Volume 7, Number 43
Friday, November 9, 2007

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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The national holiday President Vladimir Putin invented to replace the one that celebrated the Bolshevik Revolution has become a rostrum for worshiping the Russian state and preaching unity as the citizenry’s first duty.

1. PUTIN STRESSES UNITY, DESTINY, AND STRENGTH. Unity of the Russian people and the restoration of the state’s Great Power status were the grand themes of the third celebration of People’s Unity Day, held on November 4, the day in 1612 when Polish invaders from thrown out of Moscow. In various televised speeches, a triumphant President Vladimir Putin explained the significance of the occasion: "It was cohesion of all society, its responsibility for the destiny of the country that helped at that time to defend independence, to revive Russian statehood and to create conditions for construction of the great power from the Baltic to the Pacific.” Putin’s message spanned the centuries but he unmistakably spoke of the present, as well. He inserted, as he usually does in major speeches, a single reference to Russia’s multiethnic makeup: “Thanks to the unity displayed by the multinational people of Russia we managed to end the many years of troubles and internal strife.”

Strength was another recurrent theme. "The present-day Russia is strong not only by its new economic successes and not only by the rising influence in world affairs," Putin said. "It was and remains strong thanks to people's unity and of course thanks to a huge intellectual and creative potential of people -- talented, skilled, and sincerely desirous to bring benefit to their people."

Recalling an emphasis of his Soviet predecessors who reserved their best rhetoric for November 7, the day the Bolshevik Revolution erupted, Putin boasted of his country’s international popularity: "It is my deep conviction that an absolute majority of people living on our planet have a positive attitude to our country, and some even look at it with hope, because they see our country -- Russia -- as the defender of their own interests. Some small peoples and small countries can hardly cope with the work of defending their own interests. So, Russia did and will continue to play a positive stabilizing role in the world."

Again like his Soviet predecessors, Putin had a few barbs for the country’s enemies. He did not name them: "Concerning those who resent [Russia’s progress] – well, of course some may resent this, because we have our supporters, but also those who would like to build a unipolar world and rule over the whole of mankind. But nothing of this kind has ever occurred in the history of our planet, and I don't think this will ever happen." Speaking at an event near Red Square, Putin listed yet another threat: "There are still those who would like to split Russia and get their hands on our resources. It's something which we should keep in mind.”

2. UNITY OF THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. For the first time, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia took part in the holiday. Archbishop Marc of Germany and the United Kingdom delivered the service along with the Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia. The archbishop said: “On this day we all recognize the need for strengthening the unity of the church and the unity of the people, as this unity is the token of our future. A division is always harmful, and it is our duty to strengthen the unity and remember our history.”

3. TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD, ILLUSION AND SINCERETY. In an assessment of President Putin’s speeches and answers to questions, Brian Whitmore of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) noted that “Putin loves to play the tough guy -- especially when he's on television” and that his “carefully choreographed ‘impromptu’ exchanges are but one part of a sophisticated Kremlin marketing strategy aimed at rebranding Russia as a resurgent world power that has risen from the chaos and humiliation of the 1990s…. Kremlin image gurus have relied on a potent cocktail that is equal parts truth, illusion, subterfuge, spin, and outright falsehood.”

RFE/RL cited veteran CIA Russia specialist Fritz Ermarth who noted a “mosaic of claims or pretenses” in the holiday rhetoric. "There is a lot of fakery -- deliberate, contrived fabrication. There is also a lot of illusion. That is, they believe in it; they are sincere about it."

4. FAR-RIGHT RALLIES INVEIGH AGAINST IMMIGRANTS AND JEWS. About 2,000 far-right nationalists, some of them giving Nazi salutes, marched by the Moscow River to celebrate the holiday, Agence France-Presse reported. The crowd, organized by a coalition of secular nationalist and Orthodox Christian groups, chanted slogans such as "Glory to Russia" and "Russians rise up." Others carried banners that read "Tolerance equals AIDS" and "For a Russian national state." One couple told the news service that they were protesting against immigrants "crowding out" ethnic Russians and what they called the "anti-people" policies of a government they said was secretly controlled by people of Jewish origin.

According to “The Los Angeles Times,” the chants included slogans against foreign immigrants and Jews, and the march, “a carefully controlled display” through a deserted area of the capital, “managed to avoid the violence and arrests” of last year's observance. “Other demonstrations around the city that were state-sponsored attracted bigger numbers,” “The Times” added. “But the rally organized by the far-right Slavic Union and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration [DPNI] drew more notice. Calls for a return to the era of Russian power and Slavic unity hold substantial popular appeal.” The newspaper quoted anti-immigration leader Alexander Belov as telling a rally: "We will free Europe! Russia will be white! We came here to say simple words: We are sick and tired of the power of occupants, of conquerors, and now it's enough. We are the real power, not those who are hiding in the Torah!"

Similar rallies were held in Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, and St. Petersburg, Interfax reported. In Vladivostok, more than 500 supporters of right-wing groups staged a march sanctioned by the authorities along the city’s main street. Participants carried banners of the Russian Club (Russkiy Klub) and the DPNI, Russian state and imperial flags, as well as placards saying "Russian order to the Russian land," "If necessary, 1612 can be repeated [the date of a popular uprising expelling Polish invaders from Moscow]," and "No integration but deportation." Half of the crowd were skinheads who covered their faces with scarves. Though no overt Nazi symbols were in evidence, many demonstrators carried the symbol of the Russian Club which looks like a swastika.

In St. Petersburg, two different street demonstrations held last weekend ended in arrests, “The St. Petersburg Times” reported. The “Russian March,” organized by the DPNI carrying slogans such as “Russia for Russians” ended violently outside the Chernyshevsky Gardens, as a group broke the windows of a Chinese restaurant, an Arab café, and several kiosks. Riot police arrested more than 20 activists, including Konstantin Dushenov, currently under investigation for inciting ethnic hatred, and Nikolai Bondarik, leader of the ultranationalist Russian Party.

The day before the holiday, on Saturday, an “Empty Saucepans” march against food price rises, organized by the National Bolshevik Party and Sergei Gulyayev’s recently formed “Narod” (Russian for nation) movement gathered up to 1,000 protesters. Many activists carried empty saucepans and banged them with ladles and some of them attempted to install an impromptu gallows and hang a puppet with President Putin’s initials on its chest. Police destroyed the puppet and detained three activists including National Bolshevik leader Andrei Dmitriyev. The protesters have been charged with hooliganism and breaking the rules by holding a meeting.

KREMLIN PLANS NEW RESTRICTIONS ON NGOS, ALEXEYEVA WARNS. The government is considering new restrictions on Russian human rights and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to limit their ability to participate in the work of Western institutions such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Moscow Helsinki Group director Lyudmila Alexeyeva told the Associated Press on November 3. She said that the proposed restrictions, representing the latest Kremlin effort to hamper the work of NGOs in Russia, are backed by ex-Soviet republics with dictatorial governments including Uzbekistan and Belarus.

One of the restrictions would require government approval for a Russian NGO to participate in OSCE meetings, she said. Denying such an approval could effectively block groups critical of the Kremlin from any involvement, she explained.

MOSCOW CONFRONTS OSCE ELECTION OBSERVERS. During Russian parliamentary elections four years ago, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent some 450 observers to monitor the State Duma vote. But when Russians go to the polls on December 2, the observers’ number will be reduced to 70, Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on November 5.

Moscow has never hidden its antipathy to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE's election-monitoring body. But now the government has slashed the number of invitations to foreign election observers and says its aim is to cut that number even further. As one of the OSCE’s 56 member states, Russia says it reserves the right to decide on the scope and duration of all ODIHR monitoring missions on its territory.

RFE/RL called the news “shocking” for ODIHR, which has criticized most parliamentary and presidential ballots in Russia and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) for failing to meet democratic standards. Not surprisingly, the OSCE and the ODHIR have drawn Moscow's ire. But, RFE/RL noted, Moscow’s latest move is part of its strategy to reshape the OSCE by shifting its focus to security issues, at the expense of its human rights and democracy functions.

For the United States, which strongly backs ODIHR, the development adds to an already strained relationship with Russia. On November 1, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said that Washington "regrets very much" the decision by Russia to curb ODIHR monitoring, which he described as "unprecedented." The Russian Foreign Ministry characterized the Burns statement as evidence that “certain forces in the West are allergic to the sovereignty of Russia's democratic system which is not following guidelines given from the overseas but abides by internal laws, which correspond to the free choice made by the Russian people in the early 1990s."

For some time, Moscow has been trying to put ODIHR under the control of the Permanent Council, the OSCE's main decision-making body that operates on the principle of consensus. Thus Russia and other CIS countries would have an effective veto over ODIHR's election reports. Russia and six other CIS countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) recently proposed to limit election observers to 50 on any given ballot and they expect that the proposal will be on the agenda of the November 29-30 OSCE ministerial council in Madrid.

Russia's intention to limit the number of foreign observers has met with “a mixed response at home and criticism abroad,” the official news agency Itar-Tass acknowledged on November 2. The item cited “some analysts” who believe that such a step fits in with the general trend of Russia’s tightening controls over the election process.

On November 7, Central Elections Commission chief Vladimir Churov said that excessive numbers of "so-called foreign observers" during upcoming State Duma elections would interfere with Russia's internal affairs, “The Moscow Times” reported. Earlier, Churov said that a total of between 300 and 400 election observers would be invited but they will comprise not only OSCE delegates but representatives from the CIS and other organizations.

CRIMEAN TATARS CLASH WITH UKRAINIANS AND COSSACKS. Twice in the last week, Ukrainian special militia forces joined by ethnic Russian Cossacks attacked Tatar activists in Simferopol who protested a recent court decision ordering them to vacate a portion of their ancestral lands, according to Crimean Tatar sources cited in the blog “Window on Eurasia” run by Paul Goble, a former U.S. government expert on nationalities. In the first confrontation last Friday, the Ukrainians and Russians backed off in the face of Crimean Tatar demonstrators. But in the second confrontation, on November 6, a larger group of Ukrainians and Russians used truncheons and rubber bullets to drive off the Tatars, before taking 28 of them into custody. Goble noted that the clashes may lead to instability in the Crimean Peninsula. So far, he continued, little is known about the incidents, as Ukrainian and international news agencies have not provided much detail. The main source is the Crimea-L list which is available online at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crimea-l/.

One critical detail, however, has been reported. On September 30, at a meeting of Crimean militia officials, Ukraine's interior minister said that as a result of the court decision about a particular area in Simferopol, the time had come to evict all Crimean Tatar "squatters" from that land.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, RUSSIA TO REDEFINE HUMAN RIGHTS * * * "Imposing of unilateral standards in the sphere of human rights under the cover of universal standards, selective interpretation of human rights and democratic principles, the creation of pseudo-democratic international associations that claim an exclusive possession of democratic values, and similar negative trends impede the implementation of universal human rights standards", Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Ilya Rogachev told the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, as reported by the official Russian news agency Itar-Tass on November 2.

RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA GAINING GROUND
Capitol Hill Hearing Exposes Alarming Facts About a Global Phenomenon

1. THREE FORMS OF RACISM SURGE WORLDWIDE, SAYS UN RAPPORTEUR. “A very strong rise in racism and xenophobia” is evident throughout the world, and the trend causes “a very serious danger,” Doudou Diene, the UN’s rapporteur on contemporary racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, testified in Washington on November 6. A native of Senegal who has held his post since 2002 and travels widely across the globe, Diene warned that “all forms of racism are rising” – directed against a long list of targets, especially Jews, blacks, and, since 9/11, Muslims.

Speaking at a Capitol Hill hearing organized by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (better known as the Helsinki Commission), Diene identified three “alarming trends.” First, resurgence of racist violence, conducted primarily but not exclusively by neo-Nazi groups, targeting “ethnic, cultural, and religious communities.” Second, the gaining of “clout and legitimacy” by racist political parties. Their rhetoric is “slowly penetrating democratic parties” and at times they enter government coalitions, implementing a xenophobic agenda in issues such as immigration and terrorism. “This phenomenon amounts to a democratization of racism, representing one of the gravest threats faced by democratic societies,” Diene noted. These two trends are associated with a third: “attempts by leading scholars and intellectuals to provide a justification, and ultimately a legitimization, of racist and xenophobic policies.” Diene cited the recent statement by Nobel laureate James Watson of DNA fame on the supposedly congenital inferiority of Africans and an implicit hierarchy of the races.

In the course of his travels, Diene noted “resistance to multiculturalism” as “a common factor in most of the countries” he visited. He found a rise of isolationism, a result of “the conflict between old national identities and the profound multiculturalization of societies.” Migrants threaten old notions of national identities, he said.

2. DISCRIMINATION AS AN EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE. Presiding over the hearing was Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL), chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He said: “Not only are hate crimes in the OSCE on the rise, but discrimination is also an everyday experience for many persons who live in OSCE countries, as many Roma and other minorities of Turkish, African, South Asian, or other descent can attest to when they attempt to apply for jobs, find housing, or even go to school.” Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA), special representative on migration for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, noted: “I stand in strong support of finding positive solutions to ending hate crimes and discrimination throughout Europe.”

3. HATE CRIMES THREATEN DEMOCRACY. Among those testifying at the hearing were two activists from UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, Micah H. Naftalin, UCSJ's national director, and Nickolai Butkevich, UCSJ's research and advocacy director. They spoke of the absence of the rule of law that leads inexorably to a lack of accountability that empowers authoritarian governance. “There should be no mistaking the threat to democracy and national security posed by today’s gathering global storm of antisemitic and xenophobic hate crimes and propaganda, aided and abetted by patently corrupt and dysfunctional criminal justice systems,” Naftalin said. He suggested that such factors “have empowered the sworn enemies of peace and democracy in ways not seen since the worst days of the Cold War.” He pointed out that while antisemitic language is endemic to the propaganda of fascists, Communists, neo-Nazi skinheads, and Islamo-fascist extremists in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, dark-skinned people, predominantly Muslims from other parts of the former Soviet Union, rather than Jews are “the majority targets of physical violence” in Russia. “In Ukraine, however, the targets of hate crimes are predominantly Jews,” he added. He decried the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of hate crimes as well as the failure of governments “to effectively combat this scourge.”

Naftalin revealed that UCSJ and the Moscow Helsinki Group, the oldest human rights nongovernmental organization in Russia, recently formed a partnership of 30 human rights organizations called the Coalition Against Hate. Through the medium of a bi-lingual blog, the coalition will promote coordination and counteraction against the activities of neo-Nazi groups in the former Soviet Union. This blog will serve as a vital means of communication allowing the coalition to share and publish critical information about antisemitism, xenophobia, and religious discrimination. The coalition includes, among others, the Belarus Helsinki Committee, the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, the Committee on Freedom of Conscience, the Kyrgyzstan-American Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law, the Kazakhstan Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law, and the Ukrainian Helsinki Union.

In his testimony, Butkevich noted that President Putin has contradicted his rhetoric of tolerance by promoting openly xenophobic parties, most explicitly during the December 2003 parliamentary elections, and followed it up by similar alliances formed this year with an eye toward the December elections. “With over 50% of the Russian public responding positively in polls to the far-right slogan ‘Russia for the ethnic Russians,’ the Kremlin is increasingly catering to nationalistic voters,” Butkevich said. “The mass deportation of ethnic Georgians from Russia last year was the most sickening result of this campaign of fear. In reaction to a race riot in the remote northern town of Kondopoga, President Putin pushed a law through the State Duma that banned foreigners from trading in Russian markets.” Butkevich concluded that corrupt law enforcement agencies, mass migration, fears stoked by the economic collapse of the 90s, and the wars in Chechnya, have combined to create “an explosive situation.” These trends will probably worsen, he predicted.

4. UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. The discussion at the Helsinki Commission’s hearing raised a number of unanswered questions.

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) noted that the ideologies of political parties in Western and Eastern Europe are “eerily similar.” But how much coordination is there among them? What are the odds for the rise of a Far-Right International? Given the fact that Russian officials react quickly to European developments such as the recent riots in France’s immigrant neighborhoods, are there now contacts and consultations between the police forces on how to keep a lid on similarly explosive situations?

In response to rapporteur Dien’s reference to the electoral victory of the far-right Swiss People’s Party earlier this month, Switzerland’s ambassador in Washington Urs Ziswiler pointed out that the resurgence of xenophobic parties was a common phenomenon in Europe where many countries – he mentioned France, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, and Norway – from 20 to 30% of the electorate tend to vote for far-right parties. He called the result of the Swiss election “deplorable but not unique.” Dien responded that European governments fail to confront neo-Nazis, and he charged that the nationalist rhetoric used by mainstream politicians encourages hate crimes and the result is a marginalization of human rights. Naftalin interjected that one third of the party-list vote in Russia’s most recent elections went to parties that included prominent antisemites and racists in their ranks, some of them backed by the Kremlin.

But how to reduce the nationalist component in the rhetoric of politicians anxious to appeal to nationalist-minded voters? How can mainstream politicians -- and governments -- respond to the much-discussed “loss of national identity” that many voters consider a tragic phenomenon and demand government action to counter it?

All the speakers at the hearing agreed that incitement to communal violence should be punished. But how to draw the line between freedom of opinion and incitement to xenophobic violence? Another danger is evident in the Russian law, adopted recently, that defines “extremism” so loosely that anyone critical of the government may now be subject to prosecution. And can a weak and corrupt judicial system defend victims of hate crimes?

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