Subject: [CivilSoc] An Outrage in Ryazan
From: Center for Civil Society International (ccsi@u.washington.edu)
Date: Wed Sep 27 2000 - 13:48:02 EDT
This item Xposted from RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 187, Part I, 27
September 2000. The author of the essay, Paul Goble, is Publisher of
RFE/RL Newsline. For permission to reprint this article, send an
e-mail to: GobleP@rferl.org
AN OUTRAGE IN RYAZAN
by Paul Goble
A group of toughs broke up a Jewish Sunday school
last week in the central Russian city of Ryazan and
intimidated a local official into denying that city's
Jewish community any further use of school facilities
there.
The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, which
released the first reports detailing these events, said
that 15 men armed with metal chains burst into the
Jewish Sunday school on 17 September, smashed windows
and furniture, and shouted fascist slogans and death
threats at the 25 Jewish children and teachers there.
The children and their teachers fled and thus avoided
injury.
But the next day, the UCSJ reports, two neo-Nazis
attacked the local school director, beating her on the
legs and demanding to know why she "deals with Jews."
She then told the city's Jewish community that she would
no longer rent it a room for Sunday classes because she
fears for her life.
Local police announced earlier this week that they
have identified four of the people involved in the
attack. But sources at the oblast Interior Department
were quoted as saying that even though those identified
pose "some social danger, there is no need to take them
into custody."
Andrei Blinushov, a Ryazan human rights activist,
told UCSJ that "we feel shame and hurt on behalf of our
town. Once again, as it was 50 years ago, fascist scum,
having taken up arms, have let loose a pogrom."
Moreover, he said, some media outlets there have
"inflated the themes of 'the uniqueness of the Russian
people,' 'zionist violence' and similar topics," while
others have even issued calls for "violent actions
against members of various ethnic groups."
At the very time these events were taking place in
Ryazan, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the
opening of a new Jewish community center in Moscow, a
widely-covered event that some Jewish leaders there
suggested "herald a new era for religious democracy in
Russia."
The events in Ryazan are far from unique. Elsewhere
in Russia and in other post-communist countries,
including the eastern regions of Germany, extreme
nationalist, anti-Semitic and even explicitly neo-Nazi
groups have emerged and sought to use violence to harass
and intimidate those whom they have identified as
"enemies" of their own people.
Most senior officials in these countries have
denounced such groups, with Russian leaders like Boris
Yeltsin and now Vladimir Putin condemning their
activities as incompatible with the building of Russian
democracy. But for three reasons, such statements have
failed as yet to stem the growth of these groups.
Indeed, some observers have suggested that the gap
between what these leaders say and what is happening may
help to prepare the ground for further outrages.
First, despite their repeated denunciations of such
actions, officials across the region often have been
unable--or unwilling--to bring those responsible to
justice. That failure primarily reflects the weaknesses
of the law enforcement agencies in these states. But the
lack of successful prosecutions has encouraged some hate
groups to conclude that they can act with impunity.
Second, many officials and even more writers in
this region have increasingly sounded a nationalist
theme, praising the dominant group and condemning its
presumed enemies at home and abroad. Few of these
statements have been anti-Semitic, but they have helped
to create a climate in which some are prepared to act
against those they believe are to blame for their
problems.
And third, officials in some of the countries of
this region have demonized non-Jewish minorities, thus
opening the way to the demonization of Jews as well. In
the Russian Federation, Russian officials have
repeatedly attacked "persons of Caucasus nationality"
and even sought to expel them from some Russian cities.
These actions, in turn, have led some officials, such as
the governors of certain southern Russian regions, to
attack Jews as well as North Caucasians.
Concerned about the possibilities of such
developments, Russian officials, including Putin, have
explicitly warned against holding the entire Chechen
nation responsible for the actions of only some of its
members or blaming any other people as a whole. And they
have criticized those who have gone further and attacked
other groups, including Jews.
But unless the authorities move quickly and arrest those
responsible for events like those in Ryazan last week, the
history of this region suggests there are likely to be more
such outrages in the future, a development that could
threaten not only the Jewish community but the prospects for
democracy as a whole.
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