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Euroasian Jewish News
Report from Kazan', special for eajc.org: Conference of the Federal Jewish National and Cultural Autonomy as a historical e
25.12.2008
The 3rd Conference Meeting to hear reports and elect new officials of the Federal Jewish National and Cultural Autonomy (FJNCA), held on December 9-10, became, without exaggeration, a historical event.
First of all, the conference gave visual proof of the growth of FJNCA, and that it has started to play an active part in the Russian Jewish community. The years after 2000 gave a rapid rise in the growth rates of regional autonomies. There were 7 such autonomies in 2003; however, by the end of 2008 there were already 41 of them. Additionally, in 4 regions, where autonomies were not created for some reason, Jewish national and cultural autonomies simply acted locally.
Michael Chlenov, President of FJNCA since 2003, gave a speech at the plenary meeting, in which he said that the idea of an NCA is already 150 years old. "Back in his time, a most famous scholar of Russian Jewry, Shimon Dubnov, was already a supporter of the NCA idea – though back then it was called "national-personal autonomy." And during the period between the World Wars similar projects were enacted in Eastern Europe," underscored Chlenov. Then he turned to the present situation, and noted that the NCA's realm of activity can be characterized by three words: education, culture, language. Touching upon the subject of possible NCA relationships with the state, Chlenov noted that NCA's should not accept government funding, because in this case they would have to give up their autonomy and become a mere appendage to the state. The President also took the opportunity to note the rapid growth of autonomies, reminding the gathering that if in 2003 the FJNCA was often compared to a girl's decorative bracelet ("fenechka," pretty, but useless), then by the end of 2008 these comparisons have all but disappeared. "The FJNCA has become as important as other Jewish organizations of Russia." "The Russian government bodies also see the FJNCA, out of all of the Jewish organizations, as the representative of the Jewish people, which has been exemplified at least by Putin's famous speech in the autumn of 2007 during his meeting with EAJC representatives," Chlenov concluded.
The report of FJNCA Executive Director Eugenia Mikhaleva included a detailed account of the FJNCA activity since the last conference in 2004. The number of regional autonomies grew from 7 to 41, which include 45 local autonomies. Four other regions where autonomies were not created have their own local JNCA's. The highest rate of autonomy creation was in 2005 and 2006, while in 2007 this rate began to slow. This was due both to the fact that in most regions with a large Jewish population such autonomies were already created, and that the state registration and control organs have taken a stricter stance towards the autonomies, which caused three regional JNCA's (in Arkhangelsk, Omsk and Blagoveschensk) to be taken off registration.
FJNCA has actively supported the activities of the regional and local autonomies by announcing calls for projects. As a result of four such competitions, 67 projects were funded for a total sum of 1 mln 145 thousand roubles. In 2007 there were also two seminars for the regional autonomies, concerning questions of interactions with government bodies, the study of the legislative basis of the NCA's and the use of possibilities provided for the NCA's by law, as well as questions of interethnic dialogue and interaction. The FJNCA also supported several special projects, including the activity of the Interregional Center for Hebrew Studies, which has united the best Hebrew teachers, and the "Moshe" project, which is aimed at involving in the Jewish community people of middle age, considered by many Jewish organizations to be a "lost generation." It was noted that the FJNCA operates in several realms: the development of effective interethnic dialogue, interaction with government bodies on the subject of national policy, the informational and organizational development of the JNCA's and the Jewish non-commercial sector, the enlistment of government and private sources of funding for other NCA's , consulting them on questions of interaction with the State authorities, social organizations, development, and fundraising. As Mikhaleva noted, it is quite possible to speak of the State authorities being greatly interested in the activities of the NCA's, as their understanding of the importance of NCA's for both the Jewish community and society as a whole grows, and they begin to see the perspectives of this development and the need to preserve the FJNCA as a non-associated representative of the secular majority of the Jewish community of Russia.
The growing importance of FJNCA was demonstrated by the salutations, both delegated to be read and those given "live". Head of the FJNCA Trustee Council, President of the EAJC, Alexander Mashkevich, underscored in his speech that the FJNCA is the only Jewish organization with the legal right to represent the Jewish people in all government bodies. Noting that 90 % of this resource has not been utilized thus far, he called for "reaching a new level in our work." "National and cultural autonomies must be powerful, mobile and effective," concluded Mashkevich.
Advisor to the Department of Interaction with Social and Religious organizations of the Government Department of Mass Communications, Culture and Education of the Russian Federation Andrei Pozdnyakov said in his speech that the FJNCA is an important ally to the Russian legislative bodies in "the battle with those who would, using the slogans of "Great Russia" or "Russia for Russians" and so on, make sure that Russia is no longer great, or, possibly, even nonexistent."
The Head of the Jewish Agency in Russia Haim ben Yakov and the head of ORT-Russia, Avi Ganon also gave their salutations to the delegates of the conference.
The Deputy Minister of Regional Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Travnikov noted in his salutations that the FJNCA is "an active participant in Russian community life, and makes valuable contributions towards the implementation of the State and national policy of the Russian Federation, as well as toward the development of interethnic and interreligious dialogue and cooperation both in this country and the whole world."
The Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Privolzhsky Federal Okrug Grigoriy Rapota in his message of greetings underscored that during the time of its existence the FJNCA has "made a reputation for itself as a responsible social organization with an active civil position." As written in the document, "The federal and regional Jewish national and cultural autonomies are making big contributions to the development of interethnic and intercultural cooperation, to the development of the institutions of a civil society, to the strengthening of social stability." The President of the RF Supreme Soviet Council of Nationalities Ramzan Abdulatipov also sent a message of greetings, in which he noted that while the FJNCA has been active "its influence and prestige have grown to such an extent that many other public organizations are learning from your experience." The Head Rabbi or Russia Adolf Schaevich noted in his greetings that it is specifically because of the activities of the FJNCA that "many Jews now have the possibility to learn about the history and culture of their ancestors."
The election of Michael Skoblionok, head of the Tatarstan JNCA, caused a sensation, as for the first time someone who does not live in Moscow had been elected as head of an all-Russian Jewish organization. In his opening speech he called for cooperation among leaders of Jewish organizations as exemplified by the Tatarstan experience, where disputable issues are decided upon in a general meeting of Jewish organization leaders. A number of amends were also to the Charter, which defined some of its regulations more concretely. In particular, at Chlenov's suggestion, the notion of candidates for council membership was introduced. These candidates could replace any council member which left the council for any reason. The list of candidates was voted on separately.
One of the most important topics discussed during the conference was the world financial crisis. Chlenov gave data in his report according to which the expenses of the total Jewish communities of the Euro-Asian region will decrease from 400 to 100-150 million dollars. Mashkevich underscored that the crisis can lead to the freezing of a number of programs started in the beginning of 2008.
Unfortunately, the crisis also influenced the conference sessions. Its crux was the unconstructive behavior of Valeriy Engel, who was a representative of a group of autonomies that were formed under the patronage of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia. Despite the fact that there was an agreement before the conference that there would be a parity in the division of the executive positions of the FJNCA, and that Engel would be elected one of its vice-presidents, he proposed during the first minutes of the conference that it should be denounced as illegitimate, supporting this with a claim that the mandates were allegedly incorrectly divided between the autonomy representatives. According to his claim, the autonomies supported by the FJCR received only one vote, while the "older" autonomies received three votes each. But as this argument was explicitly unfeasible – for instance, the JNCA of the Komi republic, which was on Engel's side, received the same three votes - and the motion itself looked like a not very successful impromptu, it was voted down by 72 votes against 5, with one abstained. During that same session Engel made a speech in which he attempted to expose the actions of the previous FJNCA leadership as shallow and insufficient. "A million roubles spent a year - this is a ridiculous number, it is not serious," "what kind of organization receives salutations only from the deputy minister of regional policy?" Nonetheless, the speech rebounded on the speaker, as the deputies perceived it as an attempt to "buy" them, or to use them as pawns in a big game. In response to the accusation of insignificant financing, Eugenia Lvova, a representative of Saint-Petersburg, underscored that she is a spokesperson for a community with a budget of 20 million dollars, and that it is important not to talk about how much the communities received from FJNCA, but what sum of money the communities gathered themselves.
The effect of Engel's speeches showed in full during the vote on membership in the council, which essentially became a protest against him. As a result, two of his candidates did not make it into the council, and their place was taken by so-called "independent directors" from among regional activists. An attempt to dispute the results of the vote did not give him any more credibility, as his attempts to do so included nearly grabbing the hands of the voters. In his later speech he returned to the topic of the wrongful distribution of delegate quotas and promised to try to prove his opinion in court.
Michael Skoblionok, speaking as president, called a halt to the debates in a rather abrupt manner, and noted that the vote had already taken place and that it is impossible to revoke its results. Skoblionok also underscored that he does not see himself as a man prone to inter-party intrigue. "I do not want a return to the division between "us" and "them"," Skoblionok said.
Most of the delegates were happy with being able to make independent decisions, voting for candidates of their own choosing rather than someone who has been handed down to them from above.
Alexander Chaykin, in a special report for eajc.org
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