Warsaw Roundtable - 10.14.2003

Proceedings of NCSJ Side Event  

“Post-Soviet States Respond to Anti-Semitism”  

Held in conjunction with 2003 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting  
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)  

Warsaw, Poland   October 14, 2003 Moderated by Shai Franklin NCSJ Director of Governmental Relations NCSJ Vienna 2003 Page NCSJ Warsaw 2003 Page NCSJ Berlin 2004 Page

---

Shai Franklin
Director of Governmental Relations
NCSJ  

I would like to welcome everyone to this side-event organized by NCSJ, formerly known as the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.  Due to a fortunate series of events about 15 years ago, we were compelled to change our name.  The ‘National’ refers to the United States: we are an American organization.  We represent an umbrella of 50 American Jewish organizations and 300 communities across the United States.  Some of those organizations are with us here today, and we have not only the United States Government as a partner, but fortunately many, many governments as partners and they are represented here as well. 

Our intention today for the next hour, hour-and-a-half, is to allow a more focused conversation on issues relating to anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union and post-Communist Europe, and what the lessons are from those experiences of combating anti-Semitism that we can apply to the OSCE framework in the next formal session of the [HDIM] meeting next door. 

We know that anti-Semitism continues to exist in most of Europe, including in the former Soviet Union, but we have seen that there are steps being taken in many of these countries – in most of these countries – to address anti-Semitism.  I hope that some of the lessons shared here today can be applied to other countries, whether it is to the United States or to Western Europe.  Some have observed, even, a flow of anti-Semitism from the West to the East during the past several years, so that might be something to address as well. 

Let me just convey, in advance, the apologies of our American delegation who are arriving from another meeting and will be joining us shortly.  But since we are fortunate enough already to have such a good representation here of interested parties and governments, I would like to begin and turn the microphone over to those who wish to relate their insights as to the nature of anti-Semitism, the importance and success of combating it on the governmental and societal levels, and recommendations for where the OSCE can play a useful role. 

I would ask only that you identify yourself and your organization or delegation, and try to keep your initial presentation brief so we can hear from as many people as possible in this short time.  We are recording this session so that there will be some record, although this will not become an official record of the OSCE, of course.  So, I invite whoever would like to make some observations first: I know we have a delegate from the Russian Federation, several delegates from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Czech Republic, and the Slovak Republic – and you don’t have to be from the former Soviet Union in order to participate in these discussions.  You can speak in English or in Russian, as you see we have very qualified translation.  

---

Dr. Vera Gracheva
Senior Counsellor
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the OSCE

Thank you very much.  My name is Vera Gracheva and I am not alone here in representing the delegation of the Russian Federation – as you can see, there are many of us.  First of all, I would like to respond to the commentary made by our chairperson that the organization was required to change its name due to the fortunate events in the beginning of the 1990s.  Probably this comment is not very much relevant to the subject matter of this meeting, however, I feel that it would be a simplification to call this event as ‘fortunate’.  All of the events which led to the collapse of the USSR were accompanied by a great multitude of other negative phenomena.  All those conflicts that took place in the territory of the former Soviet Union would have been unthinkable in the days of the USSR.  

The collapse of the USSR has been accompanied by very severe social and economic earthquakes, and a very significant reduction in the standards of living of all the people inhabiting the territories of the former Soviet Union.  Thus, unfortunately, the social and economic problems and the objective difficulties that we face have led to the exploitation of these difficulties by the political circles who use them to promote their political purposes and to suggest the population seek an external enemy, which is the most primitive, the simplest form of justifying the events. I am not in the position to talk on behalf of other countries of the former Soviet Union, but I may say that as far as Russia is concerned, the issue of anti-Semitism is a very deeply, historically rooted issue that was already present in the days of tsarist Russia.  

But in Russia it is not a matter of ethnic or religious issues, it is rather an issue exploited for political purposes.  By saying this, I also would like to underline that it has nothing in common with the official policy of the government or the state.  By ‘political’ I mean that the anti-Semitic issues are exploited by the nationalistic parties and movements who use anti-Semitism to promote their ideas.  Therefore, anti-Semitism in Russia should be regarded in the context of intolerance, of xenophobia, so these are all other accompanying phenomena that usually go hand in hand with social and economic problems. We believe that the upbringing of the youth is of utmost importance – that is, to bring the youth up in such a manner that they grow resistant to such phenomena as anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and other extreme reactions.  Therefore, I do believe that the OSCE as an organization can have a major contribution in the upbringing, including the ODIHR.  Thank you very much, and I’m afraid I’ve taken up quite a lot of time from the other participants.

---

Rustem Ablyatifov
Head of International Relations Division
State Committee of Ukraine for Nationalities and Migration

Good afternoon, my name is Rustem Ablyatifov.  I am the representative of the Ukrainian Government.  I would like to underline that Ukrainian legislation bans any discrimination on the grounds of race, color of skin, confession and other features, and obviously this also relates to the ban of discrimination against the Jewish population.   

The Ukrainian Jewish community is a community of great influence, and it is also a very constructive community that has contributed much to the development of the independent, democratic Ukrainian state.  I am proud to mention in this group that, through all these years of the independent Ukraine, we have not noted any anti-Semitic incident or disrespect toward the Jewish population on the part of the Ukrainian government.  Whatever anti-Semitic incidents we have had, those were incidents on the lower level of the general population.  The last sad incident that took place in Kyiv was a group of young football fans who threw stones at the principal synagogue in Kyiv, and this incident was promptly dealt with by law enforcement.   

The positive actions taken by the Ukrainian government have been acknowledged by the representatives of the Ukrainian Jewish community, and they have noted that, yes indeed due to the government’s activities, there is no place, there is no room whatsoever for anti-Semitism in Ukrainian society.   

We believe that the root of all anti-Semitism is ignorance, and the primary tool to deal with anti-Semitism is education.  We have to start proper education at the grammar-school level.  Together with the association of social and cultural groups, we have conducted a series of lessons on tolerance in Ukrainian schools and we intend to organize such lessons on tolerance in the future as well.  Thank you very much for your attention.

---

Shai Franklin

Thank you very much.  I want to recognize the head of the U.S. delegation, Ambassador Pamela Hyde Smith, who has joined us, and I neglected to mention that we have at least one delegate from Lithuania as well.  We just heard from the Russian delegate about the importance of education and from the Ukrainian delegate about the success of law enforcement.  I would like to turn briefly to another aspect of combating anti-Semitism, which is the legislative framework.  We are honored to have with us two members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.  They just arrived from the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE in Rome, and I would ask Congressman Ben Cardin of Maryland and Congressman Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania to share some of their reflections on where various countries in the OSCE are succeeding and where the OSCE can play a more useful role.

---

Representative Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland) 
U.S. House of Representatives

Thank you.  First, let me thank NCSJ for their convening of this forum, this opportunity for us to talk with each other, and for their longstanding leadership in combating anti-Semitism.  We came to Warsaw with four members of the United States Congress because we thought it was very important for us to be here to underscore the work of the OSCE in fighting anti-Semitism.  We thank Ambassador Smith, the leader of our delegation, for her incredible service on human rights issues.  She gives us great credibility in our chair in the commitment of our country to the human rights dimension.   

It was through the leadership of the chairman of our [Congressional] delegation, [Congressman] Chris Smith, who is here, that we were able to move forward within the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly resolutions to single out anti-Semitism for special meetings.  We pursued that agenda because of the rise of anti-Semitism in each of our OSCE states, and we thought it was very important to have a conference solely focused on what we can do to fight the rise of anti-Semitism.  We believe that we are on the verge of accomplishing that through the [2004] Berlin Conference, which we hope will be sanctioned at the [December 2003 OSCE] ministerial meeting, and I want to thank many people in this room who made that possible, including the leadership at NCSJ.  

As a parliamentarian, I believe I have a responsibility to show leadership and speak out when people in my country do things that can provoke anti-Semitism.  We have seen, in recent weeks, high-level public officials making comments that are irresponsible at best, anti-Semitic at worst.  In too many of those cases, their fellow government officials are silent.  One of the matters that I hope will come out of our conference is a commitment by leadership to speak out to – make sure that, if there are problems within our own community, we speak out against it.  And for your record, we will submit the letters that our commission has sent – signed by Chairman Smith and myself, and by Congressman Pitts – to officials in other countries who we believe must be held accountable for their lack of leadership.  And, now, with Mr. Pitts’ agreement, I think I’ve talked long enough, so you can hear directly from the Chairman of our delegation, Chris Smith, who as I said was one of the leading – the leading – person in moving forward the anti-Semitism agenda for special attention.

---

Representative Chris Smith (R-New Jersey)
U.S. House of Representatives
Chairman
U.S. Helsinki Commission

First of all, I apologize for being late: our press conference went over.  It is a distinct honor and a privilege to join you at this side meeting to discuss the ongoing problem of anti-Semitism.  It’s good to see you all again.  We are old and good friends.  And also you should know that Mark Levin (who is the Executive Director of NCSJ) and I made our first trip – it was my first trip – to what was then the Soviet Union, to Moscow and Leningrad, in January of 1982.  So I truly believe I have been mentored by the NCSJ on the issue of persecution, anti-Semitism, and – in the case of the Soviet Union – how to effectively advocate for the release of individual refuseniks and political prisoners.  I am a Republican, Ben is a Democrat.  We are united in our concerns for Jews around the world, but right now in particular, this rising tide of anti-Semitism that we see occurring.  The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE has already held three summits, and your organization played an important role in those summits on anti-Semitism: one each in Washington, Vienna, and Berlin.  Many of us believe that the [2004] Berlin summit by the OSCE itself – not only the Parliamentary Assembly, but the [broader] organization – can be a watershed event.   

The months leading up to the event ought to be fully utilized to chronicle individual and collective instances of anti-Semitism in each of the [OSCE member] countries.  Then the conference itself can become a catalyst for accountability, but also for forward action after the conference.  And the effort has to be comprehensive, from education – textbooks, how our school systems are dealing with intolerance, and especially Holocaust remembrance – to what political figures are doing when they express anti-Semitic views: are they chastised for it?  Do their colleagues – does their government – speak out against it?  And, of course, a complete review of hate-crimes legislation, to ensure there is a criminalization of this hate, this incitement of violence.   

I do believe that this conference can also have a laudable – perhaps indirect, but laudable – impact on the Middle East itself.  It has been my view that, far too often, European powers enable the PNA [Palestinian National Authority] and others, including Yasser Arafat, to engage in acts of terrorism by not holding them to account.  And, again, just to conclude, many of us have brought up talking about education, the ongoing problems with UNRWA – the UN Relief and Works Agency – to which the U.S. has contributed $2.5 billion.  Yet, a review of the textbooks and much – but not all – of the leadership shows at least a tolerance, if not an embrace, of suicide bombings.  Thank you for your vigilance, and let’s use this window of opportunity to hold these countries to account, including the United States, so there will be no anti-Semitism.

---

Shai Franklin

Thank you very much for your leadership, Congressman Smith, and for the leadership of all the Helsinki Commissioners over the past 20-25 years.  A lot of the delegations that are here today are here because of work that the U.S.-Helsinki Commission did with many organizations and many Western countries.  I’m very pleased to call on Congressman Pitts to share his comments.

---

Representative Joseph Pitts (R-Pennsylvania)
U.S. House of Representatives

Thank you.  One thing about going last is that it’s all been said.  Let me first thank NCSJ for convening this important side event with Members of Congress and delegations from former Soviet republics, along with NGOs.  Thank you very much for allowing us to be here.  One of the questions at the press conference that the American delegation just had was from a reporter who asked if we did not feel that the OSCE had become an outdated institution.  In response, our chairman said indeed it was not.  The agenda and the items we are discussing are very relevant, and this is one of the few forums where NGOs can meet with government officials, as in sessions like this one.   

As we discussed the upcoming meeting in Berlin on anti-Semitism, one of the reporters asked if this was just going to be a place for making speeches – a debating society – or if there would be a plan of action.  Our chairman responded, one of the things we hope develops as we plan the conference is, indeed, for a creative plan of action with various follow-up activities after the conference.  These would include many practical steps that could be taken, but chief among them would be education – our education of the young.  Children do not naturally hate other people.  They’re taught to hate.  The education of our young and the type of curriculum that they have in their schools is extremely important – whether it’s a madrasa in Pakistan or whether it’s schools in all of our countries.   

Back in the 1980s, I used to visit the Soviet Union and its republics and meet with Jewish refuseniks and other people who were being persecuted, and advocated on their behalf with the officials of the government.  As my colleague Congressman Cardin said, I think those of us in government who are considered government leaders have an obligation to speak out against injustice.  Silence is consent.   

And as we travel in many of these countries [today], the human rights picture is quite varied, but one thing that is needed is engagement by all of us, with one another, so that misunderstanding, misrepresentation, can be nipped in the bud and we can, through engagement, encourage our colleagues – whether they be parliamentarians, government officials, NGOs, or citizens – to do what you’re doing, and that is to speak out strongly against the scourge of anti-Semitism.

---

Representative Ben Cardin

Let me just introduce my wife, Myrna, who has joined us.  I do that because in 1987 she traveled to Vienna on behalf of Soviet Jews to meet with Soviet officials.  And, yes, we’ve made a lot of progress since 1987, but we still have a long way to go. Thank you.

---

Shai Franklin  

We actually have a team with us today, because the Cardins both have been active in legislative leadership and community leadership on issues that we work with for a number of years.  In fact, one Cardin used to chair NCSJ – but that’s from the other side of the family.  I want to call on the Belarus representative of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews who wanted to speak, and then the delegate from Azerbaijan also wants to speak.  Please let me know if you want to speak as well, and we’ll try to get everybody a chance.

---

Artur Livshyts
Belarus representative
Union of Councils of Soviet Jews  

Thank you very much.  And first of all, I want to thank NCSJ for making this meeting happen, and I think it’s very important.  I represent an organization called Union of Councils for Soviet Jews.  This organization was founded in the 1970s as a coalition of local grassroots action councils, supporting freedom for Jews of the Soviet Union.  And as the Soviet Jewry movement grew, gathered steam in the 1970s, more individuals, more councils became involved and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews grew into the large organization that has eight member councils in North America, and eight bureaus on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

In the Republic of Belarus, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews does the monitoring of xenophobia and anti-Semitism.  Also, we try to work with Jewish organizations and government by preventing acts of vandalism, acts of anti-Semitism. 

Once, Albert Einstein said that anti-Semitism is a shadow of the Jewish people, and it is really true.  And it’s true that anti-Semitism, as a specific form of xenophobia, has been, is and will be everywhere that Jews are, and even where there are no Jews.  So, the problem is not where anti-Semitism is, the problem is how strong and aggressive it is.  And I think the problem is in the quantity of anti-Semitism.

Speaking of Belarus, Belarus is a multi-national, multi-confessional country and throughout the ages, and in the present time, relations between confessions – talking about countries of the former Soviet Union – are probably the most tolerant.  So I agree with the Russian delegate talking about anti-Semitism in Belarus.  It is not a common process in society.  It’s a result of activity of groups, of individuals. 

Now I can say that the Belarussian government…is ready to fight anti-Semitism [generally], but is not ready to fight individual acts of anti-Semitism.  State anti-Semitism stopped to be one of the elements of social force, but we still have some acts by state officials.

And we’re talking about education here, and I think that the OSCE should concentrate on the education of state officials in the countries.  And I’m talking about the cultural level, education of individual state officials, and that’s the work that should be done, because I have many examples of the lack of this education: We see the destruction of former synagogues – not only in Belarus, [throughout] the former Soviet Union – and the reconstruction of stadiums that are built on the former Jewish cemeteries, and without consulting the Jewish community.   

---

Shai Franklin

Thank you.  We’re now going to hear from the delegate from Azerbaijan.  I see that we have been joined by diplomats from Israel, and Latvia, and the Netherlands and there may be others that I’m not aware of, so I apologize if I’ve overlooked any other delegations.

---

Seymur Mardaliyev
Attaché
Department of Human Rights, Democratization and Humanitarian Problems
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Azerbaijan  

Good afternoon.  My name is Seymur Mardaliyev, and I am the representative of the Azerbaijani delegation and the Ministry of Ethnic Relations.  In my brief speech, I would like to talk about the experience of Azerbaijan, where historically for centuries Jews and Jewish communities have lived and cooperated with society without any manifestations of anti-Semitism.

For centuries, Azerbaijan has been one of a few countries in the world with several dozen ethnic minority groups and confessional groups that spread all over around the world.  The high level of tolerance among the Azeri people has brought about the development of ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan, including Jewish communities, who have been able to maintain and develop their culture and religious traditions for centuries.

And I would like to give you the specific example of an activity conducted by our government.  Namely, we have created a separate institute – this is the forum of three confessions.  These are the principal confessions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and this forum has been created following the initiative of the leaders of the Muslim communities in the Caucasus.  Therefore, no one should be surprised by the fact that the representatives of the Jewish people have lived in the territory of Azerbaijan for the past 2,600 years. 

Today, five different Jewish communities live in Azerbaijan, and they maintain wonderful relations with other Jewish communities in the United States, Israel, and Europe.   

Apart from that, in Azerbaijan function 20 miscellaneous non-governmental organizations, cultural organizations and Jewish charity organizations – and apart from them, such international organizations as Sochnut [Jewish Agency for Israel], Vaad HaHatzolah and “Joint” [the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee] also function in our country. In the previous presentations, we have heard the participants talking about the destructions of synagogues in their countries.  As far as Azerbaijan, we have not faced destruction, but on the contrary, the construction, the erection of new synagogues.  So by March 2003, there were five synagogues functioning in Azerbaijan and since March, another synagogue has been erected, which is the largest synagogue in the Caucasus region. I would like to emphasize that the construction of the new synagogue was possible not only due to the financial contribution of Jewish communities living in Azerbaijan, but also due to the financial contribution by the leaders of Muslim communities and by the Bishopric of the Orthodox Christian Church in Baku.  

I obviously could give many more examples of tolerance in Azerbaijan, but currently I would like to focus on the perspective of Azerbaijan in this respect.  My government highly assesses and cherishes the results of the Vienna conference on anti-Semitism, which took place in June 2003.  This conference, that was…effective and timely, was an opportunity to exchange many opinions and views in the area of anti-Semitism.  It was also an opportunity to talk about the events’ efforts by governmental bodies, non-governmental institutions, civil society groups and OSCE member states, as well as recommendations [that] have been developed in the field dealing with anti-Semitism. And we believe that only effective, practical implementations of the resolutions developed during such conferences would be able to facilitate the lives of those people who unfortunately are still being persecuted today.  

And finally, I would like to put forward a specific suggestion on Azerbaijan’s part, that following the Vienna conference, we would be very much blessed – glad – to become hosts of yet another meeting/conference, of whatever scale, in Baku, Azerbaijan.  Thank you very much for your attention.

---

Shai Franklin

Thank you, and I look forward to returning to Baku for a future conference, as you suggested.  The delegate from Belarus has asked to speak to us.  Please.  

---

Delegate from Belarus

Thank you very much.  Please, I would like to introduce myself.  I am a representative of the Committee on Religious and Ethnic Groups, and I am a member of the Belarusian delegation.  First of all, I would like to talk about the role of the organization that has the current name of [NCSJ] Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia.  And, there is no mention of Belarus in the name of the organization; perhaps this is an indication of the current status.  In June this year, the leaders of your organization visited our countries, and met with leaders of our institutions, including the head of my institution.  Unfortunately, [NCSJ Executive Director] Mr. Mark Levin, who took part in that meeting, is not present here today.  

At this point, I would not delve into the details describing the life of the Jewish community, but additional material shall be distributed tomorrow, which will be another opportunity to learn about the life of the Jewish community.   

In brief, I would like to say that for more than seven centuries, Belarus has been the center of European Jewry, if I may use this term.  And one of the examples of the inter-ethnic relations is the fact that there were no pogroms against the Jewish population, also in the days of the Russian empire.  The only exception could be the so-called “nationalization” of certain towns.

As far as the incidents of xenophobia and anti-Semitism are concerned, we strongly believe that any such incident should be looked into, prosecuted, and punished.  As far as the incidents are concerned – the incidents that take place in Belarus – there are the incidents of libels and offensive attacks against cemeteries and buildings, and we have several dozen such incidents annually.  However, if we compare it to the situation in other countries, such incidents in other countries may be measured in the thousands.  Nevertheless, I do emphasize that each act of xenophobic behavior should be seriously dealt with, prosecuted, and punished.  But still, I would like to draw your attention to the fact, to the much lower rate of such incidents in our country.  

We welcome the contribution that has been made by the organization represented in this room by Mr. Livshyts.  Our Azerbaijani colleague has mentioned the number of synagogues in Azerbaijan; I would like to mention that we have 47 Jewish organizations that are all incorporated in the Union of Jewish Associations and Communities.  Moreover, we have three different Jewish religious communities that live in Belarus.  Also, I just would like to state that Mr. Livshyts has spoken on behalf of his organization. 

And finally, I would like to state one fact and make one statement.  First, how can we talk about anti-Semitism in a country where only a minor percent of the population suffers from the incidents based on a hostile attitude toward the people of Jewish origin.  And the second statement is just as my colleague has mentioned, that the principal problem with anti-Semitism is how to deal with it regarding varying manifestations of its intensity, and how to deal with anti-Semitism even where there are no Jews. I would like to disagree with the above-mentioned statement, but I think that the real factor, the real factor that shows the current state of affairs is that Belarus enjoys the most comfortable situation among the countries of the former Soviet Union with regard to anti-Semitic behavior.  And finally, I would like to say that we will be most grateful for cooperation with all those who struggle against anti-Semitism in any of its forms.

---

Shai Franklin

Thank you very much, and thanks to all of you for joining us.  We’re going to break now in order to allow people to reassemble for the formal OSCE session on anti-Semitism.  Though the first session this morning did not end on time, that does not mean that the afternoon session will not begin on time.  And, I would like to thank our diplomatic delegates and our non-governmental participants.  I find myself agreeing more with my colleague from the Union of Councils than with the representative of the Belarus government, but the important thing should be not what the situation on the ground is, but what governments are doing to respond to it.  And that’s why it is so important that everybody – whether it’s Belarus or Azerbaijan – everybody is here in this room and next door to address these issues. Thank you very much.