Union of Councils for Soviet Jews: Bigotry Monitor: Volume One, Number 15

News

Bigotry Monitor: Volume One, Number 15

(October 19, 2001)

Volume One, Number 15
Friday, October 19, 2001

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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RICE: U.S. CAN'T FIGHT TERRORISM IN AFGHANISTAN AND WELCOME IT IN CHECHNYA. "We like President [Vladimir] Putin's statements now," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told "Izvestiya" in what the Moscow daily billed as the first exclusive interview she granted to a Russian newspaper. "It seems he really wants to initiate negotiations with the Chechen leaders." In a crisp 87-word summation of the new U.S. approach to Chechnya, she first established that "human rights are an important issue in Chechnya." Then, without mentioning Russian atrocities documented by human rights groups and the press, she went on to say: "We know that there are terrorists in and around Chechnya, and we urge Chechen leaders to disassociate themselves from the criminals who might be found in their ranks." She concluded her response with a sentence that had the ring of a slogan: "We cannot fight international terrorism in Afghanistan and welcome it in Chechnya."

POWEL

L: NOT EVERY CHECHEN 'IN THE RESISTANCE MODE' IS A TERRORIST. En route to Shanghai to attend, along with President George W. Bush, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Secretary of State Colin Powell tilted his words in favor of the Chechen separatists. He told the press on October 17 that American leaders will encourage their Russian counterparts "to move aggressively toward a political solution and not to think that it can be solved militarily," according to Agence France Press. "We recognize that they have to fight terrorist activities in Chechnya [but] they have to do it in a way that reflects solid consideration of human rights and past atrocities that we know took place... Not every Chechen who is in a resistance mode is necessarily a terrorist."

RUSSIA'S MUSLIMS SHOW RESTRAINT ON CHECHNYA, FURY AT U.S. AIRSTRIKES. The Russian attack on Chechnya two years ago and the ensuing brutal war showing no sign of letting up have created uneasiness among Muslims in the Russian Federation where, as one is often reminded these days, every seventh person is a Muslim, or about 20 million. (The central government's statistics bureau offers a different estimate: one person out of ten is Muslim, or about 14 million out of a population of 145 million.) But Russia's grand muftis support the Russian "anti-terrorist campaign" in Chechnya, and public Muslim endorsement of the Chechen cause and Muslim protests over Russian atrocities have been rare and subdued.

However, reactions to the U.S.-U.K. bombings in Afghanistan and the emergence of the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition have been fast and furious, approaching the level of outrage. President Putin's decision to join the anti-terrorist coalition has also come in for Muslim criticism. According to Agence France Presse (AFP), many of Russia's Muslims regard the campaign in Afghanistan with "a wary eye," and some leading figures are "outspokenly hostile." AFP quotes Grand Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin, based in Ufa: "I condemn these bombardments not just as a Muslim and a mufti but also as a human being. The Americans want to show us that they rule the world." In an interview with Itar-Tass news agency, the mufti warned that "playing with fire can lead to a greater war. There are in Russia a sufficient number of our own extremists, fanatics, and Wahhabis [Muslim fundamentalists], with whom we must struggle decisively and restore law and order." He called the involvement of Uzbekistan with the United States and its allies "dangerous" and compared the events with those in Yugoslavia "when troops entering the country are trying to remain there." Russia's other grand mufti, Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin, told AFP that he approved "taking action against terrorists" but considered "unacceptable that the Afghan population should suffer from the American bombardments." Gaynutdin then went a step further and warned that a decision by the Kremlin to send Russian troops into Afghanistan or to take part in the bombing could have "serious consequences for Russia."

TATAR NATIONALISTS MARK DEFEAT OF 1552, URGE INDEPENDENCE NOW. According to NTV International, on October 15 1,500 people marched through the streets of Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation, to commemorate the day 449 years ago when Russian troops sent by Ivan the Terrible conquered the city and abolished the Muslim Khanate of Kazan. The demonstrators linked Tsar Ivan and President Vladimir Putin as Russian leaders who deprived the Tatar state of its sovereignty, and chanted "Flush Putin down the Hague Tribunal." The video on the TV screen showed the burning of a flag that depicted the tsar and the two-headed eagle. Participants in the rally shouted in the Tatar language: "Freedom!" and NTV's Vyacheslav Prynov reported that "separatist tendencies are getting stronger." One interviewee, Rinat Nuralli, identified as deputy chairman of the All-Tatar Public Council, declared: "This small republic is all that is left of a great and powerful Tatarstan. We want to build our own state on this territory. We want the Tatar nation to flourish." Another Tatar on the program, Abu-Bakr, described himself "a righteous Muslim." Reporter Prynov quoted him as saying that his involvement in the rally is his "fight against evil or jihad…. No one has the right to tell us how to live. This is our land. Every centimeter of this land is soaked with the blood of our Muslim brothers. They have all turned into shahids [martyrs]." Prynov reported that those who addressed the rally claimed that Muslims are suppressed not only in Russia but also in Palestine, Chechnya, and Afghanistan, and they asked Allah to punish the United States, which has turned into "the devil's country. " Prynov heard that some 100 volunteers have expressed the wish to fight on the Taliban's side. After a prayer session, the participants adopted an appeal to the Russian and Tatar presidents to declare Tatarstan's full independence.

UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS FEAR IMPACT OF ALLIANCE WITH U.S. Some human rights activists are apprehensive that Uzbekistan's new alliance with the United States in the struggle against terrorism may lead to a weakening of criticism of Tashkent's human rights record, according to Zamira Echanova of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Uzbek language service. On October 15, the reporter quoted Matilda Bogner, the new representative of Human Rights Watch in Uzbekistan: "If the U.S. has a long-term view, they should be very mindful of the human rights issues in this region. Because as long as human rights continue to be grossly abused, there is no guarantee of stability." The reporter interviewed local human rights activists who perceive the new alliance as a bad sign for the cause of human rights. They say that President Islam Karimov's government will do its best to use U.S. support in its crackdown on "peaceful Muslims" and justify it as a part of the international war against terrorism. Activist Motabar Akhmedova said the process has already started. "The harassment against peaceful Muslims has increased," she commented, listing a case of kidnapping by the security police, the widening practice of harassing schoolgirls who wear headscarves, and the removal of loudspeakers from some mosques. While there are activists who say that it is too early to judge if repression will worsen, others suggest that the government may have reached its limit in abusing the rights of its citizens.

ST. PETERSBURG'S AFRICAN STUDENTS STRIKE BACK AT SKINHEADS. War has broken out between St. Petersburg's 22,000 foreign students, many of them from developing countries, and the city's skinheads, reports the October 11 issue of the St. Petersburg edition of the national daily "Novaya Gazeta." The problems started at the beginning of October, when skinheads attacked Chinese students, residents of St. Petersburg Technical University's hostel No. 13. On October 4, two students from Zambia were severely beaten. The foreign students' patience ran out when on October 6, a student from the Ivory Coast crawled back to Hostel No. 13 with a fractured skull. About 50 African residents armed themselves with metal legs detached from their beds. They hurried to the nearby subway station, caught up with the skinheads, and pounced on them. Unusually enough, the police materialized instantly and arrested both groups. While the skinheads were released almost immediately, the Africans were held for a number of hours. The hostel's African students convened a meeting, formed self-defense units, and began a strike.

TAJIK MAYOR REFUSES TO REGISTER PROTESTANT CHURCH. Mayor Salijon Valiev of Kurgan-Tyube, the third-largest city in Tajikistan, has refused to register a Christian church, Keston News Service reports. A Protestant from Tajikistan told Keston that the official reason is that the church's registration statute is practically identical to that of another church already registered in the city. However, according to the Protestant, who wished to remain anonymous, Valiev privately informed the church's founders that as someone who had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca, he did not intend to "defile himself" by registering a Christian church. He called Christian Tajiks "traitors to the faith of their ancestors." Keston notes that while the authorities are preventing parishioners from gathering on the grounds that their church is unregistered, 38 unregistered mosques function freely in the city. The church has sued the city authorities, accusing them of refusing registration without justification. "The situation of the Evangelical Christian Church is certainly very difficult," said Yusuf Mahmedov, senior field assistant at the office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Kurgan-Tyube. On October 11, Mahmedov acknowledged to Keston that his office has "identified instances of offenses by the authorities against representatives of this church." He said the fact that the Evangelical Christians' statute is identical to the statute of another group is not against the law and suggested that the Christians stand a good chance of winning their case.

HUNGARY'S OMBUDSMAN FOR MINORITIES CALLS 'HATE LAW' A PILE OF DEAD LETTERS. The Hungarian parliament will soon tighten up and broaden Article 269 of the penal code defining incitement against racial, ethnic or religious groups, Jeno Kaltenbach, ombudsman for minority rights, told Gabor Czene of the Budapest daily "Nepszabadsag." In an interview published on October 17, Kaltenbach explained that his proposal stems from a charge he filed against Member of Parliament Istvan Csurka, leader of the far right Hungarian Justice and Life Party. On June 28, Csurka published an article warning about "a Gypsy reign of terror in a Pest County village," claiming that the Romany are intimidating "Hungarians who are in the majority for now" by "committing the most varied and often ruthless crimes." The prosecution found Csurka's generalizations unfounded, unacceptable, and capable of generating hatred, but refused to launch an investigation. "Apparently," Kaltenbach told the reporter, "Article 269 on public incitement does not allow for procedures in such cases. The prosecution keeps citing the Supreme Court argument that agitation cannot be penalized unless it qualifies as incitement - that is, when someone provokes others actively to engage in hatred. You can safely abuse Romanies verbally as long as you do not suggest that Romanies should be murdered, put into a ghetto, or chased away." Only that way, Kaltenbach explained bitterly, "would you be provoking 'active, effective hatred.'"

Kaltenbach argued that "by creating Article 269, the legislation did not intend to punish the consequences of inciting hatred - there are other laws for that - but aimed to prevent the culprits from generating danger." He said that under the current "very narrow" Supreme Court interpretation of Article 269 "it is unlikely that the justice administration will take action against those inciting hatred. In most cases, Article 269 is useless - a pile of dead letters." To change the status quo, Kaltenbach explained, he submitted a draft to the parliamentary committee on human rights, minorities, and religion, suggesting that the law omit the term "incitement" and use "provocation of hatred and appeal for criminal activity" instead. He added that for public officials - cabinet members or members of parliament, for example - the penalty ought to be more severe, up to eight years' imprisonment, as officials "have more influence and responsibility than average people." He said that the committee recently deferred action on his proposal because of a technicality. Asked if his proposal may curb freedom of speech, Kaltenbach called that freedom "one of the most important achievements of democracy. However, freedom of speech should be protected from the excesses of power rather than extended to the detriment of vulnerable groups. The provocation of hatred against ethnic, religious, or other minorities must not be allowed on the basis of theoretical considerations." He expressed confidence that Parliament will revise Article 269 before the elections next April.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK * * * "It is very important for us that President Putin was the first one to call the White House after the September 11 tragedy," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told "Izvestiya" on October 14. "I was with the President and saw how moved he was then, how he appreciated the gesture. This call meant a great deal for me too. That's how we perceive our relations with Russia now."

LATVIA'S VIRTUAL EXTREMISTS USE CAUTION ON THEIR INTERNET HOMEPAGES
a report on new and smarter ways to "bring order to the state"

Patriotic images, Nazi symbols, calls for a battle for freedom, appeals to "the conscience of the nation," and biased revisions of historical events are typical elements on the Internet homepages of both Latvian and Russian extremist groups in Latvia, according to the independent Riga daily "Diena" of October 13. But the article by veteran reporter Inta Lase titled "Virtual Warriors" also noticed caution: the homepages do not contain any overt calls to violence, though there are many hints to that effect.

In their attempts to recruit supporters and disseminate their views, the extremists - none of whom is represented in parliament - are savvy. According to "Diena" - the largest circulation daily in Latvia - "some clever nationalists" accept responsibility for crimes that have shaken the country and others promise to launch a new political party, but most often people simply cry out against the injustices perpetrated by the state. Precise information is not available, but according to information gathered by "Diena," each year several hundred people visit the average Latvian nationalist homepage.

Extremists are aware that employees of the Security Police pore over their homepages every day. Security Police Commander Janis Reiniks told "Diena" that lawyers examine the homepages of extremists, just as they peruse extremist newspapers, brochures, and books. The objective is to determine whether the publications violate principles of racial and national equality, call on people to engage in violence or attempt to overthrow the government, or pursue other unlawful activities. Reiniks says that in recent times extremists have become "smarter." They no longer directly call on people to engage in illegal acts. But their writings offer no shortage of hints about how to "bring order to the state."

"Diena" estimates that Latvian nationalists "on the borderline of radicalism" have set up about 20 homepages and at least three portals, and Russian nationalist radicals have about five homepages. Not all of the homepages are devoted to the operations of specific organizations. Some describe "heroes" such as the Latvian Nazi war criminal Herberts Cukurs, while others provide deeply biased reflections of history, much of it concerning World War II. Some homepages carry stories that praise genocide.

In its study of the homepages, "Diena" claimed it could not find any direct calls for violence or any statements offensive to specific ethnic groups. (But one wonders how a homepage contributor can praise a genocidal act and not be offensive to the targeted ethnic group.) "Diena" cites the homepage of the National Bolshevik newspaper "Tribunal" that recently posed the question: Would you support mass disorder? Some people answered carefully, but one 19-year-old declared that he would like not only to participate in such activities, but lead them. In "Tribunal" and elsewhere, calls to violence are hidden under answers to questions about the "type" of battle. Each respondent can choose the desired "type" himself or herself, thus taking advantage of the right to a freedom of expression and not issuing a specific call to do something illegal.

"Diena" found the homepages of Russian extremist organizations "much more vivid and aggressive" than their Latvian counterparts, especially the homepage of "Tribunal," which is no longer published in paper form as its articles prompted criminal charges of inciting hatred against ethnic groups. Unlike most of the Latvian nationalist homepages, which are housed on domestic servers, the pro-Russian homepages are set up on servers in Russia.

German nationalist radicals and American skinheads usually set up a double wall of secrecy: The initial server and the central homepage are available to everyone, but there are links to various other sites which house those pages that are sometimes called "the heavy artillery" of an extremist ideology. These pages, which often contain bragging about various acts of violence, however, can be accessed only by people who are in the know or by dedicated people who are willing to devote weeks to the search. "Diena" did not find any multi-level homepage networks of this type among local extremists.

Some Russian and Latvian homepages seek to find new members for extremist political parties. For example, the homepage called "Uzbrukums" (Attack) looks for members for a new organization with "a basic mission and operations that will involve military and patriotic training for young people, popularization of militarism, and strengthening of Latvia's statehood." Similar statements may be found on the homepage of the National Liberation Movement. According to "Diena," the largest Latvian nationalist portal is the one that houses the "Uzbrukums" homepage. Set up this July, it is said to have been visited 15,000 times. (Latvia's population is about 2.3 million, and 6.3% have access to the Internet, according to International Telecommunications Union figures.) Its organizers say that several hundred people visit it regularly, and they engage in correspondence with dozens of them. "Diena" suggests that this portal may be the most important homepage seeking out nationalists because it not only calls on people to participate in the establishment of organizations, but allows young people to set up free Web pages, and it has announced a competition for the best nationalist homepage. The second most often visited Latvian radical nationalist homepage according to "Diena" belongs to Leonards Inkins, who publishes the newspaper "Latvietis Latvija." It has been visited by about 4,000 people over the last three years. "Diena" was not able to ascertain how many people visit Russian nationalist homepages.

"Diena" quotes Reiniks as saying that when the police survey the extremists homepages, they try to determine which ones hide anonymous braggarts who will never do anything and which ones hide extremists who would be happy to implement extremist plans when the time is ripe. He believes that although most of the "virtual patriots" will never participate in so much as a demonstration, some are ready to engage in violence.

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