Ethnicity, language, religion or morals?

Until this moment, whether in my long book or in discussions with others, I've wanted to protect my close people over in Russia from reprisals over association with me, just as I wish the same for our contributors and readers here.  Since the mid 2000s, we have not been in a safe space - in Britain, I can pinpoint the year as 2007 and in our town in Russia, about 2005/6.

One of the reasons I mentioned, in the first of these three essays, [the one about not returning, not staying], was obviously financial straits due to certain shenanigans which went on at bank level but there's another I've vaguely hinted at but have, until now not gone into ... and that is a political and ethnic question.

A foreigner is best advised to stay right out of politics and religion, esp. certain religions and my difficulty in opening up about it is that some of those still close to me over there are sitting ducks if hobnobbing with an infidel were known.  But that's just one part of it.

Below is an excerpt from a Harvard University article on the situation I found myself in.  This is the analogy he used, note the language:

The Spanish cases of Catalonia and Euskadi (the Basque Country) are particularly relevant. Spain, like the Soviet Union, was for several decades a repressive state that sought to replace regional languages with the nation- al language. 

 

To this end, Castilian Spanish was the only language allowed in the classroom and in government during the Franco period. Also, like in the Soviet Union, wealthy minority regions attracted large numbers of im- migrants, most of whom belonged to the majority linguistic group. In both cases, immigration largely stopped at the beginning of the democratization period. Finally, as in Russia, the end of the dictatorship allowed regional cultural and political leaders to enact linguistic revival programs beginning in the late 1970s, which were particularly far-reaching in Catalonia and Euskadi.

 What I'm obliquely hinting at is that I was caught in two vices simultaneously, hence the reference to being on a precipice for years now.  The first I was caught up in was the rebranding of a group of tertiary institutions, within which I had been, now along ethnic lines, whereas earlier, it was known solely as a teacher training place.  Suddenly it was an ethnic minority place meant to be the new vanguard in the equality and diversity drive.  But it was not the local ethnic group I fell foul of, it was the Russians in Moscow. You see, though my ladyfriend was Russian, my mate is Russian speaking, my second language is Russian, which was sufficient reason to brand me that way, I'd also been working for the ethnic minority minister - it gets complicated.  There's also an ethnic minority lady I was stepping out with till the end, who has a certain position in a few institutions.

Then there were the Gordon Brown stupidities over Vladivostok, which was quite stoopid on the part of the British to try on the Russians.  Finally, there's a religious component.  There was one female bigwig at our institution who took me aside and started grilling me on whether I was a "humanitarian".  Very strange question I thought.  She was the henchwoman for this new order, yet she was not ethnic minority, which quite confused me.  It's only tonight I've finally seen what it was all about.

The Russian word for humanitarian means someone who works for the benefit of humans, something I hope we do at N.O., but it seemed to me that they were using the word to mean "humanist", I did ask for clarification, and "humanist" I of course reject if it means anti-God.  

However, after looking at this Harvard article, it seems the institution did mean humanities after all, in which I am qualified, because thereafter, it was called the name of the ethnic minority, which I am clearly not, though connected to two ladies who were natives, plus the only other thing I could be was a humanities teacher in their restructuring.  This is going to take me days now to sort out, not that it's relevant anymore.  One can never go back, once retired.

The reason I do not think it was ethnic minority against me, though I could understand it being so, is that the e.m. lady stayed with me thereafter and no one seemed to mind.  Very strange stuff indeed.  The other thing was that the institution itself was highly peeved when I did not return to Russia to take my groups. Frankly, I'm nonplussed.  Though my morals were supposedly fine except when with my ladyfriend, when they obviously dipped, I always harboured vague ideas that the female connection may have had something to do with it.

Now I'm thinking, seriously, that it could well have been Gordon Brown and the Br Cl after all. Sheesh!