Volume 2, Number 40
Friday, October 11, 2002

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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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN RUSSIA: HIGH PRINCIPLES, LAX PRACTICE

The State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report, released on October 7, offers mild praise to the Russian government for “generally” but “not always” respecting the constitutional provisions for freedom of religion and the equality of all religions before the law. The report’s 12,000-word chapter on Russia points to restrictions and contradictions, and its recurrent theme is the gap between theory and practice.

Perhaps the most discouraging part of the document is the paragraph on the enforcement of the law prohibiting incitement of communal hatred. Quoting the Procuracy General, the report notes that “as of November 1, 2001, 37 criminal cases of incitement to national, racial, or religious hatred had been opened pursuant to the Criminal Code. As of July 1, 2002, according to the statistical department of the Supreme Court, the Procuracy had brought five such cases to court, but none of the accused was convicted.”

The report identifies Muslims as the main victims of discrimination. The report says that they “continue to encounter societal discrimination and antagonism in some areas,” and “discriminatory attitudes have become stronger since the onset of the conflict in the predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya and since the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings, for which the mayor and others quickly blamed Chechen separatists… The authorities, journalists, and the public have been quick to label Muslims or Muslim organizations ‘Wahhabi,’ a term that has become equivalent with ‘extremist.’ Such sentiment has led to a formal ban on ‘Wahhabism’ in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkariya.”

The report lists instances of antisemitic violence against individuals and vandalism targeting synagogues, as well as cemetery desecrations which it calls “one of the most common types of antisemitic attacks.” There is an emphasis on “publications around the country” that continue “to carry antisemitic themes, unchallenged by local authorities. However, traditionally antisemitic publications with large distributions, such as the newspaper ‘Zavtra,’ while still pursuing such antisemitic themes as the portrayal of Russian oligarchs as exclusively Jewish, appear to be more careful than in the past about using crude antisemitic language.”

In its summation, the report states: “Religious matters are not a source of societal hostility for most citizens, although popular attitudes toward traditionally Muslim ethnic groups are negative in many regions, and there are manifestations of antisemitism as well as societal hostility toward newer, non-Orthodox, religions. There appear to be continued instances of religiously motivated violence, although it is often difficult to determine whether religious or ethnic differences were the primary cause of individual cases of violence.”

The State Department study suggests that though the Russian Constitution sets up high standards, “the government does not always respect the provision for equality of religions, and in some instances the authorities, primarily at the local level, imposed restrictions on some religious groups.” Similarly, “government policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion; however, some federal agencies and many local authorities continued to restrict the rights of some religious minorities in some regions.” In discussing the 1997 law “On Freedom of Conscience and Associations,” the report continues its seesaw, citing “court decisions that have liberalized its interpretation,” while pointing out that the law still “seriously disadvantages religious groups that are new to the country by making it difficult for them to register as religious organizations. Unregistered groups lack the juridical status necessary to establish bank accounts, own property, invite foreign guests, publish literature, or conduct worship services in prisons, state-owned hospitals, and among the armed forces… In practice the registration process, which involves simultaneous registration at both the federal and local levels, has proven to be onerous for a number of confessions, because it requires considerable time, effort, and legal expense.”

The report notes “indications of a close relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the state” since 1999. It points to “evidence that the Procurator General has encouraged local prosecutors to challenge the registration and re-registration of some non-traditional religious groups.” But, the report adds, “In a number of such cases, local courts have upheld the right of non-traditional groups to register or re-register.”

The report charges that “Contradictions between federal and local law in some regions, and varying interpretations of the law, provide regional officials with pretexts to restrict the activities of religious minorities. Discriminatory practices at the local level also are attributed to the relatively greater susceptibility of local governments to lobbying by local majority religions, as well as to discriminatory attitudes that are held widely in society.” The report cites “isolated instances” of local officials detaining individuals engaged in the public discussion of their religious views.

President Vladimir Putin comes in for a rare praise, for his “articulation of the desire for greater centralization of power and strengthening rule of law” that “ has led to some improvements in the area of religious freedom in the regions.”

But on alternative military service, the State Department finds only a promise of progress. “Although the Constitution mandates the availability of alternative military service to those who refuse to bear arms for religious or other reasons of conscience, in practice no such alternative exists,” the report states. True, in October 2001, press reports said that “authorities in Nizhniy Novgorod established an alternative service program for conscripts,” but “there were no reports that such programs existed in other regions.” Moreover, the report goes on, “President Putin criticized the Nizhniy Novgorod program as extralegal.” The matter is still pending. On June 28, the report states, “legislation on alternative service was approved by the Duma and forwarded to the upper chamber for action.”

Cautioning about the lack of reliable statistics, the report states that “slightly more than half of all inhabitants consider themselves Russian Orthodox Christians, although the vast majority of those are not regular churchgoers.” Estimates agree that Muslims form the largest religious minority, and Protestants probably constitute the third largest group of believers. In the report’s judgment, between 600,000 and 1 million Jews remain in the country, 80 percent of them in Moscow or St. Petersburg.

The report notes that the U.S. government has “continued to engage the Russian government, a number of religious groups, NGO's, and others in a steady dialogue on religious freedom,” and American diplomats have been “active in investigating reports of violations of religious freedom, including antisemitic incidents.”

SKINHEADS IN THE PAY OF THE KREMLIN? Could elements in the Kremlin be encouraging and attempting to control skinhead bands? Such a shadowy double play, worthy of the tsarist secret police and the KGB, is suggested by a recent article.

The youth organization called Walking Together of the Kremlin party Yedinstvo (“Unity”) and skinhead groups share leaders, according to Sergey Shargunov writing in the independent “Novaya Gazeta” on September 23. Shargunov interviewed Alexy Mitriushin, a leader of the northeastern division of Walking Together, who identified himself as also a leader of The Mad Stallion, a skinhead group. Shargunov says that a criminal investigation found out that another skinhead group that calls itself United Brigades 88 took part in last October’s skinhead attack on Moscow’s Tsaritsino market under the leadership of ‘Ozik’ Ozerov who is also an activist in Walking Together. Ozerov was detained after that attack but was soon released. Shargunov cited an unnamed member of United Brigades 88 as telling TV journalists that Walking Together gave United Brigades 88 money and a gun for firework rockets. The activist said that first they were told that they were needed to break up the rally of antiglobalists in another location and received some money. But after the antiglobalists failed to show, the target was changed. The activist noted: “That is why so many people were in Tsaritsino.”

On October 30 last year, some 300 skinheads, trade school students, and “soccer hooligans” belonging to various groups and including some adults converged on Tsaritsino street market in an apparently well-organized action that left four dead and scores of others injured. To date, there has been no official explanation for that largest of Moscow riots in recent memory.

OMSK NEO-NAZIS DEFY COURT ORDER, HAND OUT HATE PUBLICATION. Despite last month’s demand by the local Prosecutor’s Office that the Omsk branch of the violent neo-Nazi group Russian National Unity (RNU) be banned, RNU members in Omsk continue to distribute illegal hate literature in the center of town, according to UCSJ's local monitor Elizaveta Krivoshchekova. Without any interference from police, RNU members regularly gather in downtown Omsk to hand out free copies of their movement's newspaper “Russian Order.” The latest issue contains an article claiming that the swastika is a Russian Orthodox symbol.

MEMORIAL TO STALIN'S VICTIMS AGAIN DEFACED. For the second time in lessthan a week, on October 3, unidentified vandals defaced the stone that marks the site of a future monument to victims of political repression in St. Petersburg on 3 October by smearing black paint as well as a Star of David all over its inscriptions, Interfax reported. The stone was defaced three days earlier with black paint and antisemitic slogans.

TATAR NATIONALISTS ATTACK ORTHODOX CHURCH CONSTRUCTION. On October 2, members of the Tatar Public Center (TIU), most of them elderly, attacked the chapel of the St. Tatyana Russian Orthodox Church being built near Victory Park in the town of Chally in the Republic of Tatarstan and damaged its foundation, according to the Kazan bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty citing “tatnews.ru.” The chapel’s construction was authorized by the city administration. RFE/RL characterized TIU as “moderate nationalist.” According to Interfax, it took 30 people 90 minutes to destroy a wall that was seven meters long and one meter high. The director of the chapel, Father Oleg Bogdanov, said the damage totaled 40,000 rubles ($1,290). For more than a year, TIU activists have protested the construction of the chapel, suggesting that a Tatar puppet theater be built on the site instead. One of the TIU members involved in the attack said that building a Russian Orthodox chapel would make the nearby park Orthodox, thus “leaving no room for Muslims.”

BELARUS WILL FINE LEADERS OF UNREGISTERED RELIGIOUS GROUPS. Leaders of unregistered religious communities in Belarus will face fines, a senior religious affairs official in Minsk told Keston News Service. Unregistered religious activity is about to be declared illegal if, as is widely expected, President Aleksandr Lukashenko signs the new restrictive religion law that parliament adopted on October 2. (See our lead item last week, “Belarus Adopts Europe’s Most Repressive Religion Law.”) “There is no offense in the criminal code of conducting illegal religious activity,” Aleksandr Kalinov, head of the religious affairs department of the Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs, told Keston on October 8, “but those who lead unregistered religious activity will face charges under Article 193 of the Administrative Code, which bans illegal religious activity by destructive sects that cause people suffering.”

During a meeting on October 9 with the visiting head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), Lukashenko said he is ready to sign the controversial new law, declaring that he saw no defects in it. According to the Russian news agency Interfax, he described it is a balanced document that “does not contain any attacks on other confessions.” He noted that the position of the Orthodox Church was being strengthened. “Orthodoxy is the determining religion in the Belarusian state and has the strongest influence on the social/political processes under way in the republic. We have supported and will support Orthodoxy in Belarus.”

CANDIDATES FOR NATO URGED TO RESPECT MINORITY RIGHTS. While the NATO summit next month is almost certain to expand the alliance eastward, concerns are being expressed with the human rights records of some of the candidate states. Addressing the House of Representatives on October 7, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Ca.) singled out the governments of Romania and Slovakia for “slow and disappointingly limited” progress in implementing laws “for restitution and/or compensation for communal property confiscated from Hungarian religious and educational institutions.” Lantos said he has been a strong proponent of NATO enlargement “to include those countries that have demonstrated their commitment to democratic reforms, including full protection of minority rights of the diverse ethnic communities that live in these countries of Central and Eastern Europe.” He called on Romania and Slovakia “to pursue restitution more vigorously in the coming months, until fair and complete restitution is implemented according to the rule of law. Only by the safeguarding of religious and minority rights and freedoms will the NATO zone of stability be extended to nations that share a demonstrated commitment to democracy and a true community of values.” He reminded countries seeking admission to NATO that the United States considers treatment of ethnic minorities as “an important measure of a democratic society.”

SKINHEADS ATTACK ROMA IN SLOVAKIA. On September 17, just before the Slovak elections on September 20-21, ten skinheads attacked three Roma in the town of Poprad, and one of the victims, a young woman, suffered from multiple knife wounds and is in critical condition, the weekly “Slovak Spectator” reported on its web site. Press reports say that only seven of the ten attackers have been arrested, and they are charged with assault rather than with a race-motivated hate crime or attempted murder, both carrying more serious penalties. Nor has there been an outcry by human rights groups and other minorities, though, as American observers who follow events in Slovakia note, this is the sixth skinhead attack on Roma in Poprad this year.

BRITAIN TO CUT DOWN ON NUMBER OF ASYLUM SEEKERS. On October 7, Britain’s Labor government unveiled tough new immigration measures designed to stem the tide of immigrants who seek political asylum. Applicants from the ten countries being invited to join the European Union (EU) in 2004 are to be automatically excluded: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Home Secretary David Blunkett said the new measures will boost public confidence in the asylum system in Britain, known as the softest in Europe. Blunkett said that though Britain has a “fundamental moral obligation” to offer sanctuary to those fleeing persecution, he will not allow the far right to capitalize on public’s discontent with immigrants. “I am determined to help to defeat those on the right who exploit fear and insecurity about immigration to spread racism and prejudice,” he said. “But I can only win this battle by establishing trust and confidence in our asylum system among the public. That is why I am changing the law to tackle those who falsely claim asylum when in reality they want to work here.”

The Refugee Council, which champions the rights of asylum seekers, described the measures as “highly undemocratic” and “a fundamental breach to the very core of the United Nations Refugee Convention, as it can never be said that any country is safe for all people at all times.” According to Reuters, immigration experts say that up to one million illegal immigrants live in Britain. In 2001, 72,000 people applied for asylum, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK * * * Explaining that he has no problem taking millionaire Boris Berezovsky’s financial contribution to the far-left newspaper “Zavtra,” chief editor Aleksandr Prokhanov told NTV on October 8 that ”Berezovsky’s money is not his. It is your money. You should thank us that the money is once again being used for your needs and those of our movement. We are only expropriating this money through a complex political intrigue.”

RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS DEMAND THAT CULTURE MINISTER QUIT
There Is No Russian Fascism, Communists Claim

Russia’s Communist leaders are playing a strange game that is not easy to understand. Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, is demanding the resignation of the Minister of Culture, Mikhail Shvidkoy, according to an October 2 report posted on NTV's web site. Shvidkoy’s offense is stating that “Russian fascism” exists – which is hardly an unusual thing to say -- and thus “insulting” the Russian people. Zyuganov made his views known in an angry letter to President Vladimir Putin. To underline the seriousness of the protest, a letter with a similar message was sent to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov by 44 Duma deputies, most of them Communists.

The immediate target of the Communist denunciation is a September 26 television program hosted by Shvidkoy, titled “Russian Fascism.” ”A member of the government of the Russian Federation was claiming that 'Russian fascism' exists,” Zyuganov wrote. “This alone is an unprecedented insult to the Russian people.” He then accused Shvydkoy of “blatantly ignoring the Russian people” in his policies. In their letter, the 44 Duma deputies wrote that the very name of the program, “Russian Fascism,” was “highly insulting to tens of millions of Russians, and blasphemous toward the tens of millions of our compatriots who fell in the struggle against German fascism in the Great Patriotic War,” which is what Stalin chose to call the Soviet segment of World War II.

In an interview on "Ekho Moskvy" radio, Shvydkoy responded: ”President Boris Yeltsin spoke about Russian fascism in 1995, and the current president speaks about right-wing radicalism and extremism, about the threat of this terrible phenomenon, especially to Russia, where there are hundreds of languages and peoples and where any incident, even one that is similar to fascism, is explosive and destabilizes the situation in society.”

One may disregard the indignant cries of “insult” and “blasphemy” as old-fashioned propaganda bravado and perhaps a way to pander to the emotions of World War II veterans and others who feel ignored or offended by society. But what is both puzzling and troubling is that the Communists deny the unmistakable presence of fascism in Russia -- skinheads marching under the swastika and daubing that symbol on tombs, monuments, and public buildings; celebrating Hitler’s birthday by attacking people who do not look like Slavs, and urging the expulsion or killing a long list of undesirable minorities.

If there is no Russian fascism, there is no need to do anything about it. (One should keep in mind that Communist deputies routinely vote against proposed resolutions that condemn antisemitism and extremism, and their party does not discipline vociferous antisemites and racists in its ranks.) However, if Russian fascism gains strength and becomes a serious challenge to democracy, and it could, then the Communists may once again present themselves as the only force that can unite the nation against fascism and smash it to smithereens.
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