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| Russian Chief Rabbi joins anti-fascism ceremony
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Russia Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar
Photo: FJC
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Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar joined leaders of all the major political parties in Russia in lending his support to an anti-fascist pact.
The document, officially known as the Agreement on counteracting nationalism, xenophobia and religious strives, was signed in Moscow on 20 February at a solemn ceremony.
The event was held at the tremendous Hall of Fame of the Memorial complex on the Poklonnaya Gora which was almost half-full.
It came less than a month after a Russian skinhead broke into a Moscow synagogue and stabbed at least nine people
Important fight
Lazar spoke of the importance of the pact.
“The document that was signed today is difficult to be overestimated,” Lazar said.
“How did fascism start? First, there were statements of
individualists-marginals who were then gathered together into groups. Then there was formed the fascism party. Later on millions of people were killed.”
In the opinion of Lazar, the extremism of both the legal politicians and marginals is similarly dangerous.
Lazar said that groups he called the “Politicians of gateway”, such as the inhibited RNE (Russian National Unity) movement or the so-called National-Bolshevik Party, organize noisy demonstrations in the streets, and create graffiti with xenophobic slogans to “attract the attention of the mass media and spread in such a way their destructive ideas.”
He noted that “In order to prevent the growth of their influence, it is necessary to create an informational vacuum around such groupings.”
The pact includes an obligation to “boycott mass media that offer a platform to persons advocating the ideology of fascism and national superiority”.
Lazar also stressed that the Antifascist Pact should not be a substitute to the law.
Political unity
Other signatures included twelve leaders and representatives of the Russian political parties.
Among them were the United Russia Party, LDPR, Agrarian Party of Russia, SPS (the Union of the Right-wing Forces), Socialist United Party of Russia, the Party of Pensioners, the Patriots of Russia, the Russian Unified Industrial Party, the Russian Party of Peace, Free Russia, Democratic Party, and the Party of Social Justice.
In his speech at the signing ceremony Valeri Tishkov, the member of the Public Chamber and head of the commission concerning the issues of tolerance and freedom of conscience, said the pact is “a timely reply to a new threat to the public peace”.
He stressed that Russian president Vladimir Putin has regularly noted the problem of stirring up the inter-ethnic discord; however, the state cannot solve these problems alone.
Vyatcheslav Volodin, the Secretary of Presidium of the General Council of the United Russia Party while signing the Antifascist Pact made a statement on behalf of his party.
“Russia should be a strong and open country where more than 160 nations and nationalities live,” Volodin said.
“All of them should live in peace. With this we are strong.”
He called all the public and political forces of the country to join this pact.
The ceremony of signing the pact was completed by declarations of various other religious leaders including Father Michael Dudko, the Secretary of the Department of the Church External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
According to a recent poll, the majority of Russians support the adoption of the new anti-fascism agreement.
The study, undertaken by the the Center for Studying Public Opinion, 79 percent of the Russians support the pact.
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