Posted on 02/02/2007 10:42:55 PM PST by primeval patriot
Dmitri Konstantino from Moldova gestured glumly around him at the empty stalls in Moscow’s largest food market yesterday and asked: “So, where are all these Russians?”
His question is being repeated at markets across the country as an attempt to create jobs for Russians by imposing strict quotas on migrants appeared to have backfired. Two weeks after the Government introduced a law limiting nonRussians to 40 per cent of the workforce, Russia’s markets are emptying of traders as hundreds of thousands of foreigners are expelled.
Stalls run traditionally by people from Central Asia and the Caucasus are standing bare, as officials struggle to find Russians to take their places. The situation threatens to get worse from April, when the Government tightens the quota until all foreign traders are expelled by the end of the year.
Mr Konstantino, 63, has sold vegetables at the central Dorogomilova market for 15 years. He told The Times: “There won’t be any Russians coming here. They don’t want to do this work because it’s too hard. I’m up at 4 o’clock each morning to get my stall ready but they just want a nine-to-five life.” He said that he would return to Moldova if he is forced to leave later this year, adding: “What will happen to the market when we have all gone I don’t know.”
Valentina Stati, 50, a fruit-seller who is also from Moldova, said: “I feel sorry for our customers. They are all asking me what will happen when we go because they won’t be able to buy anything.” The measure was intended to create opportunities for Russian traders. Moscow city council estimates that 30,000 foreigners have been expelled from its markets so far, but admits that there is little sign of demand among Russians to replace them.
A third of stalls at the Cheryomushkinsky market in south-west Moscow are empty. The local administrator told the Moscow Times: “Not one Russian is knocking at the door.” The legislation was introduced after President Putin demanded action to protect the “native population” against “ethnic criminals” in response to growing racial tensions. His remarks followed a riot in the northern town of Kondopoga last summer in which residents drove out Chechen market traders.
The Government says that the measures will tackle illegal immigration involving an estimated ten million people. It argues that it has also made it easier for foreigners to register legally for work by providing six million permits for countries of the former Soviet Union. Human rights groups accuse the Government of pandering to xenophobia and stoking nationalism before parliamentary elections in December.
Immigration officials raid markets regularly to check the documents of darker-skinned workers.
The effects are being felt across Russia, particularly in the Far East, where thousands of Chinese and Vietnamese are reported to have packed up and gone home. Vladivostok’s central market was closed after most of its traders left and markets in Khabarovsk, near the Chinese border, have suffered a similar fate.
I don't believe the Russians are going to let themselves starve.
I wonder if Putin has put together an "exploratory committee" yet?
Apparently central planning didn't end with the Soviet Union.
Sorry to say, but this is what we would face in America were we to have a crack down on illegals.
And I'm not pro-illegals by any means.
Face what?
And they keep saying there is no way we can kick out that many illegals from the US - that it is physically impossible.
So why bother even trying.
This will provide a huge boost to Russia's worker productivity levels once the market sorts itself out. The short term pain of losing mom and pop stalls will create huge opportunities for American style supermarkets to open and expand in the region. As Russia's (native) population ages, and many of the young emigrate, economies of scale, by cutting out extremely inefficient wholesale and retail traditions such as fresh markets, is the way of Russia's future.
Once the customers of these closing flea markets experience the relative joys of a Super WalMart center, they'll soon forget about the Uzbeki migrant stall operator who lost his job.
That's just the way they like to do it; ready, fire, aim.....
"Face what?"
A shortage of labor for jobs Americans are too lazy to do.
I take it you've never seen "Dirty Jobs".
There are no jobs Americans won't do if the price is right.
L
Sorry to see you think so little of your fellow Americans.
I would bet that there were never any markets until the foreigners showed up./s
It has never, ever in all of history, been a good time to be a Russian. Why they think that throwing out foreigners is a good idea, is beyond me. The Russki's are now, and always have been, a totally screwed up society. They need all the foreigners they can get. Someone's got to generate the loot that Russia relies on for graft.
Its not that Americans are too lazy or won't do these jobs. In fact IMO about %80 of the jobs they claim that Americans won't do are not paying enough for people to have good standard of living. Why because businesses find it more profitable to hire someone they don't have to fill paperwork and pay taxes on. Its the businesses and people that are lazy and greedy.
The vacuum will be filled.
Quite a racist and hateful statement.
I think we have a few million illegals we can let them have.
Really? What race are Russians? And as for hateful, well, maybe more along the lines of scornful.
The Russkis have always been the most screwed up society in the civilized world (I use that term loosely).
First, loose bands of tribesmen, led by warlords; then, a kingdom, led by a tsar; followed by the commies; then the criminals, and now heading for a dictatorship.
Yep. I can see how I'm way out of line criticizing the Russians.
This will provide a huge boost to Russia's worker productivity levels once the market sorts itself out. The short term pain of losing mom and pop stalls will create huge opportunities for American style supermarkets to open and expand in the region==
I agree with you. IMO you got it right.
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