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4.1.3.2.2 Community-based Monitoring and Intervention
The Jewish community started to monitor anti-Semitism on a regular basis in 2005 when the Head Rabbi of Poland was attacked in the streets. Jan Gebert, a representative of the Public Affairs Department of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Republic of Poland, explained the initiative Action Magen (in Hebrew, »Shield« or »Defense«) during an interview. The Magen group was established by members of this community with the objective of monitoring acts of anti-Semitism in Poland; it consists of a number of correspondents affiliated with the Jewish community from all over Poland who use daily local newspapers as the major source of information. Gebert asserts: »If something happens, we will be automatically informed.« Assisting Jewish victims of hate crimes makes up another component of the organization’s work. Information on Action Magen has been publicized on the website of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities. The website reads:
• »In face of the recent events and escalation of anti-Semitism, the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Republic of Poland has initiated Action Magen. We ask anyone to contact us who has recently received letters, SMS, phone calls or other verbal assaults, threats or physical violence of anti-Semitic nature.
• We also request that you not delete these SMSs or e-mails or throw away these letters, so that all evidence is kept.
• All data will be considered confidential. People who submit information do not have to give their personal details.« (4)
Jan Gebert also mentioned that the group has not yet developed a database for hate crimes. Gebert says this is because monitoring is not the current priority of the Jewish community in general, but: »If we had the financial possibility, we would be able to employ a person who specifically monitors hate crimes in our organization.«
The Association of Roma in Poland is another example of an organization that engages in monitoring activities. The organization monitors the press, focusing on matters important to the Roma community, and its members get involved in interventions whenever needed. When violence against the Roma occurs, the association’s representatives intercede and talk to local government institutions, police and public prosecutors. Roman Kwiatkowski, the association’s president, uses the term »Roma Internet« to describe this community-based, informal self-help system of monitoring and intervention:
»[This is] what we call the Roma Internet. When something bad happens, they [members of
the Roma community] immediately call for help, because they can not manage it on their own; the police do not want to intervene and they [the victims] are afraid to go out. They are [afraid of] being attacked. They ask me to come and intervene.« (5)
Despite Roma leaders’ knowledge of unveiled racism in particular local communities, there are disparities between the leaders of the Roma community’s desire to act and the willingness of municipal authorities to tackle the problem. The quote from Kwiatkowski below highlights this discrepancy:
»In Żywiec for example, Roma people are constantly being assaulted by skinheads. This has been happening for years. Can you imagine an eighty year old woman being kicked black and blue by skinheads? She was a former prisoner of Płaszów and other concentration camps. And the worst thing is that people don’t react to it. This means that there is social consent to this. All around Żywiec there are slogans on the wall like »Death to Gypsies!« and also »Away with Jews!« but mostly they concern Roma. Żywiec is notorious for this. It has recently got a lot of publicity in the press and TV. There is a kind of stalemate there because the city is not interested in counteracting [the racism]. It is well-known that perpetrators have been caught, but then they are also often quickly released. To make matters worse, they don’t hide their prejudices towards our minority. […] After our interventions and interventions from other human rights organizations, the local government ordered the building owners to immediately remove these writings on the wall, otherwise they would be fined. It is idiotic, because it will turn them against the Roma; they think if it weren’t for the Roma, they wouldn’t have such a problem. That is why I believe that financial means should be found in the city budget. These existing municipal funds should [be used to] remove [the graffiti]. We have many such examples, also in Oświęcim. We have informed the prosecutor’s office about crimes committed. […] We have offered a wide range of educational activities, but the reaction is very weak.«
The experience in Żywiec and other cities highlights attitudes that marginalized groups and organizations frequently encounter among officials in Poland. The Roma minority did not write these slogans on the walls, yet public officials treat it as an inconvenience to their daily responsibilities, regardless of how such displays of prejudice must make the affected group feel within the community, and try to push the cost of the graffiti onto the property owners. Discriminatory graffiti targeting one social group affects the social integrity of the community and, in the interest of social harmony and equality, the government or municipality should bear the cost.
4. Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska (n.d.). Akcja »Magen«, Warsaw.
5. Interview with the Association of Roma in Poland (Roman Kwiatkowski).
(OPP)
