The Prague Post Online: News: Jewish leader speaks out on march

September 8th, 2008

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Jewish leader speaks out on march

Head of Prague Jewish Community says neo-Nazis are after PR

By Lisa Nuch Venbrux
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 7th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST

František Bányai will spend the Nov. 10 Sabbath commemorating Kristallnacht in Josefov.

In September, a far-right group called the Young National Democrats applied to march through Prague’s historic Jewish quarter. Since then, controversy has erupted internationally about the date chosen for the event, Nov. 10, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, when scores of German and Austrian Jews were killed and thousands were sent to concentration camps in 1938.

The Young National Democrats’ leader, Erik Sedláček, has said the group’s plans have nothing to do with the anniversary, and claims its roughly 20 members are protesting Czech involvement in the Iraq war.

For those who have spoken out against the march, however, there is no question that the group’s stated premise is false.

“Attempting to march through the Jewish district, on the Jewish Sabbath … on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, moreover, and then claiming they are merely protesting the Iraq war will fool no one,” says Tom Gross, a political commentator partly based in Prague. “Anti–Iraq war street protests have all but dissipated in the rest of the world, and in any case they were generally led by the left. … They are exploiting the Iraq war to cover up their fascism.”

According to Klára Kalibová of the watchdog group Tolerance and Civic Society, Sedláček is currently being prosecuted for two different crimes — inciting racial hatred and supporting movements aimed at suppressing the rights of others. The Young National Democrats also appear to have established ties to German neo-Nazi groups.

“We found out about the neo-Nazi march [in September] when an invitation for a march taking place in Prague’s Jewish quarter on the day of the anniversary of the Reich pogrom on behalf of [the far-right extremist group] National Resistance was posted on a German Web site,” Kalibová says.

After weeks of battles over the march’s legality, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled Nov. 5 that the Young National Democrats failed to meet legal conditions when the group announced the demonstration — a ruling that, at press time, effectively bans it. On its Web site, the group writes “the march will take place in any case,” with a meeting time and place yet to be determined.

As civil society groups and religious and political leaders prepare to join in protest on the streets of the Jewish quarter, Josefov, The Prague Post asks the head of the Prague Jewish Community what to expect that day.

The Prague Post: How did the Prague Jewish Community first find out about the planned march?

František Bányai: The Tolerance and Civic Society group told us about the march. They monitor the media, and they monitor pretty closely all neo-Nazi and extremist activity.

While this was going on I found that the police charged Mr. Sedláček and that he was in custody in connection with neo-Nazi groups.

A part of the charges are texts from various neo-Nazi Internet magazines, declarations which are really quite clearly and without a doubt racist — denial of the Holocaust, for instance. These texts are not only focused on the Jews but also on [the Roma] and Africans, statements saying they should go back to Africa or to Asia. He is the author or translator, and if he claims that he just translates them, they still have de facto the same result. The legal process of that case has not ended yet.

TPP: What do you think this group hopes to accomplish by holding this march?

FB: Today, the neo-Nazi movement has some strong backing — by strong I mean [in terms of] decision-making and marketing. Whoever does public relations and whoever does legal analysis for them does it well. Full pages in the newspapers — in the company of the president, the mayor and so on — are the goal of each of these individuals. Of course, this is the way [to recruit] those people who are on the edge of anti-Semitism, racism, many people close to xenophobia. These kinds of people are present in every society.

TPP: Are these kinds of groups growing in the Czech Republic?

FB: In terms of their profit and their activities, I think they are not growing. They could start to grow, but anti-Semitism or support for Nazism has not increased here, certainly not in the past few years. The numbers are not so remarkable that I could say they are declining, either. We are speaking here of hundreds of members and sympathizers.

TPP: Representatives of the Young National Democrats have said in the press that the City Hall ban is a violation of freedom of assembly. What is your response to this?

FB: We have nothing against the right to assembly and we definitely don’t want to interfere with it, but so far all the evidence has proven that Mr. Sedláček wants to remind us about the 1938 events. You can find statements like, “We will come and show the rabbis the black and white and red flags,” which are in fact the symbols of the [Third Reich]. So, in fact, we don’t talk here about the right of assembly but about the limits on how far we can promote Nazism within the right of assembly.

If you check out their Web sites, you won’t find anything involving or dealing with the Iraq conflict; they deal with issues like racism, white race, promotion of Nazism. I think the law can be applied only to those issues that don’t involve attacking anybody else.

The Czech Republic has very liberal right of assembly. Now here is the question: How far within this law can we go to promote Nazism, pedophilia and other things that go against public morality? I think it’s very difficult to find the border where the freedom ends. When considering that things like slavery, human trafficking and pedophilia are banned here, is it within the right of assembly and the freedom of speech to promote these things? This right-of-assembly question will definitely start a discussion after this march.

TPP: How are you cooperating with police ahead of Nov. 10?

FB: We cooperate with the police on the level of protection, but we do not instruct them. There are standard procedures; when we have some form of religious gathering, some holy day, then police receive information about what we are preparing and are aware of it. From my point of view, asking the police to defend us is not realistic; that would already signal a societal crisis.

The first task of the police in all these types of actions is to separate both sides. Police cannot allow physical contact between the different groups.

TPP: Do you expect that physical conflict between the groups will occur?

FB: Risk always exists, but this is a police problem. I do not assume there would be violence between two groups, or that I would feel threatened here. However, there can always be some provocation, there can always be some incident. The neo-Nazis have their own tactics [in a crowd]; they can spread out then get together again. Today’s mobile telephones allow them to have elaborate operations.

Also, in the end, there are not only our groups, but those that approach these things a bit more energetically — like the anarchistic groups that want to actively fight with others. They are looking for a conflict.

Even Jewish groups do not always share the same views; there are conflicts sometimes even in our community. This issue is very emotional and emotions can do a lot.

TPP: What are your organization and others opposed to the march planning to do Nov. 10?

FB: It is important to recognize that it is the Sabbath, [so] we are a little limited in the manner in which we can react. The Sabbath is a time for prayer and peace, so [our plans] focus on commemorating the [events of Kristallnacht], not having a political gathering. The purpose is to piously recall the events of 1938, and in a peaceful way state here that this place is not one for a neo-Nazi march.

This issue concerns the Jewish community but, basically, this is a problem facing all of civil society — the protection of our freedom of religion.

— Hela Balínová and Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

FAR-RIGHT GROUP DEFENDS ITS RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE

Representatives from the Young National Democrats would not consent to an in-person or telephone interview and did not reply to a request for a photo by press time. The Prague Post e-mailed questions to the group Nov. 1; answers to our questions were posted on their Web site Nov. 3. Some of the questions and answers are reproduced below.

The Prague Post: Are the Young National Democrats neo-Nazi? How is it different from neo-Nazi groups?

Spokesman Jan Peterka: These are just labels without any content or meaning, which are stuck where people find them suitable. Everybody who points to some politically incorrect data is labeled as neo-Nazi, fascist, racist, full of hate or whatever.

TPP: What does your group do and how often does it meet?

JP: The goals of our group are listed on www.protest.250x.com. We meet when we find it necessary to meet.

TPP: Your Web site states that your group's goal is to protect "democratic values" and "human rights." What values are you protecting exactly, and how are you protecting them?

JP: Most of all those ... under savage attack by state institutions, like the absolute freedom of word and speech that, for example, the U.S. Constitution guarantees. Or the right to free assembly, which is a very topical issue now. It should not be possible for a court to issue a decision and then for some City Hall clerk to say he doesn't like the decision and that he's not going to respect it. These are Bolshevik manners, and nobody from the civilized world should behave like that.

TPP: What does your group want to see changed in the Czech Republic in particular?

JP: The essential problem is the nonexistence of statehood, because we are a member of the European Union. Most of our current laws are made under the pressure of different Brussels lobbies and the Czech Republic only approves them formally. The EU reminds us of a modern Soviet Union.

TPP: Why is it important to demonstrate on this particular day, even if it means breaking the law and angering many people?

JP: This march was approved by the court, and any other legal way to ban it has not been applied, and there won't be [a ban] because there are no reasons for it. We received from City Hall some other routes to use and then they banned them all. We proposed another day, which was refused as well. So here you can see we were not interested in this particular date or place, but, thanks to City Hall, there is nothing else left for us.

I am not aware of the fact that there would be such a list of dates public gatherings are prohibited. ... We are definitely going to keep within the law. I don't know whether people will be angry, but a lot of people should ask themselves whether in November 1989 they imagined freedom in this way.

TPP: Why are you marching through Josefov in particular?

JP: This war [in Iraq] is in the interest of the United States' pro-Israel lobby and Israel; the U.S. serves only as a performer there. ... There is not a more symbolic place in Prague than Josefov.

TPP: Why do you think Jewish groups are angry about the march?

JP: The war in Iraq is their problem and so it is clear that they do mind when someone points out this issue.

TPP: How does upsetting Jewish groups and inviting the anger of politicians help your stated cause of getting troops out of Iraq? Isn't this counterproductive?

JP: We wanted to raise awareness about the whole issue of the illegitimacy of the occupation of [Iraq] and raise awareness about our share in this breaching of international law. ... If that means it's necessary to "upset the Jewish community" and its political puppets, well, that's part of the whole thing.

TPP: How old are your members and what do they do for a living?

JP: We are not a political party and we do not live from public resources. ... So I will not comment on this.

— Hela Balínová and Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Lisa Nuch Venbrux can be reached at lvenbrux@praguepost.com

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