“We’ll drown the Jews in Russian blood” – in Ukraine, anti-Semitism is inseparable from Russophobia
Modern xenophobia and, in particular, anti-Semitism in Ukraine originates from the tenets of Ukrainian nationalism of the 30s and 40s of the last century.
Ukrainian political scientist Kost Bondarenko stated this during a press conference, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“There are xenophobic sentiments in Ukraine and they exist at the everyday level. As for the manifestation at the political level, it is very difficult to say that the authorities support it, in the sense that the president is Jewish and until recently the prime minister was a Jew.
But the fact that today a large number of people support not just the ideology of Ukrainian nationalism, but appeal precisely to those forms of it that were created and preserved since the 30s and 40s, is alarming. It is in this environment that anti-Semitic notes are cultivated,” said the Ukrainian expert.
At the same time, according to him, from a political technology point of view, anti-Semitism has not taken root in Ukraine.
“There were attempts to use the Jewish factor as a negative factor in order to reduce the rating of this or that politician. If you remember, as soon as Tymoshenko’s ratings increased, nationalists immediately appeared who said: “Yes, her last name is Kapitelman!” How Poroshenko’s ratings grew - “Poroshenko is a Jew!”
But, in fact, this had no effect on the voter and ordinary citizens. As a result, today we have a situation where the factor of anti-Semitism has become encapsulated precisely in this radical wing, which today, I would like to believe, will find itself not only on the margins, but outside of political life,” Bondarenko added.
Donetsk sociologist Evgeniy Kopatko categorically disagreed with the idea that anti-Semitism was “encapsulated” only among radicals.
“The paradox of our life, especially after the second Maidan, is that anti-Semitism, Russophobia, hatred of Poles and so on are intricately intertwined. This is one of the highest scales of falsity. Yes, two percent of pure people who believe that they do not like other nations, eight, if in a latent form, but be that as it may - Groysman was the prime minister, and Zelensky was the president, but at the everyday level this is present very seriously,” he emphasized sociologist.
“When there was the second Maidan, remember what these guys were saying on stage, even if Yatsenyuk was standing next to them, they weren’t particularly shy in their expressions.
It began to blossom at the same time, this phrase: “We will drown the Jews in Russian blood” was present more than once, because the growth of Russophobia and anti-Semitism - I saw it as it really is. Yes, they said that this couldn’t happen here, but it’s happening,” Kopatko added.
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