The Russians confront Kazan tragedy

The Orthodox Metropolitan of Kazan and the Mufti of Tatarstan close to the families of the victims. "An anti-human act" during Easter and Ramadan. For some commentators, there is too much state propaganda about the country's weapons and "enemies". For others, the fault lies with social networks, Naval'nyj and the Tatar language.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In the aftermath of the  high school n.175 shooting in Kazan, in which the young Ilyaz Galjaviev killed 9 people and wounded 23 others, all of Russia and the republic of Tatarstan are discussing the incident, trying to identify further preventive measures, and reflect on the causes of such an unpredictable and dramatic event.

The Orthodox Metropolitan of Kazan, Kirill (Nakonečnyj) went to the high school of the tragedy together with the mufti of Tatarstan, the khazrat Kamil Samigullin (photos 1 and 2). The two leaders of the main denominations of the republic placed a wreath of flowers on the makeshift memorial in honor of the victims (photo 3).

Addressing reporters, Kirill noted that "for us it is a terrible blow in these holy days, when for us Orthodox it is the Easter week of Radonitsa [the festive visit to the cemeteries, with the announcement of the Resurrection], and for the our Muslim brothers are about to conclude the holy month of Ramadan with the feast of Uraza-Bayram [Id-al-fitr in Arabic, the “breaking of fast”]. It is an anti-human act, which cannot fail to leave a mark in the heart of every person. We offer our condolences to those who have lost loved ones, and those who have suffered ”.

Mufti Samigullin added that “criminals of this type are not part of any nation, have no religion, and there is no need to try to relate them to anything. First of all, I would like to recommend patience and fortitude to the parents of all children". In all mosques and churches in Kazan, and also in the imposing Catholic Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, special prayers of commemoration and intercession were held for the victims of the shooting.

Media coverage denounces the "war propaganda" of the state, which has been criticised several times recently and also includes the "militarization of children" (photo 4). Political scientist Dmitrij Oreškin, speaking on Idel.Realii, observes that "these things also happen in the USA, where there is no conscious militarization of the political-social environment like us ... in general, the new generations do not know how to solve problems on their own, there is a growing exasperation. Teenagers do not understand what is happening, they hear the propaganda that points out enemies everywhere at work against Russia, and that repeats how the world is ruled by dark forces ". According to other commentators, the strong arm politics, in place in recent years in Russia, increasingly pushes people to adopt violent methods.

By far the most paradoxical speech was that of Irina Volynets, "Ombudsman" for children of Tatarstan. She expressed teh view that the main cause of the shooting in the school is "the absolute absence of an official state ideology, like the one that existed in the USSR", which had the merit of "engaging young people even outside of school , according to directives decided by the State, and if we do not radically change our system, these situations are destined to repeat themselves… not all families are able to organize group activities ”.

Other Russian politicians joined Volynets calls for a ban on allowing children to use of social media up to the age of 14. In addition, she points the finger at "those fascists who support Naval'nyj", and she also condemns the lessons of the Tatar language, because "common ideas need a single common language throughout the Russian Federation".