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Denis Sinyakov / Reuters
A migrant worker wearing a Russian cartoon hero 'Luntik' costume takes a break from his work of distributing advertising leaflets at metro station in Moscow on Nov. 23, 2011.
Reuters photographer Denis Sinyakov spent nine months documenting the lives of Russia's enormous and mostly illegal migrant work force in the lead up to presidential elections that take place next month.
Russia’s demographic situation is one of the many contributing factors to the uncertainty facing the country. Not only does Russia have a decreasing population, but the chaos of the 1990s has created a situation where there are fewer young adults now than should be expected in a standard population. The result is a small, indigenous labor pool and a large influx of migrant workers to fill the gap. These workers are mainly from former Soviet countries in Central Asia – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan – places with their own economic problems, which also encourages migration.
Denis Sinyakov, Reuters photographer based in Moscow writes:
Denis Sinyakov / Reuters
Migrant workers work unload potato sacks at a vegetable market on the outskirts of Moscow on Nov. 11 2011.
Denis Sinyakov / Reuters
Migrants workers from Tajikistan relax on the roof of their shelter after working at local market outside Moscow, July 18 2011.
I don’t remember a time when Moscow hasn’t been flooded with them, migrants from Central Asia.
When I moved here in 1997 they were already here. They had started appearing more than 20 years ago, the time when the Soviet Union was falling apart. Some fled civil wars, but more usually they were escaping the awful economic situation in their homelands. Not exactly an escape, but they came to make some money, leaving their families at home. The economic situation in Russia even now isn't enviable, at the beginning of the 1990s it was woeful, but none the less better than there.
Muscovites have got used to living with them, used to regarding them as low qualified workers, as street sweepers and lorry loaders, cheap muscle on building sites. People are used to calling them “churki” and “sheep” and not finding those words in any way offensive.
Muscovites are generally not very tolerant people towards aliens, and aren't very fond of newcomers from the varied different regions of the Russian federation, or the Caucuses or from Central Asia. But only the latter group has it become habitual to offend in public.
When I started to shoot this story I saw the following scene: two women arguing about a dog belonging to one of them that was swimming with children in a river one hot July day. In the same place migrants from Tajikistan were swimming, they were about half of the bathers present.
The women were shouting and arguing for a long time about the hygiene of the dog. Bystanders became involved and eventually sided with the dog owner, arguing that it was permissible since there were already several “darkies” swimming in the same place, so the water could hardly be considered clean. The darkies, deeply tanned only on their necks and forearms, listened silently and continued swimming and didn't pay any attention to what was happening. Everybody is used to it, but I felt deeply ashamed.
That's what I wanted to photograph, but it seemed impossible. The unpleasantness of locals to the immigrants is an intangible, a mentality ingrained as part of the status quo, easy to seem unremarkable and by its nature unnoticed. However there are so many aspects to this relationship that reflect a multitude of issues confronting Russia at the beginning of the 21st century.
Denis Sinyakov / Reuters
Muslim migrant workers attend special prayers on the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha in Moscow on Nov. 6 2011
Denis Sinyakov / Reuters
Migrant workers from Tajikistan bathe in the Yauza river outside Moscow, July 6 2011
Denis Sinyakov / Reuters
Migrants workers from Tajikistan gather in a shelter to watch TV after working at a local market outside Moscow, July 6 2011.
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at least in russia they are openly racist. many if not all countries have this issue. don't mock the russians for being honest and open about their thoughts. i don't defend them but they at least are not hypocrites
Hi Ali, don't kid yourself the United States much, much more accepting of all races than Russia.
The hard work was put in, the civil right movement, women's rights, ....
Wow it all sounds so familiar.
In the US it's anyone south of the border.
In parts of Europe it's the Turks that are treated this way. For many years the people of West Germany treated the former East Germans like lesser people.
It happens everywhere.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
How can anybody in any country get ahead if the country get's Flooded with Cheap labor? There has to be a standard wage set for everybody, and that wage must be paid. And it must be a living wage. It's the only solution to the problem.
Too simplistic, and with the societal economic set-up I know of no solution. Wages are costs to business. As overhead increases the product price rises. An offset can be increased production but the danger is outstripping product demand.
I understand the joke during the Soviet era was; "They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work".
How will the wealthy make any money if there is no one to exploit?
Actually it is very similar the situation in many parts of the US where all the manual and construction work is done by illegal or recent immigrants and the whites are paid a lot more if educated. In Russia, there are about 12 million illegal immigrants which do the work that Russians are over educated for. The number of Russians with university degrees is amazing, much higher than in the US so the relatively static sized population of ethnic Russians fits the skilled and professional job openings well, and recent grads have little problem finding good jobs. During the recent Wall Street meltdown that caused problems world wide, employment of ethnic Russians did not drop much but construction and labor workers from outside the country were greatly impacted. The middle class keeps growing at a fast rate in Russia, which is really not available to the illegal immigrants, resulting in a growing underclass that does the all the low skilled work in the country.
The young people tend to be optimistic, they leave school with a valuable degree, no debt, a good job market and the majority own their apartment free and clear. So starting out life in Russia 2012 is sure a lot more confidence inspiring than the prospects for grads in the US where mountains of debt and high starting overhead, and facing a weak job market is a real problem.
I am an American who has been living in Russia for 8 years and regularly visiting for a couple decades.
Wakehead how will the poor make money if there is no one to tax?
Russia is horribly xenophobic. There have been brutal attacks on Tajiks and Chechens caught on video in the recent past. Moreover, the majority of the Nigerians there in college have reported harassment, intimidation, and violence by the local Russians.
I'm under the impression that Russia is a very unsafe and hostile country towards people of color, and the locals maintain a dour and unwelcoming personality towards people of color.
Why a Nigerian would go to Russia is beyond me. Unfortunately a lot of African Blacks are still unbelievably naive when it comes to the devilish nature of whites around the world. They actually believe all the nice nice, civility displayed by whites in television and films and think that's the way they all are in real life. LOL WRONG! I used the word naive earlier but it's honestly blatant stupidity and a unwillingness to study history. The fact that they were colonized or enslaved and forced to worship a pale faced, yellow haired,blue eyed God didn't help matters but many Blacks have had the same perverted indoctrination and were able to rebuke that trash. The smiley faced "missionaries" that go to Africa, "to help the people", also work a con on them.
I've talked to several Africans and African-Americans who had lived in Russia for some time. I wouldn't describe any of them as naive. No informed observer would conclude that racism isn't a serious issue in Russia, and all of the dark-skinned residents I've talked to are well aware of that. Their reasons for being in Russia were diverse, but wide-eyed optimism wasn't one of them.
There have been a number of highly publicized attacks in Russia but overall, people leave each other alone. Those attacks, by skin-heads have been greatly diminished by the people, mostly young college students rallying to stop the ultra nationalists, who are actually a limited number. Marches, reporting networks using GPS where the students track and report any assemblies of skin heads and gather to harass them. That has really altered the glamour of being a Neo-Nazi and their presence is seldom observed now. For example, the center of the Neo-Nazi movement was St Petersburg where a few attacks occurred and went viral on YouTube. By most estimates the skin heads numbered about 5,000, in a city with an unofficial population of 7,000,000(4.7mil official residents) It has been 2 years since I have ever even seen lone skin heads let alone gangs. Alone, skin heads are not very dangerous since they are outnumbered in any location they find themselves. There are about 4,000 black students in St Petersburg, and 6,000 American students, in the 510 colleges, universities, academies and institutes in the city. For most young people, race is not a problem at all, races mix freely in clubs and night spots without problems, there is a higher percentage of black residents with ethnic Russian girlfriends or boyfriends.
Violence is much less of a problem in that large city, racial or otherwise is, and street crime is a lot lower than back in the US where I am from. The murder rate for black teens is astounding in the US. It is rare to go to a club in major cities in the US without seeing a fight. That is extremely rare in the easy going teen and early twenties night life and social scene in Moscow or St Petersburg.
Black students come for the same reason Asian or American students come, great universities, low tuition and rich cultural environment. For young people, it is also a heck of a lot of fun, a very social place. They have hundreds of museums within walking distance, or drama theaters, concert halls, cheap tickets for world class ballet, and hundreds of clubs, English style pubs, art cafes, coffee shops which all cater to 18-25 age range. No wonder so many foreigners, black or any ethnic background, come to these major cities. I am 62 and that rich cultural atmosphere is the reason I moved to Russia.
Americas future jobs is excellently displayed in the picture on the front of this chat. The Chinese will own us and well all be required to work as bunny's on the side of the road for food.
You can thank the GOP / DEMs in Congress the crooked Superior court and our Presidential bodies for the past three terms.
Its great to be an
American REDNECK STYLE!
.
And we thought WE had problems...
And therein lies the rub...the Muscovites (and probably other major urban areas of Russia) need labor, and they just don't have enough of the native supply to meet the demand. The former Soviet republics that don't have oil (or have it, but like Nigeria give to the rich and shaft the poor), have only one major resource they can export...cheap labor. Unlike here in the good old USA, in Russia they don't have enough warm bodies, period. Like Japan, Russia is aging, and the potential labor pool is shrinking, and to fill in the gap, they have to hire somebody.
That is the elephant in the room here...Illegals are not so much taking jobs away as they are filling in a gap. Most of the jobs they are "taking" are minimum wage, back breaking, and considered "below" even blue collar standards. Many agribusinesses and other enterprises must go to the guest worker program, as they cannot convince the native labor pool to accept the jobs they offer, or are physically and mentally unable or unwilling to do them.
This doesn't mean I'm pro-illegal...I do think we should in this post 9-11 age screen any future immigrants to weed out terrorists and criminals. But unless we address this issue, things won't change, and they'll just stay the way they are, with immigrants legal and otherwise being the convenient scapegoats. Still, it is eye-opening to show that half a world away, the same scenario is playing out, albeit under different circumstances.
What a bunch of balarky. Of course illegals are taking jobs from the local population. Before there were illegals temporarily out of work Americans were able to pay their bills doing garden work, painting houses, cleaning homes windows etc. I know because I was one of these Americans.
The simple fact is they have pushed the going rate so low NO American could take the job as they live in an Apartment with RENT due each month and not in a canyon under a tent!
Illegals do incredible damage to every sector of our society and economy!
If that were so GHX...then why are corporations outsourcing all our other jobs? You know, the one's "illegals" don't get? Why are businesses having to resort to using guest workers? If we have such a large labor pool, then why aren't more of our own applying and holding these jobs?
Methinks you are just looking for scapegoats...I certainly wouldn't have such a hard time finding a job, even in the dreaded fast food sector. And I kind of find a fatal flaw in your argument...if illegals do such incredible damage, then why is Alabama, Georgia and other states scrambling like they're @$$es are catching to replace them? Something to ponder.
Even where illegals are concerned there is still that nasty minimum wage and other unpleasant OSHA requirements. Like illegals taking our jobs, even cheaper overseas labor is taking theirs.
This is a race to the bottom.
The end result is the destruction of the middle class and the ushering of a new era of unheralded debt and poverty.