Volume 9, Number 42
November 6, 2009
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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Is Russia turning into a Land of the On One Hand, On the Other Hand? Or is it all an honest search for national identity?
1. MEDVEDEV CALLS ON RUSSIANS TO REMEMBER STALIN’S TERROR. On October 30, Russia’s state-approved Day of Remembrance of the victims of political repression, President Dmitry Medvedev called on his people to remember that the terror instituted by Soviet leader Yosif Stalin was "one of the greatest tragedies in Russian history.” He said that “the memory of national tragedies is no less sacred than the memory of victories” and that no state goals can justify the “great terror” seven decades ago. Medvedev’s message and tone contrasted with those of his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who had been at best ambivalent in his interpretation of Stalin’s crimes and has emphasized instead Soviet achievements in war and peace. Medvedev’s statement, in a video blog posted on his web site on October 30, led the state-controlled television news.
More than 12 million Soviet citizens died in Stalin’s reign of terror, according to the human rights group Memorial that researches the subject.
Understanding one’s history in its entirety is a sign of political maturity, Medvedev said. The people, not Stalin, were responsible for the military, economic and scientific achievements of the Soviet Union, he pointed out.
“Overcoming indifference and a desire to forget its tragic aspects is no less important than studying the past,” Medvedev said. “No one will do this but we ourselves.”
2. THE WORDS ARE FINE BUT WHAT ABOUT DEEDS? “This is a signal that there’s a difference in values between Putin’s elite and Medvedev’s elite,” said Dmitry Oreshkin, a Moscow-based political analyst, quoted by Bloomberg news service. “If Medvedev wants modernization, he needs to make clear that it’s not going to be by way of a ‘great leap.’” A person’s opinion of Stalin is a political litmus test, Oreshkin said. While few deny the excesses that took place under Stalin, he continued, people who support Putin’s top-down management style take a more benign view of him than those who disapprove of it.
“Compared with Putin, [Medvedev speaks] a different tone,” noted Alexander Cherkasov, a board member of Moscow-based Memorial. “The question is what deeds will follow these words.”
“Medvedev's address may have sounded radical, but many here [in Russia] are skeptical that the president's words will actually bring change,” commented Masha Lipman, editor of the Carnegie Moscow Center's “Pro et Contra” journal, in her monthly column titled “Russia's Search for an Identity” in “The Washington Post” op-ed page on November 3. “The number of alarming signals of Stalin's rehabilitation is growing. And in general over the year and a half of his presidency, Medvedev's often well-intended rhetoric has not been matched with policy.” Nevertheless, Lipman cautioned, “it would be wrong to dismiss the speech and conclude instead--as observers at home and abroad sometimes do--that Russia has made a definitive turn ‘back’ toward the Soviet Union and an admiration of Stalin. In fact, perceptions of Stalin are conflicted, and this conflict reflects Russia's attempts--very feeble, so far--to reinvent itself as a modern nation.”
Lipman acknowledged that for the government, the acceptance of Stalin and the paternalistic state pattern may come “handy as a way to consolidate power. But some in the decision-making circles do seem to realize that current social, political, and economic models are unable to produce growth and development. From Putin and Medvedev down, modernization has become the mantra. But modernization is incompatible with a statehood based on the specter of Stalin and faith in the magic empowerment of the apathetic people by forces of the state. Unless Russia reinvents itself and takes real steps to encourage people's entrepreneurship and creativity, talk of modernization will remain hollow.”
For Lipman and the oppositionists, Medvedev's speech points in the right direction, but, as Lipman emphasized, “it must be accompanied by changes in policy to carry weight. Moreover, for change to succeed, the president will need to build a constituency that will trust him, share his objectives, and work toward their implementation. As long as there is no such constituency in sight, Stalin's name engraved in marble in the Moscow metro will outweigh Medvedev's humane words.”
3. SQUARING THE CIRCLE—NOT A RESET. Bridging past differences can be as challenging as squaring a circle—and not something as simple as “a reset.” One example is British Foreign Minister David Miliband’s call on November 2 for a fresh approach to relations with Russia. "It is very important that we do not paper over our differences but we do not allow them to block our cooperation where possible," Miliband told reporters at a news briefing after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Both sides emphasized that the British foreign minister’s visit was “the first full visit in five years.”
“Relations between Britain and Russia nosedived after the 2006 murder of [Kremlin critic] Alexander Litvinenko with polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope, blamed by his associates on Russian agents,” Reuters noted.
Miliband said Britain will "continue to seek justice" in the Litvinenko's murder case. However, Lavrov was equally firm in stressing the constitutional rationale for refusing to extradite former KGB man Andrei Lugovoy to stand a trial for Litvinenko’s murder. Lavrov called such a British demand “unrealistic.” Nevertheless, he thanked Miliband for "good, productive talks" and said he hoped that the visit would help "move our positions closer."
4. NATIONALISTS AND ANTI-FASCISTS MARK DAY OF RUSSIAN UNITY. Marking the official National Unity Day on November 4, the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth organization appeared to stage the largest rally, with about 30,000 people attending its so-called “Russian March” on Naberezhnaya Tarasa Shevchenko, according to its web site, Nashi.su. The rally organized by the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) known for its violently xenophobic and ultranationalist stance attracted up to 1,500 supporters, mostly teenagers. Many participants covered their faces. According to “The Moscow Times,” city authorities confined the nationalists to the Lyublino District in southeastern Moscow, where an estimated 7,000 marched peacefully. However, activists who protested ultranationalism, racism, and fascism numbered only 1,000, gathered in downtown Moscow.
Only one clash between the two groups was reported, but police stopped it quickly. It happened in St. Petersburg, where several nationalists attacked a small group of anti-fascist activists who had unfolded a banner reading “Fascism kills.” According to Russian media reports, nationalists rallied in other Russian cities, including Novosibirsk (drawing 500 participants) and Krasnoyarsk (200 participants). The gatherings, sanctioned by the local authorities, passed without incident.
According to RIA-Novosti, more than 40,000 police officers and troops were deployed to monitor about 400 public events in 64 Russian regions. “The Moscow Times” headline observed that “Heavy Police Presence Keeps Unity Day Quiet.” More than 200,000 people were expected to take part in the celebrations, held for the fifth time, and commemorating a popular uprising led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky expelling from Moscow a Polish-Lithuanian military force in 1612. Referring to that victory 1612 victory, President Medvedev said, “I am sure that events of this kind … give us reason to believe that we are truly a united people capable of solving the greatest problems.”
However, Itar-Tass observed that “it is nakedly clear” that the holiday “has failed to play any unification role yet. On the contrary, it has proved an excuse for nationalists of all sorts to take to the streets.” In observing the National Unity Day in 2005 and 2006, ultranationalists marched in Moscow, shouting "Russia for Russians!," gave neo-Nazi salutes, and held placards with swastikas, antisemitic, and anti-immigration slogans. Putin and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov condemned the slogans and the sentiments.
According to a recent poll cited by Itar-Tass, only 23% of Russians know the name of the holiday, up from 8% in 2005 when the then--President Vladimir Putin established it to replace the commemoration of the Bolshevik revolution. “His decision angered some sections of the public, particularly the Communist Party which pressed on with celebrations on November 7,” the semi-official news agency noted.
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ALEKSEYEVA RECEIVES GERMAN AWARD. On November 5, veteran Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The German Embassy in Moscow announced that the award is in recognition of Alekseyeva's long fight for democratic values and human rights. Alekseyeva, 82, is the chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group and is one of the few veterans of the Soviet dissident movement still active in Russia today.
POLICE DETAIN SUSPECT IN MULTIPLE VANDALISM OF A CEMETERY. Police in Bogorodsk, Nizhny Novgorod Region detained a man suspected of vandalizing a local cemetery multiple times, according to an October 29 article in the local supplement to the national daily "Komsomolskaya Pravda." In September and October, someone smashed a total of 74 gravestones at the cemetery and painted swastikas and Stars of David on some of them. Police reportedly caught the 25-year-old suspect in the act of vandalizing gravestones again at the same cemetery. The article reported that he has a record of mental illness.
UNIVERSITY STUDENT FOUND GUILTY OF DISTRIBUTING RACIST LEAFLETS. A Russian court fined a university student for posting antisemitic and racist leaflets on a St. Petersburg subway, the Sova Center for Information and Analysis and UCSJ reported. On October 30, Sergey Orlov was found guilty in Vyborg District Court of fomenting interethnic hatred. Prosecutors plan to appeal the verdict, which they said was too lenient. They are seeking jail time for Orlov. The amount of the fine was undisclosed. The leaflets urged Russian citizens to "act against Muslims, Jews, Chinese, and people from the Caucasus and Central Asia."
TOP OFFICIAL JOINED IN ATTACKING JEHOVAH WITNESSES. A top local government official allegedly accompanied a prominent Russian Orthodox cleric and several dozen paramilitary Cossacks in an attack on Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk, Rostov Region, according to a November 2 report by the Sova Center for Information and Analysis. The previously unreported October 21 attack took place amidst growing official persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.
According to the report, the deputy head of the Novocherkassk city government, A. V. Demchenko, reportedly took part in the attack, allegedly led by Protoerey Oleg Dobrinsky from the local Russian Orthodox diocese. The Cossacks physically expelled Jehovah's Witnesses from a building they were using and then started a petition drive calling for a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Novocherkassk.
The latest round of persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia began after a September court ruling in the nearby city of Taganrog classified Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremists" and banned their activity within city limits.
KADYROV GOES OVERBOARD IN ISLAMIZING CHECHNYA. Chechnya’s government is “pouring money” into the construction of mosques and other Islamic institutions, Anne Garrels of the National Public Radio (NPR) reported on November 3. “Despite Russian law that declares a separation of church and state, Chechen schools must now promote Islam,” noted the correspondent who earned kudos for reporting from war-torn Iraq. She pointed out that elsewhere in Russia, the government has supported the construction of mosques and Islamic schools as long as they do not challenge the state. “But in Chechnya, the Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov has gone even further,” she said. “He has ordered the return of Sufi Islam and Chechen traditions as a way to establish his control and undercut Muslim extremists.”
“Kadyrov has ordered local officials to make sure TV companies show more programs celebrating Chechnya's Islamic identity while condemning so-called foreign Muslim trends, which he says undermine the state,” Garrels said. Moreover, the culture ministry has introduced rules for Chechen artists requiring that all performances must conform to what it determines is Chechen mentality and upbringing. The current local hit song these days is called "My Islamic Chechnya."
"This is the politicization of Sufi Islam,” Garrels quoted Alexey Malashenko, a leading expert on Russian Islam at the Carnegie Endowment office in Moscow, as saying. “[Kadyrov] said that the mosque has to become a political center, a center of education of the young generation. He consolidated around him the most traditional part of the society, including a piece of [the] young generation."
At first, Kadyrov’s Islamization policy was voluntary. Any female student who wore a headscarf earned a prize of $1,000. Now all females must cover their heads in schools and government offices and Kadyrov has banned the sale of European-style wedding dresses in bridal salons. The practice of polygamy is spreading. Members of the team around Kadyrov show off their several wives. Kadyrov has also supported the justice of honor killings.
Lipkhan Bazaeva, who runs a nongovernmental organization promoting women's rights, says that Chechnya is going back to the Middle Ages. "Yes, we are a traditional, conservative society, with our own values, but the government has gone overboard, declaring unacceptable limits on women that they should sit at home, they should obey their husbands," Garrells quoted Bazaeva as saying. "As an individual, she has no rights even if her husband beats her, despite Russian laws to the contrary."
UN PANEL CRITICIZES RUSSIA ON HUMAN RIGHTS. Russia fails to protect journalists, activists, prisoners, and others at odds with authorities from a wide range of abuses, including torture and murder, the UN Human Rights Committee said on October 30, as reported by the Associated Press from Geneva. The findings came in a report by an 18-member panel of independent experts who urged Moscow to implement legal reforms, such as narrowing the broad definitions of terrorism and extremism, decriminalizing defamation cases against journalists, and granting appeal rights to individuals forced into psychiatric hospitals by the courts. The panel assessed compliance with the UN’s 1966 international treaty on civil and political rights.
The report held Russia responsible for attacks on civilians by armed groups in South Ossetia following the war with Georgia and called for an investigation. The report charged that journalists were subject to politically motivated trials and convictions, discouraging critical media reporting, and urged the government to take action against an increasing number of hate crimes and racially motivated attacks. The justice system in Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus received harsh criticism for torture, forced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, and extrajudicial killing—and impunity for the perpetrators.
The Human Rights Committee gave Moscow one year to report back on its investigation of abuses in the North Caucasus and South Ossetia, and the protection of journalists and activists.
U.S. OFFICIAL URGES KAZAKHSTAN TO MAKE GOOD OF ITS OSCE PLEDGES. A U.S. official has called on Kazakhstan to fulfill its obligations before it assumes the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported from Astana on November 1. George Krol, the deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, told journalists in Astana that Kazakhstan should carry out reforms it agreed to in Madrid last December. At that time, then-Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin told the other OSCE member states' foreign ministers that Astana would make progress on OSCE recommendations to change its laws on the media, namely the mitigation of responsibility for defamation and the liberalization of the registration for media outlets. Tazhin also said that Kazakhstan intends to liberalize laws on elections and political parties.
Kazakhstan is scheduled to take over the chair of the OSCE on January 1.
KAZAKH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST SENT TO REMOTE LABOR CAMP. Leading Kazakh human rights activist Yevgeny (Eugene) Zhovtis was transferred from Almaty to a labor camp in northeastern Kazakhstan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on October 28. Zhovtis, director of a human rights organization, was sentenced to four years in prison last month for accidentally striking and killing a man with his car.
On October 19, an Almaty Oblast appeals court in the city of Taldy-Qorghan upheld his conviction and sentence, which has been condemned by international human rights groups as a punishment for his human rights advocacy. The labor camp OV-156/13, where Zhovtis was transferred, is about 1,000 miles from his native Almaty. His supporters say that Zhovtis’ transfer to a remote spot far from his family and colleagues confirms their belief that the case against him is politically motivated.
* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, DOOM THREATENED * * * Interviewed by Moscow’s “Itogi magazine,” Kremlin ideologue Vladislav Surkov, identified as “First Deputy Presidential Chief of Staff and Deputy Chairman of the President's Commission on Modernization and Technological Development of the Economy,” declared: "If we do not transform ourselves, we are doomed if not to disintegration and ruin, then to defeat in the world competitive struggle and to a rather dismal existence."
UCSJ BATTLES NEGLECT OF HISTORIC CEMETERIES IN UKRAINE
Ravaged by the Nazis and the Soviets, Heritage Sites Now Face Real Estate Developers
“Ukrainian officials regularly disregard the importance of preserving Jewish cultural heritage sites that were damaged by the Nazis and the Soviet regime,” says a statement issued on November 3 by the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ), citing the work of its Meylakh Sheykhet, who has worked for more than a decade trying to preserve Holocaust sites and Jewish cemeteries from neglect and thoughtless development. “It is especially shocking that some of the sites that even the Soviet regime classified as worthy of protection and preservation have been given to developers in independent Ukraine. This callous attitude towards the right of the dead to rest in peace shows a disturbing lack of respect for the rule of law.”
According to the statement, by allowing Jewish cultural sites to be damaged or destroyed by developers, Ukraine is in violation of the International Agreement for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, including the 1994 U.S.-Ukraine Agreement under the auspices of UNESCO. The Ukrainian side of the bilateral U.S.-Ukraine Commission for Cultural Heritage Preservation has de facto ceased its activity because no new members have been appointed by the Ukrainian government in recent years. However, the U.S. government has worked through the American Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad to help preserve some of the sites.
Ukrainian courts have ruled in favor of developers seeking permission to violate Jewish grave sites by building apartment buildings, sewage lines, a gas station, roads, and even entertainment complexes [ON THOSE SITES], the statement pointed out. “This is a violation of Ukrainian law which strictly forbids any construction on or sale of land classified as a grave site,” the statement noted and cited Executive Order 604-P issued in 1998 by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which has been disregarded many times in court cases which UCSJ filed to protect Jewish grave sites.
Among the many recent violations of the laws, UCSJ mentions the following recent cases:
1. The municipal administration of Lviv granted a permit to developers seeking to build a hotel and entertainment complex on the site of a 19th century fortification called the Citadel. Known as concentration camp Stalag 328 during World War II, the Citadel was a place where the Nazis and their collaborators tortured 284,000 POWs, more than 140,000 of whom died. Among them were Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Italian, French, Belgian, and Dutch soldiers and civilians. Every day, prisoners were shot, beaten, and tortured in the most vicious way. Often, their corpses were burned, and the smell spread around the city. Even today, you could find human remains on the grounds. UCSJ was the only organization that studied the site and presented a map identifying the location of the mass graves. The documents were sent to the mayor and the regional administration. Nevertheless, the Lviv city administration refused to stop construction.
2. A Lviv appeals court recently approved the construction of a gas station on top of a Jewish cemetery and a mass grave in Kolomiya.
3. UCSJ is currently working to protect Jewish cemeteries in Berdichiv, Uman, Lviv, Chorkiv, Ternopil, Mikulintsy, and Pidhaytsy from similar acts of desecration.
Despite all of these clear violations of the law, the government of Ukraine has no active position on the preservation of Jewish and non-Jewish gravesites. UCSJ has held seminars for government officials and has sent them multiple appeals to raise their awareness of these problems, but very little positive action has taken place so far.
“The callous disregard for the remains of Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Nazis is especially troubling in light of continuing incitement of antisemitism by certain political parties and individuals seeking to exploit the bigoted views of some Ukrainian voters,” the statement concluded. “UCSJ calls upon Ukrainian local and central government authorities to end these thoughtless and illegal acts that shock the conscience of the international community.”
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