The New
Serbian Right and Anti-semitism
Round Table, November 2005
11/17/2005
The round table titled "The New Serbian Rights and
Anti-Semitism" was organized on November 2, 2005, in the Belgrade Media
Center. This first in the series of activities under the project
"Overcoming Anti-Semitism and Nationalistic Prejudice" - implemented
with the assistance of the Council of Europe - provided the guidelines
for further discussion of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other
forms of intolerance and hate speech in today's Serbia.
Keynote speakers - Sonja Biserko, Aleksandar Lebl,
Mirko Djordjevic, Teofil Pancic and Filip David - broached contemporary
anti-Semitism in Serbia and worldwide, the new Serbian Right, pop
culture and the issue of difference, and the incumbent Serbian
authorities' attitude towards anti-Semitism and other forms of
intolerance.
The round table concluded that the causes of
anti-Semitism should be tracked down in the growing radicalization of
Serbia's political and social scenes, rather than have anti-Semitism
interpreted as an isolated tendency. In this context, manifestations of
anti-Semitism derive from predominant policy and ideological
exclusiveness that negate and discriminate any difference - national,
ethnic, religious, etc.
Anti-Semitism in Serbia - the intensity of which is
diametrically opposed to the relatively small Jewish community - is the
more so threatening since it is also being promoted by over 140 popular
titles that incite hatred for "forever and always" different Jews.
When it came to promoters and advocates of such trend,
the keynote speakers identified the supporters - acting in various
groups that stand for the new Serbian right - of a part of the Serbian
Orthodox Church's tradition that relies on Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic
and his prominent anti-Semitism, specific groups present in pop culture,
as well as the incumbent authorities that lack political will to
adequately come to grips with the growing intolerance permeating the
society.
The public debate to follow the round table will be
held in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sombor and Cacak by June 2006.
HCHRS |
