We don’t want to be racists: we’re all civilized people. But the situation is absurd. [In Britain] TV news anchors . . . it’s a requirement that she be black, swarthy. And the other one has to be something else. The recruitment of these minorities is huge. And you can’t find two news anchors. It turns out that a TV channel’s best bet is to hire a legless negro lesbian single mother. That’s great: she meets all the criteria. But if you don’t do this, you might be sued for discrimination. People do this [hire minorities] not because they’ve come to love everyone or accepted the theory of Marcuse, but because they can be sued. Sued and bankrupted. Suddenly there’s this big campaign [in Britain]: for some reason there are very few women in private companies, on boards of directors. Well, go figure, huh? It’s a national tragedy. But what do you know: these companies are forced to find women so that these women sit there stormily. This isn’t a joke, this is serious. This is private business: they don’t need these people. They need people who will work. But as a result it turns out that not only does this not produce any fairness in society, but also suspicion grows, racism grows. You go to the hospital and there’s a Pakistani doctor. For all I know he got his diploma because he’s politically correct. I don’t want to be treated by him. I would prefer to be treated by one of our guys, by a Russian immigrant. At least I know that he studied properly and learned a thing or two. But this guy [the Pakistani]? I don’t know who gave him his diploma and why. Maybe because he’s dark-skinned.

—Vladimir Bukovsky, Smolny College of Liberal Arts, Saint Petersburg, 28 November 2007