalia You plan to keep working on this topic?
Geidar Yes. I think this should be a topic that’s important to president Medvedev as he officially announced war on corruption. This is where illegal cash rotates. Bribes and extortions alone come to 140 million and more annually. On top of president’s involvement we need the society to get involved, as well as form a professional union. It’s a triangular structure, even if only in theory for now. In March I hope to hold a conference. The main topic - formation of the professional union. Immigrant workers need to be structured. On a positive note I think government will realise it needs these people badly. When they will no longer be able to sell oil at such high prices and it drops to 30 dollars a barrel, they will have to sell metals and timber. There is a limit to how little Russian workers are prepared to get paid, so they will have to use immigrant workers to work on timber and metals, who will be paid 3 times less. Farming is another avenue they can be applied to and the results will be very good. The market of slaves is of course something that is unacceptable. We will keep working. I feel there are prospects.
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