Soviets loved thinking of themselves as the least racist nation on Earth, the only hope of colonized POC.
In reality, ethnicity was the most important human characteristic in the USSR. It was written into our internal IDs and was the basis of how we'd be appraised by society.
The very bottom of the ladder was "Jew", of course. The entire reason for the dreaded "Line 5" in our passports was said to be to identify Jews. In fact, saying "His Line 5 is problematic" was a universally-recognized euphemism for "He is a Jew."
But yes, Africa is fighting.
A bi-ethnic child born to a Russian/Jewish family would always be written as "Russian" in Line 5 to make sure he doesn't face discrimination in the future. Many took mothers' last names. Many took mothers' names even if she was also Jewish, but her name was less obvious...
Those who had no escape but were lucky enough to marry a woman with an "okay" last name, would sometimes take the wife's name. Many others would mock such pathetic attempts to whitewash their passports.
"They don't punch your passport, they punch your nose", went the joke.
But Africa fought. And Africa won. And Africans are not exactly welcome in Russia nowadays.
Paternalistic antiracism is not much better than plain old racism, I guess. Especially when racism has always been extremely popular, if not recognized as such.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Slava Malamud

Slava Malamud Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SlavaMalamud

19 Feb
Call me a filthy commie but the estate tax should be 100%. All inheritance above a certain amount must be abolished. Being born into money should never entitle anyone to privilege. Nobody deserves anything for crawling out of a certain type of womb. Just look at @DonaldJTrumpJr.
And it's not a communist idea anyway. America was founded on the rejection of birthrights, on abolishing aristocracy. That was the original idea. But we are well into a new feudal age now, with landed aristocracy, whose kids never have to work in their lives.
Seriously, rich folk. Your kids have already grown up with so many advantages. They've gone to private schools (an abomination that will need to be abolished), they grew up in a nicer home, they had things other kids didn't. Would it absolutely KILL them to earn their living?
Read 7 tweets
16 Feb
Bud, let me tell you something about words.
My dad, a Soviet Jew, was once called a racial slur by an NCO. After which he felt obliged to lay him out with a single punch. He then spent 2 years on guard duty in a Komi Republic penal county... (thread)
Dad wasn't a terribly nice guy, @DanCrenshawTX. For all I know, he may have gotten on the NCO's nerves something awful that day. But that word made him lose it. It opened the box of pain that he, a son of a Soviet Marine who went through Omaha Beach times 1000, couldn't handle...
The slur made him forget which country he was in, what consequences that country loved to heap on its insubordinate citizens and particularly how it reveled in doing this to his particular ethnic minority. That word sure as fuck made him unsafe, @DanCrenshawTX...
Read 5 tweets
15 Feb
OK, let's dig into this. (Thread)
1) The example is nonsense and means nothing beyond the fact that our film industry had a tiny makeup budget and absolutely zero aptitude in special effects. It was basically theater on tape and relied on the viewers' ability to suspend disbelief
2) Soviet films were generally much less violent and scary. This was not because we had better morals and viewed the world through more generous eyes. This was because our culture was extremely prudish and staunchly conservative. Scary, violent films were unseemly, "uncultured"..
3) Soviet sci-fi films and literature were heavily ideological and had to show benevolent, communist Earthlings carrying the light of science and progress to outer space. Most of it was EXTREMELY dull. Some of the best ones (by Strugatsky brothers and Bulychyov) did show conflict
Read 20 tweets
26 Jan
Dealing with anti-vaxers, according to national stereotypes (stolen from the Russian interwebs... a long one, so a thread).

Doctor: Do you want the vaccine?
Englishman: No
Doctor: All gentlemen get it
Englishman: Then, yes, of course
D: Do you want the vaccine?
German: No
D: This is an order!
German: Then, yes!
D: Do you want the vaccine?
American: No
D: Your neighbor is already vaccinated
American: Then, OK
D: Do you want the vaccine?
Frenchman: No
D: All gentlemen do it
F: So what?
D: This is an order
F: Don't care
D: Your neighbor...
F: Fuck him
D: Wait. You are French! Oh, sorry, we can't vaccinate you.
F: What do you mean can't vaccinate me? Vaccinate me now!
Read 5 tweets
25 Jan
Here is a story on which several of my general circles of interest overlap quite wildly. Namely, it's Russia, politics, hockey and craziness. I will try to make it short, though this won't do it justice.
This is the story of Vityaz, the KHL's own Charlestown Chiefs...
Vityaz is a club that should never belong to a top-flight professional league. If you have ever seen Slap Shot, just give all the characters there a Russian accent, throw in a lot more criminality, and you will have the picture. They are as bush league as it gets...
Vityaz was founded by Russian mafia in the city of Podolsk, Moscow Region. The entire area was run by warring gangs in the 1990s and well into the 2000s, and the leader of one of them, Nikolai Pavlinov, was known for his posh manners, decadent tastes and the love of sports...
Read 19 tweets
24 Jan
Comparing Trump to Navalny makes such perfect sense, it's obvious why Newt has been considered the right-wing's intellectual heavyweight for 30 years now.
Let's dig in.
1) Trump is a corrupt national leader ousted in a free and fair election, despite desperately clinging to power and attempting to destroy democratic institutions.
Navalny wants Russia, via elections, to oust its corrupt national leader who clings to power and destroys democracy.
2) Trump is an authoritarian who has abused power and bullied and persecuted his political foes, often endorsing violence against them.
Navalny has been a victim of power abuses, has been bullied and persecuted and had violence directed at him by an authoritarian.
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!