Homophobia's Grip Tightened in Russia

[Guest fountainhall]

As some parts of the world are easing restrictions on gay life and acceptance, yesterday the Russian parliament approved a couple of laws which will make life even more difficult for the country's gays and liberals. 
 
The first law makes it illegal to spread any gay "propaganda of non-tradional sexual relations to minors". This was passed 436 - 0 and introduces a series of fines for individuals and media groups, as well as special fines for foreigners. So gay travellers to Russia should beware, for once the law becomes effective, foreigners can be detained for up to 15 days and fined up to £1,975 (US$3,088) for breaking it.
 
The second law allows for jail sentences of up to three years for "offending religious feelings", a reference back to the Pussy Riot demonstration in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour last year.
 

International rights groups have called the current situation in Russia the worst human rights climate in the post-Soviet era.

The two laws vastly boost the power of the Russian Orthodox church, a religious body that professes total allegiance to the state. Putin, who often makes a show of his faith, has increasingly called upon the church to fill his own ideological vacuum following a contested presidential election last year, accompanied by unprecedented protests against him.

The case against Pussy Riot – in which three members were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after performing an anti-Putin anthem inside a Moscow church – was widely seen as the launch of an ultra-conservative agenda.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/11/russia-law-banning-gay-propaganda

[Guest]

Both laws are an infringement on free speech. Russia is edging back towards dictatorship.

[Rogie]

Bolshie, they're still bolshie. What the country needs now is another 'revolution'. One of common sense. Russians are proud people, and no harm in that, but they have to realise the days when they could go nose to nose with the Americans has long since past. No doubt us Brits took a while to cotton on our Empire was disintegrating too, so I have some sympathy, but not much. The longer they take footling around, the farther behind Russian society will fall.

 

First communism and now fascism. We are only 4 years away from the 100th anniversary of the 'red revolution'. It is fascinating to think what would have happened in Russia if only the tsars had modernised and not kept their heads stuck in their ivory towers.

Russia up to 1914

Up until this period, the Russian Empire was a European superpower.

 

It was the largest country in the world stretching from the Black Sea in the west to the Bering Sea in the extreme east of the Asian continent. It also had a huge population that included, alongside Russians, large numbers of Germans, Poles, Slavs and Asians. Among this diverse population, just about every major religious faith was represented.

 

Unlike Western Europe, however, the Russian Empire was politically, economically and socially backwards. There was little industry and the vast majority of the population were peasant farmers working in an agricultural system that had changed little since the middle-ages.

 

Furthermore, most of the population were illiterate and many still existed as serfs - effectively slaves under the control of wealthy landowners.

Autocratic government

This vast, diverse Empire was ruled by a series of Tsars. The Tsars were autocrats. This meant that the Tsar, and only the Tsar, governed Russia. There were no legal or constitutional methods by which Tsarist power could be challenged. The Empire did not have a parliament or elected assembly and there were no elections.

 

To help him run the vast Russian Empire, the Tsar had a number of ministers who were appointed by him and responsible only to him. In fact, the only way in which Tsarist autocracy could be challenged was by acts of violent rebellion.

Freedom of speech was strictly censored and the Tsar's will was enforced by a large police system that would report suspicious behaviour and destroy subversive groups.

 

The only genuine limit to the power and influence of the Tsar was the sheer vastness of the Empire and the scale of corruption and incompetence on the part of his ministers and state officials. The far-flung corners of the Empire, some many thousands of miles away from Moscow, would often prove ungovernable, even for the Tsar.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/russia/tsar/revision/1/

[KhorTose]

Both laws are an infringement on free speech. Russia is edging back towards dictatorship.

 

Edging, I think they are going there at full gallop.  I think someone younger then me should start a boycott on investing in Russia by American corporations.  What they are doing is as bad as apartheid

[Rogie]

First communism and now fascism.

 

 

What they are doing is as bad as apartheid (KT quote from previous post)

 

For comparison:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22856586

[Moses]

 

Russia is edging back towards dictatorship.

 

Funny to read. Russia IS in dictatorship many years already. Here is no private owned TV - only govt-owned. Last fair elections were in 1996. 

 

 

start a boycott on investing in Russia by American corporations

 

It sounds even more funny: do you think American or European corporation are not informed where they are working? But aluminum or titanium or uranium are more important for Americans and gas is more important for Europeans. Why else American presidents one by one handshake with formerly KGB officer Putin? Do you see any other reason?

[Guest]

But aluminum or titanium or uranium are more important for Americans and gas is more important for Europeans. Why else American presidents one by one handshake with formerly KGB officer Putin? Do you see any other reason?

Well, if Mr Putin turns off the gas, millions of Europeans will have no electricity and no heating in winter.  So of course our energy security comes before principles.  

Of course, if we has some politicians who could plan long term, we would have built nuclear power stations, therefore reducing our dependence on Russian gas. Even the best governed large country in the EU (Germany) has followed completely idiotic energy policies.