UCSJ Russia Regional Reports 1999 -2000
PREFACE
This report is the second in a series following UCSJ's January 2000 report "Antisemitism, Xenophobia and Religious Persecution in Russia's Regions: 1998-1999." Based on UCSJ's year-long monitoring, the heart of this work is the presentation of monitoring reports covering incidents in 74 of Russia's 89 regions, where all but a handful of the Russian Jewish population lives.
Appendices include a report on antisemitism in the Russian parliamentary elections and a sample of articles from antisemitic newspapers purchased in the State Duma building in the Summer of 1999.
While the primary focus of the report is on antisemitism and neo-fascism, it also reflects UCSJ's guiding philosophy that the violation of human rights, including the persecution of non-Jewish ethnic and religious minorities, has a pernicious effect on the safety of the Jewish community— a historically persecuted and still widely unpopular minority group. Some of the worst elements of Soviet society— the labeling of entire ethnic groups (most recently the Chechens) as enemies of the state, and the paranoid description of many minority religious groups as "sects"— have been revived. The xenophobic, witch hunt mentality that the state is encouraging through its policies towards these groups can easily turn against the Jews. In addition, while grassroots and official antisemitism threaten the safety of Jews directly, the level of antisemitism in Russian society provides a useful bellwether for assessing the condition of human rights, civil society and democracy.
A significant portion of the monitoring cited in this report is the result of the work of the Moscow Helsinki Group, which under a USAID grant to which UCSJ is a sub-grantee conducted human rights monitoring in 60 regions. An abridged English language version of that report can be found on UCSJ's web site (www.fsumonitor.com). The full Russian version of the report can be found at (www.hro.org/docs/reps/1999/index.htm) .
Nickolai Butkevich, UCSJ's Research and Advocacy Director, wrote the bulk of the report and served as the senior editor.
Leonid Stonov, UCSJ's Director of International Bureaus and Activities, provided editing and fact checking.
Sarah Manaker, UCSJ's Office Manager, and Chris Walker, UCSJ Intern, edited the report.
Robin Biderman, UCSJ's Program Assistant, and Sarah Manaker designed the layout of the report.
UCSJ bureaus in Moscow and St. Petersburg— the Selma and Harold Light Center, directed by the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal, a UCSJ member council— contributed monitoring reports. A significant amount of monitoring information came from Yad l' Yad partnerships between UCSJ member councils in the US and Jewish communities in Russia. Yad l' Yad based monitoring from Chicago Action for Jews in the Former Soviet Union and the Bay Area Council was especially helpful.
Yosef I. Abramowitz Micah H. Naftalin
President National Director