Moscow City Hall draws a comic strip with rules of behavior for migrants
The Moscow authorities decided to use comics with characters from Russian fairy tales to tell migrants how to behave in the Russian capital. Experts point out that the guide contrasts migrants with ethnic Russians and that its content will be incomprehensible to a person with poor command of the Russian language. BBC studied the recommendations of the Moscow authorities for visitors.
At the end of October, the Moscow Department of National Policy, Interregional Relations and Tourism ordered a guidebook "On the rules of behavior of a migrant in the city of Moscow." Such a notice appeared on the public procurement website. In the terms of reference, the department indicated that the guide is needed "to maintain a positive image of the capital as a city with high-tech tools and the necessary infrastructure for implementing a program for the integration and adaptation of foreign migrant workers into Russian society." It is expected that the guidebook will reduce "the level of tension among Muscovites and within the migrant community."
The competition was won by the Regional Public Organization "Support for Migrant Workers of Moscow," which offered to do the work for 7 million rubles. Two months later, by the end of December, it prepared a 100-page illustrated brochure with a circulation of 50,000 copies in Russian. The experts were members of a special commission under the council for nationalities at the Department of National Policy.
This week, the Department of National Policy will launch this project and begin distributing the guidebook, said Alexander Kalinin, head of "Support for Migrant Workers of Moscow." The 100-page glossy brochure mainly consists of explanatory comics. Among its characters are three bogatyrs, who represent law enforcement agencies, Vasilisa the Wise, Snegurochka, Kupava, Yuri Dolgoruky, Koschei the Immortal, and so on. "The commission chose this theme. At first we wanted to combine characters from Russian folklore with heroes from fairy tales of CIS countries, but later we abandoned this idea – then there would be too many characters," Kalinin explains. According to him, the comic characters were created by "honored artists of Russia who painted the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Mayakovskaya metro station, and so on."
"Foreign citizens come to Moscow. We also consider them fairy-tale characters, and they are met by fairy-tale characters from Russia, who tell visitors about the rules of stay," Kalinin explained the plot of the comic. Vasilisa the Wise was originally on the cover with her hair loose. "But the commission experts believed that loose hair means she is loose, not married. So we decided to braid her hair," Kalinin says. The migrant characters were initially labeled by nationality, but later this idea was abandoned "so that no one would be offended," Kalinin explained.
The informational content of the guidebook was developed by lawyers specializing in migrant rights, including natives of neighboring countries, he adds. After that, the language of the brochure was asked to be adapted for migrants. This part of the work was done by teachers who test migrants for language proficiency; however, not everyone is satisfied with the results.
The Department of National Policy plans meetings with ambassadors of CIS countries to discuss the distribution of the guidebook and its translation into the languages of these countries, Kalinin says. A press service employee of the department, when asked all BBC questions about the guidebook, said that there is no information yet and "everything is in process."
Here, the ethnicization of the discourse about migrants and Moscow as supposedly a Slavic city with bogatyrs is obvious, believes Evgeny Varshaver, director of the Center for Migration and Ethnicity Studies at RANEPA. "The opposition of Russian heroes to hordes is clearly being revived," the expert believes. At the same time, the use of illustrations generally helps to present in an accessible form the body of legislation that concerns migrants.
The guidebook consists of four chapters and an appendix with reference information. The first chapter is "Rules of behavior for a foreign citizen in the city of Moscow."
"The main rule of behavior on the street is not to cause inconvenience or trouble to others," the authors warn. Visitors are advised not to turn around and look back at passing women, not to eat on the street, not to talk loudly and for a long time on the street. "Today, as a hundred years ago, hasty familiarity is just as unpleasant to many people as excessive intrusiveness. Therefore, do not rush to switch to 'you' with new acquaintances," is stated in the subsection "Norms of communication."
The authors also recommend not to rush to turn a just-made acquaintance into friendship. "This may seem intrusive," the guidebook states. To show a desire to maintain business and personal contacts in the future, migrants are advised to hand out their business cards.
The authors of the brochure proceed from the premise that rules of behavior in Moscow exist, says Varshaver. "But it is news to me that you cannot eat on the street, and I am a Muscovite in the third generation. The problem is that there are essentially no rules, they are not explicit. The attempt to explain them should be done through public dialogue, not behind closed doors, when rules are proclaimed by the Moscow department," the expert believes.
The guidebook is primarily aimed at illegal migrants, says Kalinin. "We want to increase their level of legal literacy," he emphasizes. First of all, visitors are explained that they need to obtain a migration card, "registration" and a work patent. In the explanatory comic, Koschei the Immortal, against a background of stacks of money, offers migrants to get a job at a construction site in the Moscow region, although they have patents for Moscow. But Snegurochka explains that a patent obtained in Moscow is valid only within the city.
The authors particularly note that the police officer has the right to check their documents. In the comic, where the police officer is depicted as a bogatyr with the inscription "Ministry of Internal Affairs" on his chest, it says: "Remember that the police officer is not accusing you of anything, and his request to show documents does not humiliate you."
Laws need to be explained more simply, in particular the "90 out of 180" rule, according to which at any given time a migrant must have been in Russia for less than 90 days out of the preceding 180 days, Varshaver believes. "Our research shows that most migrants do not understand how to follow this rule, resulting in entry bans and deportations," he notes.
To help foreigners better absorb the information from the brochure, the authors suggest they take several tests. The most difficult is the test on knowledge of document processing rules. "A citizen of Tajikistan lived in Moscow for 90 days. Then he left the Russian Federation and immediately re-entered (made an 'exit-entry'). Then he applied to the MMC to obtain a patent. But he was refused. Why?" reads one of the questions.
In the picture test on knowledge of the Russian language, Snegurochka asks: "It's cold outside today, so I put on... A) a panama hat, B) glasses, C) a coat."
The crossword on knowledge of Moscow's history is somehow entirely devoted to facts from the life of Peter I. For example, newcomers are asked to guess what the fear of large spaces that little Peter I suffered from is called (10 letters) or the surname of Peter I's mother (9 letters). However, at the end of the brochure, keys to the tests are given.
"The level of Russian language in the brochure is complex. I can read it, but I'm not sure that the majority of people, even those with basic Russian, will cope with this brochure. However, even if it is translated, a rural migrant from Tajikistan would find such a brochure difficult even in Tajik," Varshaver reflects.
The tour of Moscow called "Routes of the Curious Migrant" in comics is led by the character of Yuri Dolgoruky. On each page of this chapter, photographs of famous buildings and monuments of the capital are printed, and the drawn Dolgoruky names them. Also, photos of Moscow metro stations, churches, synagogues, mosques, and so on are shown to newcomers. "We ourselves are already distributing the brochures at airports, in markets," Kalinin says.
The tour routes should be on a map; migrants will not understand from photographs of landmarks where to go, Varshaver notes.
According to the expert, most likely this brochure will be distributed to diaspora leaders in proportion to migration statistics. "And there they will lie as dead weight in their bright offices. A print run of 50,000 copies is practically nothing. In Moscow, diaspora leaders are far from ordinary migrants. However, any brochure is better than none," Varshaver concludes.