By Vestnik Kavkaza
The international action on the popularization of literacy has made people discuss anti-Semitism in Russia again. The head of one of Russia's regions decided to replace the text of “Total Dictation” because its author Dina Rubina uses “obscenities.” The decision was supported by some journalists, but interpreted in a strange way: “Why does an Israeli citizen Dina Rubina teach us the Russian language?” “Why is it shown that a migrant knows Russia better than natives?”
Parallel to “Total Dictation” an expert group of the Jewish community of Russia on problems of anti-Semitism presented the report headlined “Anti-Semitism in Russia in 2011-2012.”
“Anti-Semitism is alive in Russia,” the Secretary General of the Eurasian Jewish Congress, vice-president of the Federal Jewish Ethnic Cultural Autonomy, Mikhail Chlenov said. “In the West, Europe anti-Semitism is rising, but in Russia and in Ukraine we can see a slight decrease of intensiveness of the evil. 170 cases of violence and vandalism against Jews and their property were registered in France in 2012. There 69 violent attacks and 53 damage cases in the UK. In Russia there were 5 attacks and 38 cases of vandalism because of anti-Semitism over 2 years. This special phenomenon needs special treatment. Jews are less “visible”; their number decreased due to massive emigration in the 1990s from Russia. Xenophobic attitudes were shifted from Jews to migrants. Moreover, the authorities are trying to prevent anti-Semitism actions in the public political field.”
“Law-enforcement bodies address the Jewish Community for information and confirmation of some anti-Semitism statements by certain people for holding them criminally liable,” the press-secretary of the chief rabbi of Russia Mikhail Lidogoster says. “However, at the mundane level the situation is absolutely different. If we look at social nets, we will see a huge number of groups devoted to the rejection of Holocaust and extremism propaganda. Right after my speech at the press-conference in RIA Novosti where I spoke about the position of Jewish communities on the 282nd article of the Criminal Code, the Internet was blasted by a wave of anti-Semitism… I proposed not to hold people who provide radical Nazi ideology criminally liable, but to replace criminal punishment by financial fees for not making heroes out of them; but even in this context it caused a wave of indignation, starting from unknown bloggers to well-known people…”
