The Russian Federation: Antisemitism and the need for enemies
The Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry has published a new report [available at http://www.fsumonitor.com/99report/index.shtml]-- "Antisemitism, Xenophobia and Religious Persecution in Russia's Regions: 1998-1999." The report details the increase in hate crimes, refusal of the police and authorities to protect Jews in many regions and identifies the "principal nation-wide purveyors of antisemitism [as] the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), the neo-Nazi Russian National Unity (RNU) and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) which the unreformed and corrupt Soviet-era police and justice systems fail to check....the trend is examined within a context of related issues, including government actions to marginalize and delegitimize Christian churches and human rights NGOs, and racist ethnic cleansing of dark-skinned peoples from the Caucasus and Central Asia.....
"To paraphrase the pastor [Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemuller of Germany], if the persecutors come for Chechens and Jehovah's Witnesses today, they will come for the Jews tomorrow.... Antisemitism in Russia is not just about Jews. It is the lingua franca of political discussion in which extreme nationalists villify reformers, democracy and America, all of which they argue are part of a Jewish conspiracy to control Russia. Just as 'cosmopolitans,' 'aliens,' 'non-Russians,' and 'fifth-column' have become code names for all reformers and for Americans. As one Jewish activist...recently said..."being Jewish is not a question of your nationality, but of your social function. Anyone can be declared a Yid.' Hence we have also documented in many of the regional chapters the anti-American response to NATO's actions in Kosovo as being closely related to antisemitism." See also Dmitry Shlapentokh, "Future of Antisemitism in Russia," ISG Newsletter #23 (Fall 1999).
Czech Republic: Pay-Off to Prejudice -- How the Wall Against the Roma Came Down
The wall in Usti nad Labem separating the Roma from their non- Roma neighbors on Mationi Street, erected on October 13, came down within six weeks after a lawsuit pressed by a Roma resident of Mationi Street on November 12, 1999, aided by a Czech lawyer for the European Roma Rights Center, much international criticism, and European Union intervention. The wall was torn down on November 23, 1999, after an agreement was reached between the Czech government and local authorities to grant 10 million crowns to the locality which would be used in part to buy up the homes of ethnic Czechs on Mationi Street--a demand the Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman had previously labelled "blackmail," saying categorically that the government would not even consider it. For further information on discrimination against Roma in the Czech Republic, see the European Roma Rights Center, www.errc.org.
Sudan: Slavery and War Become Issues for Boycott and US Government
Genocide and slavery emerging from Sudan's government policies during the last fifteen years have elicited little international interest or even condemnation in public forums. Yet over one in four members of groups at risk-- primarily Dinka (southern Sudanese tribe) and Nubians-- have died directly and indirectly (through genocide by attrition such as denial of food and potable water)-- and almost two million people (mostly civilians) have been killed at last count. Further, thousands of the Dinka have been enslaved by government-armed militias who are rewarded by the booty they grab.
The movement of Christian Solidarity International to redeem slaves by paying off their captors through intermediaries both ignited media attention and also stirred controversy among other organizations, leading with UNICEF which denounced the practice of mass redemptions. However, the American Anti-Slavery Group, which has publicized Sudanese slavery and instigated school children and others to collect money to liberate slaves, rebutted the charges that buying slaves could escalate enslavement by rewarding slavers, in a meeting at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government Carr Center for Human Rights on November 8, 1999. A panel of Sudanese church leaders and human rights activists explained how slaves were redeemed and corruption, inflation, and fraud prevented. Now the AASG has started a campaign for disinvestmestment from Talisman Oil, a Canadian firm, which is developing oil production in the Sudan, thus aiding the Government of Sudan. Stocks in Talisman are held by Fidelity, Vanguard, TIAA-CREF and the state of New Jersey. For further information, see www.anti-slavery.org/oil.
Reportedly, the US government is considering direct food aid to the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA), the major rebel military organization, to fortify their position. This has stirred opposition from aid and development organization professionals who subscribe to an ethic of neutrality in dispensing humanitarian aid. Some may counter their argument by observing that the Government of Sudan has consistently denied, diverted, and misused food aid for political purposes in over a decade. This is a debate and development worth watching.