While visiting Paris this summer I tried to imagine the soul of the city. In fact, I imagined the taste of the city long before my arrival. I dreamed how I would stroll along its famous boulevards, how I would lean over the Seine's embankments, how I would spend time reading a book in one of the most beautiful gardens in the world... I was ready to sink into the marvels of the city with all my heart.
Soon after I unpacked my luggage I left my small apartment near the Place de la Bastille. The first thing that attracted my attention in this historic city was a tent under the Victory Arch. There, in the very heart of this fabled city, I stumbled upon some homeless person's makeshift camp.
This is something that I haven't noticed in Moscow for a long time.
Although the Russian capital is regarded as a beautiful city, it also has a reputation for being dirty. Garbage, when it's not burning, spills from rubbish bins, dust blows along the sidewalks, while plastic bags, greasy pigeons, dejected animals and homeless people dot the urban landscape. Moscow is oftentimes described so unattractively, but the fact is, these problems exist in every developed country.
As for Moscow, the homeless problem is far from solved. Actually, it is deep-rooted and growing.
In the Soviet times, the authorities used the threat of prison to deal with the homeless problem. Indeed, it was impossible to ever find a homeless person on the streets in the Soviet times. But by the early 1990s, Russia's major cities were overrun with this urban malaise. The government makes occasional efforts to deal with the issue, providing money for asylums, soup kitchens and other services. It even keeps the metro passages open on the brutally cold nights. But the system often fails, as systems sometimes do. Many homeless people simply refuse to live in the government-run shelters, preferring life on the streets. It only works in criminal cases, when an individual can be forcibly detained. But asylums, with their echoes of Soviet prisons, encourage people to remain outside the system. Even so, they certainly don't set up camp on Red Square.
Only winter forces them indoors. Suddenly they appear on the subway and malls in search of temporary warmth and scraps of food. Usually they are thrown out by police and security guards so as not to "disturb the peace." Meanwhile, Paris is besieged by tents, resembling a refugee camp. The one I saw near the Bastille monument was not unique, and the occupants did not leave for the duration of my trip.
So why is Russia criticized for its homeless problem? These people are present in every country and with the global financial crisis worsening, the issue may become more immediate.
Is it simply that I'm a Muscovite that I don't notice the homeless people on the streets? Or is it that the Moscow authorities are much more efficient at their job than their French counterparts? I am not trying to diminish the importance of Russia's homeless problem, which I entirely admit. But commentators in the West need to remove their rose-tinted glasses in regards to their own cities. Then they will find that Moscow fares at least on par in this regard.
By Daria Chernyshova
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