Volume 2, Number 18
Friday, May 10, 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
_____________________________________________________________

RUSSIA IN A STATE OF SIEGE. "The Kaspiysk massacre" seems destined to turn into a verbal icon linking today's Muslim extremists to yesterday's Nazis even before the culprits are identified, if they ever will be. Russia may become another society living in a state of siege, following the May 9 explosion in Dagestan that killed at least 32 people, many of them World War II veterans and children, in a parade celebrating the country's most important public holiday, the victory over Nazism 57 years ago. ''This crime was carried out by scum who hold nothing sacred,'' a somber President Vladimir Putin told a Kremlin gathering after the main parade in Moscow's Red Square. ''We have every right to treat them as Nazis, whose sole aim was to spread death, sow fear, and to murder.'' According to Reuters, the private channel NTV showed horrible pictures of wrecked drums and musical instruments scattered across a blood-covered street in Kaspiysk, a town some 12 miles south of the capital of Dagestan, near Chechnya.

The blast came just before Putin addressed the traditional Victory Day parade in a country the Associated Press described as "in a buoyant, patriotic mood." ''Only by uniting the effort of the people and the state can we confront these threats,'' Putin said. ''That was well proven by the anti-Hitler coalition. The coalition countries defeated the enemy. And today, we are again uniting and finding allies against a common threat. Its name is terrorism.'' Putin was quoting as saying after a meeting with his security advisers: "Nobody doubts [the blast] was an act of terrorism," using the term he and other Russian leaders routinely apply when discussing the separatist rebels in Chechnya. According to Interfax's English translation, Dagestan's leader, Magomedali Magomedov, said: ''Today, people intended to mark a holiday of life and justice. But the scoundrels have turned this into an act of vandalism. They must be destroyed as traitors who are not letting humanity live. A war was declared today not only on the law enforcement agencies...[but] on an entire nation."

FRANCE AND HOLLAND DRIFTING TO THE RIGHT - BUT HOW FAR? Center-right Jacques Chirac won a massive 82 percent of the votes against far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen in the French presidential race on May 5. After waging a campaign downplaying his anti-Jewish sentiments but continuing his crusade against immigrants from North Africa, Le Pen received one million additional votes in the runoff, chalking up an impressive total of 5.5 million votes against Chirac's 25.5 million. Observers expect Chirac to get tough on crime and "do something" about immigration.

In the Netherlands, which like France has an immigrant population of 10 percent, the assassination on May 6 of rightist Pim Fortuyn may result in a wave of sympathy for him and his party. Fortuyn was an outspoken opponent of immigration who frequently attacked what he asserted is Islam's mistreatment of women and homosexuals. His supporters -- and even many opponents shocked by his violent end -- blame those who "stigmatized" him as an extremist, and his recently formed party may get a much higher percentage of votes in the May 15 elections than the 15-17 percent that pollsters had predicted before he was gunned down. Fortuyn had dissociated himself from Le Pen and other far-right leaders, saying he did not advocate sending immigrants home but wanted to stop their influx. He was in the habit of saying "Holland is full," and others to his left may now borrow that line. The assassination, the first in recent Dutch history, shocked the European community, and mainstream politicians reacted promptly with condemnations. European Union Commission President Romano Prodi called it an attack on "the spirit of Europe." The Dutch news media is full of comments suggesting that he had been misunderstood because of his penchant for provocative statements intended to stir up honest debate on tough issues that need to be addressed, such as immigration. Because of the many causes he embraced, such as protesting cruelty to animals and urging the renovation of slums, Fortuyn may even end up a populist hero.

"Charismatic" and "unconventional" are adjectives that have been applied to both Le Pen and Fortuyn, and "dull" and "uninspiring" to their rivals in the mainstream parties. It seems likely that some ambitious politicians may imitate him and veer to the right, abandoning the polite consensus politics of recent decades. The popular support both men have attracted makes it clear that xenophobia is on the rise, and it would not be surprising if the center right may soon find a way to tap that sentiment.

Le Pen's success will further diversify the West European far right, C.E. Mudde, lecturer in politics at the University of Edinburgh, told this newsletter. He predicts that phenomenon especially in "the more or less moderate and electorally successful parties that have established themselves in the circle of power," such as the Freedom Party in Austria, and the National Alliance and the Northern League in Italy, which at times play the xenophobic and populist cards but are not extreme right in ideological terms. Diversification will also affect the Progress Party in Norway, the Swiss People's Party, and the party founded by Fortuyn in the Netherlands. There may also be additional diversification among "some electorally fairly successful but more radical parties that are still political pariahs, such as Le Pen's National Front and Vlaams Blok in Belgium, and possibly the Danish People's Party."

Mudde argues that Le Pen showed that not all the far right can be coopted into the system -- as has, more or less successfully, been done with Austria's Freedom Party and the two rightist parties in Italy's ruling coalition. "Given that the mainstream has moved seriously to the right on issues like immigration and law and order," he writes, "a new equilibrium is found pretty much on the position of the moderate extreme right -- i.e. parties and positions of the moderate extreme right are acceptable if still a bit uncomfortably -- while a renewed and possibly even increased repression against the 'radical' extreme right will be used by the established parties to (1) set the (new) borders, and (2) defend themselves against criticisms that they have become extreme right themselves."

PUTIN'S DRAFT LAW AGAINST EXTREMISTS MEETS SKEPTICISM. Last week, President Vladimir Putin introduced a draft law in the State Duma designed to combat extremism. It proposes imprisonment for up to four years or a fine of about $1,000 for those found guilty of forming a group with the purpose of committing crimes against people based on the victims' social, religious, or racial background. Writing in the "St. Petersburg Times" of May 7, Vladimir Kovalev commented: "While a law of this kind should have been passed long ago, I still think that it's better late than never. My question is: Will it do anything to change the situation in Russia with regard to racism and hate crimes?" His answer is uncertain because, he argues, "a significant portion of the population reacts positively to news such as skinhead attacks in outdoor markets on people from the Caucasus." An even more skeptical reaction to the draft law came from Marina Ozerova, writing in the "Moskovsky Komsomolets" on May 8: "It has long been known that representatives of the authorities do not much like to have anything to do with even open extremists - either because, deep down, they actually share their views or because they are scared. Now, failure to oppose extremism can entail punishment 'in accordance with Russian Federation legislation' -- although it is not very clear from the text what precisely that punishment might be." She notes that the draft law warns against giving financial, material, or other assistance to extremists, which can lead to the organization's abolition by court ruling. But, she asks: What if the police provide a training base for the extremists, as "Moskovsky Komsomolets" recently charged? Her conclusion is philosophical: "It is hard to say how effective all these measures are going to be, because we must not forget the eternal Russian problem of law and the implementation of law. Moreover, there is always a danger that people who are simply oppositionists will be declared extremists, especially since the law will also apply to the ill-defined 'obstruction of the lawful activity of the organs of government.'"

MORE RUSSIANS APPROVE THAN DISAPPROVE MASS EXPULSIONS. Concern with immigrants and migrants plays an increasing role in Russian politics. A nationwide survey of 1,500 respondents conducted on April 20-21 found Russians divided over the plans of Krasnodar Kray authorities to expel "representatives of certain national groups," with 41% approving the plans and 35% opposed, according to the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM). However, when questioned about approving expulsions of "certain national groups" from their own regions, the number of respondents who said they would approve rose to 44%. (Human rights groups have sharply condemned the mass expulsions.) The survey also found that Russian citizens are sensitive to the presence of new arrivals in their areas. A large majority of the nationwide sample -- 78% -- said that there are "many" new arrivals in their towns or villages. (The survey defined "new arrivals" as those who have arrived over the past 5 to 10 years.)

The extremist nationalist Moscow weekly "Zavtra" reported on April 26 that according to its sociological research, in the past few weeks Krasnodar Governor Aleksandr Tkachev's popularity has increased by more than 40 percent. The weekly suggested that given Jean-Marie Le Pen's success in France, President Vladimir Putin's supposed "personal" campaign against Krasnodar Kray Governor Aleksandr Tkachev may backfire, and Tkachev may emerge as a presidential candidate capable of uniting the "patriotic and left-wing" opposition.

NEW DECREE LIMITS ACCESS TO FOREIGNERS. The central government's most recent act suggests a shift in favor of limiting the influx of newcomers into certain areas. According to the Moscow newspaper "Kommersant," on May 6 Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed a decree adding the energy-rich Yamal-Nenetsk Autonomous Okrug to the list of Russian territories closed to immigrants. However, Governor Yuri Neelov regards this as a half-hearted measure, as he wants to regulate the entry of Russians as well.

"Kommersant" recalls that prior to the early 1990s, it was difficult to enter Yamal. There were border troops at the okrug's airports that checked the authorizations and residence permits of those arriving. After the collapse of the USSR, access to Yamal became free, which resulted in what local authorities call its "filling up" with migrants who include immigrants eager to make money working on the oil and gas fields. In the past five years, Yamal leaders made repeated attempts to "close" the okrug through legislative means. As often as twice a year, the okrug administration and Duma sent draft laws to the president and the State Duma, justifying them as prompted by the high level of drug addiction, the rise in crime, and the proximity of the area to Russia's northern border. They failed to get Moscow's support until October 2001, when President Vladimir Putin endorsed Governor Neelov's idea of restrictions. But Putin agreed to tighten entry rules only for foreigners.

AUTHORITIES DISAGREE ON APPLYING LAW ON STIRRING ETHNIC HATRED. The Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Udmurtiya has charged two members of the violent neo-Nazi group Russian National Unity with incitement of ethnic hatred, according to an April 26 article in the local paper "Info-Panorama." The two men allegedly distributed at sports events an underground "Nazi" newspaper called "Izhevsk Division."

On the other hand, efforts to apply Article 282 of the Russian criminal code banning incitement of communal hatred have run into a roadblock in St. Petersburg. Mikhail Amosov, leader of the St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party and St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputy, has accused the prosecutor's office and the municipal authorities of collusion with fascists, according to the liberal local newspaper "Smena" of April 23. Together with State Duma deputy Aleksandr Shishlov, Amosov has repeatedly appealed to the St. Petersburg and the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office urging them to ban the publication of a neo-Nazi newspaper circulating in the city. So far, the authorities have refused to initiate criminal proceedings.

SYNAGOGUES DESECRATED IN RUSSIA. On May 5 in the southern Russian city of Rostov, the door of a 130-year-old synagogue was set on fire and a window was broken. Rabbi Elyashiv Kaplan told Itim news agency that windows of the synagogue have been broken five times in recent weeks. "Since Passover, the atmosphere has been unpleasant," he said. "Jews have been cursed and even spat at." About 10,000 Jews live in Rostov, which has a total population of about 1.25 million.

ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI IN BELARUS. Antisemitic graffiti appeared buildings in Pinsk, according a report by the Belarusian newspaper "Brestsky Kurier." Vandals defaced the walls of the synagogue, a Jewish school about to open its doors, and the local department of education. In all three places, the same image was daubed with green paint: a swastika and a Star of David hanging on the gallows.

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR TOUGHER LAW AGAINST RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM. Apparently stung by criticism in U.S. Congress of the Georgian government's inaction in face of mob violence against followers of nontraditional religions, on May 6 President Eduard Shevardnadze called for tougher laws against religious extremism. According to Rustavi-2 Television, Shevardnadze, soon to visit Washington, expressed regret that "religious extremism," historically absent in Georgia, "has now become trendy, and we should deal with it by exerting pressure from society and, if necessary, by adopting a law that will punish it." The Tbilisi TV station quoted from the report by Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) listing nearly 80 attacks against Jehovah's Witnesses since October 1999, most of them led by a defrocked Georgian Orthodox priest, Basil Mkalavishvili and his supporters, and all of them unpunished. Smith threatened to reconsider funding for the U.S. aid program in Georgia unless Shevardnadze moves to protect the rights of religious minorities.

ANTISEMITES ARRESTED IN FRANCE. About one hundred individuals have been arrested in recent weeks in France on suspicion of attacking Jews and Jewish property, according to the Tel Aviv daily "Ha'aretz" of May 7, quoting French Charge d'Affaires Michel Miraillet in Tel Aviv. The envoy said that French authorities had issued orders to take strict action against such offenders.

U.S. 'UNSIGNS' TREATY ON WAR CRIMES COURT. On May 6, the State Department notified UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the Bush administration will not seek ratification of the treaty creating the International Criminal Court and considers itself free of any obligation to comply with its terms. The administration argued that the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal will be an unchecked power, able to prosecute U.S. soldiers and their superiors. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the decision "an empty gesture that will further estrange Washington from its closest allies." Kenneth Roth, HRW's executive director, said: "The administration is putting itself on the wrong side of history. 'Unsigning' the treaty will not stop the court. It will only throw the United States into opposition against the most important new institution for enforcing human rights in fifty years." HRW pointed out that the treaty has received more than the requisite number of 60 ratifications, and its jurisdiction will begin after July 1, 2002, with or without the U.S. signature. HRW also noted that: "The only states still actively opposing the court are the United States and Libya." News accounts pointed out that many of America's closest allies, including nearly the entire NATO alliance, opposed the administration's decision. Reporters suggested that the move demonstrates the Bush administration's determination to act alone when dissatisfied with international accords. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) called the decision "irresponsible, isolationist, and contrary to our vital national interests." However, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, welcomed the decision for recognizing that fundamental U.S. concerns "will never be satisfied."

* * * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK * * * *
"Nowadays, just like in the days of the anti-Hitler coalition, we are trying to overcome the differences and reject stereotypes by uniting around a common goal," President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with World War II veterans on May 8, according to RIA Novosti. "Indeed, the united front of countries fighting against international terrorism has become a real factor in world politics, a factor that radically changes the whole system of international relations.... An evil like terrorism cannot be handled alone. Our common struggle against it must be as uncompromising as was our struggle against fascism."

SKINHEAD VIOLENCE THROUGHOUT RUSSIA MARKED HITLER'S BIRTHDAY
Forces Seen and Unseen Operate Behind the Stalls of the Outdoor Markets

Skinheads constitute yet another terrorist force, so far low-tech, and they are especially dangerous in Russia, where the authorities are reluctant to control them - unless specifically ordered to do so, which is what happened this year on the occasion of Hitler's birthday, April 20. "Despite the nation-wide state of alert, skinhead violence did take place throughout the country," UCSJ reported in a study just released. "In contrast to media accounts that portray April 20 as a triumph of law and order over the skinhead menace, the level of racist and antisemitic violence in the days preceding and following the anniversary was significant. In cities all across the country, from Kursk to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, rumors of impending skinhead violence terrorized minority communities. The severity of incidents ranged widely from city to city -- murders and beatings took place in some, while in others, impending skinhead attacks turned out to be nothing more than a scary rumor."

The study credits the tough reactions of the police force in "probably" preventing "large-scale bloodbaths." But, it cautions, "when all the small-scale incidents of skinhead violence are tallied, the number of reported beatings and murders was quite high, and significantly, some of it took place in cities not previously known as hotbeds of skinhead activity. This leaves the strong impression that the skinhead movement continues to grow in Russia, both in its numbers, geographical scope, and viciousness, though some of that may be a matter of perception due to better media coverage of skinhead violence."

One noteworthy event quoted by the study took place in Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, where a large group of skinheads, dressed in black and wearing swastika armbands, attacked a market on April 19, screaming "Heil Hitler!" However, the traders, most of whom are natives of the Caucasus, were waiting for them. Armed with various weapons, they beat the outnumbered, overconfident neo-Nazis, sending two of them to the hospital with head injuries. The police arrested several skinheads, and a total of 81 were detained over the course of the weekend.

In Saransk, the UCSJ study reports, skinheads marched on the streets of the city on April 20, ending up at a building where many Armenians live. They screamed insults and threats at the building's residents before being driven off by police. A little later, skinheads shouting that they were "anti-Christs" and "Satanists" tried to break into a Russian Orthodox monastery. Before leaving the site, they broke two windows and terrified the resident monks. A local police official was quoted as saying that about 150 skinheads live in Saransk, many of them former members of the neo-Nazi group Russian National Unity.

Russian skinheads are also factors in the calculations of devious elements working behind the scenes. "Criminal groups" use skinheads "to do battle with their rivals on their behalf," writes Sanobar Shermatova for the London-based Institute for War & Peace Reporting that demands in-depth analyses from its contributors, most of them locals. A reporter for "Moscow News," Shermatova's point of departure is that skinhead groups "have recently stepped up a campaign of violence in Moscow" and that campaign may be linked to a simultaneous development: "a push to drive Caucasian traders out of the city's markets."

She cites a sobering study, a recent Internet poll conducted by the weekly "Moscow News" which found that only a very small minority of Muscovites -- 4.3% -- would try to stop skinheads attacking someone. Another 58% said they would simply ignore such incidents, and 37% said they would run away.

Shermatova links the current wave of violence to what she perceives as "the rising antagonism against migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia," which in turn is a consequence of two factors. First, many Muscovites believe those migrants are behind much of the crime in the city, a perception encouraged by the tendency of television news to cite the ethnic identity of criminals. Second, what the government call its "counter-terrorist operation" in Chechnya has been accompanied by what she finds "intensive propaganda" directed against Chechens and all Caucasian ethnic groups.

In describing the police going on high alert on Hitler's birthday, Shermatova mentions that for three days - from April 19 to 21 -- most of the capital's police were concentrated in the downtown area, with instructions to suppress skinhead activity. She credits the "extraordinary measures" for the absence of attacks. However, she reports, traders at one small outdoor market at Chertanovskaya Street in southern Moscow marked Hitler's birthday in their own way. On the birthday itself, they closed the market, supposedly for cleaning, though there was no visible evidence of any cleaning. One trader explained that markets in the area had shut down because there were no police left to guard them against the threatened skinhead action. "They are all in the center of town," the trader said.

The UCSJ study adds that throughout the country, many ethnic minorities closed their market stalls and kept their children from school on April 20, while dark-skinned foreign students largely stayed in their homes.

The largest group of traders at the outdoor markets are from the Caucasus, Shermatova notes, and they sell produce at what locals say are exorbitant prices. Since the Soviet era, "southerners," usually Azerbaijanis, have had a virtual monopoly on importing to Moscow fruit, vegetables, and flowers from their homeland. About two million Azerbaijanis live in Russia, most of them engaged in small-time trading. An Azerbaijani expatriate sends to his family back home $100 to $350 a month. All this "fuels Russian resentment," Shermatova writes. An example: at Chertanovo in the south of Moscow, foreign traders rank higher than local Russian "babushkas" (grandmothers) selling greens, homemade jam, and sauerkraut. Recently a Russian trader selling fresh parsley and dill had to move into the street. "I cannot afford to pay the owner as much as they do," she complained, pointing to the Asian traders.

On his rare visits to the market, its Azerbaijani owner is accompanied by three bodyguards, Shermatova adds. All traders pay him kickbacks on top of the fee required by law. "They do everything they can to keep local competition out of the market, because locals offer the same merchandise far cheaper," she writes.

Police are frequently seen driving babushkas from the market and nearby streets. The old women then bribe the police to stay in business and increase the price of their produce accordingly. "This takes care of the 'price competition,'" Shermatova notes, "and plays into the hands of the Asian traders. Ordinary Moscow families, spending $200 or $250 a month on food, see the Georgian, Uzbek, and Tajik traders as scam artists who keep their prices high by cutting out the local traders."

Shermatova cites another plausible theory: "The police manipulate skinhead activity to keep the traders under control." She found that the police have been raiding outdoor markets in Moscow for the past two years in an attempt to squeeze out traders from the Caucasus. The police have not been successful, she writes, but perhaps the skinheads will be.

The skinheads do have an agenda of their own, Shermatova points out. "Our aim is power," one of their leaders, Alexander Ivanov-Sukharevsky, told "Moscow News." He offered a fanciful explanation: "Hitler's idea was to liberate Russia from Jewish oppression and put the Romanovs back on the throne, but God did not let Hitler achieve this at that juncture. Our mission is to continue the cause of liberating the Russian people from that oppression."

In Shermatova's judgment, ethnic Russians traders have been gaining more control of the markets. It is in their interest to get rid of their "alien" rivals, she writes, and they do not seem to be concerned with the methods applied. She concludes that the idea of shadowy business groups standing behind skinhead groups "may not be far-fetched."

The UCSJ study concludes that years of government indifference has allowed the skinhead movement to grow to the point that it "can now put the entire country into a state of alert every April 20. The Russian government needs to give this problem serious, sustained attention so that April 20 can again become just another ordinary spring day."

* * * *

_____________________________________________________________
Copyright (c) 2002. UCSJ. All rights reserved.

Bigotry Monitor welcomes use of its contents without prior approval on the condition that full attribution is given to "Bigotry Monitor -- UCSJ's weekly newsletter". We would also like to see a copy of the publication.

Send letters to the editor to: cfenyvesi@aol.com

How to Subscribe
Send an email to bigotrymonitor@ucsj.com with the word "subscribe" as the subject of the message.

How to Unsubscribe
Send an email to bigotrymonitor@ucsj.com with the word "unsubscribe" as the subject of the message.

All issues available at http://www.fsumonitor.com

[HOME] [ACT] [CONNECT] [JOIN] [ABOUT] [SEARCH]