CRIF PRESENT AT OSCE MEETING IN WARSAW

Speech delivered by Haim Musicant, general director of the CRIF

MODELS OF EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN MONITORING AND RESPONDING TO HATE-MOTIVATED CRIMES.

The CRIF or Council representing Jewish Organizations in France was founded as a resistance movement during the Nazi Occupation in 1943. The CRIF is a national federation whose members include over sixty French Jewish associations. It represents France’s Jewish community, expressing their views and interests with public authorities and on the media. There are currently 600,000 Jews in France, making France’s Jewish community the largest in Europe.

The number and seriousness of anti-Semitic acts have regularly decreased in France since the early 1990s. In October 2000, the number of such acts, apparently triggered by the second Intifada, suddenly and dramatically rose. This was a particularly tense and unpredictable time for France’s Jewish community. A free phone help line was created to record grievances and statements victims of anti-Semitism. The phone line is managed by the SPCJ or Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive (Jewish Community Protection Service) established by the CRIF and other organizations in the wake of the attack on the Rue Copernic synagogue in 1980. Our figures are based on telephone calls received and recorded on this help line. The SPCJ has also drawn information from other sources.

At first, between 2000 and 2002, the public authorities and the Jewish community interpreted the spread of anti-Semitism differently. Despite the unambiguous figures, the CRIF found it hard to communicate the reality of the situation and to make the public authorities aware of this new and alarming development.

Gradually, since the CRIF began regularly informing the public authorities of such acts, the dialogue between our federation and the public authorities has taken a positive turn since the summer of 2002, especially since November 2003 when the French president established the CIRA or Cross-Ministries Committee to Combat Racism and Anti-Semitism which is coordinated by the Prime Minister. Since then, the CRIF cooperates on a regular basis with the Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Education on anti-Semitism. We also work closely with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Culture and Communication and with the relevant offices of the President and Prime Minister.

I will not swamp you with figures in this presentation, but I will mention a few key statistics that highlight the present situation.

In 2003, anti-Semitism accounted for over 72% of all racist and xenophobic acts recorded in France. Out of a total of 817 violent acts and threats, 229 of these were racist and xenophobic and 588 were anti-Semitic in nature.

Among the victims of racism and xenophobia 11 suffered injuries. Among the victims of anti-Semitism, many of them young people, 21 suffered injuries. This is the highest figure among other forms of racism. It is also the highest figure since 1993. For the first time exceeds the number of victims of other forms of racism. Figures for the first six months of 2004 paint a gloomy picture: 535 acts of violence and threats according the Ministry of the Interior, 401 according to the CRIF.



Every week, CRIF and the police authorities exchange information on acts recorded by all partners with a view to aligning their statistics. Discrepancies between the figures are still apparent. These discrepancies are due to the different ways in which the victims of acts or threats of anti-Semitism react:

- Some victims do not pursue their complaints with the Jewish community or with the police authorities since they do believe this to be futile,

- Some victims do inform officials in the Jewish community but do not file charges with the police.

- Other victims lodge a complaint with the police but do not inform officials in the Jewish Community.

- Finally, while some victims lodge complaints to the police and officials in the Jewish community, the policy may refuse the term “anti-Semitic” in the charges filed.

France’s Jewish community and the Ministry of the Interior apply roughly the same methods to classify anti-Semitic acts. This classification distinguishes violent acts and threats which encompass a variety of categories of acts. Generally, one third of these acts are recorded as “violent”, two thirds as “threats”.

Regardless of the variances in the figures, the way in which the partners basically analyze general trends remains essentially the same. We must weigh up and acknowledge at its true worth the work performed in recent months and bear in mind that such cooperation was previously almost non existent in the previous years.



We wish to emphasize the limitations of such a statistical survey which cannot claim to provide a complete picture of the situation. The system used to appraise such acts, although it is being regularly improved, remains empirical and still below reality. Above all, the prevailing climate cannot be summed in figures alone, a view shared by senior government officials.

Cooperation between the CRIF and the Ministry of the Interior also involves further protecting Jewish buildings: synagogues, community centers and schools. The resources deployed by the police have increased: more police officers assigned to guard these buildings and tighter security around these buildings. Funds have been earmarked for these purposes.

The second area of cooperation between the public authorities and the CRIF covers relations with the Ministry of Justice. French legislation on anti-Semitism and racism is among the best in the world, but we have lacked visibility on the legal follow-up of complaints. This gap was been filled by an updated summary supplied by the Ministry of Justice has supplied on all cases, ongoing or settled, relating to anti-Semitic acts or threats. We have been able to release this summary. We felt it was essential to do this in terms of prevention but also out of the need to demonstrate to the Jewish community that those guilty of the crime of anti-Semitism cannot act with impunity. Moreover, strict instructions issued by the Ministry of Justice have led to legal proceedings.

We also note that the figures published by the Ministries of Justice and the Interior do not tally either. Once again, we have to confine ourselves to a converging of trends in so far as it almost impossible to align figures on acts of anti-Semitism and on all infringements of the law. It is worth noting the appointment in each appeal court of a magistrate responsible for co-coordinating cases of anti-Semitism and who is in contact with local CRIF officials. A liaison group with officials from the Ministry of Justice and the CRIF meets regularly. A sub-committee is devoted to anti-Semitism on the Internet.

The third area in which we cooperate is education. The Ministry of Education has introduced educational and disciplinary measures to combat racism, anti-Semitism and community-oriented sectarianism* in general. Excellent working relations have been established between the CRIF and the different parties concerned. Advisors in various ministries have undertaken to tackle the issues that we have brought to their attention. Many cases which involve physical attacks on Jewish children in state-run schools as well as the contents of school text-books have been heard and decided. The Task Force for the Prevention of Excessive Community-Oriented Sectarianism is also in regular contact with us both at the Ministry of Education and in our CRIF bureau and at local level within education authorities each of which has a correspondent that liaises with local CRIF officials.



The Education Ministry regularly informs us of the wide range of measures taken to improve the general context: meetings with Chief Education officers and publishers of school text-books, publication of the Republican Guidebook, controlling Internet access in schools and the program of events to commemorate and remember the Holocaust. A recent circular issued by the Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Education recommends a number of measures targeting stakeholders: Chief Education officers, prefects and public prosecutors to prevent and report acts of a racist and anti-Semitic character in schools and colleges and to punish violations of the law.

We work with the CSA, the French Broadcasting Authority on anti-Semitism on radio and television and we also cooperate with stakeholders in civil society since anti-Semitism is a problem that concerns everyone in society. For your information, the steering committee of the CRIF is today receiving Mr. Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Muslim Institute of the Paris Mosque and President of the CFCM (French Council of the Muslim Faith).

In conclusion, I would like to stress that cooperation between government departments and an association originating from civil society cannot be immediately up and running on a topic as sensitive as statistically compiling acts of anti-Semitism and taking effective measure to curb them. I would like to add that this dialogue and cooperation do not mean that CRIF systematically praises the French government for its policy in combating anti-Semitism. The CRIF has been identified as a serious and reliable partner but also a vigilant and demanding one. It retains its right to express independent views and the freedom to voice criticism where necessary. However, let us not confuse these two areas of cooperation: identifying and recording such acts is one thing, taking steps to fight anti-Semitism both nationally and in Europe is another.

We endorse the plans within the OSCE to appoint a special representative or special representatives while hoping that such plans include the deployment of resources to act clearly and assertively. This second aspect – tangible measures – is a long-haul task requiring education and the raising of awareness. The impact of measures taken in these areas must also be assessed over time.

We hope that France’s experience will inspire other member state of the OSCE.

* The French word "communautarisme", translated here "community-oriented sectarianism" means a behavior centered on the affiliation with one's community and the rejection of the idea of belonging to the French Nation. It is a tenet of the French Republic that France is not an addition of communities but one people, whatever the color, race or religion.

Speech delivered by Elizabeth Cohen-Tannoudji, CRIF's officer in charge of the relations with the French Ministries of Education and of Justice

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION SIDE EVENT

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES


CRIF was created clandestinely under the Nazi occupation of France in 1943. It is now a federation which includes more than sixty French Jewish associations which are very varied, as far as their nature and their functions are concerned. As such, CRIF is representative of the organized French Jewish community. It constitutes their “spokesman” for French authorities. It is also much called upon by the media. The French Jewish community is the largest in Europe, with about 600.000 people.

The major lines of action and priorities of CRIF are:

- The fight against any kind of anti-Semitism, and against racism and intolerance more generally

- The assertion of a strong solidarity towards Israel and the fostering of a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Middle-East.

- The preservation of the memory of the Shoah.

Accordingly, the CRIF has set up a Remembrance Committee chaired by Henry Bulawko, Honorary Vice President of the CRIF and President of the Amicale d’Auschwitz (Association of Auschwitz).


May I also mention the outstanding work of one member association of the CRIF: the Association des Fils et Filles des Déportés Juifs de France (Association of Sons and Daughters of Jews Deported from France) chaired by Serge Klarfseld. The CRIF has supported the tremendous work by members of this association in commemorating the 60th anniversary of the deportation of Jews from France. This association organized ceremonies between March 2002 and August 2004 at sites from where Jews were deported: these ceremonies included reading out the names of deportees, explaining what happened to the convoys and the laying of commemorative stones. An outstanding traveling exhibition on «Jewish children deported from France» has been organized in twenty major railway stations and has been seen by hundreds of thousands of passengers.


Lastly, the CRIF is involved in the national official ceremony to commemorate the round-ups of Jews that took place in Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942, known as the Vel d'Hiv round-ups. The Vel d'Hiv was a cycling stadium in Paris where the tens of thousands of arrested Jews were kept for days before their deportation to camps. This date is dedicated to remembering the victims of racist and anti-Semitic crimes committed by the French state.


That is a lot of commemorations, you might say. Well, yes. The Holocaust is ingrained in our minds as a symbol of total horror and as the darkest hour in the collective conscience of the western world.

In France, the Holocaust has never been commemorated as much as it is today. It is a part of the history curricula in schools. It is being taught to pupils in primary and high school, at different levels. This teaching is often combined with visits to memorials, internment camps and extermination camps. We appreciate the efforts of the Ministry of National Education in this field.


What a paradox, or maybe not, in fact, to see that, for some years, this very teaching of the Holocaust is not accepted by some pupils who also refuse to hear or read anything directly or indirectly related to Jews or Judaism. Anti- Semitism is here in the classroom, at break-time, as well in fact as racism or intolerance. CRIF is involved, in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education in a daily work of denouncing and fighting against insults, violence and unacceptable behaviors of all kinds.


We are confronted with the fact that, if all these efforts of memory and pedagogy do work on the whole with the majority of pupils, these efforts also meet in some pupils, a violent refusal to hear.


This necessity calls for some remarks. The first is that we might lose our way if we consider that there is a direct and obvious link between teaching the Holocaust and teaching tolerance. Teaching tolerance is a moral issue. Teaching the Holocaust should be considered from a political and historical perspective, such as the establishment of ideological and power systems dedicated to committing mass crimes. This remark is all the more crucial for our discussion today because Holocaust curricula may concern pupils for whom relationship to the memory and the history of the Holocaust has no relevance in moral terms. Most of the time, they will only transpose the history of the Holocaust to the current issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is here much to say about the consequences of discourses that question the legitimacy of Zionism and of Israel.


The second remark concerns the teaching methods of the Holocaust. This teaching has to be rooted in the results and methods of scientific historical research.


This approach will allow us to learn lessons from history and to teach them for what they are. From this point of view, they may have an unchallenged and universal value. The Holocaust should not be an event that cannot be talked about, on the contrary, this event should be a subject of intelligent discussions and teaching. I do not think it will become a relative and banal issue; it will not alter the uniqueness of the Holocaust.

My third remark is related to the fact that the Holocaust gave the Jews the status of absolute victims in history. Should then the contribution of Jews to the history of our civilization, of European history and the history of France be forgotten? I refer to the history curricula in French schools that after a brief lesson of the history of the Hebrews, directly skip to the Dreyfus affair and then to the Holocaust. This very short and simple approach is not adequate to provide pupils with a true and positive vis

ion of the contribution of Jews and Judaism to a world claiming its Judeo-Christian roots.

We will only be able to rise to this challenge if greater care is taken in the training of teachers and the conception of history schoolbooks. These two fields of action are crucial if we want the teaching of the Holocaust to be effective.

Concerning the teaching of tolerance, we have to work on teaching methods and tools that may help teachers to fight against any kind of stereotypes and to promote social peace in their classrooms in order to make of their pupils citizens who can live together.