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Russian Stereotypes of Arabs

Aliheydar Rzayev, Ph.D. - 3/22/2005

Following the breakup of the USSR, one of the countries where tens of thousands of Soviet-born people, including myself, made residence has become the United Arab Emirates. Close examination of the laws, traditions, customs, religion and the style of life in UAE and the Arab world in general, shakes the generalized stereotype of the "Arab" created over the decades in the Soviet Union.

Ancestors of nations living on the territory of former Soviet Union never participated in Crusades against Arabs and accordingly they never viewed Arabs as enemies. On the other hand, they never gained personal knowledge of the Middle East and its people. Meanwhile, over the centuries Arabs influenced parts of Russia, especially ones populated by Moslems, by introducing their traditions, scientific breakthroughs, judicial system, and in many other ways.

The population of Ancient Rus (Russia was originally known as "Kiev's Rus") had met Arabs only in such especially peaceful places as trade markets. Unusual image, clothing, language, goods and even the unfamiliarity of their countries created among the Russian population the sense of certain mysterious life, full of romance and magic.

Later Russian readers were fascinated by the romantic Arabian tales of "1001 nights" and the similar created the 'Arab" stereotype of bravery, beauty, friendship, humor, great love, adventurism in the best sense of this word, etc. On the other hand, Russian also began viewing Arabs as crafty, cruel and two-faced.

The 20th century began amending the stereotype due to the influence of TV, radio, books and newspapers. Complete monolith disintegrated to parts, depending on the country of origin: Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqis, etc. This differentiation intensified under the influence of powerful communist propaganda, which is actively had used in their polemical wars and political fights with "world imperialism" [Western capitalism] and Zionism by comparing it with charismatic Arab figures such as Gamal Abdel Nasser, Hafez Assad, Yasser Arafat and Saddam Huseyn.

In Soviet media, the geographic map was limited essentially to Egypt, Syria, Iraq and the Palestinians. For Soviet people, all other Arab countries represented some "terra incognito" and anything that happened in Algeria, Libya, Mauritania or other states was perceived as something abstract and far from real life. Jordan and Lebanon were occassionally mentioned in Soviet media, but only in accordance with reports about their conflicts against the Palestinians.

The small Gulf oil countries continued to be a tale, but now a contemporary tale, where people swimming in the gold and every month purchase a new Rolls Royce. In this way, in the mind of Soviet people the "Arab" stereotype was divided between fighters against the West and Zionism on one hand, and the wealthy oil sheikhs with hundreds of wives and unlimited petro-dollars.

The results of Arab - Israel wars, if taking into account pro-Arab and anti-Israel predisposions of Soviet people, were simply shocking. They destroyed the myth of the overwhelming superiority of Soviet weapon and military technique, infallibility of ideological doctrines of Marxism, which were taken as "basic" ideology by the progressive Arab leaders. Not only were Soviet arms makers embarrassed, but also military advisers who taught Arabs prior to their conflicts with the Jewish state.

Perestroika and the collapse of Soviet Union greatly the increased of mobility of CIS (former USSR) citizens, who went abroad, including to Arab countries, for shopping, relaxation and employment. The resulting contacts destroyed many of the stereotypes.

Gulf countries, and especially the United Arab Emirates, became the center of gravity for businessmen, tourists and immigrants from the former Soviet Union due to its ultramodern architecture, large quantity of greenery in the desert climate and still very good economic conditions.

The UAE has had increased influence on the rest of Arab world over the last few years due to its well thought-out internal and external policy, economical and social security which is rarely be found in this part of the world, and systematic economic development. As a result, the number of companies founded in the UAE by CIS citizens exceeds the number of similar objects in other Arab countries.

Last seven years Russian media in has been creating a negative image of Arab mercenaries fighting with Chechen terrorists. A new image of bearded, bloodthirsty Arab religious fanatics arose These terrorists seek to make money by killing as many innocent civilians as possible. Without going into a great detail of this great falsehood (the detailed analysis of mercenarily will be presented in the author's book "The foreign mercenaries in Chechnya: the road to nowhere" - A.R.), one could assert that this is a propaganda campaign.

Further deepening of inter-advantageous political, economical and cultural relations will indisputably destroy old stereotypes and create a new, real image of Arabs, their values and traditions.