Mr Burman evasively noted that as a Zionist he is keen on the Jewish issue in the USSR.
– This issue no longer exists here, – said Palamidov.
– How come? – Hiram asked in amazement.
– It’s as simple as that: it does not exist.
Ilf and Petrov: The Golden Calf
Having repeatedly scalded themselves on hot milk throughout their history, it is no wonder that long-suffering Jews sometimes blow on cold water. If you hear about any event devoted to “the problems of modern-day anti-Semitism,” then regardless of the place and time, reports on it can most likely be titled The History of My Misfortunes after the image and likeness of Pierre Abelard’s autobiography. So much the more amazing was the report posted on the site of the Vedomosti newspaper and soon spread over the Russian blogosphere. Speaking at the Independent Press Center, General Secretary of Eurasian Jewish Congress, Mikhail Chlenov officially stated that anti-Semitism had actually wound down in today’s Russia so that “in recent years Jews had almost no grudges against the government.”
As you may easily guess, the bloggers in opposition immediately accused the press conference participants of the desire to apple-polish their bosses. Since I have the privilege of knowing Mr. Chlenov personally, I’d risk suggesting that this is very unlikely – Mikhail first tackled the Jewish affairs back in the years of stagnation, when this initiative could only lead him into a scrape, so the desire to please people in power at any cost is obviously not his most characteristic behavioral pattern. Whatever were the motives of Mr. Chlenov and other speakers, I can say with confidence that their conclusions in this case fully reflect the current state of things. Not only because my personal experience and the experience of my numerous friends living in Russia unambiguously testifies to this dynamic. The point is that this state of things seems to be most logical under the current circumstances.
To begin with, Russian xenophobes today have a much more relevant object of national antipathy – the natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia, rather than the Jews, as the average Russian person comes across the former every day and can easily identify them with a naked eye, unlike the Jews who are generally undistinguishable in the crowd with the exception of some Orthodox Jews. Objectively, this is not good at all, for ethnic xenophobia is heinous in any form and reveals the presence of serious unsolved problems in the society. Yet, from a parochial Jewish view, this is a kind of good luck.
Secondly, in recent years people of Russia have faced the threat of radical Islam – the same danger Israel confronts in the Middle East. And a common foe is known to often cause a revision of established patterns and attitudes.
And thirdly, what is most important, in Russia anti-Semitism has always been of a somewhat different nature, compared to the Ukraine or Belarus. Within the former pale, where Jews and non-Jews have lived side by side for ages and not always as good neighbors, Judeo-phobic attitudes would develop at the grassroots level, often taking on the nature of phobias in the psychiatric sense. For instance, a person coming from Moldova upcountry was afraid to share the same lodging space with a Jew (this was experienced by one of my friends from those lands). Household anti-Semitism surely occurred in Russia as well, but on a much lesser scale – simply by virtue of the fact that for most Russians the Jew has always been a semi-mythical human being. Therefore Judeo-phobia here has usually taken on the nature of top-to-bottom government policy and ideology, be it special quotas for Jews at universities, or the same notorious pale, or struggling against rootless cosmopolites – imperialism sidekicks.
The policy of state anti-Semitism ceased in Russia as early as at the end of perestroika and has never been resumed since then. Regardless of any changes in the home policies during the recent 20 years, the Russian authorities have been consistent in this matter and even made token gestures time after awhile, called to demonstrate the favor towards the Jewish community (like the introduction of a rabbi in the rank of colonel to the Russian Army – incidentally, the Israeli Army has so far lacked chaplains).
Moreover everyone remembers well enough that some Jewish politicians and businessmen – Gusinsky, Berezovsky, Khodorkovsky, Nevzlin and others – have repeatedly positioned themselves as the main adversaries of the regime… I don’t know whether those in power have ever thought of playing a Jewish card against their opponents. Even if they did, they have consistently resisted this temptation.
In the lack of public anti-Semitism, Russian Jews can only be threatened with household xenophobia, which is almost lacking in Russia nowadays, as we already mentioned. The inevitable result is complete lull and tranquility.
True, the press conference participants manifested a rather moderate optimism as they were talking about “latent Judeo-phobia, “anti-Israel attitudes” and other spooks. But I’d assume the audacity to surmise that unless some radical changes and public shifts take place in Russia in the time to come, the next report on anti-Semitism will be roughly similar.
Evgeny Naumov
