They were born and live in a small, prosperous and democratic country. Yet that country refuses to give them citizenship rights because they happen to share an ethnicity with its large and authoritarian Eastern neighbour, which has invaded it in the past. Aggrieved at such discrimination, they see their cries fall on deaf ears among the Western powers, for whom this country is an important strategic ally. Meanwhile, the country’s dominant ethnic group plans further crackdowns to ward off what it fears is an impending demographic ‘time bomb’ that might see them lose their majority status.
Sound familiar? Yet this is not Israel or the West Bank, but Latvija, in the heart of the European Union. And the discriminated group are not Arabs, but ethnic Russians who continue to be denied key citizenship rights.
Today, a BBC article by Damien McGuinness about these people’s ‘Life in Limbo’ deftly illustrates many of the dark absurdities of the situation:
Dmitrijs is not an immigrant. Like most of the people in this room, he was born in Latvia. In fact, even his parents were born here.
But his family is ethnically Russian. And because they moved here while Latvia was part of the USSR, he is not automatically eligible for Latvian nationality.
Instead he is classed as a so-called resident alien. Only those born after Latvian independence in 1991 automatically receive citizenship.
The words in Latvian for “non-citizen” are printed in large bold letters on the cover of Dmitrijs’ passport.
This means he can’t vote, can’t work in many state-employed positions and often has trouble crossing borders.
It is also true that in Russia, too, fundamental rights are denied to many people who live and work there, as ethnic minority groups and guest workers face routine discrimination and even violent attack. However, Russia has a long way to go before it can boast of EU levels of human rights, and at least such behaviour does not enjoy legal sanction.
Of course, no ethnic Russians are being shot from unmanned drones or have their houses bulldozed over.
Nor do they have their property confiscated or get deported/killed, as happened to many Latvians under Soviet rule – historical abuses which, like the Holocaust, were horrific but should not now be used to justify new oppression.
But even if the oppression facing ethnic Russians is less stark than that faced by Palestinians today or Latvians themselves under Communism, such anachronistic and racist sentiments as ‘Russia for the Russians’, ‘Germany for the Germans’ , or ‘Israel for the Jews’ should justifiably inspire fear and distaste. They simply have no place in the modern concept of statehood and citizenship.
So, as the EU correctly criticises Israel’s illegal settlements in East Jerusalem, it shouldn’t forget about the apartheid-lite taking place on its own turf.