Launch All-Russian initiative against inter-ethnic bullying
Different doesn’t mean bad: Launch of a new All-Russian initiative against ethnic bullying
25.03.2025
Article published on the Russian Federation’s Civic Chamber (www.oprf.ru) website
A new Civic Chamber and Guild of Inter-Ethnic Journalism initiative “Stop ethnic bullying: Through knowledge to mutual understanding” initiative has been launched. It is aimed at helping children who have faced bullying based on their ethnicity, as well as researching the topic and exploring ways in which the practice can be prevented.
The media resource outlet National Accent Guild, which has more than three million subscribers, carried out a survey on ethnic bullying among schoolchildren. More than half of those who took part said they had been affected by this.
“They described what happened to them and how helpless they felt, not knowing how to react or who to turn to for support”, said Margarita Lyange, the woman behind this project and Deputy Chair of the Civic Chamber’s Commission on Inter-Ethnic, Inter-Religious Affairs and Migration during her presentation at a session of the Civic Chamber held on 21 March.
Lyange explained that part of the programme will involve showing positive inter-ethnic content in the form of short videos on popular internet sites, as well as creating a chatbot on Telegram through which those who need advice on the impacts of bullying can get help. An extended version of the project will be launched by the end of the year.
“This is the first initiative of its kind, the idea for which arose from the tragic events at Crocus City Hall and the efforts by malign forces to try and sow inter-ethnic division in our society, particularly among young people. The mono-ethnic targeting of the terrorists was meant to provoke a negative reaction and incite ethnic hatred. However, elderly and middle-aged people are already well-versed in the centuries-old history of inter-ethnic relationships, which is why the young were targeted.”, said Lyange.
Commenting on the terrible events at Crocus City Hall, Mikhail Anichkin, Chair of the Civic Chamber’s Commission on Security and Cooperation, said that “the tragedy represented a systematic failure of a range of national anti-terrorist measures. This can be traced back to MI6, which has historically worked successfully with ethnic groups, pitting different countries and faiths against one another”. Anichkin added that people shouldn’t show their superiority over others and for this truth to be actively promoted.
“The family-school-environment chain is extremely important. We need to train teaching staff who are directly involved in educating the younger generation. But it would be even better if highly qualified and paid teachers of different faiths went into pre-school education. No doubt each will have their own personal preference”, said Lyange.
Vladimir Zorin, Chair of the Civic Chamber’s Commission on Inter-Ethnic, Inter-Religious Affairs and Migration, sees the problem in the fact that not all teachers are prepared to raise inter-ethnic issues within the “Conversation about Important Things” framework.
The main problem is those poorly educated young people who lack any cultural upbringing. They have the potential to undermine society and pose a serious threat to national security. These are not everyday things that happen in the student or school environment – many real ethnic conflicts start with a child’s resentment and the insults they throw at others, he said.
The Stop Ethnic Bullying project will form part of the educational curriculum at many universities, said Andrey Bedrik, Director of the Sociology and Religious Studies Institute at the Southern Federal University, which is already training staff in conflict-resolution to prevent confrontations in multi-ethnic environments. Nevertheless, the speaker noted that such work will be ineffective without linking it to other initiatives.
Patimat Omarova, Deputy Education Minister of Kamchatka Krai, sees legal education as a solution to inter-ethnic conflicts in schools with her professional involvement in this issue in the Dagestan Republic.
“High levels of aggression which are overwhelming schools have led to pupils using bladed weapons and high-tech devices when displaying violent behaviour. School violence in the 21st century has taken on a whole new meaning. Having previously been seen as a reaction to a threat, nowadays it is the result of a lack of common ethnic identity and differences between the bully and the victim”, said Omarova.
According to Omarova, most bullying goes on in secondary schools, which is caused by a lack of a pupil’s self-esteem at that age. Legal education can be a preventative measure and a solution to the problem of aggressive displays of teenagers’ emotional instability, she explained.
“Research has revealed a correlation: the lower the level of legal awareness, the more children will commit acts of violence. A tendency to be a bully also stems from the fact that a child never knows the consequences of his/her actions. Our work involves a legal and civic approach that aims to prevent the bullying of a person of a different nationality by promoting a positive attitude towards our country, our rights and those of others”, the speaker added.
Sergey Melnikov, Chair of the Russian Association for the Defence of Religious Freedom, and Deputy Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, said that migrants should prepare themselves for the move to Russia prior to their arrival in the country.
“Religious organisations have a serious role to play in ensuring that migrants understand traditional Russian moral and spiritual values, both in their work and in raising their children”, he said.
There is no room for negative stereotyping, said Pavel Lebedev, Head of the Synodal Department for Relations Between Church, Society and the Media. Migrants have a stereotypical perception of our people. They are unfamiliar with our language and are treated with mistrust, which can lead to conflict over time. We need to realise that it is not the migrants who are bad, but rather the fault of the State for pursuing an unbalanced migration policy, he said.
Sergey Rybalchenko, Chair of the Civic Chamber’s Commission on Demography, Protection of the Family, Children and Traditional Family Values, as well as representatives from university journalism departments from different regions, also took part in the discussions. The experts were full of praise for this anti-bullying initiative and expressed their willingness to be involved in its work.
