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HATRED KILLS
Protect your environment from right-wing extremism!
9 November 2009
International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism
"The Shoah was unprecedented. But it was a precedent, and that precedent is being followed. We should do everything we can to stop that"
Yehuda Bauer
CONTENTS
Why do we need to care about something that belongs to history books? Surely, it is better to be concentrated on the future rather than on the past? But how do we know that past is a closed chapter? Can we be sure the events of 9 November 1938 are totally irrelevant to the present and the future? The answer is: no. The seemingly distant past is not distant at all. All over Europe violence against minorities happens today. The lessons of tragic history are not learnt by our societies. We need to make sure the past is not forgott en. Even more importantly, we must react against the rise of racism and intolerance here and now! Experience proves that hatred kills!
German Nazis elaborated earlier antisemitic prejudices and doctrines and transformed them into an extreme form of ideology of a modern totalitarian state.
9th November 1938 was the day of the so-called ‘Kristallnacht’ pogrom. Today it is seen as the symbolic beginning of the Holocaust.
Hundreds of Jewish temples, shops, and homes were attacked and burnt. Numerous Jews were beaten by Nazi strong-arm squads. At least 91 people were killed and many more were injured. 267 synagogues were burnt or destroyed. Many of them were soon demolished completely. The Nazi propaganda called the event the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) referring to the broken glass from the shop windows. Other names have been used to refer to the event, too, e.g. ‘Reichspogromnacht’. The expression ‘November pogroms’ is now more commonly employed, especially in Germany.
In the wake of the pogrom, many Jews were arrested (www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/kristallnacht/img6pic.htm) and transported to Nazi concentration camps. About 30,000 people were transported to Buchenwald, Dachau, and Sachsenhausen. Many of them died, some were released after they decided to emigrate from Germany losing all their property, which was taken over by ‘Aryans’.
The pogrom resulted in a mass of refugees leaving Nazi Germany. In ten months about 115,000 Jews emigrated from the country. Some went to other European countries, some to Palestine. Many sought refuge in more distant places, like the United States or China.
Jewish refugees, fleeing the Nazi violence, were often victims of discriminatory policies in the democratic countries, too.
Since they had been forced to leave their property behind, they had little or no money. Many states refused to admit migrants who were poor. Moreover, the international economic crisis of the 1930s resulted in high levels of insecurity about jobs which spilled over into xenophobia and antisemitism. Newcomers were not welcome and were often met with hostility. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, immigration and visa policies of some countries became even more strict. As a result, many refugees could not find a safe haven and later perished during the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Europe.
The ‘Kristallnacht’ and the events which followed it constitute a symbol, a watershed moment. The racist policy of the Nazi regime was no longer “limited” to legal discrimination (Nuremberg laws), economic boycotts and daily hate speech: it became a blueprint for unprecedented deadly violence on a mass scale.
What Happens Today
The mass murder of Jews and other groups during the Nazi Holocaust has no equivalent in history. It would be wrong to compare it to any other event.
On the other hand, some aspects of the history are still present in Europe today: racist and antisemitic hate speech and populist scapegoating of minorities is frequent, hate crimes and discrimination are daily occurrences, restrictive migration and asylum policies are introduced. In many of our countries, refugees and asylum seekers are among the principal targets of racist and religiously motivated violence. These immigrants are often targeted as hate crime victims because of their appearance, language, religion and customs.
Extreme Right in European Parliament
In June 2009, 375 million people were eligible to vote in 27 countries and to decide which parties fi ll the European Parliament’s 785 seats. Many of them chose to vote for extreme right and populist parties.1
The extreme right strongly benefited from the global economic crisis. Its traditional themes of racism and immigration – or more accurately, public concern and fears over it – produced much of the far-right vote. Many of the right-wing extremists had nothing to say about the crisis, climate change or any of the other issues pressing on us all.
The undoubted far-right winner in the ballot was Geert Wilders and his anti--Islamic and bitterly anti-European Union (EU) Party for Freedom which grabbed 17% of the vote in The Netherlands and catapulted itself into the position of the country’s second strongest party. It will now occupy four seats in the EP. Another high scorer was the anti-immigrant, Islamophobic Danish People’s Party (DFP) whose vote rocketed from 6.8% in 2004 to just over 15% this time round, enabling it to double its seats from one to two. Matching the DFP’s vote and coming from an almost nowhere vote of just 0.5% in 2004 were Finland’s right-wing populist True Finns party which got one person elected, scored almost 10%. Italy’s right-wing regionalist and racist Lega Nord received 3.126.915 votes, that is 10.2%, which gave it nine seats in the European parliament.
Hungary’s nazi party, Jobbik, ran a virulently racist campaign against so-called “gypsy criminality”. Even before Hungarian voters went to the polling stations, one of the party’s top candidates, Kirszti na Morvai, was busy spreading vile racist and anti-Jewish abuse on the internet. That 427.000 people – 14.77% – voted for this nazi party, whose uniformed private army swaggers through the streets in flagrant defiance of the law, rips apart any suggesti ons that those who voted for it were simply “making a protest”.
Nick Griffin’s British National Party can also be numbered amongst the smaller winners and will be represented by Griffin himself and his henchman Andrew Brons wh formerly belonged to an organisation that burned down synagogues in the 1960s.
Elsewhere, the smaller winners represented a patchwork of the varieties of fascist, racist, Islamophobic, homophobic and antisemitic bigotry that can be found across Europe. Thus, for example, the Greek fascists of LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) came in with two seats on the strength of 366.000 votes or 7.2%. Also, in Slovakia and Romania, ultra-nationalists won their first seats in elections to the European parliament: one seat in Slovakia for the Slovak National Party and three seats in Romania for the Greater Romania Party. Also in that part of Europe, the anti-EU and ultra nationalist Ataka party won two seats in Bulgaria. One of its main campaigns included a propaganda offensive against Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish minority.
All of the elected far-right parties are opposed to immigration, are racist and are, in some cases, antisemitic but that does not make them identi cal. All of them, however, are addicted to the politics of fear, hate and violence.
To be sure, racism does not affect the European Parliament only. It can be found at all levels of our societies. Everybody can play a role in the struggle against it. You too!
1 The analysis of the European Parliament election results is based on material kindly provided by Graeme Atkinson, European editor of Searchlight Magazine.
It is important not to get overwhelmed by negati ve news. Right-wing extremism can be stopped! Over the years, European anti-racist organizati ons at all levels have conducted a broad range of successful activities. You can be inspired by their experiences. You can also use your own creativity and come up with some completely new ideas which will inspire others!
These are just some examples of 9th November activities
organized by UNITED partners in 2008:
‘Never Again’ Associati on (Poland): together with the Cultural
Associati on of Jews in Poland organised several meetings in
Warsaw; activists distributed materials about the ‘Kristallnacht’ pogrom to the passers by. A member of ‘Never Again’ Association took part in a TV programme to explain the significance of the International Day against Fascism and Antisemitism.
DUHA (Czechia): Children’s and Youth Parliaments: antifascist activists from DUHA facilitated discussions with pupils and students aged 14-16 years at several elementary and secondary schools of Prague in the week from 3 to 10 November 2008. They discussed about the Night of Broken Glass, Holocaust and contemporary neonazism.
Movement Against Intolerance (Spain): High School students: re-painted parts of Picasso’s “Guernica” and reassembled them on a big wall in a public action to show that the fatal realiti es of the past are present here and now. During this process the symbols used in the painting and its relati on to the Holocaust and the ‘Kristallnacht Pogrom’ were explained to the audience.
Association Rieti Immingrants (Italy): concern is mounting over the use of Facebook and You Tube as platforms for the spreading of nazi propaganda. The organisation Association Rieti Immigrants (ARI Rieti ) used the Facebook platform to spread a clear message against fascism all over the net. 553 people were invited to attend the event.
Initiative Bürger.Courage (Germany): Art installation against neonazi violence: a special art project against right-wing extremist violence in Dresden. Under the motto ‘Resist to the beginnings’, it set up an installation of 60 wooden signs along the Elbe river side. The signs symbolise the 60 attacks neo-nazis had committed during the past two years in Dresden.
What You Can Do
Since the early 1990s, UNITED for Intercultural Action has organized and inspired annual pan-European anti-racist activities on 9th November. The aim is two-fold. First, we commemorate victims of the ‘Kristallnacht’ pogrom and, more broadly, the victims of the Holocaust and all the victims of historical fascism. Secondly, we want to warn about dangers of racism, antisemitism, right-wing extremism and neo-fascism today. We want to mobilize different groups and individuals in a common front against xenophobia and intolerance.
Hundreds of various organizations and informal groups of all kinds have taken an active part in the campaign. It is time for you, too! The campaign is pluralist and open: there is place and space for all. The strength of this campaign is having a diverse European movement taking part in a common action, using a common theme and slogan. We use different approaches and methods but we have one common vision of a society without hatred and discrimination, based on human rights. This poster is a supporti ng tool you can use in your campaign activities. You can organise diverse events, such as public discussions, meetings with eye-witnesses, demonstrations, commemoration activities, conferences, poster and media actions, cultural events and much more. To get some more inspiration and practical ideas, you can read the reports of previous campaigns: www.unitedagainstracism.org under “publications”.
Join the UNITED Campaign!
• Make sure your event is included in the European List of Activities! Inform UNITED about your planned activities (title, date, theme, place), including the name, address and contact person of your organization.
• Make use of this poster! Order (max. 100 posters) for free from the UNITED secretariat.
• Get inspired by our information leaflet “Get Active - The 'How to organise an activity?' Guide”. Look at www.unitedagainstracism.org under 'publicati ons'.
• Keep in touch with UNITED’s secretariat to spread your new ideas to the network and to provide it with recent information.
Remember...
• ...that most activities are organised on a low- or nobudget basis. So 'no money' does not necessarily mean 'no action'.
Some practical advice
• Use the resources you already have within your organisation.
• Think about the message you want to communicate what outcome you expect (short-term/long-term)?
• Look for partners and alliances - if appropriate outside the NGO movement (schools, religious community groups).
• Try to involve as many people as possible already during preparation (volunteers, partners etc.)
• Divide tasks clearly.
How UNITED can help you
• UNITED will produce a special list of all activities will take place in Europe, which can help you to make contacts and generate ideas. It will be updated regularly on: www.unitedagainstracism.org under 'campaigns'.
• Call UNITED if you cannot find a partner for your activities. We might know of other NGOs in your region or city who are planning an activity.
• Keep in mind that you can order campaign material at the UNITED secretariat for free.
• A media release will be sent to the UNITED network organisations and to all important European press agencies, newspapers, etc. Journalists who want to know more about specific activities are referred the organisations involved in local actions. UNITED produce a European report after 9 November, including as many of the activities that took place as possible.
How you can help UNITED
• Announce your activities and send your invitations, leaflets and posters before and after the campaign!
• Help us make the report complete and send us newspapearticles, reports, photos, etc. directly aft er the event
• Provide us with more media contacts!
Antisemitism is prejudice against Jewish people. Antisemites wrongly believe that Jews are fundamentally different from other people. They
often believe that Jews want to rule the world and try to reach this goal through a worldwide conspiracy. The most horrific manifestation of
antisemitism came with Hitler’s rise to power and the nazi ideology of racial purity. Millions of Jewish people were deported from all countries controlled by Germany and killed in concentration camps during the Holocaust. However, antisemitism did not start nor end with the Holocaust. It is deeply rooted in European history and still manifests itself today.
Fascism is a violent extreme-right political movement. It destroys democratic liberties and discriminates members of minorities and people with different views. Fascists believe in the leadership of a strong man instead of parliamentary democracy. Fascism builds on a strong
nationalism that often turns racist. During the interwar era and during the Second World War, many European countries were ruled by fascist dictatorships. The word “fascism” itself was coined by the Italian dictatorship of Mussolini.
Hate crimes / Hate speech: Hate crimes are directed against persons or property because of their real or perceived connection to a group
defined by race, national or ethnic origin, language, religion, gender, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age, moral or political views or socio-economic class. One form of hate crime is hate speech, which includes all kinds of speech promoting violent or prejudiced acti ons against people because of their characteristics mentioned above. The term covers written, oral and visual communication, also through mass media, internet and in public.
The Holocaust can be defined as the sum total of all anti -Jewish actions carried out by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945: from stripping the German Jews of their legal and economic status in the 1930s; segregating and starvation in the various occupied countries; the murder of close to six million Jews in Europe. The Holocaust is part of a broader aggregate of acts of oppression and murder of various ethnic and political groups in Europe by the Nazis. Nevertheless, it has special significance due to the exceptional attitude with which its perpetrators – the Nazis – regarded their Jewish victims. It is also referred to by the Hebrew word Shoah.
Nazism is the ideology and policy of the German fascism that manifested itself most prominently from 1933-1945. It was characterised by racism, antisemitism, totalitarianism, social demagogy, aggression, violence and superiority claims over other nations. The word nazism stands for ‘national-socialism’ which was a political movement in Germany embodied by the NSDAP (German Nati onal-Socialist Workers Party). The NSDAP was proclaimed a criminal organisati on at the Nuremberg trial after World War II. The nazi regime was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. Nowadays, the ideas of nazism are supported by new groups of right-wing extremists, neonazis.
The term pogrom as a reference to large-scale, targeted, and repeated anti semiti c violence appeared in the 19th century. Initially, it was used to describe anti -Jewish violence on the territory of Tsarist Russia (mostly in present-day Ukraine and Poland) in the late 19th and early 20th century. One of the most notorious pogroms took place in Kishinev (now the capital of Moldova) in 1903. Numerous antisemitic pogroms happened in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, e.g. the 1941 Jedwabne pogrom (Poland), and even aft er the war. The word is sometimes used to describe violence against other minoriti es, too.
Right-wing extremism: Right-wing extremist ideology has its roots in nationalism and racism. It is based on the idea that the value of an individual is determined on alleged ethnic bonds to which all other values, including civil and human rights, are subordinated. Right-wing extremists propagate a political system in which the state and the people form a unity of “ethnic community” as an alleged natural order. They strive to abolish democracy and tolerate violence as a legitimate way of achieving political goals.
Skinhead: a youth subculture with a large segment adopting neo-Nazi politics along with the pre-existing aggressive, proletarian or working class symbolism. The skinhead style consists of close-cropped hair (or a shaven head, hence the name “skinhead”), suspenders, jeans, and heavy boots. The term skinhead should be used in conjunction with a qualifier: “anti-racist,” “traditi onal” or “racist” (neo-Nazi) to recognize the three distinct ideologies that co-exist within the broader subculture.
• Searchlight Magazine
> www.searchlightmagazine.com
• Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education,
Remembrance and Research
> www.holocaustt askforce.org
• Anne Frank House Amsterdam
> www.annefrank.org
• European Resistance Archive
> www.resistance-archive.org
• Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum
> www.auschwitz-muzeum.oswiecim.pl
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
> www.ushmm.org
• Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Racism and
Antisemitism
> www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism
• Yad Vashem
> www.yadvashem.org
UNITED for Intercultural Action is the European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support of migrants and refugees. More than 560 organisations from a wide variety of backgrounds, from all European countries, work together in common activities, such as European-wide campaigns. Like-minded organisations have the opportunity to meet each other at conferences and elaborate specific projects. UNITED is and will remain independent from all political parties, organisations and states, but seeks an active co-operation with other anti-racist initiatives in Europe. Information is received from more than 2000 organisations and mailings go out to about 2200 groups in Europe. Let us know if you want to get involved! And add UNITED to your mailing list!
As a response to the alarming spread of deeply rooted racism, antisemitism and right-wing extremism in Europe, UNITED has established the project “Civil Society Against Right-wing Extremism - Developing New Lifelong-learning Strategies for NGOs” which is realized in the frame of the European adult education program GRUNDTVIG. Within this project, 9 partner organisations active within the UNITED network from Western and Eastern Europe are closely cooperating in analyzing occurrences, forms and strategies of right-wing extremism in Europe, sharing concepts how to deal with the increasing influence of right-wing organisations and actors in their respective countries and finding transferable approaches to push back the extreme right, at a local and regional level.
The project partners are:
UP
UNITED for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism
and in support of migrants and refugees
Postbus 413, NL-1000 AK Amsterdam, Netherlands
phone +31-20-6834778, fax +31-20-6834582
info@unitedagainstracism.org, www.unitedagainstracism.org
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