Ukraine / 06-11-2012

The antisemitic Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union wins representation in the Ukrainian parliament

Source: http://www.fighthatred.com/recent-events/national-political-hate/1095-the-anti-semitic-svoboda-all-ukrainian-union-wins-representation-in-the-ukrainian-parliament


The European Jewish Association (EJA) on October 29, 2012 expressed concern about the safety of Jews in Ukraine because of the surprise victory of a xenophobic and antisemitic political party, the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union, in parliamentary elections.

 

“We are not intending to interfere in internal Ukraine affairs and its voters' decisions, but we are very concerned about the safety of Jews in Ukraine and throughout Europe in light of growing antisemitic movements in Europe," said Rabbi Menachem Margolin, General Director of The European Jewish Association. He called on Ukrainian and EU leaders to ensure the safety of Jews in the country and across Europe.

 

Oleg Tyagnibok

The Svoboda ("Freedom") All-Ukrainian Union will be the fourth largest party after receiving 10.44% of the votes in the parliamentary election held on 28 October 2012 and will receive 37 seats (25 on party lists and 12 in single-seat constituencies) of the 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament). In the previous election, the party received only 0.76% of the votes and did not obtain any seats in the parliament.

 

Party leader Oleg Tyagnibok has called for restoring the country to the Ukrainians and liberating it from the "Muscovite-Jewish Mafia," by purging the approximately 400,000 Jews living in Ukraine, as well as other minorities. Members of the party took part in antisemitic incidents such as damaging synagogues, Jewish centers, and cemeteries.

 

      

[Picture 1 above is of sign saying "Uman without Hasidim" with picture of "Alien" with kippah and payot (long, uncut, sideburns), picture 2 says "Are you going to the march?"]

 

The party has also held several protest rallies against the thousands of Hassidic Jews who arrive every year for a pilgrimage at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav in the southern Ukrainian town of Uman. On Sept. 25, 2011, police arrested 53 participants of a court-banned rally "Uman without Hasidim." Representatives of the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union had hung banners and chanted slogans against Hasidic pilgrims who arrived in Uman.

 

Leader Tiahnybok said they demanded stricter legal and sanitary controls on Hasidic pilgrims. He also said that law-enforces should see that Hasidic pilgrims should respect the custom of local residents, observe their rights and prevent the breaches of public order by the pilgrims.

 

Tyagnibok has more recently rejected the allegation that his party is antisemitic. “Unfortunately I have read their speeches and statements not once but many times. So I do not need any proof that they are antisemitic,” said Rabbi Pynchas Vyshedski, according to euronews.

 

In telephone and email interviews with The Jerusalem Post, experts on Ukrainian xenophobia and antisemitism raised alarm bells about the results of the election.

 

Irena Cantorovich, a scholar at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Kantor Database for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, wrote, “This is the first time in the history of modern Ukraine that a nationalistic party enters the parliament. Svoboda is known for its racist and antisemitic views and several complaints were filed against its leader, Oleg Tyagnibok, for his antisemitic comments.” The party’s platform also includes support for the rehabilitation of Ukrainian nationalists who collaborated with Nazi Germany.”

 

Speaking with the Jerusalem Post from Ukraine, Vyacheslav A. Likhachev, an expert at the Eurasian Jewish Congress, said that the “party has a very antisemitic core in its ideology.” Likhachev said the “leaders of the party are famous for openly racist and antisemitic speeches” and that the party’s victory in the election was a “symbolic legitimization of Neo- Nazis and antisemitic ideology in the eyes of society.”

 

The All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda," often simplified to Svoboda, is a far-right nationalist political party in Ukraine. The Party was established as a party on October 16, 1995 but changed its name to the All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda" in February 2004 and attempted to push out the more blatant neo-Nazi and racist elements.

 

Svoboda's ideology is based on the concept of "natiocracy," which centers around the right of every indigenous people to have control over its territory. According to party leader Oleh Tyahnybok, the party's view of nationalism "shouldn’t be mixed with chauvinism or fascism, which means superiority of one nation over another," and that its platform is called “Our Own Authorities, Our Own Property, Our Own Dignity, on Our Own God-Given Land.”

 

      

 

The first party logo (1991—2003) was based on the letters I and N standing for "Idea of the Nation" which combined to resemble a Nazi swastika. When the party changed its name, however, it also changed its emblem to a “tryzub,” Ukraine’s national emblem.

 

The party voices opposition to perceived Russian influences in Ukraine. The party is known for its anti-Communist stance, and several party activists over the years have been accused of trying to destroy Communist-era statues. Russians in Ukraine form the largest ethnic minority in the country at 17.3% of the total population. In certain regions of the country, such as Sevastopol (71.7%) and the Autonomous republic of Crimea (58%), they are the majority.

 

A book published by Svoboda's ideologue Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn in 2010 contained German sources in content and bibliography, including writings by Ernst Roehm and Gregor Strasser, as well as Joseph Goebbels. Elsewhere Mykhalchyshyn referred to Holocaust as a "period of Light in history"

 

What is particularly worrisome about the rise of Svoboda is a willingness on the part of other political parties to work with it. On October 19, 2012, Tymoshenko's party and Svoboda signed an agreement to form a coalition and prize fighter Vitali Klitschko, head of the aptly named Udar (punch) Party, also pledged to work with them.