Volume 2, Number 12
Friday, March 22, 2002

BIGOTRY MONITOR
A Weekly Human Rights Newsletter on Antisemitism, Xenophobia, and Religious 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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PUTIN PLEDGES TO STAMP OUT ANTISEMITISM. In a meeting with Russian Jewish leaders on March 19, President Vladimir Putin pledged to root out antisemitism. "If we do not stop nationalism, xenophobia, and religious extremism, we will be unable to go forward as a country," Putin was shown on television telling the Jewish delegation at the Kremlin. He spoke in favor of furthering friendship and mutual understanding among religions and praised the Jewish contribution to Russian culture. In what has become a cornerstone of his vision of history, Putin called Russia a unique state where "Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have peacefully coexisted" for centuries. "This mixture of religions constitutes the base and the power" of the multi-national Russian land, he declared. Some two dozen representatives of the Federation of Russia's Jewish Communities, including Lubavitch rabbis from 14 Russian cities, attended the two-hour-long meeting that also marked a step in Putin's campaign to achieve Russia's "graduation" from the provisions of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.

"The antisemitism which was once a state policy no longer exists in Russia, although individual manifestations of antisemitism can be seen in everyday life," Interfax news agency quoted Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar as saying after the meeting. He said that the emigration of Jews from Russia is decreasing. "Many Jews prefer to stay in this country, as they welcome the current upsurge in Jewish life in Russia," he said. "In Russia, Jews live the way they live in the rest of the world."

In a subsequent interview on NTV's "Hero of the Day" program, Rabbi Lazar pointed out that despite the fact that government policy opposes inter-ethnic threats, there are newspaper articles and books, as well as organizations that are "openly fascist and antisemitic," inciting hatred. "Had they been backed by the president," he noted, "it would have been impossible to tackle the problem." But, he argued, "we understand that everyone believes that this is a bad thing -- bad for the country not only because it is antisemitism, but because it can be directed against someone else tomorrow. Unfortunately, the problem is in the laws. There are no laws to ban the work of these organizations. We've discussed the issue with the president. I think that the problem is in the slow work of state structures."

AFTER CONFRONTING U.S., RUSSIA, AND CHINA, UN COMMISSIONER QUITS. In her last report as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson called for a "credible response from the Russian authorities commensurate with the scale of the allegations of serious human rights abuses" in Chechnya. Released last week, the report declared that respect for human rights is the only long-term guarantor against terrorist violence. Robinson voiced concern with counter-terrorism strategies pursued after September 11 that "sometimes undermined international standards and suppressed or restricted such individual rights as those to privacy, freedom of thought, presumption of innocence, a fair trail, asylum, political participation, free expression, and peaceful assembly." On March 18, at the opening of the 53-member UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Robinson disclosed that she would not seek a second term. Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed disappointment and pointed a finger at the United States for opposing her renomination. "Mary Robinson paid a price for her willingness to stand up to powerful governments that violate human rights," said Reed Brody of HRW. "We are sad to lose her as an ally." The United States did not hide its displeasure with Robinson after the World Conference Against Racism last summer in Durban. The U.S. delegation walked out, saying that anti-Zionist extremists hijacked that conference. Robinson further reduced her chances for a second term by alienating the Bush administration with her criticisms of the treatment of Afghan detainees. She also repeatedly confronted Russia because of its conduct of the Chechen war and challenged China over the persecution of its Muslim minority.

CHECHEN ENVOY VISITS HAGUE WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR DEL PONTE. Akhmed Zakaev, envoy of Aslan Maskhadov's Chechen government, visited chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte at the Hague war crimes tribunal last week and called for a tribunal to address war crimes in Chechnya, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the meeting as "incompatible with [Del Ponte's] status and mandate" and professed to be "bewildered" as to why Maskhadov's envoy would visit a UN-mandated tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The statement implied that Russia, a permanent Security Council member, would block any attempt to examine allegations about its war crimes.

MOSCOW ANTI-AMERICAN RALLY DRAWS SMALL CROWD. Only some 50 demonstrators showed at a far-left rally held on March 16 outside the U.S. Embassy building in Moscow, according to the daily "Kommersant." The rally was designed to show support for the American anti-war movement and detainees held by the United States. The chief organizers were Working Russia, the National Bolshevik Party, and the Red Youth Vanguard. The banners read: "Put NATO on Trial" and "The United States Is a Worldwide Cannibal." The speakers stressed "aggressive imperialism," the plight of the Taliban detainees, and the struggle of other freedom-loving people against America. A somber Viktor Anpilov wandered through the crowd, carrying a battered tape recorder. Asked by the "Kommersant" reporter if he would make a speech, the leader of Working Russia replied in an unhappy voice: "Certainly not." But later Anpilov cheered up and spoke. He called for bombing America and igniting civil war in Russia.

NO SKINHEAD MOVEMENT IN MOSCOW, ONLY SOCCER FANS, POLICE CHIEF CLAIMS. In a statement that may come back to haunt him, Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin denied that there is an organized "skinhead" movement in the capital. "I do not know of such a party, nor do I want to recognize it," he declared at a March 20 press conference, according to Interfax. "Shaven heads alongside scarves are attributes of a fanatic movement that is willingly joined by teenagers today, and the most widespread movement in the city is that of the Spartak soccer club fans." Pronin added that his office has been "in close touch" with Spartak management. Discussing last year's mass attacks on dark-skinned merchants in the Yasenevo and Tsaritsyno markets, Pronin claimed that the minors questioned said that they had shaved their heads to imitate adult fans.

RUSSIA DENIES ENTRY TO PENTECOSTAL PASTOR. On March 14 at Sheremetyevo-2 airport, Aleksey Ledyaev, head of Latvia's Pentecostal community, was refused entry to Russia where he planned to attend a meeting of some 100 Protestant clergymen from throughout the former Soviet Union, the Moscow daily "Izvestiya" reported in a tone of barely concealed indignation. Ledyaev told the paper that at passport control, a border guard asked him "to step this way" and led him into a windowless room with a table and chairs bolted to the floor. "The hours passed," he said. "But no one wanted to talk to me." In the meantime, his aide contacted Anatoly Pchelintsev, an attorney at the Slavic Legal Center. "A man in civilian clothes came to see me," Pchelintsev told "Izvestiya." He said he was a colonel but declined to introduce himself. He told Pchelintsev that his client will not be allowed to enter Russia. After eight hours in what Ledyaev described as "a cell-like room," he was escorted out and told to leave on the next flight to a Baltic country. His passport was given to a stewardess. "Izvestiya" got a Border Control officer to confirm that Ledyaev was being deported but he refused to disclose the reason. Ledyaev links his deportation to his religious activity. "Anti-Protestant feelings are intensifying in Russia now, and the Orthodox Church plays by no means the least important role in this," he said. "I would not be surprised if this were its handiwork." But the Patriarchate categorically denies any involvement. "Russian Protestants operate freely in Russia," Yelena Spiranskaya, a Patriarchate staffer, told "Izvestiya." "And we will never hinder their operations."

BULGARIAN LEADER SEEKS FORGIVENESS FROM TURKISH MINORITY. In an unusual gesture, Bulgarian Vice President Angel Marin asked ethnic Turks to forgive the violence used against them during the so-called "revival process" in 1972, according to the Bulgarian news media. Speaking at a commemoration of the event on March 17, organized by the Turkish minority's Movement for Rights and Freedom, Marin said that all Bulgarians bear guilt and responsibility for silently watching the government's act of forcing members of the Turkish minority to "Bulgarianize." The meeting took place in the village of Barutin, which was the center of the violence.

RACIALLY MOTIVATED CRIME ON THE RISE. Race-driven crime increased by 25 percent last year in the Czech Republic, the Czech daily "Pravo" reported on March 11, citing an Interior Ministry spokeswoman. Police investigated a total of 402 such crimes last year, as opposed to 311 in 2000. According to American officials familiar with the subject, the numbers show an increase partly because of improved reporting over the past two years. They add that most of the victims are Roma (also known as Gypsies), and the rest are Africans and Vietnamese.

CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN SERBIA ARE ATTACKED. A Roman Catholic parish office in the town of Sremska Mitrovica, 40 miles west of Belgrade, was attacked during the night of March 8-9, according to Keston News Service. No one was injured. However, Rasim Ljajic, federal minister for national and ethnic minorities, expressed concern that "in the last three weeks there have been repeated attacks on the priesthood and property of the Roman Catholic church in Srem." The Serbian ministry for religion issued a statement, charging that the attacks constituted "attacks on the harmony of society." Father Zvonko Blasko, spokesperson of the Yugoslav Catholic Bishops' Conference, blamed "a small group of irresponsible individuals. The extreme nationalists are trying to intimidate the non-Serbian population in order to manipulate their fears." Other recent incidents include the breaking of windows in the Seventh Day Adventist church in Belgrade and a group of young people verbally abusing Adventists and attempting to prevent them from leaving their church after a service. On just one night the same week, the Adventist, Methodist, and Nazarene churches in Nova Pazova had their windows broken, and graffiti labeled them "sects." Sonja Biserko, president of the Serbian Helsinki Board for Human Rights, told Keston on March 19 that "attacks on smaller churches and religious communities are becoming more intense again. We have a wave of xenophobia and anti-Western sentiment."

U.S. COMMISSION CALLS TURKMENISTAN A VIOLATOR OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is recommending for the third year in a row that the United States place Turkmenistan on a list of the world's most egregious violators of religious freedom, according to a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast on March 15. President Saparmurat Niyazov seemed to respond to the USCIRF report indirectly when declaring that Turkmenistan's controls on religious activity are aimed at foreigners trying to spread what he called "alien" faiths, rather than at anyone's right to practice religion. "Everyone can follow whatever faith he wants, but a foreigner has no right to spread an alien faith in our country," he said. "This is not freedom. Rather, this is inflicting harm on our nation's religion." Niyazov told his cabinet to use Turkmen laws to suppress specific denominations.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK * * * "We are concerned about reports in the Russian media that civilians sometimes suffer from violence of the military there," U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow told "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in an interview with the Russian daily published on March 20. "We think that Russia does not do its best to bring those who are guilty of crimes against civilians to account for their crimes. Since November 2001, the Russian government has not made any efforts to resume negotiations that could lead to a political resolution of the conflict."

UKRAINIANS AND LATVIANS HONOR SS VETERANS AS INDEPENDENCE FIGHTERS
Patriots or Nazis, SS Soldiers Remain Suspect

In certain parts of Europe, World War II is not over; nor is it likely to be over even after the last survivors of the conflict are buried. On the losers' side, there are strong, long suppressed resentments that may now be vented under the aegis of freedom of speech. Demands for recognition as misunderstood patriots are now being pressed, stirring protest among those from the other side of the front line - or their inherited memory.

The City Council of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine has recognized veterans of the SS Division Galizien (Halychyna in Ukrainian) as combatants in the struggle for the freedom and independence of Ukraine, the news agency Unian reported on March 18. The division, part of the Waffen (or armed) SS, was formed in German-occupied Ukraine in 1943, following a proposal from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, known as OUN-M, the faction led by Andriy Melnyk. The OUN-M considered the division a nucleus of a Ukrainian army indispensable for securing independence. More than 80,000 Ukrainians volunteered, and some 13,000 of them became soldiers wearing the SS runes.

This March, the Ivano-Frankivsk authorities honored 24 Halychyna veterans in the region, most of them disabled former gulag prisoners, by granting them special status as patriotic combatants. Thanks to the council's resolution, they are now entitled to a pension increase and reduced rates for public utilities. Unian added that the Russian community of Ivano-Frankivsk has protested the resolution, pointing out that the Halychyna Division fought the Red Army in the summer of 1944.

On March 21, the Russian government, as opposed to equalizing Nazi and Communist oppression as its predecessor, launched a counter-offensive. The Foreign Ministry issued a stern statement, warning that any exoneration of Ukrainians who fought for Nazi Germany "would be viewed by Russian and the majority of Ukrainian citizens as a shameful and treacherous act with respect to the memory of millions of civilians, among them Russians and Ukrainians, and to the Soviet Army soldiers killed on Nazi-occupied Ukrainian territory and at the fronts of World War II." The Foreign Ministry also found it "unfortunate" that Ukrainian authorities "have not given a due rebuff to the nationalists' provocations." The statement threatened dire consequences if the "Ukrainian extremists' plan" was adopted and expressed the hope that "the Ukrainian authorities will take resolute measures to annul this resolution of the Ivano-Frankivsk authorities and curb similar provocative 'initiatives' in the future."

In another former Soviet republic at the edge of Russia, Latvia, March 16 marks the date chosen to commemorate a similar Waffen SS formation, called locally the Latvian Legionnaires. According to the Baltic News Agency (BNS), this year about 600 people, some middle-aged and others youngsters, gathered in the center of the capital Riga, at the Freedom Monument, for what has become the traditional celebration. According to Latvian historians, 140,000 people were called up to form the legion in 1943, and 50,000 of them died in the war or the deportations that followed the re-imposition of Russian rule. In the years since regaining independence, surviving veterans and their relatives and friends marched through Riga on March 16, which Latvians remember as the anniversary of the legionnaires' first battle with the Red Army.

The annual commemoration has drawn many critical remarks locally and from around the world from people who will not forget that the "legionnaires" signed up with the SS, condemned as a criminal organization by the war crimes court in Nuremberg. However, supporters of the legionnaires honored them as Latvian patriots who made use of the opportunity offered by the Germans to fight for independence and against the Soviet Union. Others argued that many if not most of the legionnaires were victims, forced to join the SS. Still others called for an understanding of the nuances of Latvian history and engaged in what BNS called "desperate attempts to explain to the world" that legionnaires were not really Nazi soldiers and that the commemoration did not glorify Nazi crimes.

This year, the Latvian National Soldiers' Association called off the annual march for fear of provocations that may adversely affect Latvia's current bid for NATO and European Union (EU) membership. But others marked the date anyway, including members of parliament from the far-right Fatherland and Freedom Party. MP Juris Dobelis told reporters that Latvians should not feel ashamed to commemorate the legionnaires, and party leader Aigars Kimenis said the legionnaires were "an honor to the people." They laid flowers at the monument and sang the national anthem along with other patriotic songs. The Latvian news agency Leta reported that people held up sheets of paper, each with a letter painted on it and together spelling out the words "Greetings, Legionnaires!" and that the Security Police confiscated placards that said "Down With The Red Mafia!" and "Down With Globalization!" Police patrolled the streets. There was some jostling, and a few troublemakers were detained, BNS reported. Extremists from the ethnic Russian community such as the National Bolsheviks were not permitted to stage a counter-march to draw attention to what they called "the awakening of fascism" in Latvia.

"Every year as March 16 approaches, there are disputes and discussions about which Latvians were on the 'right' side of the front lines during World War II and which on the 'wrong' side," commentator Auseklis Plavins wrote in the Latvian daily "Diena" on March 15. "The enemy, no matter which side someone was on, always seems to have been the 'right' enemy: Soviet Communists for some, German Nazis for others. The only area in which there is total agreement focuses on the goal of the battle: Everyone was dreaming of a free and independent Latvian state." Plavins argued that "the subject of the Latvian Legion is nothing more than a vast and artfully organized propaganda campaign" against Latvia so as to present it to the world "as a place where Nazi ideas have taken root." He blamed Russia's government for trying "to compromise Latvians."

What Plavins finds important is "the way in which the countries which once settled Latvia's fate . now think about the unjust nature of what their predecessors did to the Latvians." He sees the new Germany as trying to "to establish the country on a fully new foundation and to form new relations with other countries." However, he writes, "Russia is still trying to behave as though it had nothing whatsoever to do with causing World War II and with engaging in genocide against the Latvian nation." He faults "political circles in Russia which seek to use the subject of the legionnaires for dirty propaganda so as to try to preserve their influence in Latvia and to create artificial obstacles for our country on its way to the EU and NATO."

The U.S. government decision in 1950 to distinguish Baltic SS units from other SS troops was an instrumentality designed to permit legionnaires to enter the country as refugees free of the Nazi stain. Nevertheless, many Latvians, Ukrainians, and others who collaborated with Nazi Germany - and their sympathizers - have not severed their links with the far right. Those of us with different memories of Nazi occupation could perhaps learn to live with the patriotic rhetoric of states now free of Russia. But we are still waiting for a repudiation of Nazi ideology and its key ingredient of antisemitism by those who think of the SS veterans as champions of freedom.
* * * *

Copyright (c) 2001. UCSJ. All rights reserved.

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