From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 1/14/2006 1:15 AM Racism in Russia being ignored, Jewish leaders warn By <BYLINE>Oliver Bullough in Moscow</BYLINE> <DATE>January 14, 2006
RUSSIA must start enforcing the law to stop a racist groundswell turning into mass bloodshed, Jewish leaders warned a day after a knife attack on worshippers in a Moscow synagogue.
Analysts said the attack, by a man who shouted "Heil Hitler" as he wounded eight people, was connected to a racist trend whipped up by politicians exploiting nationalism to win votes.
"To blame this on lone mad people is dangerous, because these mad people could explode the whole country," Borukh Gorin, of the Russian Federation of Jewish Organisations, said on Thursday.
Rights activists point to a growing wave of violence against foreigners and ethnic minorities.
Last month a student from Cameroon was killed in St Petersburg, the latest in a series of murders of Africans and Asians in the northern city. The murders of two Tajik gypsy girls, aged five and nine, shocked the country two years ago.
"Blood is flowing: the blood of Jews, the blood of Africans," Mr Gorin said. "It is all red. And by the laws of social science, other blood will flow too."
Government and parliamentary officials condemned the assault and ordered tighter security for synagogues throughout Russia. But analysts say authorities are ignoring the threat of racist violence and provoking nationalist feeling for their own ends.
The far-right resurgence has gone together with a rise in nationalist parties and tougher talking from politicians, who revelled in a stand-off with Ukraine last week when Russia demanded its Western-aligned neighbour pay more for its gas.
"Officials could see how the tough rhetoric resonated in society during the gas war with Ukraine last week," said Nikolai Petrov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Centre think tank.
"But it is dangerous, because these moods are easy to arouse but can then get out of control and turn back on the people who called them up."
Neo-fascists hijacked a new holiday marking "national unity" late last year. Thousands of young men made Nazi salutes as they marched through the capital.
"The ideology is simple: 'We are the bosses and Russia is for the Russians'," said Valentina Uzunova, a lecturer on racism in St Petersburg whose colleague Nikolai Girenko was murdered, and for which a racist group claimed responsibility. "But any nationalist movement is going to be dangerous in such a multi-ethnic country."
Jewish leaders accused police of having failed to heed warnings of a surge in racism in Russia, and urged them to take steps to prevent Wednesday's attack from inspiring new assaults on Jews and other minorities.
"We do not feel that Jews have it worse in Russia than other people," said Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar. "We are living comfortably here but the country is suffering and we are suffering with it.
"The inadequate nature of the police's actions against these groups is clear … they must not be ignored anymore. While there is indifference, while people watch and think how there'll be different news tomorrow, then this will continue."
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