The Russians are Coming...

Russia is again a ‘Hot Topic’ for the Manitoba Music blog as it was announced today that the Russian government is attempting to draft a law that will make ‘emo’ and ‘goth’ music illegal, as reported by msn.com.

“The [Moscow] Times says the bill defines ‘emos’ as "from 12 to 16 years old and wear black and pink clothing. They have black hair with long bangs that 'cover half the face,' black fingernails, black belts peppered with studs and pins, and ear and eyebrow piercings." (Which pretty much classifies every 'trendy' person nowadays.)

These legislations will attempt to regulate ‘emo’ related websites and also ban people who dress like ‘emos’ (not emus) to enter schools and government buildings.

Emo/goth culture is seen as negative in Russian culture because, “The "negative ideology" of emo culture may push young people toward depression and social withdrawal, and the movement carries a significant risk of suicide, especially for young girls.”

Meanwhile, the Moscow News reports that "Dozens of black-clad emo music fans" protested the proposed legislation Saturday in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Although none of the protestors in the accompanying photo appear to be wearing black.

The point of the bill is apparently that, by 2020, Moscow will have someone to rule its government is of sound mind.

Adjacently, in November, the Novgorod regional education department issued a letter to all schools in the region with a description of emo culture, saying the "dream of every [emo] is to die in a warm bath from the blood of cutting their wrists" (slightly extreme language). Doesn't the Russian government have anything better to worry about? I'm pretty sure all this attention will just gve this subgenre more solidarity then they had before.

This ‘incident’ also reminds me of the video release of a mob of people in Mexico attacking on emo kids in late March. The prevlance of these types of attacks got a lot of media attention. The media blamed other subcultures, such as punks and metalheads. I'm pretty sure that this classifies as some sort of human rights/free speech violation (because both of those countries have such good track records). I don't really get the whole emo trend myself, but like seriously, this is slightly too much.