When Russian emigres in the West talk positively
to their new neighbors about Russia,
they perceive themselves as being largely disbelieved.
And when those emegres talk Russian politics with fellow emigres they are
likely to be greeted by disagreement.
These are findings of a study I conducted last November. I invited readers from
three online publications -- OpEdNews.com, EurasiaReview.com, Russia-Insider.com
-- to participate in the study.
Responses came from both diaspora members and non Russians, about 60-40. Over
80 percent of all respondents reside in North America, the balance in Western Europe or elsewhere.
Take for example the matter of Russia's role in the world today: Is it positive or negative? I asked the Russian respondents if they are familiar with the views of fellow diaspora members. They overwhelmingly said yes.
How do they characterize their compatriot's attitudes? Well, it depends. There is dramatic difference in assessments. It depends upon the period in which the survey participant emigrated. Those who left Russia in the 1990s say that nearly a third of the diaspora members they know view Russia's role positively. But for those who came earlier and those who came since 2000 it's a different story. They see only around 10 percent of their fellow diaspora members viewing their homeland positively. But obviously in both cases most diasporic views are negatively biased.
It seemed puzzling that respondents in the middle period of emigration, the
1990s, saw things differently from the rest. It seemed aberrational. Those who
emigrated earlier and those who came since 2000 responded like each other. They
perceived the attitudes of their compatriots more bleakly than the 1990's group.
At first I thought the aberration might be related to how much first-hand
contact people had with modern Russia.
Are some working off of memories of a bygone time? But that didn't seem to
correlate. Only about a third of the 1990s cohort had visited Russia in the
past five years. That's the same for visits of the earlier emigres. Some
members of both groups have in fact never been back. But those who emigrated
since 2000 are visiting Russia
in greater numbers. Ninety percent of this group report at least one visit in
the past five years. They're the ones with the most current personal
experience. So it's not first-hand experience in today's Russia that is
making the difference.
The reason that the 1990s crowd think compatriots are more positive than the
other emigre cohorts remains a mystery. This survey provides no clue.
The non-diaspora survey respondents have a slightly different story to tell.
They think they have a sense of how their Russian emigre neighbors look upon Russia's role
in the world.
That's possible because many of those Russians have not been close-mouthed about
their country of origin. In the survey almost all the Russians confessed that
they've conveyed their attitudes toward Russia to others in their present
country of permanent residence.
What do the non-Russians think of those views? To them the immigrant views seem
pretty evenly divided between positive, negative, and neutral.
Whatever those views may be, however, the North American and Western European
responders have been mostly unpersuaded by them. Two-thirds claim they have not
been influenced. But not everyone is immune to diasporic influence. A solid
third admits to having been influenced by what they've heard from the Russians.
The personal comments I received from survey respondents give even more
insights into the Russian diaspora question. Here is a sampling. (Comments from
diaspora members are tagged "D" and those from others are labeled
"ND.")
D: "Russia
is a new country. With the collapse of the USSR it went through a terrible
period, but in this century it has been reborn. It is now a vibrant, prosperous
country, with better prospects for its people than the US. Many in the
Russian diaspora are either stuck in the past or forced to face an
uncomfortable truth that they made the wrong choice by leaving Russia. Or
perhaps they are simply trying to fit in wherever they are by abandoning their
past. As for my own family, we are going back to Russia."
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