Volume 7, Number 1
Friday, January 5, 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
__________________________________________________________

RUSSIAN ‘NATIONALISM GONE MAINSTREAM.’ “Nationalism has been on the rise
in Russia, and now it appears it's out on patrol,” correspondent Alex
Rodriguez wrote in the “Chicago Tribune” of December 31, 2006. On a recent
Sunday morning, he reported, “three busloads of Russian teenagers wearing
green armbands emblazoned with the word ‘Locals’ stormed into a bustling
produce market in this Moscow suburb, screaming ‘Down with migrants!’ They
stalked past aisles of dried fruit and pickled garlic, singling out
traders with non-Slavic faces and demanding to see passports and proof
that their produce was safe. Some of the teens looked to be as young as
14. Though they had no authority, they carried on like immigration agents,
barking out demands and commandeering the market for nearly two hours.”
The correspondent quoted Zoya Abdullayeva, 40, a native of Chechnya who
sells cabbage at the market: “They were humiliating us, and I don't know
why. They looked for anyone with dark hair and dark skin. It was a
circus.”

Rodriguez interviewed Sergei Fateyev, 35, who a year and a half ago quit
his job as an economist at a quasi-governmental firm and formed the
organization called Mestnye, Russian for “locals.” The group takes aim at
migrants who “violate our laws and traditions,” Fateyev told the
correspondent. From an initial membership of 250, it has grown to 150,000
and enjoys the backing of Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov. “The raids
carried out by Mestnye on November 26 involved 6,500 members descending on
20 suburban Moscow markets,” Rodriguez reported. “Traders at the Reutov
market said some Mestnye teenagers took over trading stalls, shouting,
‘Don't buy goods from migrants -- buy from Russian traders!’”

“Russia is in the throes of its worst wave of xenophobia since the 1991
collapse of the Soviet Union,” correspondent Rodriguez summed up. “Ethnic
violence is on the rise, nationalist movements are picking up steam, and
the government has passed anti-migrant laws aimed at placating a nation
warier than ever about foreigners’ place in society.” He predicted that
with parliamentary elections next December and a presidential election in
March 2008, “the anti-migrant measures are sure to garner favor among
Russians who argue that foreigners take away jobs and raise crime rates.
Those sentiments are no longer harbored only by Russia's disgruntled and
poorly educated; in many ways, nationalism has gone mainstream.”

Rodriguez finds nationalism “especially prevalent among Russia's youth,
who did not grow up in a Soviet system where Tajiks, Armenians, Georgians,
Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz were all Soviet citizens.” Today’s Russian youth
identify “with ethnic Russia, with Russian culture, and the Russian
Orthodox Church” -- a sentiment “kick-started” recently by President
Vladimir Putin's push for Russians to regain their national pride.

The correspondent cited data collected by the Moscow-based Sova
Information-Analytical Center: While in 2004, 146 non-Russians were
victims of ethnic violence, in 2006 there were 437 attacks on
non-Russians, 47 of them murders. The center’s director, Alexander
Verkhovsky, was quoted as saying: “In Russia, these xenophobic ideas are
shared by well-educated people, well-educated, politically active youth,
and even by academics. It has become the dominating idea in society.”

KOMI OMBUDSMAN MAKES ANTISEMITIC INSULT. The human rights ombudsman for
the internal Russian republic of Komi faces an investigation by the local
Prosecutor’s Office after making an antisemitic comment in an interview
with a local paper, according to a December 20, 2006 article in the Komi
edition of the national daily “Moskovsky Komsomolets.”  Prosecutors are
considering hate speech charges against Leonid Vokuev after he used the
phrase “A kike is a kike, even in Africa” in an interview with the
newspaper “Zyryanskaya Zhizhn.” Vokuev responded to the investigation by
publicly denying any intent to insult Jews and at the same time refusing
to apologize. “I don’t think I did anything shameful and can say from the
bottom of my heart that I have never insulted anyone.”

PROTESTANTS SPY, PSKOV FSB CHIEF CHARGES. In an interview with a local
newspaper, Georgy Drachev, head of the Pskov Region’s FSB (heir to the
KGB’s domestic section), accused Protestants of being spies and
“destructive” cults, and encouraged citizens to call the FSB with
denunciations of their activities, according to a December 22, 2006 report
by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. Drachev told the local
newspaper “Pskovskaya Pravda” that foreign religious organizations often
“approach families of military personnel, relatives of officials who work
for intelligence agencies” and have access to state secrets. “Many of
these so-called ‘preachers’ were trained in camps by Western intelligence
agencies,” Drachev claimed.

He presented an enemies list: “Religious organizations that are
represented in the Pskov region (Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
Pentecostals, Baptists, Adventists, Methodists, and others) technically
operate legally,” he allowed. However, he then appealed to members of the
public who come into contact with these “destructive” faiths, or whose
relatives become their adherents and thereby lose contact with their
families, become mentally ill or have their property taken from them, to
“get in touch with law enforcement agencies.”

SKINHEADS SENTENCED FOR RACIST ASSAULTS. Three neo-Nazis have been
sentenced to prison in Berdsk, Russia (Novosibirsk Region) after being
found guilty of hate crimes against non-Russian migrants, according to a
December 28, 2006 report by the Regions.ru news web site. The sentences
ranged from five and a half to eight years in prison, with a fourth
defendant sentenced to a fine. They were found guilty of attacking two
Tajiks in 2005 and in participating in a massive raid on a factory during
which around 30 youths beat up several Uzbeks, sending four to the
hospital, and painted racist slogans on the walls. The remaining suspects
were never identified by investigators. Both the prosecution and the
defense plan to appeal the verdict.

ULYANOVSK JEWISH CENTER VANDALIZED. On January 1, a Jewish community
center in Ulyanovsk, Russia, was vandalized, the AEN news agency reported.
Unidentified individuals threw a bottle through a second-floor window of
the Jewish center in the Volga Region city, shattering the glass in one
office. A leaflet with antisemitic threats was posted near the entrance to
the center and antisemitic graffiti were daubed on the building, local
Jews reported. The Ulyanovsk center has been vandalized before and extreme
nationalists stormed it 2003 and 2004. No one was injured in any of the
incidents.

According to the latest media reports, local police insist that the crime
was an act of “hooliganism” and was not motivated by antisemitism.

ATTACKS ON AMERICAN STUDENTS IN RUSSIA. Some instances of racist violence
in Russia receive no publicity. One example is a report on three separate
assaults in September on Americans studying in Russia, cited by a U.S.
Government inter-agency web site managed by the Bureau of Diplomatic
Security, in the Department of State. The compilation, dated October 5, is
by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).

“Although the reports are unrelated and differ in modus operandi, OSAC
constituents report that there is a heightening sense of insecurity among
American university programs operating in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” OSAC
stated. The first incident took place in August, in downtown St.
Petersburg where a group of about 15 young men in regular street clothing
approached a male American student “with dark features” and his blond
female companion. The group punched and kicked the man for up to four
minutes. Bystanders did not intervene, and the companion was left alone.
The attackers yelled “Blacks out of Russia.” One of them wore a white
T-shirt with a black cross, a white supremacist symbol.

In the second incident, a group of teenagers attacked an American student
walking with an American companion in Moscow. The American received one
blow but managed to escape unharmed by outrunning his attackers. The
targeted American was white with dark features. His companion reported
that the attackers made a Nazi hand signal but otherwise the attack seemed
to her an example of hooliganism.

In the third incident, again in St. Petersburg, an Asian-American student
was walking home around 9 p.m. Two groups of people in their 20s – none
with shaven heads – seemed to stalk him. The student was able to make it
to his front door, which he opened swiftly with a keypad lock. As he
rushed inside, one youth jabbed an 8-inch kitchen knife at the student’s
throat but missed. He was able to close the door. In reporting the
incident, the student mentioned that his attackers seemed to be “on the
hunt,“ roaming the streets and looking for someone to victimize.

AFRICAN STUDENT MURDERED IN KIEV. A Gambian student was murdered in Kiev,
the third African killed in the Ukrainian capital in 2006, according to a
December 30, 2006 article in the local newspaper “Segodnya.” Lamin Jarjue,
34, collapsed on December 28 in the vestibule of his dormitory after
sustaining a stab wound to the chest outside the building. He died before
the ambulance arrived. Jarjue, a captain in the Gambian air force, studied
at the National Aviation Academy along with ten of his countrymen, one of
whom described him as a hardworking man with a large family to support
back home.

One of the students told “Segodnya” that he and many other Africans living
in Kiev are afraid of falling victim to violence, especially after the
killings of an Angolan and a Nigerian earlier this year. “We respect the
locals, but they call us dogs,” he said. “Last Saturday at the store where
we buy groceries, drunken policemen beat me and a friend, stole my cell
phone and passport, and your citizens calmly stood by and watched. This is
racism. We paid money to study here, but we are spit upon!” A security
guard at the store in question offered a different version, claiming that
the Africans showed up with some Slavic women late at night and got into a
drunken brawl with local youths.

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL VANDALIZED IN UKRAINE. A Holocaust memorial in Ukraine
was vandalized two days before it was to be unveiled, the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency reported on the basis of an item from UCSJ. On December
20, 2006, an unidentified person or persons daubed a swastika and the Nazi
acronym “SS” on the monument in Donetsk. The memorial marks the border of
the Jewish ghetto set up by the Nazis before they sent most of local Jews
to their deaths. A dedication ceremony for the memorial went ahead as
scheduled despite the vandalism.

ROMANIA, BULGARIA JOIN EU; HUMAN RIGHTS IN QUESTION. “Fireworks, VIP
guests, street parties, and live music are taking over Bucharest and Sofia
on Sunday night, December 31, as two more states make the historic step of
joining the European Union (EU), but many of the perks of EU membership
are to stay on hold for years,” the news service EUObserver reported,
noting that EU’s population has grown from 463 million people to 493
million, thus creating the biggest single market in the world. But, the
independent news service added, the two new members, increasing membership
to 27 states, are poorer than “the old EU15” and “have right-leaning views
on issues such as immigration and gay rights. Corruption is so acute and
the civil service so far behind EU norms that for the first time in
enlargement history, Brussels has threatened to impose ‘safeguard clauses’
that could see the newcomers shut out of EU justice and home affairs
co-operation and will force them to submit ‘progress reports’ every six
months.”

In both Romania and Bulgaria, members of the Roma (Gypsy) minority,
estimated to number several million, live in conditions comparable to the
worst slums of the Third World. The news agency points out that one of the
EU's fundamental principles -- freedom of movement – “will be put under a
question mark” as EU states Italy, Germany, France, the UK, the
Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, and Belgium impose
restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian workers heading west. It is assumed
that many if not most of the migrants would be Roma.

In Romania, there is the additional issue of the Hungarian minority, 1.5
million strong. They remain second-class citizens, and their autonomy and
church properties have not been returned despite Romania’s EU treaty
obligations and occasional official promises. The latest example of the
harassment is the firing of two ethnic Hungarian professors – Peter Hantz
and Lehel Kovacs – at Babes-Bolyai University because they placed
Hungarian language inscriptions under Romanian signs at the formerly
Hungarian and now supposedly multicultural institution. The EU requires
bilingual signs in areas where a minority population is above 20% of the
total -- which is the case in more than 1,000 localities in Transylvania.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, WORD FROM PATERFAMILIAS * * * “We are united by a
feeling of belonging to one big family – the name of which is Russia,”
President Vladimir Putin declared in his message to the nation broadcast
on December 31, 2006.


RUSSIAN LEADERS BUOYANT
The year 2006 was not a good year for the cause of human rights and
democracy in Russia. However, Russian leaders exuded self-confidence in
their New Year messages, voicing satisfaction over the achievements of
2006 and predicting an even better 2007.

1. A BRIGHT FUTURE AHEAD? “Despite the ingrained Russian habit of never
believing official statistics, ordinary citizens have relaxed remarkably
in the lead-up to 2007, and seem to actually believe that life will get
better,” wrote “Argumenty i Fakty” dated December 27, 2006. “Polls
indicate that the people have finally developed some faith in a bright
future.”

“Senior state officials are competing to see who can pull the most
colorful New Year gift out of the sack,” wrote the weekly. “Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin has promised that Russia will catch up with America
within a decade. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov has delighted us
with the news that the number of Russian citizens living in poverty has
halved over the past year. Information Technology Minister Leonid Reiman
has sworn that every family in Russia will soon have a computer. And
Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev has promised to make Russia the
world's largest food exporter within five years.” But the weekly awarded
its gold medal for optimism to the ruling United Russia party: Inspired by
its triumphs in 2006, the party promises to raise its membership to 2
million in 2007.

2. ‘MOVING RELENTLESSLY’ TOWARD AUTHORITARIANISM. In an editorial titled
“Shadow of Kremlin Over Russian Revival” published on January 2, London’s
“Financial Times” pointed out that President Vladimir Putin’s domestic
popularity “has come at a painful price. The country was no liberal
democracy under [Boris] Yeltsin but at least it was stumbling in the right
direction. Under Mr. Putin it has gone back a decade.” Though the widely
respected newspaper sees no danger of a relapse to communism, it finds
Russia “moving relentlessly towards authoritarianism. Lacking an
alternative ideology, Kremlin officials are increasingly resorting to
old-fashioned nationalism.”

The newspaper’s forecast for 2007 is gloomy: “pressure on non-Russians
living in Russia; renewed political assaults on Georgia and other
troublesome ex-Soviet republics (but not war, as war is inherently
unpredictable); the intimidation of Mr. Putin's domestic enemies,
particularly those complaining about corruption, human rights abuses or
Chechnya; and financial raids on oligarchs and/or foreign investors – to
please the crowds and reward loyalists.”

For the coming year, the newspaper predicts that Russia will pay even less
attention to Western complaints, but it quickly adds: “That is no reason
for Europe or the U.S. to soft-pedal on criticism.”

3. A SOBER REMINDER OF GROWING DISTRUST OF RUSSIA. Writing in South
Korea’s “Hankyoreh” dated December 31, veteran Asia hand and retired
“Washington Post” correspondent Selig S. Harrison called the London
poisoning of former KGB Colonel Alexander Litvinenko “an important
geopolitical event.” Noting the growing distrust between Russia and the
United States during the past year, Harrison argued that the murder case
“has made it more difficult than ever for Moscow and Washington to
cooperate on key global issues, ranging from nuclear proliferation and
nuclear arms reductions to peace in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.”

4. PUTIN PRESSURING LUKASHENKO TO LEAD TO REFORM? Noting that Russia and
Belarus struck a last-minute deal on energy supplies and thus averted a
threatened Russian cutoff, a January 3 “Washington Post” editorial said
that President Putin is using “market pricing” instead of “subsidies” to
“extract what he wants from Belarus.” The editorial quoted Alexander
Lukashenko, “widely known as Europe’s last dictator,” as charging in his
New Year message: “We are being threatened with economic sanctions and
isolation again. The reason is simple: It is our desire to be
independent.”

“The Post” plays with the idea that Lukashenko’s “disillusionment with
Russia might make him wish for better relations with the West.” But, it
quickly cautions, the dictator is not ready to accept the democratization
that such a move would require, as the European Union recently made it
clear. Nevertheless, the newspaper contends, Lukashenko’s “assertion of
Belarusian sovereignty and independence could open the way to reform.”

Whether or not that much-needed reform will come to pass, such a hopeful
statement seems appropriate at a time when a new year is being ushered in.
* * * *

_____________________________________________________________
Copyright (c) 2007. UCSJ. All rights reserved.

Bigotry Monitor welcomes use of its contents without prior approval on the
condition that full attribution is given to "Bigotry Monitor -- UCSJ's
weekly newsletter". We would also like to see a copy of the publication.

Send letters to the editor to: cfenyvesi@aol.com

How to Subscribe:
Send an email to bigotrymonitor@ucsj.com with the word "subscribe" as the
subject of the message.

How to Unsubscribe:
Send an email to bigotrymonitor@ucsj.com with the word "unsubscribe" as
the subject of the message.

All issues available at http://www.fsumonitor.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The BIGOTRYMONITOR mailing list is hosted by
Shamash: The Jewish Network, http://shamash.org,
a service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and
an online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/

To unsubscribe email: BIGOTRYMONITOR-unsubscribe-request@SHAMASH.ORG
For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/