A hundred years after it was penned, the infamous anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion conspiracy theory is alive and well at the top level of Russian
leadership. On December 23, Gennady Zyuganov, chief of the Communist Party, and Boris
Yeltsin's main opponent in the 1996 presidential campaign, blamed Jews for the
"current catastrophic conditions of the country, the mass impoverishment and the
process of extinction of its people." In a letter to Yeltsin's
| History shows us that a people in turmoil with a
tradition of popular anti-Semitism never properly addressed through education can be
particularly susceptible to scapegoating. |
Chief of Staff and the Justice Minister, he focused on the "spread of Zionism in
the state government in Russia" as one reason for Russia's decline.
Twentieth century history demands that such outrageous hatred be taken seriously.
History shows us that a people in turmoil with a tradition of popular anti-Semitism never
properly addressed through education can be particularly susceptible to scapegoating. This
is especially true when Jewish individuals, however patriotic to the homeland, are
prominent in government, business and culture, providing an element of
"rationality" to the conspiratorial mindset. Sixty-five years ago in another
country experiencing economic and social catastrophe, the notion that the Jews were the
enemy and the root of the problems produced the Shoah.
This shocking reemergence of political anti-Semitism in the heart of a major nation
reminds us that anti-Semitism has always served the special needs of demagogues during
periods of convulsions in society. Despite the Jewish names being thrown around, it
reveals once again that anti-Semitism has nothing to do with the real activities of Jews.
It has everything to do with the need to find a convenient explanation for distress that
is hard to fathom and for the eternal availability of the Jews as scapegoat.
| We cannot afford to be complacent about anti-Semitism,
even where it appears to be diminishing. |
It reminds us that we cannot afford to be complacent about anti-Semitism, even where it
appears to be diminishing. The special power of this poison can still surface in different
forms and different places when it serves particular needs. The advent of globalism, with
all its intertwining economic mysteries beyond the understanding of people in the street
makes for a particularly good opportunity for demagogues to blame the "international
Jews."
U.S. officials must make clear to Russian leaders that
the effort to counteract anti-Semitism will be closely watched in evaluating U.S.-Russian
relations. |
While not immune from this oldest hatred, we have learned a great deal from history
--the horror of the Holocaust, the decades of Soviet anti-Semitism, the struggle for
Soviet Jews. We need to use our understanding and experience to ensure that anti-Semitism
in Russia today does not become something even more serious tomorrow.
In the struggle on behalf of Soviet Jewry, the American Jewish community mobilized to
effect change. By employing a variety of techniques, Soviet anti-Semitism and the
USSR’s treatment of its Jews were made priority concerns for the U.S Administration
and Congress, for business and religious leaders and those in the arts, as well as
governments abroad. We should employ some of those techniques today, adapting them to fit the times of a
more open Russian society.
- U.S. officials must make clear to Russian leaders that the effort to counteract
anti-Semitism will be closely watched in evaluating U.S.-Russian relations. It must be
made clear that anti-Semitism is not seen as a sideshow on the broader diplomatic front,
but a major test of where America thinks Russia is going. Following the precedent set by
her predecessors, we expect Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to relay these messages
during her upcoming trip to Russia.
- The European Union should make similar representation to the Russians about the
seriousness of this trend. Western Europe, benefiting from its relationship with the U.S.
in the last 50 years, has developed a greater understanding of the need to be proactive in
combating anti-Semitism. Now is the time to convey these understandings to Russia.
- Russian religious leaders must be urged to denounce the scapegoating of Jews and
take seriously the need to cleanse Russian society of historic anti-Jewish attitudes, as
Christian churches have done elsewhere.
- Parliamentarians around the world must express their outrage to members of the
Russian Duma for their failure to condemn anti-Semitic statements by their members.
- The United Nations, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration
of Human Rights finally included anti-Semitism as a fundamental violation of such rights.
The U.S., the Europeans, the Latin Americans and others should initiate a UN resolution
condemning this dangerous manifestation of anti-Semitism.
- American religious leaders of all denominations must speak out now. Business
leaders must make clear that a Russia heading down the road toward hatred will not be a
society viewed as a place in which to invest. Cultural leaders should find ways to remind
us all where all this can lead.
All of us – Jews and non-Jews -- need to get involved, need to express our sense
of outrage now, before today’s political anti-Semitism stirs street anti-Semitism and
Russia moves toward the abyss.
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