MOSCOW // Tens of millions of Russians across the country will celebrate the national People's Unity Day holiday today. It seems, however, that few of them have any idea what exactly they will be celebrating.
Created three years ago by Vladimir Putin, then Russia's president and now the powerful prime minister, the Nov 4 People's Unity Day replaced the national Nov 7 holiday, originally a Soviet holiday marking the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.
In 1994, several years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, renamed the holiday, Day of Accord and Reconciliation, though communist supporters continued to use the occasion to celebrate the Bolsheviks' victory.
But in what many saw as an attempt by Mr Putin to co-opt the communist holiday, People's Unity Day was established in 2005, officially to commemorate the expulsion of Polish invaders from Moscow in 1612.
Amid the different names and occasions for the day off in November, a little more than one quarter of Russians actually know what holiday they will be celebrating today, according to a survey by the Levada Centre, an independent pollster.
Of the 1,600 Russians polled nationwide by the centre, just 28 per cent correctly identified the holiday as People's Unity Day, while 26 per cent thought they would be celebrating Day of Accord and Reconciliation, the holiday created by Mr Yeltsin.
Three per cent thought they would be celebrating the Bolshevik revolution, while 37 per cent either did not know or had difficulty answering.
Conducted from Oct 17 to Oct 20, the Levada Centre poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.
The lack of a collective historical consciousness in Russia, due in part to decades of manipulation of official history for propaganda purposes by the Soviets, makes it "hardly surprising" that few Russians know what they are celebrating on Nov 4, said Andrei Ryabov, a political analyst.
"With the [May 9] Victory Day celebrations, it's very clear what is being celebrated because almost every family lost somebody in the war with the Nazis," Mr Ryabov said. "Almost nobody has the faintest idea what happened 400 years ago to spawn this holiday."
The Russian government wanted an excuse to scrap the celebration of the Bolshevik revolution, so it looked for some historical events that were "around the same date" to justify a new holiday, Mr Ryabov said.
The confusion over the holiday highlights the problematic nature of Russia's attempts to come to grips with its past. Russian state television is currently broadcasting a series of debates in a show called Name of Russia in which viewers will decide who is the greatest figure in Russian history.
The inclusion of Josef Stalin, the Soviet dictator, among the 12 finalists, alongside such figures as Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, Alexander Pushkin and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, has sparked outrage among many Russians, who deride as dangerous the attempts to rehabilitate the tyrant's public image.
Particularly peeved at the new holiday have been members of Russia's Communist Party, who plan to ignore today's celebrations and take to the streets on Friday to celebrate the 91st anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.
"This is an artificially created holiday, dreamed up with the aim of minimising the importance of and festive atmosphere surrounding the celebration of the revolution," said Sergei Reshulsky, a Communist Party official and a member of Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma. "That is why opinion polls show that nobody understands exactly what is being celebrated."
The Communist Party is one of four parties in the State Duma. The party embraces populist rhetoric and Soviet nostalgia, and while it often criticises Kremlin policies, it rarely, if ever, publicly criticises the Kremlin itself.
Mr Reshulsky said communist supporters planned to rally in central Moscow and cities across the country on Friday to celebrate the Soviet-era holiday.
Perhaps more than any other group, People's Unity Day has been embraced by Russian ultranationalists, who have used the holiday to hold so-called Russian Marches, where the young and old alike come together to rally in central Moscow and rail against Jews and dark-skinned migrant workers from former Soviet republics.
The main organiser of these marches has been the right-wing Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI), which in recent years has received permission to hold the demonstrations, despite Russian criminal statutes against inciting ethnic and religious hatred.
Last week, Moscow City Hall denied the group permission to hold a Russian March, saying several other groups had already been granted demonstrations in the areas they had requested.
It appears, however, that the group has a backup plan: the vaunted Moscow subway.
"If we don't get permission from authorities, most likely we will hold our demonstration? at one of the central Moscow underground stations," Alexei Kanurin, a DPNI activist, told the state-run Interfax news agency.
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Nancy Ajram
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE SQUAD
Omar Abdulrahman (Al Hilal), Ali Khaseif, Ali Mabkhout, Salem Rashed, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Zayed Al Ameri, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Khalid Essa, Ahmed Barman, Ryan Yaslam, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmin (Al Wasl), Adel Al Hosani, Ali Hassan Saleh, Majed Suroor (Sharjah), Ahmed Khalil, Walid Abbas, Majed Hassan, Ismail Al Hammadi (Shabab Al Ahli), Hassan Al Muharrami, Fahad Al Dhahani (Bani Yas), Mohammed Al Shaker (Ajman)
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
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Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
THE DETAILS
Director: Milan Jhaveri
Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series
Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee
Rating: 2/5
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
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SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
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SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
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Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MATCH INFO
Asian Champions League, last 16, first leg:
Al Ain 2 Al Duhail 4
Second leg:
Tuesday, Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha. Kick off 7.30pm
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RESULTS
5pm: Rated Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: AF Mouthirah, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Alajaj, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Hawafez, Connor Beasley, Abubakar Daud
6.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Tair, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Wakeel W’Rsan, Richard Mullen, Jaci Wickham
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner: Son Of Normandy, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
More on Quran memorisation:
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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