Moscow Times - 11.08.2006

Moscow Times

It's Easy to Get Burned by Xenophobia

Editorial

At first glance, the countrywide ultranationalist marches during the National Unity Day holiday on Saturday look like a marked improvement from last year.

Although at least 2,000 ultranationalists defied a ban to take to Moscow streets, their number was down from last year, and Nazi regalia and chants of "Heil Hitler" were missing for the most part.

Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who came under fire after a subordinate authorized last year's march, not only personally refused to sign off on a parade route this time, but also warned that events of this sort "could destroy the unity of our society."

Even so, it is hard to shake the sense that political leaders are less worried than they should be about the threat from a growth in ultranationalism.

President Vladimir Putin has cautioned about the danger of racism and xenophobia, but he also has seemed to endorse ultranationalistic attitudes. His call last month to protect the rights of the "native" population -- a message repeated by other leaders, including Luzhkov -- dovetails nicely with the thinly veiled xenophobic rhetoric coming from ultranationalist groups like the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, or DPNI, which was one of the major participants in Saturday's march.

Calls to protect the rights of Russians are gaining resonance. The DPNI, which resembled little more than another fringe ultranationalist movement only a year ago, has since developed grassroots appeal and organization in many cities where ethnic Russians comprise the majority of the population. It managed to bring out thousands of people for marches in more than 20 cities.

There is no indication the group enjoys Kremlin support. But it certainly is not being singled out like the anti-Kremlin, unregistered National Bolshevik Party, whose similarly unsanctioned rallies typically prompt brutal police crackdowns.

This suggests the Kremlin is turning a blind eye to the ultranationalists, who incidentally seem to have no opinion about Kremlin policies.

Some political observers speculate that the Kremlin is allowing xenophobia to simmer on the backburner, perhaps one day to play up the danger of a menace from which only Putin and United Russia can be trusted to protect the country.

A back-burner approach would be dangerous. In a country as ethnically diverse and with a history as cluttered with ethnic conflicts as Russia's, keeping xenophobic attitudes warm in order to capitalize on them politically is leadership of the most hazardous type. Anything kept simmering for a time can easily boil over.

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Interfax - 11.03.2006

Moscow Nationalist March Banned

MOSCOW, Russia (Interfax) - Jewish leaders in Russia praised authorities for banning a street march that several ultranationalist groups planned for this weekend in Moscow.

"Moscow is a multi-ethnic and a multifaith city. If different ethnic and religious communities do not live peacefully together, unrest is guaranteed in the city and in the whole country," Berel Lazar, one of Russia's two chief rabbis, said Wednesday in response to the city's decision to ban the so-called Russian March planned for Saturday.

St. Petersburg also banned a similar event slated for the Nov. 4 Unity Day, a national holiday in Russia.

Moscow came under fierce criticism last year after it allowed thousands of nationalists to march downtown on Unity Day.

Many sported Nazi insignia and yelled "Heil Hitler."

Organizers of this year's march were not discouraged by the ban and said they would go ahead.

The organizers — who include the Movement Against Illegal Immigration and other groups, as well as a number of State Duma deputies — said they expect 10,000 people to participate Saturday, but stressed that participants would not carry posters with swastikas, shout Nazi slogans or make Nazi salutes.

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RIA Novosti - 11.03.2006

Russian nationalists set to hold unsanctioned nationwide rallies

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Russia's nationalist forces intend to hold massive rallies across the country November 4 to mark National Unity Day, despite the refusal of authorities to sanction the action. 

November 4 was first introduced as a holiday in Russia, generally recognized as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, last year to mark Moscow's liberation from Polish invaders in 1612. The new national holiday replaced November 7, which commemorated the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. 

Last year, 3,000 people from radical right-wing movements, including the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, the Russian National Union, the National Patriotic Front Memory, and skinheads, gathered for the Right March in central Moscow, chanting nationalist slogans such as "Russia for Russians." 

In an attempt to avoid last year's embarrassment, Moscow and St. Petersburg authorities decided to ban the action this year. 

Moscow police said Wednesday some 6,500 policemen will ensure security November 4 and will stop any attempt to break the law. Mayor Yury Luzhkov said he will not let radical movements destroy Russia's unity. 

"We saw the so-called Russian March on November 4 last year, when people were shouting and carrying chauvinist slogans," he said. "Russia will not survive a nationalist split of the state if we do not prevent it." 

Racist trends in Russia have recently acquired dangerous forms, culminating in a series of high-profile brutal attacks and at least 10 murders of people with non-Slavic features. 

Xenophobic sentiments have also been bred by an influx of migrant workers from poorer former Soviet republics, particularly to rapidly developing Moscow and St. Petersburg. 

Following Luzhkov's ban on the Saturday rally, organizers of the radical march said they might hold the event, which they expect to gather at least 10,000 people, at a Moscow underground station. Underground chief Dmitry Gayev, however, said the marchers will not be admitted. 

Dmitry Rogozin, of the nationalist Rodina (Motherland) faction, tried to allay concerns about the upcoming march by saying Wednesday the action will use no radical rhetoric. "The marchers will not use any slogans inciting inter-ethnic discord or promoting fascist symbols," he said. 

Viktor Alksnis, head of the public council organizing the march, ruled out Friday any political actions in the Moscow underground November 4. He said his council had called on the marchers to transfer the meeting further away from the city center. 

Russia's liberal SPS and Yabloko opposition parties said Wednesday that about 2,000 members of their joint organization, the Anti-Fascist Front, will hold a separate rally against neo-Nazis in Moscow November 4 under the motto: "Fascism in Russia Will Not Pass." 

Authorities in St. Petersburg followed the example of their colleagues in Moscow and also banned the rally. 

"The St. Petersburg administration has received a series of requests to allow [nationalist] actions, meetings and marches but we are totally against it," Governor Valentina Matvienko said, condemning efforts to inflame ethnic strife. 

However, police in the city of Volgograd in the south of European Russia said it will not stop the nationalist marchers unless they disrupt public order. Organizers of the local march said they expected 500 people to gather for the event in the city.