#17 - JRL 8147 - JRL Home
Ending Discrimination in Russia
Alexander Vershbow, U.S. Ambassador to Russia
Moscow, 2004-03-29
Remarks at the Conference "Ways for Overcoming Xenophobia, Racial
Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism in the Multinational Russian Federation"
I am very pleased and honored to be here with you this morning as you launch this important campaign to combat the alarming trends with regard to anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racial discrimination in Russia. Speaking as someone who lived and worked in the Soviet Union 25 years ago, I am well aware that the decade since the fall of the Soviet Union has seen many positive developments - the rebuilding of Russia's Jewish community and improvement in Russia's anti-discrimination laws are among them. For this reason the persistence and even the increase in incidents of discrimination and harassment against specific groups on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity is especially discouraging.
As Americans, we believe that it is our duty to join with people of conviction around the world who are prepared to work towards the elimination of racism and discrimination. This is a historic commitment for us, one rooted deeply in our national experience and one that requires direct engagement to achieve. And at the highest levels, it is a commitment that our two nations share: Both President Putin and President Bush have repeatedly asserted the commitment of our respective nations to realizing full equality and opportunity for all, regardless of race, color or creed. The challenge is to achieve these goals in practice.
America has long struggled to realize its motto: e pluribus unum - out of many, one. At times we have fallen short, but we have never stopped trying to reach this ideal. The people of Russia have fought their own battles against racism. Yet the fight against hate and division is not over. It is a tragedy that a nation that fought so valiantly to defeat Nazi fascism now sees the emergence of neo-fascist groups among its own citizens. In order to honor the victory against racism and fascism won by our parents and grandparents -- and to demonstrate that we will defend the gains of their victory even sixty years later - we must condemn and confront every instance of racism and extremism, wherever they may occur.
One part of our struggle as a world community must be the fight against anti-Semitism. We all remember the tremendous challenges that confronted Russia's Jewish community before things began to take a turn for the better in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many emigrated to the United States and elsewhere, although in seeking to do so, they often lost their jobs, their children were denied entry to universities, and some even were sent to prison.
Thankfully, since the late 1980s/early 1990s, the conditions of Jews in this country have changed for the better. I attended and remember well the first human rights conference organized by the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) that was held here in Moscow in 1989, the very organization of which represented an act of courage. The political climate in which you are operating today is of course very different, and that is reflected in the fact that your present campaign is a public one, that contemplates cooperation with a variety of governmental institutions. Today there is a space for working within the system, as you plan to do by providing legal support to the victims of hate crimes and by developing human rights curricula for public schools.
But while Russia has made considerable progress on human rights, the tragic murders last month in St. Petersburg and Voronezh at the hands of hate groups remind us that more needs to be done. Ethnic and religious minorities still face daily discrimination and sometimes violence carried out by militant nationalists and extremists such as "skinhead" groups. Over the past decade, the number of skinheads in Russia has grown from a few dozen to, according to some estimates, over 50,000. Racially motivated attacks have increased significantly over the past two years, while those who commit these attacks are rarely arrested. Those who do get arrested are all too often charged with the lesser crime of "hooliganism," rather than a hate-related crime.
Hooliganism does not adequately capture the message of hate put forth by these criminals. Dismissing them as simply "youthful hooligans" sends a chilling signal to the racists and xenophobes. It tells them that their views and actions are but a minor offense against the social order, when in fact they undermine the very fabric of Russian society. It also demeans the victim and breeds a cynicism in society that only encourages further racist acts, keeping alive the cycle of violence and hatred.
The experience of many countries, including the U.S., clearly shows that disregarding or dismissing phenomena like xenophobia serves only to allow the virus to grow - it promotes a steady worsening of the problem and a deepening of its roots. But the appropriate answer is also not simply a heavy-handed crackdown, although a vigorous law enforcement response is necessary. Your campaign takes precisely the right approach: To fight xenophobia and anti-Semitism requires first and foremost an understanding of when and where it is happening, making monitoring an essential element. The public must be given a place to turn to report on what it sees and to get advice on how to react, and Americans have found that hotlines such as the ones you will initiate are an important mechanism to respond to problems on many fronts. The judiciary must be prepared to address the horror of hate crimes, making legal clinics a particularly important initiative. Meanwhile, anti-Semitic and xenophobic attitudes must be challenged and uprooted at their roots, and creation of human rights curricula for the justice system and the schools will go a good way toward achieving that.
While the increase in extremist groups is deeply troubling in its own right, what makes it even more disturbing is its context: it comes at a time of weakening of civil society. Racism, discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance flourish when civil society is too weak to combat them. We Americans believe that the existence of a thriving and independent civil society is essential to effectively fight scourges such as xenophobia and hate crimes - it can bring society together in a common cause, demonstrate the importance of working together rather than working against one another, and promote public oversight to ensure that law enforcers carry out their responsibilities. In addition to its many other benefits, then, we can expect that your campaign will help promote civil society development.
The current weakening of civil society is coupled with another disturbing trend that helps fuel xenophobia and anti-Semitism: an increasingly nationalistic tinge in Russia's political discourse. That trend, which emphasizes the fault lines in Russian society, could weaken Russia's internal security and it can ultimately also complicate relations between our two countries. Moreover, in a country as diverse as Russia, discrimination against one's fellow citizens is itself a profoundly unpatriotic act. Accordingly, the United States remains committed to the elimination of racism everywhere, through free and open discussion among individuals and organizations and through the rule of law, consistently and firmly applied.
We must all recognize that history is immutable: the past must be acknowledged and lessons must be learned. In the post-9/11 world, the lesson to be learned is that all democratic nations must value diversity and promote tolerance, if we are to avoid what some scholars now call a clash of civilizations. Terrorist acts, such as those two weeks ago in Spain that killed over 200, and last month's metro bombing in Moscow, claimed victims of all ethnicities, religions, and citizenship. While terrorism kills indiscriminately, the reaction to terrorist acts is all too often to blame indiscriminately entire cultures or religions, which ultimately turns an attack against humanity into a reason for further discrimination.
A large measure of Russia's strength lies in its diversity. As the largest country in the world, the Russian Federation is by nature a nation of many nationalities and religions. Tolerance must prevail within Russia if the society is to live together and work towards building a freer, more prosperous and more democratic society. We cannot allow the acts of a few to further deepen the divides within Russia's multi-ethnic society.
In closing, please allow me to again express my admiration for your initiative, which represents a natural sequel to the conference many of you courageously organized 15 years ago. And thank you for inviting me to participate today - as you invited me 15 years ago - in a campaign that reflects the very best of the human spirit, the urge to defend human freedom and dignity.