Union of Councils for Soviet Jews: Bigotry Monitor: Volume 3, Number 9

News

Bigotry Monitor: Volume 3, Number 9

(February 28, 2003)

Volume 3, Number 9
Friday, February 28, 2003

BIGOTRY MONITOR
A Weekly Human Rights Newsletter on Antisemitism, Xenophobia, andReligious Persecution in the Former Communist World and Western Europe

EDITOR: CHARLES FENYVESI
(News and Editorial Policy within the sole discretion of the editor)

Published by UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union
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RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS READY FOR ALLIANCES INCLUDING NEO-NAZIS. Hoping to achieve a parliamentary majority in the elections scheduled for December 2003, the Communists are ready to form an electoral coalition that includes anarchists, nationalists, and Aleksandr Barkashov's neo-Nazi Russian National Unity, Ren TV claimed on February 19. The program quoted Andrey Lychakov, head of a regional organization of anarchists: "Common misfortune keeps us together. They [the authorities] don't want us… So, we are ready to render any assistance which is not illegal to our companions in distress." Anatoly Lukyanov -- identified as chairman of the central consultative council under the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party -- said, referring to anarchists, Barkashov's movement, and nationalists: "If they stand on patriotic positions, try to save the country from American domination, and defend its sovereignty, then they are our allies, though we understand that they have their own goals." Speaking to the camera against the background of a large bust of V. I. Lenin, Konstantin Cheremisov -- identified as secretary for ideological work of the Communist Party's Moscow Region committee - said, referring to the same groups as Lukyanov: "We are ready to involve them in propaganda work. Ultimately, they will serve a common goal set by us."

"The ethnic policy in this country is distorted," the program quoted Vladimir Batsukin, identified as first secretary of the Communist Party's Moscow Region committee, as saying. "The leading nation [the Russians] is being undeservedly pushed aside to play a less important role. It mustn't be so. Eighty per cent of our country's population is Russian."

Ren TV reporter Aleksandr Zhestkov contended: "Propaganda among the supporters of Barkashov is in full swing. The Communists hope that the Nazis will give their votes in the forthcoming elections to the patriotic bloc whose core is the Communist Party." He said that some of Barkashov's supporters have already joined the Communist Party, finding that "their ideas are very close," with nationalism as the common main theme. "The Communists don't worry about the bad reputation of radical organizations," Zhestkov said. "They are citing Deng Xiaoping, who once said that cat's color does not matter if it is catching mice." The program ended with clips of anarchists and Barkashovites drinking beer in their basement clubs, and Communists and radical nationalists marching together under their flags.

The TV program might have been a sensationalized version of just one trend among the Communists, an early indication of a hard-fought, no-holds-barred election campaign. Or it may be the blunt truth revealed early by enterprising reporters.

FRENCH AND RUSSIAN FAR RIGHT TO MOVE CLOSER. Far-rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen, who received a surprise 20 percent of the vote in France's presidential election last year, attended the congress of the antisemitic People’s Will party on February 22 in Moscow. "Russia is a great nation, the largest on our continent," Le Pen said upon his arrival, "and it is important for it to take its place in the world and help change the world's center of gravity by counteracting the hegemony of one state." According to Interfax, People’s Will leader Sergei Baburin called on "national patriotic parties" to unite. "Our national conscience and cultural values must be revived," he said. "The term Great Russians, encompassing the three fraternal peoples of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, should be returned to our vocabulary."

Echoing Baburin's call to oppose "wars in Iraq and Chechnya" and "to save our people and the entire world," Le Pen said that all forces must be united to prevent a war in Iraq and to stop the spread of American influence. Le Pen, who accepted Baburin's invitation to Russia, asked him to attend the French nationalists' congress scheduled for April. Le Pen said he found the programs of the two parties similar.

ANTISEMITES TARGET MONUMENTS TO POET OSIP MANDELSTAM. A memorial plaque in Voronezh dedicated to the early twentieth century poet Osip Mandelstam has been vandalized for the second time in recent years, according to a report on the web site "Gazeta.ru." The words "Kike Out" were painted on the plaque located at 13 Friedrich Engels Street.

Meanwhile, in the Far Eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, city authorities have decided to move a monument to Mandelstam to the grounds of a college where it will be safer from vandals. Since its dedication in 1998, the monument has been defaced with swastikas five times and at one point it was destroyed, according to a January 14 "Izvestiya" article.

MEDIA MINISTRY WARNS NATIONALIST NEWSPAPER. Russia’s Media Ministry issued an official warning to the nationalist weekly newspaper "Zavtra," edited by Aleksandr Prokhanov, news agencies reported on February 26. The warning charges the paper with violating legislation banning the xenophobia and extremism, and the incitement of ethnic enmity. Deputy Media Minister Valery Sirozhenko cited an interview that Prokhanov conducted in London with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov's envoy Akhmed Zakaev. The Russian government, which has been seeking Zakaev’s extradition, has accused him of terrorism. Sirozhenko noted that the newspaper must publish the text of the ministry's warning in its next issue.

The web site “Polit.ru" commented that sooner or later Prokhanov was bound be a target of the recent anti-extremism law because of his public support for National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov and his friendship with self-exiled magnate Boris Berezovsky.

RUSSIA'S MUSLIMS COMPILE BLACKLISTS OF 'ENEMIES OF ISLAM.' Russian Muslims are compiling blacklists of politicians, officials, and journalists who "have a bad attitude toward Islam," four "Izvestiya" correspondents reported on February 24 from Karelia and Vologda Oblast. The enemies include vice governors, deputies, senior officials, staffers in the Prosecutor's Office, and journalists, according to the team. "The pretext might be a newspaper investigation, opposition to the construction of a mosque, or just not paying enough attention to Muslims' views," their article says but cautions that "most Russian Muslims believe that this practice is out of step with the spirit of the Koran."

In its free paper "Pryamoy Put" ("Direct Path"), the Karelian Muslim Spiritual Administration published a list of politicians, officials, and journalists who have shown a "tendency toward Islamophobia." The blacklist includes a former Karelian internal affairs minister, the head of an Internal Affairs Ministry subunit, the head of the Karelian Yabloko party, the deputy press minister, a staffer at the State Committee for Nationalities Policy, and some journalists - a total of ten people. According to “Izvestiya," the journalists upset the list makers by writing articles examining links between representatives of Muslim peoples and the criminal world and the politicians and officials are on the list because of their negative attitudes toward a plan to construct a mosque in Petrozavodsk.

"In this way we are simply telling fellow believers who these people are," Karelian Spiritual Administration mufti Ali Bardvil explained to "Izvestiya." "We are not urging them to mete out punishment or use violence. It is important for people to know what to expect when approached by a deputy or journalist. The people we have drawn attention to are trying to turn the populace against Muslims."

One opponent of the construction of the mosque who found himself on the blacklist is Aleksandr Chazhengin, head of the Karelian branch of the Yabloko party. He says his opposition has to do with the personalities of those wanting to build the mosque. "Some of them were not Russian citizens," Chazhengin says. "It is not clear how the public organization they represent is funded. Why were we supposed to trust them?" He believes that drawing up such lists and publishing them in the press incites religious enmity, which is punishable under the Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, Vologda Muslims are compiling their own blacklist. "Though it has not been published as yet," "Izvestiya" wrote, "we know it includes the names of senior local officials, who, according to members of the local Muslim community, opposed the construction of a mosque in the city." The "enemies of Islam" include vice governors Ivan Pozdnyakov and Vladimir Kasyanov and Vologda City Hall and oblast Prosecutor's Office staffers.

"This confrontation will not do any good," Supreme Mufti of Russia Sheikh ul-Islam Talgat Tadzhuddin, head of the Muslim Spiritual Administration of Russia and European CIS Countries, told "Izvestiya." "If some kind of bureaucratic dispute has arisen, first and foremost it is necessary to ask the community members to consider whether they themselves may be at fault."

Leonid Troshin, chief of the Russian Federation General Prosecutor's Office Information and Public Relations Administration, learned of the existence of the blacklists from "Izvestiya." He thought that "this kind of thing has not happened before." He said: "Local prosecutor's offices will look into the situation and make a legal appraisal of the Muslims' actions."

SIXTH CATHOLIC PRIEST HAS RESIDENCE PERMIT REVOKED IN RUSSIA. Bronislaw Czaplicki, the prelate of the Catholic parish in the town of Pushkin in the Leningrad region, has had his permit to reside in Russia revoked, the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Russia told Interfax on February 23. An ethnic Pole, Father Bronislaw "has been working in Russia for about ten years, and, in addition to his priestly duties, he coordinates a program of the beatification of Twentieth Century martyrs in Russia who suffered during the Soviet era," Secretary General of the Conference Igor Kowalewski told Interfax. He said that the authorities have not provided any explanation for Czaplicki's expulsion so far. He added that since last April, Czaplicki is the sixth Roman Catholic priest denied the right to work in Russia.

RUSSIAN SKINHEADS KILLED 17 MIGRANT WORKERS FROM ONE UZBEK REGION. Russian skinheads in various Russian cities killed 17 migrant workers from Uzbekistan's Dzhizak Region over the past year, the Uzbek web site "www.uzland.uz" reported on February 26, quoting the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting. "It is becoming increasingly dangerous for Uzbek citizens to travel to Russia to earn money because of the brutality of skinheads," the report said and estimated that between 1999 and 2002 about one million Uzbeks left for Russia in search of employment.

In Uzbekistan, the report continued, local officials shunned the families of those killed and said that everything was their fault. The families have been able to get only four of the 17 bodies returned to them on account of high transport costs that may run $2,600 per body. The rest are in Russian morgues, the report said.

LITHUANIAN NEWSPAPER REPORTS SKINHEADS GAINING POPULARITY. More and more youths in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas are attracted to extreme nationalists like the skinhead movement, according to the local newspaper "Laikinoji Sostine" of February 22. As in other countries, Kaunas skinheads hate foreigners and Jews. A skinhead named Rimas told the newspaper that though "Hitler did not like Lithuania," "he did much good for the country by getting rid of most of its Jews."

AUSTRIAN CONSERVATIVES TO FORM COALITION WITH FAR RIGHT AGAIN. Three months after winning the national elections by the highest percentage of the vote since World War II, 42 percent, Austria's conservative People's Party is about to renew its coalition pact with the far-right Freedom Party that precipitated the breakup of the earlier coalition and whose share of the vote dropped to 10 percent from its all-time high of 27 percent in 1999. The Freedom Party continues to be dominated by Joerg Haider, whose strident anti-immigrant pronouncements have in recent years taken precedence over his defense of Nazi labor policies and the Waffen SS and veiled attacks on Jews. Three years ago he resigned as a party chairman and "retired" to the province of Carinthia, where he is the governor. His exclusion from the cabinet is expected to continue.

People Party functionaries have expressed confidence that this time there will be no repeat of the international outrage, street protests, and several months of diplomatic sanctions that rocked Austria after Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel first brought Haider's party into the government in March 2000. "The European Union learned from its mistakes," Maria Rauch-Kallat, general secretary of the People's Party, told reporters. "It is generally conceded now that the sanctions imposed by the other 14 [EU states] were not based on any law and violated EU law." Observers suggest that the surge of the far right elsewhere in Europe will blunt the edge of the protest against Haider's people joining the government.

On February 20, Schuessel and Rauch-Kallat stressed that they turned to the Freedom Party only after coalition talks with the Greens broke down. They predicted that they would be able to sign a coalition pact with the Freedom Party within a few days. Observers warn that the unpredictable Haider may return to Vienna from his self-imposed "exile" in Carinthia and create new problems for the coalition and among his party's leaders split into feuding factions.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK * * * "There are people who don't want to remember and who don't want others to remember," said Hungary's former prime minister and now opposition leader Viktor Orban on February 23 in the House of Terror, once the Budapest headquarters of both the Nazi and Communist secret police and now a museum dedicated to the memory of the victims. "The debate over the past is about the present and the future. Where the past is left in darkness, fear stalks the present -- a fear that there may not be a future."

SERBIAN EXTREMIST SURRENDERS AT THE HAGUE BUT VOWS TO FIGHT ON
Indicted War Criminal Seselj Flies to The Hague

A combination of the hate-monger Josef Goebbels and SS chief Heinrich Himmler, Vojislav Seselj was a principal instigator of Serbian ultra-nationalism responsible for the four wars of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. After the dictator Slobodan Milosevic lost the presidential election and the new government forced him to fly to The Hague to be tried by the international war crimes tribunal, Seselj became the unofficial leader of those Serbs who defend Milosevic's genocidal policies. On February 24, Seselj, 48, bid an emotional farewell to more than 10,000 followers who braved freezing temperatures on Belgrade's Republic Square and then flew on his own volition to the Netherlands to face the tribunal.

Tomislav Nikolic, his deputy in the Serbian Radical Party, which constitutes the strongest opposition group, told the gathering at Republic Square: "Tonight Serbia is seeing off its warrior to another battle with fear but also with pride," according to Reuters. "Voja [Seselj] will fight the battle against Serbia's enemies at The Hague." According to official figures, Seselj captured more than 36 percent of the popular vote -- one million votes -- in Serbia's presidential elections last December, second only to the incumbent Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.

On the flight from Belgrade to Amsterdam, Seselj told the Associated Press that he surrendered "in order to destroy the evil tribunal, an American instrument against the Serbs.'' He declared: "I am going to The Hague to defend the dignity of my 10,000 fighters who fought gallantly during the wars.''

Earlier in the month, The Hague tribunal made public its indictment of Seselj on six counts of war crimes and eight counts of crimes against humanity, including persecution, torture, killing, and destruction of homes and mosques while serving as the commander of a paramilitary unit in the early 1990s. "He bears criminal individual responsibility for crimes which were part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the Croat, Muslim, and other non-Serb civilians," the tribunal said.

It is a tribute to the UN's Hague court that an unrepentant ethnic cleanser such as Seselj gave himself up voluntarily. While he boasted that he will prove his innocence and "put the Americans and NATO on trial," he knows that he will lose the case and spend much of the rest of his life in prison as no one but his fanatic followers would agree that the killings he ordered were in defense of the Serbian nation. His plan is to outdo the dour, uncharismatic Milosevic. A fiery orator, Seselj is expected to extol the glory of his brand of Serbian nationalism and his leadership of a much-feared militia. While Milosevic created a circus atmosphere in court and invited contempt and ridicule, Seselj, more radical than Milosevic and a mercurial speaker, is determined to turn his trial into a rhetorical battleground.

Seselj and his cohorts are known to be angry that during Milosevic's one year in the dock he allowed world attention to shift to other crises. Seselj is set to recapture the limelight and to cast himself in the role of the last hero of Serbia's unsuccessful wars in the 1990s.

Seselj has other rivals as well: Bosnian Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic and his army commander Ratko Mladic, known to be hiding in Serbia. But unlike that pair of indictees, Seselj decided not to spend the rest of his life protected by security guards and evading justice. (Perhaps he got tired either of his sycophantic followers sheltering him or the agents of international law shadowing him -- or both.) At the same time, Seselj urged his supporters at the Belgrade rally to prevent the government from handing over the two Bosnian Serb leaders to The Hague. At a Belgrade airport, he declared: "The most important thing is that I be the last Serb who goes to The Hague.''

Prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said Seselj's decision to turn himself in was "a good one and other indictees at large should follow his example."

Like Milosevic, Seselj chose to be his own attorney. At his request, the full indictment was read out in court on February 26, taking close to three hours. The accused listened in silence, apparently unmoved, "The New York Times" noted, adding that he complained about several Croatian words that appeared in the Serbian translation. In this and other instances, Seselj is "playing for a TV audience at home," the newspaper suggested.
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