Afro-Russian
Joakim Krema is a candidate for a seat in one of
Russia's
regional dumas. His candidacy is sparking lively debate.
Vremya Novostei, Russia
'Russian Obama' Emerges in Volgograd
"Born
in Guinea-Bissau, Krema has lived in Russia for 20 years and currently sells watermelons.
… If one compares Russia and America in their attitudes toward candidates with
exotic last names, we are equivalent to the United States in the 1960s or perhaps
the 1980s."
Joakim Krema: Transplanted from Guinea-Bissau 20 years ago, the 37-year-old Afro-Russian watermelon salesman is making waves by running for a local parliamentary seat.
A local Barack Obama has
emerged in the Volgograd Oblast. An Afro-Russian man named Joakim Krema intends to run for a seat in the
Sredneahtubinskiy
regional Duma. Last Saturday he submitted the needed paperwork to the
regional election committee.
Born in Guinea-Bissau, Krema
has lived in Russia for 20 years and currently sells watermelons. Earlier
reports alleged that he intended to contest the position of head of the Volgagrad
District's Sredneahtubinskiy district, but it turned out that for now the
African-Russian only aspires to a local parliamentary seat. Mr. Krema will try
his electoral luck in Sredneahtubinskiy's single-member electoral district no. 7.
According to the chairman of
the territorial electoral commission, Victor Sapozhnikov, there are three non-party candidates vying for the post. But while he's
not running with the backing of any particular party, Mr. Krema points out in
his petition that he's a member of the United Russia Party [Russia's ruling Party led by
Vladimir Putin]. Now, in order to qualify as a candidate, the Afro-Russian
needs to collect between 609 and 670 signatures before August 31st in support
of his candidacy. Krema's competition in the election is an unemployed resident
of the district, Evgeniy Pomomaryev, and sales manager Vladimir Bogachev. The
voters will work their will on a single day of voting on October 11th.
Russia's
Volgograd Oblast in southwest Russia is comprised of
33 districts
and 19 cities and towns. Until 1961, the oblast and
its largest
city were called Stalingrad.
In addition to fifteen regional
Duma deputies, twelve district heads in urban and rural areas will be elected,
as well as deputies from representative bodies for both urban and rural
settlements. The time to submit documents to local authorities for
participation in the election ends today [Aug. 18] at 6pm Moscow time.
The deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies, Alexei
Makarkin, sees nothing exotic in the participation of an Afro-Russian in the
election, and says that skin color doesn't diminish his chances of winning.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
“At the local government
level, members of national minorities may of course be elected. There are already
cases of this," the analyst told a correspondent of Vremya Novostei.
“For instance in the Far East, from time to time,
Koreans are elected. Why not? They live in those communities. On a local level,
voters support those they know of through their activism. Votes are cast for those
with well-known family names, or those who hold prestigious positions in
schools, companies, hospitals or universities. In larger cities, a person with
an eastern-sounding last name would have a much harder time getting elected. But
if he proves himself on a local level first, the decisive factor is his
reputation.”
And according to Makarkin,
this could easily occur at the federal level during State Duma elections - since they are determined
by party lists and everything depends on what candidates the party selects to
fill the seats it wins. In the case of a major party, which is guaranteed to clear
the seven percent
barrier, there would be nothing to prevent the Duma from including a
dark-skinned candidate.
But as far as presidential
elections go, we are still far from electing a Russian Obama.
“Even in America, it has
taken many years to arrive at this point - and even then the deciding role was
played by the crisis, without which the election may have led to another
alternative, such as Clinton or McCain," Makarkin says. "The United
States had the experience of electing black senators, house members and
governors; there were films that portrayed African-American presidents. They
consciously pushed members of minority groups into power. Our society is still
accustomed to the fact that our president must be Russian.”
Makarkin speculates that if one
compares Russia and America in their attitudes toward candidates with exotic
last names, we are equivalent to the United States in the 1960s or perhaps the
1980s. At the same time, he notes the difference in social attitudes toward
such questions today as opposed to Soviet times.
“Back then, there was an
official internationalism and national problems and issues of migration weren't
as pressing. But mainly, it was considered impolite to talk about all that. Now
the taboo has been lifted. In terms of tolerance, we have taken a step back,
and perhaps not only one.”
