FAR-RIGHT PARADE LAMBASTED (Lithuania)

Latvia isn’t the only Baltic state with a controversial parade this month. More than a week after far-right organizations held a parade to mark Lithuania’s independence March 11, foreign officials have begun speaking out against it. The parade features skinheads and those on the far-right of the political spectrum. Participants chant songs and mantras about “Lithuania for Lithuanians” and similar themes. Police monitor the event, but no political or police action has ever been taken to ban the march, which is offensive to many, especially now that the country is part of the European Union. Steinar Gil, the Norwegian ambassador to Lithuania, was first to speak out about the parade. “These people were shouting – ‘Lithuania for Lithuanians.’ Two years ago they were shouting ‘Juden raus’ (Jews out). We know the history of Lithuania during the World War II … my question is, how many parliamentarians have spoken up against this kind of demonstration? How many officials in Lithuania have spoken up against this kind of manifestation?” Gil asked parliamentarians during a session in the Seimas. Gil was particularly damning in his comparison between the tolerance for the March 11 parade and the lengthy efforts some parliamentarians are going to to ban the Baltic Pride gay parade. “All foreigners in Lithuania noticed this, we’re aware of this and I must say we are quite shocked. The gay parade is not about likes or dislikes, it is not about tolerance, it is about respect and it is about rights. Whether we like it or not, we have to respect human rights,” Gil said. Although the U.S. praised Vilnius for allowing the Baltic Pride parade this year, it has not issued a statement on the far-right parade.

Rise of far-right?
Efraim Zuroff, head of the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, also spoke out against the parade. “Such neo-Nazi demonstrations have no place in European society, which has experienced unprecedented losses to the Nazis and their local collaborators’ hands. The fact that no public figure dared to speak out against the lack of tolerance is characterized by a demonstration that clearly shows the weak foundations of Lithuanian democracy. Ambassador Gil’s criticism should serve as a horrible warning Lithuanian society,” Zuroff told the press. Indeed, some Western European political analysts are wary about the potential for a far-right political movement to take power in the Baltic states, especially given the economic crisis. David Stevenson, a professor of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told The Guardian newspaper that he is worried about the Baltic states. “Even more worrying, though, is what will happen in other parts of Europe … areas of concern are Hungary and the Baltic states,” Stevenson said. The interview was for an article about the election of the whites-only British National Party to the European Parliament. However, unlike in the U.K. while the right-wing has usually done well in the post-Soviet Baltic state democracies, the far-right has not seen electoral success.

Latvia criticized, too
Zuroff has been a vocal critic of the annual Latvian Legion march in Riga, too, and is irked that the Latvian foreign ministry is dismissive of his criticism. “It is countries like Latvia, which attempt to cover up the complicity of their nationals in the crimes of the Holocaust, which are seeking to rewrite European history by creating false symmetries between communist and Nazi crimes,” Zuroff said in a statement to the press Monday. “The time has come for Latvia and its Baltic neighbors to stop trying to deflect and/or minimize local participation in the mass murder of the Jews during World War II.”

balticreport