World Without Nazism international movement established in Kyiv
23.06.2010
The initiative to unite anti-fascist organizations from around the world into a single structure is being made for the first time in the history of modern social movements. The founders of the organization hope that this will help to increase the efficiency of the anti-fascism movement’s work, which, unfortunately, continues to be relevant today.
The movement’s council was elected during the forum. It includes well-known community leaders, such as the chairman of Estonia’s Anti-Fascist Committee, Andrey Zarenkov, the leader of Latvia’s Anti-Fascist Committee, Joseph Koren, member of the European Parliament Tatiana Zhdanok, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office Efraim Zuroff, and the Editor-in-Chief of Regnum News Agency, Modest Kolerov.
An overwhelming majority elected Boris Shpigel, chairman of the Commission for the Development of Civil Society Institutions under the Federation Council of Russia, as chairman of the movement’s provisional council. The well-known politician and community leader is one of the initiators of the idea to create the movement. The fact that the human rights movement World Without Nazism is being established on the year of the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory is also symbolic. This, of course, symbolizes the connection between the generations and underlines the relevancy of the fight against neo-fascism and neo-Nazism in the modern world. The establishment of the movement has already been approved by the Council of Europe.
The main goal of the movement is to confront the dangerous tendency toward distortion of history, glorification of supporters of Nazism, and the emergence of neo-Nazism, fascism and xenophobia. Today, anti-fascist organizations are working fairly actively in certain European countries, in the United States and in Russia. This work is often uncoordinated, thus it is not as effective, hence the need to create an international system for structured resistance against neo-Nazism and extreme nationalism.
“The struggle against the dangers of fascism, neo-Nazism and attempts to rewrite and distort history calls for joint efforts, which will lead to effective, practical results in the bid to eliminate the black plague of the 21st century,” said Shpigel.
The establishment of this unique (including in its size) human rights movement was supported by more than 100 non-governmental organizations of 23 countries. Some of the movement’s founders are: the All-Russian Union of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the anti-fascist committees of Estonia, Latvia, and Finland, Estonia’s Night Watch, the American anti-racist organization Blue Card, the Israeli branch of the Wiesenthal Center and the Russian Union of Search Teams.
In addition to public organizations, the World Without Nazism movement was supported by representatives of various faiths. For example, the leader of Russia’s Pentecostals, Sergey Ryakhovsky, while speaking about the rebirth of fascism, noted that “the tragedy of the past is coming back today in the form of a farce, but could once again become a tragedy.”
The participants in the event spoke about the numerous facts manifesting fascism and Nazism, and the intensification of efforts made by radical structures. In Latvia, for example, a demonstration dedicated to the 70-year anniversary of Germany’s 1941 invasion has been scheduled for July 1. It was initiated by an openly fascist party. To be fair, we’ll note that the Riga authorities have not yet given the permission to hold the demonstration. In Slovenia, collaborationists (of which the state estimates to be 70,000) are practically given the same respect as the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. In Hungary, the society practically did not have any reaction to the victory of the extreme-right wing party Jobbik in the parliamentary election. As a result, the crimes of communism were legally equated with the crimes of fascism. Meanwhile, in the Baltic States, this was done a long time ago.
Much was said at the forum about the prosecution of World War II veterans in a number of countries. Such incidents have been recorded in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Meanwhile, a number of these countries -- which are, by the way, members of the European Union -- prohibit Soviet symbolism, including military insignias which were awarded for combat in the Great Patriotic War. At the same time, in Estonia, for example, the symbolism of local Waffen SS subunits is freely produced and sold in the country.
Due to these facts, the founders of the World Without Nazism movement are considering joining the efforts of international anti-fascist structures. Monitoring the emergence of fascism is a separate item of the agenda, based on which an annual report will be prepared for the U.N., the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE. Another goal is to initiate legal prosecution of individuals involved in war crimes or in advocacy of Nazi ideas.
Organizers plan to publish a “White Book of Modern Nazism” based on the results of the monitoring, calling it necessary to eliminate the unpunished criminal activity of neo-Nazi groups.
The movement’s founders believe that time has also come to mobilize international resources -- the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, international tribunals, etc. -- in order to obstruct the activity of groups which are dangerous to society.
World Without Nazism international movement established in Kyiv
The large-scale constituent forum which was organized by the international human rights movement World Without Nazism and held in Kiev on June 20-22. The final declaration signed today by more than 150 delegates, including parliamentarians from Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Moldova, Israel and other countries, representatives of more than 100 non-governmental organizations from Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Finland and the Netherlands, as well as priests from Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Hungary.The initiative to unite anti-fascist organizations from around the world into a single structure is being made for the first time in the history of modern social movements. The founders of the organization hope that this will help to increase the efficiency of the anti-fascism movement’s work, which, unfortunately, continues to be relevant today.
The movement’s council was elected during the forum. It includes well-known community leaders, such as the chairman of Estonia’s Anti-Fascist Committee, Andrey Zarenkov, the leader of Latvia’s Anti-Fascist Committee, Joseph Koren, member of the European Parliament Tatiana Zhdanok, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office Efraim Zuroff, and the Editor-in-Chief of Regnum News Agency, Modest Kolerov.
An overwhelming majority elected Boris Shpigel, chairman of the Commission for the Development of Civil Society Institutions under the Federation Council of Russia, as chairman of the movement’s provisional council. The well-known politician and community leader is one of the initiators of the idea to create the movement. The fact that the human rights movement World Without Nazism is being established on the year of the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory is also symbolic. This, of course, symbolizes the connection between the generations and underlines the relevancy of the fight against neo-fascism and neo-Nazism in the modern world. The establishment of the movement has already been approved by the Council of Europe.
The main goal of the movement is to confront the dangerous tendency toward distortion of history, glorification of supporters of Nazism, and the emergence of neo-Nazism, fascism and xenophobia. Today, anti-fascist organizations are working fairly actively in certain European countries, in the United States and in Russia. This work is often uncoordinated, thus it is not as effective, hence the need to create an international system for structured resistance against neo-Nazism and extreme nationalism.
“The struggle against the dangers of fascism, neo-Nazism and attempts to rewrite and distort history calls for joint efforts, which will lead to effective, practical results in the bid to eliminate the black plague of the 21st century,” said Shpigel.
The establishment of this unique (including in its size) human rights movement was supported by more than 100 non-governmental organizations of 23 countries. Some of the movement’s founders are: the All-Russian Union of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the anti-fascist committees of Estonia, Latvia, and Finland, Estonia’s Night Watch, the American anti-racist organization Blue Card, the Israeli branch of the Wiesenthal Center and the Russian Union of Search Teams.
In addition to public organizations, the World Without Nazism movement was supported by representatives of various faiths. For example, the leader of Russia’s Pentecostals, Sergey Ryakhovsky, while speaking about the rebirth of fascism, noted that “the tragedy of the past is coming back today in the form of a farce, but could once again become a tragedy.”
The participants in the event spoke about the numerous facts manifesting fascism and Nazism, and the intensification of efforts made by radical structures. In Latvia, for example, a demonstration dedicated to the 70-year anniversary of Germany’s 1941 invasion has been scheduled for July 1. It was initiated by an openly fascist party. To be fair, we’ll note that the Riga authorities have not yet given the permission to hold the demonstration. In Slovenia, collaborationists (of which the state estimates to be 70,000) are practically given the same respect as the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. In Hungary, the society practically did not have any reaction to the victory of the extreme-right wing party Jobbik in the parliamentary election. As a result, the crimes of communism were legally equated with the crimes of fascism. Meanwhile, in the Baltic States, this was done a long time ago.
Much was said at the forum about the prosecution of World War II veterans in a number of countries. Such incidents have been recorded in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Meanwhile, a number of these countries -- which are, by the way, members of the European Union -- prohibit Soviet symbolism, including military insignias which were awarded for combat in the Great Patriotic War. At the same time, in Estonia, for example, the symbolism of local Waffen SS subunits is freely produced and sold in the country.
Due to these facts, the founders of the World Without Nazism movement are considering joining the efforts of international anti-fascist structures. Monitoring the emergence of fascism is a separate item of the agenda, based on which an annual report will be prepared for the U.N., the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE. Another goal is to initiate legal prosecution of individuals involved in war crimes or in advocacy of Nazi ideas.
Organizers plan to publish a “White Book of Modern Nazism” based on the results of the monitoring, calling it necessary to eliminate the unpunished criminal activity of neo-Nazi groups.
The movement’s founders believe that time has also come to mobilize international resources -- the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, international tribunals, etc. -- in order to obstruct the activity of groups which are dangerous to society.
