Volume 10, Number 1
January 8, 2010
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 year 2009, a year that marked a further decline for the cause of human rights in Russia, ended with a brutal police action against peaceful demonstrators and harsh statements by leaders of the Russian Orthodoxy, both deepening divisions between those in power and its critics.
1. RIOT POLICE BREAK UP PEACEFUL RALLY, ALEXEYEVA AMONG THOSE ARRESTED. On December 31, police detained at least 30 participants at an unsanctioned opposition rally in central Moscow, apparently singling out 82-year-old Ludmilla Alexeyeva, head of the oldest human rights organization in Russia, and Eduard Limonov, the flamboyant leader of the outlawed National Bolshevik Party. The protesters gathered in Triumfalnaya Square to demand that the government adhere to the Russian Constitution, Deutsche Welle reported. “They carried signs reading, ‘Putin behind bars!’ and had begun shouting ‘Freedom!’ and ‘End Putin's reign!’ when anti-riot police broke up the rally and made the arrests... The activists protested on the 31st of July, August, October, and now December in a nod to the 31st article of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly. All of the demonstrations have been banned and broken up.”
This was the first time that the police went after Alexeyeva, and photographs of an elderly woman being manhandled by much larger, thuggish-looking police officers went around the world.
The White House promptly expressed “dismay” at the detentions and voiced concern about reports of Alexeyeva’s mistreatment. "The United States expresses dismay at reports that authorities in Moscow prevented Russian citizens from exercising their right to assemble peacefully," National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer said. "In particular, the United States notes with concern the detention of protesters, including prominent human rights defender Ludmilla Alexeyeva, and reports of their mistreatment by authorities while in custody." He added: "Freedom of speech and assembly are universal rights that all governments should recognize and defend. The United States stands with those dedicated to promoting these human rights."
After a meeting with the new Moscow police chief, all the detainees were released. However, in the new year they may receive a summons to defend themselves in court. According to one knowledgeable source, human rights activists in Moscow have asked President Dmitry Medvedev to apologize for the police action.
A few days earlier, Alexeyeva won the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. Upon her release, she told the Interfax news agency that she had been mistreated during her detention. “In 1976, Alexeyeva was a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the oldest human rights organization currently active in Russia, which was the object of a denigration campaign and arrests under the Soviet regime,” Agence France-Presse noted. “She was forced to leave the USSR in 1977 and was exiled in the United States. She returned to Moscow in 1990.”
2. PATRIARCH KIRILL ENDORSES PUTIN’S ISOLATIONIST STANCE. It is impermissible to measure Russian life by the norms of somebody else's civilization and culture, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia told the Russian Civil Service Academy on December 29, thus endorsing one of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s favorite arguments. "We must strongly oppose attempts to be judged by alien criteria," he said, according to Interfax. Russian foreign policy had long been trying "to prove to external observers that we are good guys and live by the same criteria but still have certain shortcomings. Our diplomats were humbly telling the critics, who tried to extrapolate their own criteria to our situation, that we were alike, good as they were and the critics simply had erroneous information and misunderstood us."
Meanwhile, criteria applicable to another cultural environment "cannot be equally appropriate for Russia," Kirill continued. Otherwise, claims of "the alleged threat of clericalization of the Russian society" will be made, just like they were in annual freedom of worship reports of the U.S. Department of State, he noted and extended his criticisms to Europeans: "A modern European oriented at success, prosperity, and comfort yields to the passionate force the Islamic communities in Europe represent.” The religious factor in public life has always been primary for Islamic countries, he added, while many Europeans "are losing their ability to heroism and death in defense of [their] home country." Kirill seemed to be implying that Christianity is at war with Islam and that Russians have the right approach, “heroism and death.”
3. RUSSIAN ORTHODOX LEADER URGES GOVERNMENT ACTION AGAINST ‘SECTS.’ Metropolitan Sergiy, the head of the Russian Orthodox diocese of Voronezh, accused "sects" (a pejorative codeword for minority Christians) of espionage and exploiting their parishioners, according to a December 30 report by the Portal-Credo news web site. In a local television interview, Metropolitan Sergiy called for the government to repress "sects" and argued that the government should prevent Russians from joining any but the four "traditional" religions--Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism. "They are religions traditional to Russia, they have been tested by time," he said. "Choose them, or stay a non-believer."
Echoing a common accusation from Orthodox Church circles and Russia's security agencies, he added that "sects" are a threat to state security as well, claiming that they "are a destructive political force: a sectarian's job might deal with state secrets, but he can become disillusioned, since he lives in a state of hypnosis." Protestants, Metropolitan Sergiy warned, "work within the bowels of [foreign] intelligence services and probe our weaknesses... this is a real war that doesn't result in the death of a person but of that person's soul." "I am very cautious and urge all of you to be cautious too" when it comes to Protestant missionaries, he concluded.
Metropolitan Sergiy’s statement coincides with a widening crackdown on Jehovah's Witnesses in several Russian cities after a court ruling in 2009 classified them as "extremists."
Sergiy went as far as claiming that in the 1990s, then U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright pressured the Russian government to abandon Orthodoxy in favor of a different form of Christianity.
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MOLDOVA BRINGS NO CHARGES AGAINST ANTISEMITIC MOB. Prosecutors in Moldova have refused to bring charges against members of an antisemitic mob that tore down a menorah in the capital Chisinau and put up a cross in its place while chanting antisemitic slogans, according to a January 6 report by Jewish.ru. Despite video clips seen all over the world on Youtube and other sites that show clear violations of Moldova's laws against inciting ethnic and religious hatred, as well as the faces of those who tore down the menorah, the Prosecutor's Office claims that it has found no evidence that a crime was committed. The incident generated widespread criticism from the international Jewish community, as well as the condemnation of the Moldovan government.
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IN 2009, RUSSIAN COURTS RECOGNIZED 25% MORE HATE CRIMES THAN IN 2008. In 2009, the Sova Center for Information and Analysis, recorded in 25 regions of the country a total of 44 guilty verdicts in which a hate motive was officially recognized. The list was made on the basis of Sova’s daily monitoring. In 2008, Sova registered 33 such guilty verdicts in 19 regions.
But at the same time, slightly fewer guilty verdicts for racist propaganda were issued in 2009. While in 2008, Sova was aware of 42 guilty verdicts, in 2009 the number dropped to 38. In addition, in 2009 there were two verdicts for vandalism committed with a hate motive. Admitting the hate motive as an aggravating circumstance of vandalism is so very rare that Sova lists the cases separately.
Sova cautioned that it might not have learned of all the guilty verdicts.
RUSSIAN MUSLIM GROUP CLAIMS ITS ACTIVIST KILLED ORTHODOX CLERGYMAN. An organization calling itself The Information and Analytical Section of the Staff of the Armed Forces of the Caucasus Emirate claims that its activist murdered Russian Orthodox clergyman Daniil Sysoyev for insulting Islam, Interfax reported on December 28. A statement from the organization posted online said that the assassin entered the premises where the clergyman was staying "and fired several shots at him with a Makarov pistol with a silencer and filmed the execution on his cell phone." Following the murder, the activist fled to the territory of "the Caucasus Emirate with the purpose of joining the Mojaheddins."
"Unfortunately, the video footage with Sysoyev's execution was lost," the statement added.
"We are not waging a war against peaceful Christians living in Russian territory but we are warning everyone that anyone who dares to open his mouth to insult Islam and Muslims may share Sysoyev's fate,” the statement continued. “The warning equally applies to all public figures, journalists, and politicians who dare to insult Allah's religion."
Father Daniil Sysoyev was shot dead on the night of November 19, 2009 in the Church of St. Thomas in Moscow. Earlier he had received numerous threats from Muslim radicals objecting to his rhetoric concerning Islam and his missionary efforts among Muslims.
RUSSIAN JEWISH GROUP REINSTATES ANTISEMITISM HOT LINE. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR), a leading Jewish umbrella organization in Russia, announced that it is bringing back a hot line for Russian Jews to call if they experience antisemitism, according to a December 30 report by the AEN news agency. The Moscow-based hot line connects victims of antisemitism with lawyers who can advise them of their rights. Last month, the head of FEOR, Chief Rabbi Beryl Lazar, met with President Dmitry Medvedev who declared that antisemitism in Russia is "much less prevalent" than in the past.
BLAST IN ST. PETERSBURG APARTMENT TARGETS MIGRANTS. An unidentified individual threw a bomb into a St. Petersburg apartment rented out to migrant workers, according to a December 28 report by the local news web site Fontanka.ru. Only one person was home at the time, a 49 year old Tajik man, and he escaped without injury. However, the bomb shattered two windows. Police are investigating the incident.
ROMA ARE VICTIMS OF EUROPE’S UNDECLARED APARTHEID, EXPERTS AGREE. Violence, poverty, and widespread discrimination have made Roma communities victims of Europe’s “undeclared apartheid” system, experts on a panel declared in the Council of Europe’s ‘Viewpoint’ human rights talk show on January 5.
Gwendolyn Albert, a political analyst based in the Czech Republic, said on the television program that the current plight of Roma confirmed the “undeclared apartheid” which marginalizes Roma communities throughout Europe. “The levels of violence that Roma face across Europe at the hands of their fellow citizens are medieval in nature,” she added. “Their human rights are being violated every single day all across Europe.” Sociologist Donatella De Vito, Roma projects manager for the Milan-based charity Casa della Carita, endorsed this view. She said Roma people went to Italy thinking that it would be their “America,” only to find “poverty and exclusion.” Isabela Mihalache, deputy director of the European Roma Rights Centre, criticized European governments for their failures to respect court judgments resulting from complaints by Roma rights advocates. She also demanded greater protection for Roma communities.
NEO-NAZI BOMB PLOT IN SWEDEN LINKED TO THEFT OF AUSCHWITZ SIGN. A band of Polish criminals was contracted by a neo-Nazi group to steal from the Auschwitz concentration camp the infamous iron plaque “Arbeit Macht Frei” (meaning “work makes you free”) and it was supposed to be sold to a Swedish collector to finance neo-Nazi bomb attacks in Sweden, Britain’s “Guardian” reported on December 30. The plaque which spanned the entrance at the death camp was wrenched from the gate on December 18 but was recovered three days later from a nearby forest. The robbery prompted Poland to declare a state of emergency and camp survivors to appeal for its return. Polish police described the five men arrested as common criminals who had acted for financial gain. According to the Swedish daily “Aftonbladet,” the men were contracted by a neo-Nazi group which planned to sell it to a third party, a foreign right-wing extremist and collector of Nazi memorabilia, with the aim of using the funds to finance bombings in Sweden.
Polish state television TVP1 quoted officials as saying that Swedish neo-Nazis were behind the theft. The Swedish justice ministry has stated that it is helping the Polish police with the investigation. The Swedish security service Sapo confirmed that it was investigating a neo-Nazi plot to blow up the parliament building in Stockholm, as well as the foreign ministry and the home of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Sapo said that the plot aimed to disrupt the parliamentary elections.
The five suspected robbers, aged between 25 and 39, have criminal records but none is suspected of having a neo-Nazi background, “The Guardian” learned. They were to receive for the sign a total of 20,000 zlotys (about $7,000).
On January 3, the British tabloid “Sunday Mirror” reported that the impetus for the theft came from a wealthy British Nazi sympathizer, citing an unnamed Swedish source. The collector, whose name was withheld, allegedly let it be known through the neo-Nazi network that he would pay a lot of money for the sign he wanted as a trophy.
GREEK SYNAGOGUE VICTIM OF ARSON ATTACK. Fire crews saved Etz Hayyim synagogue in Chania on the Greek island of Crete before a blaze set by unidentified individuals could cause major damage, the German news agency DPA reported on January 5, citing Greek broadcasts. There was no trace of the attackers. The synagogue holds more than 1,500 books and functions as a museum and memorial in the harbor city. Chania's 300 Jews were deported in 1944 and died when their ship sank.
The synagogue, the only one in Crete, suffered significant water and smoke damage but its Torah scrolls were not damaged, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported from Athens on January 7. “A bar of soap was thrown against the outer wall of the synagogue to illustrate the common Greek antisemitic expression, ‘I’ll make you into a bar of soap,’” the news agency added.
* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, HOW THE PRISONER DIED * * * Reporting on the investigation by the nongovernmental Public Oversight Commission of the November 16th death in jail of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who had clashed with powerful Russian government bureaucrats, “The New York Times” dated December 28 cited Zoya Svetova, one of the investigators, on how the inquiry had challenged her assumptions. “I had the impression that Magnitsky died because of doctors’ negligence, because they thought he had invented his illness,” she said. “Now I have the frightening feeling that it was not negligence but that it was, to some extent, as terrible as it is to say, a premeditated murder.”
DOES POPE BENEDICT DANCE A JEWISH TWO-STEP OR IS HE PULLING A PR TRICK?
A Jewish View and a Catholic View
“For at least the third time in his papacy, Pope Benedict's XVI is doing the Jewish dance that takes him one step back, one step forward,” reported the writer Ruth Ellen Gruber for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a feature story dated December 31, 2009. “The step back came when Benedict made a move in mid-December to bring Holocaust-era Pope Pius XII a bit closer to sainthood. The step forward will come in mid-January, when Benedict visits Rome's main synagogue--a trip planned long before Benedict's move on Pius. The question is what impact the visit will have on ruffled Catholic-Jewish relations.”
Gruber called it a “two-for-one” strategy and “one that appears especially probable when the controversy concerns Jewish/Catholic relations.” She quoted Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, who told Vatican Radio about the planned synagogue visit: "It is an important event, a milestone in the dialogue. We have great expectations for what it can mean in terms of the general climate." He added a piece of old rabbinic wisdom: "If we stop at the things that divide us deeply, we won't get anywhere. The differences are important to move forward."
Catholics, and perhaps especially American Catholics, are divided in their views about Pius. If letters to the independent U.S. Catholic newspaper, the “National Catholic Reporter” (NCR) offer a guide, many of them agree with what is now the majority Jewish view that Pius did not do enough to confront Nazism and to save more Jews.
POPE BUNDLES POPULAR JOHN PAUL WITH CONTROVERSIAL PIUS. NCR columnist John L. Allen Jr. suggested a different explanation for Benedict’s decision to go ahead with preparations for sainthood for Pius. He linked sainthood for Pius with that for Pope John Paul II. “Two instances of something may not constitute a trend, but they can at least suggest a strategy,” Allen wrote on December 21. “Last week, an apparent Vatican strategy on turning popes into saints came into view: When you’re going to move a controversial pope along the path to sainthood, bundle him with a more popular pontiff--the PR calculation apparently being that acclaim for the latter may drown out negative reaction to the former.”
The Vatican announced on December 19 that Benedict approved “decrees of heroic virtue for two of his 20th century predecessors,” John Paul and Pius. “A decree of heroic virtue is a finding that someone lived a saintly life,” Allen explained. “It allows the candidate to be referred to as ‘venerable,’ and means the only hurdle left for beatification is a documented miracle, with one more miracle necessary for canonization, the formal act of declaring someone a saint.”
But Gruber pointed out that Benedict's approval of his predecessors’ “heroic virtues” is one month ahead of his visit to the synagogue, scheduled for January 17, the Catholic Church's annual Day of Dialogue with Judaism.
“The Polish-born John Paul made fostering Catholic-Jewish relations a hallmark of his papacy,” Gruber recalled. “But critics have long accused Pius of having turned a blind eye to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. The Vatican and other supporters say Pius acted behind the scenes to help Jews.” She cited Gary Krupp, a Jew and the head of Pave the Way, described as a nonsectarian foundation that promotes interfaith dialogue, who suggested in a recent op-ed article in “The New York Post” that criticism of Pius began in the 1960s as “part of a Soviet smear campaign against the Catholic Church, which at the time was profoundly anti-Communist.” Gruber pointed out that the Anti-Defamation League responded with a call for Benedict to disregard Krupp's "flawed" evidence.
For decades, scholars of many nationalities as well as Jewish organizations have urged the Vatican to open its famously secret archives in order to clarify the issue of Pius’ role. Responding to increasing pressure, the Vatican under John Paul made some concessions, and Vatican-approved researchers have been invited to inspect parts of the archives—with significant omissions.
But Benedict's decision to green-light Pius's progress to sainthood drew widespread criticism from Jewish organizations, Gruber noted. Jewish leaders acknowledge that it is up to the Vatican to decide whom to honor with sainthood but they call for opening the archives. "As long as the archives of Pope Pius about the crucial period 1939 to 1945 remain closed, and until a consensus on his actions--or inaction--concerning the persecution of millions of Jews in the Holocaust is established, a beatification is inopportune and premature," the World Jewish Congress’ president, Ronald Lauder, said in a statement.
BENEDICT‘S GOAL: IMPROVE TIES WITH CATHOLIC RIGHT WING. Gruber cited analysts who said that Benedict's move on Pius is part of his effort to shore up conservative forces within the church. "The pope apparently has chosen to balance his unquestionable commitment to the Catholic Church's good relations with world Judaism with his commitment to recuperating the religious right wing of Catholicism," said Lisa Palmieri Billig, the American Jewish Committee's liaison to the Vatican. "Obviously his path is strewn with warring obstacles." Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, an expert in interfaith relations and the vice president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, was quoted as saying, "The great struggle of this moment is shoring up the most traditional elements of his church as he fights the growing secularization and Islamification of the European stage, which is right before his eyes." In Bretton-Granatoor’s opinion quoted by Gruber, Benedict’s visit to the synagogue in Rome is "far more telling about the state of Catholic-Jewish relations" than the move to elevate Pius.
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