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‘The non-dormant beast’: Antisemitism in communities of Russian nationalists on Vkontakte
Author(s): Oskolkov, Petr; Lissitsa, Sabina; Lewin, Eyal
Date: 2024
Topics: Antisemitism: Discourse, Internet, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Social Media, Nationalism, Racism
Abstract: The article explores the specifics of Russian antisemitic discourse of recent years using the example of three nationalist communities on Vkontakte, the most popular Russian social networking site, by means of critical discourse analysis. The main strategies they employ to frame the Jews online are stereotyping Jews as ungrateful and greedy, labelling the liberal opposition as Jews and using conspiracy narratives of Jews controlling the elites. The war in Ukraine has added nuances: Jews are accused of helping Ukraine, undermining the Russian political system and orchestrating the conflict. A situation of socio-political turmoil transforms the perceived threat presented by Jews in ‘pro-regime’ nationalist discourse from symbolic (identitarian) to realistic (economic and political) by providing underpinnings for the traditional fears. For nationalist communities based on the ethnic and racial understanding of a nation, this transformation is less present because they originally perceived Jews as a realistic threat. Though sociologically, Russian antisemitism has been in stable decline offline in recent decades, it is more visible online because of social media's apparent anonymity and content generation affordances.
The memory politics of Cursed Soldiers, antisemitism and racialisation
Author(s): Jaskulowski, Krzysztof; Majewski, Piotr
Date: 2023
Topics: Antisemitism, Holocaust, Holocaust Commemoration, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Memory, National Identity, Nationalism
Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between racism and the memory politics of the anti-communist underground in Poland. It explores a covert antisemitism behind the conservative nationalist hegemonic project of transforming the anti-communist underground into the ideologically charged symbol of the Cursed Soldiers. It demonstrates that under the conditions of the condemnation of antisemitism, the symbolism of the Cursed Soldiers has become a covert way of expressing anti-Jewish prejudice in hegemonic memory politics. The paper argues that this covert antisemitism must be seen in the broader context of historical racialised antisemitism and racialised structures of Polish national identity. The paper challenges the notion of Poland as a country free from racism, by unpacking the role of racialisation in the dominant understanding of Polishness. It demonstrates how the memory politics of the Cursed Soldiers fit into the racialised logic of the dominant ideology of Polish national identity.