All language subtitles for VICE quemando rusia

[protesters]
chanting native language

[Isobel] These protests
have really erupted

across the country.

[women screaming]

[Isobel] This is where
they're planning on putting

hundreds of thousands
of "foreigners."

Are all people not equal?

All people are not equal.

[boy]
speaking native language

Are you afraid that if the kids
don't have wrestling

that they may turn
to terrorism?

speaking native language

[Alzo] All of these kids

want to become champions,

but not all of them
can make it to the top.

speaking native language

♪ dramatic electronic music ♪

♪♪♪

[indistinct shouting]

♪♪♪

♪ dramatic music ♪

[man]
speaking native language

Several thousand people
showed up today

to make their voices heard

about what they see
as anti-Muslim

discriminatory moves
by the ruling BJP government.

But they've been met
by hundreds and hundreds

of police forces,
some of them in full riot gear,

ready to push them back.

[Isobel]
Demonstrations like this

have swept across India
since December,

with hundreds of thousands
of people

taking to the streets

to protest a set of new laws
that they see

as an attack
on India's secular core.

They've been met
by heavy police response.

[man]
speaking native language

Some of the protesters
have managed to break through.

They're trying to get over
these barricades.

How old are you?

[Isobel] More than 32 people
were taken to the hospital,

mostly due
to the large crowds.

India is the world's
biggest democracy,

but many here are angry.

They say Prime Minister
Narendra Modi

and his ruling BJP party
have spent the last six years

turning India into
a Hindu nationalist state.

Modi was once banned
from the U.S.

for his alleged role
in anti-Muslim riots

that left thousands dead.

He's also
successfully campaigned

for Muslim religious sites
to be replaced

with Hindu temples.

And just last year,
he locked down

India's largest
Muslim region, Kashmir,

jailing opposition
and limiting Internet access.

But his latest policy could
pose an even larger threat.

In December 2019,
Modi's party passed

the Citizenship Amendment Act,
or CAA.

This legislation promised
an easier route to citizenship

for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,

Jains, Parsis, and Christians.

Everyone, that is,
except Muslims.

speaking
native language

[Isobel] This new law,
combined with an effort

to update India's
citizenship registry,

has many of the country's
200 million Muslims,

the world's second-largest
Muslim population,

extremely worried.

They fear
that the government's pledge

to remove illegal immigrants
is actually a plan

to get rid of them.

- [man shouts]
- [explosion booms]

[Isobel] The months-long
protest kicked off

at Jamia Millia Islamia,

a majority-Muslim university
in New Delhi.

♪♪♪

[Isobel] Zakia Ali
was guarding the library

when hundreds of police
broke into campus,

claiming they were looking
for troublemaking protesters.

[man]
speaking native language

[Isobel] Is this blood?

Forced it open?

[protesters chanting]

[Isobel] The university
crackdown became

an iconic moment in protests
that continued for months.

[protesters chanting]

The widespread resistance
sparked more police action.

[women screaming]

And the situation
eventually descended

into full-blown
sectarian riots.

Mosques were vandalized.

People were beaten,

sometimes with police
joining in.

In total, at least 70 people
have been killed.

I have never witnessed
anything more traumatizing

than what I have been
witnessing right now

as a journalist in India.

[Isobel] Rana Ayyub
is a renowned Muslim

journalist-turned-activist

who's one
of the loudest voices

condemning Hindu nationalism.

Ever since Narendra Modi
has come to power,

this-this bigotry
which used to be in the fringe

has now become
the mainstream.

So we are headed
towards an India

which is now asserting itself

not as a democracy
but as a Hindu nation.

Why is it do you think
that that Hindu

nationalist rhetoric
is so popular?

Because they make
this 82% Hindu majority

feel like victims
in their own country.

It's like,
why are white supremacists

popular in the United States?

This is all
stoking the sentiment

that most of the Muslims
are migrants;

they do not belong here.

This democracy's no longer
a democracy.

[Isobel] This is Assam,

a sleepy northeastern state

that's become the test case
for how the new

citizenship policies
could play out nationwide.

♪♪♪

Last year,
the government published

a national register
of citizens, or NRC,

which excluded
1.9 million people.

Those off this list
now have to prove

they really are
Indian citizens,

and for Muslims
who were excluded

from the Citizenship
Amendment Act,

being off the list could mean
ending up in a detention camp,

something Modi says
doesn't exist.

♪♪♪

So we've just reached

the first detention center
that they started building.

Until just a few months ago,
this area

was all farmland,
and now suddenly,

hundreds of workers
have descended

on this spot
and started building

these massive watchtowers,
double walls,

and huge, huge
facilities inside.

♪♪♪

This is a brand-new
detention camp

being built in the state.

The central government
has directed other states

to start building their own.

22-year-old Razul is a Muslim
construction worker

who's been at this site
for the last year and a half.

speaking native language

[Isobel] Working here
is hard for Razul.

He tells me his own mother was
left off the citizenship list.

At what point did you realize

what it was
that you're building?

Why have you stayed
working here

for the last year and a half,
knowing that your own

family members
could end up here?

♪♪♪

[Isobel] Razul has no choice

but to earn the money
to help his mother

prove her citizenship,

a process that means providing
documents dating back decades,

something
that's particularly hard

for the quarter of Indians
who are illiterate.

Razul has been busy
working at the site

of the detention camp recently,

but several hours this way,
there's a village,

which is where he grew up,

where the rest of his family
is still living.

♪♪♪

[Isobel] Even in this
remote village,

Halima, Razul's mother,
is afraid the authorities

might find her
and take her away.

[Isobel] What went through
your mind when you found out

you were not on that list?

How can that be the case?

I mean, you guys
provided presumably

the same documents
for all of you.

How come it's just her
that was left off the list?

[Isobel] Women's names
are often left off

important documents,

meaning that even though
this family

have lived in Assam
for generations

and the rest of the family
are considered citizens,

Razul's mother is not.

[Isobel] Halima is set
to stand trial

before a Foreigners' Tribunal

to determine
her citizenship fate,

but it won't be easy.

We've obtained documents
that show the government

has dismissed judges
who don't declare

a high rate of people
foreigners.

In a performance review
of 70 judges,

those who had
a good performance

and were recommended
for retention

declared on average

about seven times
more foreigners

than those
who were terminated.

Kartik Chandra Roy
was one of those judges

removed from his post.

What proportion of people
who are deemed foreigners

do you think are getting
a fair judgment?

I mean, India is supposed to be
a democratic, secular country.

Do you think that it is?

[Isobel] But those at the top
are doubling down.

All that we can say is that
the PJB government has acted.

[Isobel] We met
Dr. Subramanian Swamy,

a top leader
of the ruling BJP party,

at his home in New Delhi.

On this issue,
the country is with us.

Most people like
our hardline approach

to solving pending problems.

I mean, the UN
has called this bill

fundamentally discriminatory
in nature.

Surely by leaving out Muslims
and including

every other religion
in this bill, this is just--

this is rolling back India's
secular, democratic core.

The act cannot be faulted
for that.

This was a commitment
we had made

over several years,
over several governments.

We have completed the job.

We know, where the Muslim
population is large,

there's always trouble,

because the Islamic ideology
says so.

I mean, there's 200 million
Muslims living in India.

That's the second-largest
Muslim population in the world,

and you're saying that wherever
Muslims live, there's problems?

If Muslims become
more than 30%,

that country's in danger.

- That sounds like hatred.
- No.

That sounds like language
of hatred towards...

It's easy to say hatred.

I'm being kind to them

by not letting them
come to India.

Article 14
of the Indian Constitution

guarantees the right
to equality, as you know,

for all persons
living in India.

I can tell you
that's a misinterpretation

of Article 14.

Article 14 guarantees

equality of equals.

- I'll give you an example--
- Are all people not equal?

All people are not equal.

Muslims do not deserve

equal rights
to apply for citizenship?

There's no such thing
as equal rights.

They're not
in an equal category.

I mean, clearly,
there is a lot of resistance.

There is a lot of fear coming

from both Muslim
and non-Muslim people

who are deeply dissatisfied.

I think these demonstrations
are very small.

[Isobel] That's a matter
of opinion.

Public outcry has continued
for months.

And the protest
that seems to rankle

the ruling party the most
is this one,

a peaceful sit-in
that's shut down

a major New Delhi highway.

This highway is a site
where women,

mostly mothers of students
of Jamia University,

first came to express
their dissatisfaction

and start protesting
against the government,

and since then,

these protests
have really swollen.

This sit-in has become
something of a ground zero

for those resisting
the Citizenship Amendment Act

and what it stands for.

How many days have you
been coming here for?

[Rana] Yes, we are heading
towards a dark time,

but it's also a moment
of glory for us

because India
is finally resisting.

What's at stake is
the vibrant plural democracy

that India took
great pride in.

Our secularism is at stake.

The fact that we're
a diverse country is at stake.

The soul of India
is at stake.

[protesters chanting]

♪ percussive music ♪

♪♪♪

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

[boys all speaking at once]

speaking native language

♪ fast-paced classical music ♪

We're here
at one of the most famous

wrestling schools
in the capital of Dagestan,

where hundreds
of young boys come

in hopes of being
wrestling champions.

[whistle blows]

This is just the warm-up.

So all of these kids want
to become champions, right?

[Alzo]
Dagestan:

it's a small
mountainous republic

in the Russian Federation.

It's kind of like a state
within the U.S.

Like its neighbor Chechnya,

Dagestan is
predominantly Muslim.

Despite its size,
it's home to 33

Olympic champion
freestyle wrestlers,

including 16 gold medalists.

speaking native language

[Alzo] Magomed Abasov
is a wrestling coach

who oversees a network
of wrestling schools

in the highlands of Dagestan.

Where do these wrestlers
come from?

If the root is in the village,
that's where I want to go.

[Alzo] What is it that makes
the mountain people so strong?

Wow. Wow.
[chuckles]

♪♪♪

- [Magomed] Oh-ho.
- [Alzo laughs]

That's a lot of vodka.
[laughs]

[Alzo] To my health?
What about your health?

[laughs]

To the mountain men
of Dagestan.

[man]
Alzo, a little bit, little bit.

[Alzo panting]

So out of the three
of you,

who's the best wrestler?

[all]
speaking native language

So all of three of you want
to be champions of wrestling.

[laughter]

[Alzo] You don't have
a sign on here

that says "don't do drugs."

You just have a sign
that says "no terrorism."

Are you afraid that if the kids
don't have wrestling

that they may turn
to terrorism?

[Alzo] Dagestan grappled
with terrorism decades ago

after the long-standing
conflict between Russia

and the Islamic insurgency
in neighboring Chechnya

spilled over its border.

It remained the site
of one of Europe's

bloodiest conflicts
as recently as 2013.

[woman] Russian authorities
say this morning

they've arrested
two people connected

to a pair of deadly bombings
that raise tensions

for the Winter Olympics.

[Alzo] Today Dagestan
is much more stable,

and wrestling remains
the republic's

greatest cultural export.

It seems that here
at the school,

it's more than just wrestling.

You're teaching character
and how to behave.

speaking native language

How would you feel
if one of your sons said,

"I don't want to be
a wrestler"?

speaking native language

[school bell ringing]

speaking native language

[Alzo] You have a fight
coming up.

Are you prepared?

What happens if you don't
make Olympic champion?

Then what do you do?

[Alzo] Dagestan is also
known for producing

some of the fiercest
mixed martial arts fighters

in the world,

who dominate
its most prominent

and lucrative organization,
the UFC.

[Joe] Dagestan,
there's just something

- in the water over there.
- [man] Yeah, they just--

Oh, they train
with bears, right?

[Alzo] The reigning
undefeated champion

of the lightweight division
is national hero

Khabib Nurmagomedov.

[man] There's the tap!

[Alzo] In October 2018,
he defeated the former champ

and UFC legend Conor McGregor.

Even Khabib traces his roots

to the wrestling culture

of the Dagestani highlands.

In this viral video,

this dude is wrestling a bear

at nine years old.

♪♪♪

Every few months,

MMA fighters take
to the mountains here

to train in this
unforgiving environment.

[panting]

Wait, I'm not done?

We still got more?

Among them
is professional MMA fighter

Timur Valiev, who's only lost

one bout since 2011.

speaking native language

[Alzo] It's about 8,000 feet
above sea level up here.

I can hardly talk.

I feel like
I'm Sylvester Stallone

in Rocky IV.

You run across the ice?

I'll bust my ass.

Man, y'all crazy.

Ah!
Ah!

Come on, come on!

Let's go, champ!

[Alzo] Ain't no treadmills.

There ain't no bench press.

It's just rocks, snow,
and grit.

[both grunting]

[laughs]

This guy good.
He is not joke.

[both laugh]

♪♪♪

We've seen hundreds
of kids training.

- Yes.
- Eight, nine, ten years old.

- Yeah.
- Right?

That want to be
Olympic wrestlers.

They want to be champions,
and they see Khabib,

and they think about
mixed martial arts.

Yes.

What does it say
about wrestling

as a foundation
for fighting in Dagestan?

♪♪♪

[Alzo] We're in the town
of Gergebil',

where over 150 boys
are competing

from 16 mountainous regions
of Dagestan.

The winner goes on to compete
at the republican level

with the hopes of fighting

in the Russian
national competition.

Basically,
this is the tournament

to determine who is the best

teenage wrestler
from the mountains.

♪♪♪

It's kind of chaotic right now.

We got fathers,
we got coaches here.

You got kids
coming in overweight.

And these mountain men
are not having it.

[yells]

[Alzo] Unfortunately,
today won't be that day

for Magomed.

Because of an ongoing injury,

he was flagged as being
unable to compete

in today's tournament.

But one of his teammates,
Gusein, has a chance.

How you feeling?

speaking native language

[Alzo] Are you worried
about your competition?

♪♪♪

[Alzo] Do you think
this loss today

will make him a better fighter?

Yeah!

So everybody
around the world

is afraid
of Dagestani fighters.

Not everybody, but some people.

[Timur chuckles]

♪ electronic music ♪

♪♪♪

♪♪