chile 2005

 

Chile witnessed an increase in antisemitic activity in 2005. Harassment and graffiti were the main forms of antisemitic expression.

 

THE JEWISH COMUNITY

The Jewish community of Chile, numbering approximately 15,000 out of a total population of 14.5 million, is concentrated mostly in the capital Santiago de Chile, with a scattering in the provinces of Iquique, Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Concepción, Temuco and Valdivia. Most Jews are unaffiliated religiously. The Representative Committee of Jewish Organizations in Chile (CREJ) encompasses all the Jewish communities and organizations in the country. There are two Jewish schools in Santiago and one in Viña del Mar. Several publications cater to the needs of the community.

 

extremist organizations

The neo-Nazi Patria Nueva Sociedad (Patriotic New Society – PNS) party canceled, at the last moment, a congress planned for September, reportedly because of financial restraints. The organization tightened its ties with ultra-right-wing groups abroad.

            A program screened on Chile’s national TV station in late 2005 exposing the magnitude of the neo-Nazi movement, and particularly its growth in the country’s interior, aroused a major public reaction. The program acted as a boomerang against neo-Nazis, most of whom went underground or lowered their profile considerably (the PNS). Some groups split or began to reorganize. At the same time, steps were taken in the Congress to hasten enactment of an anti-discrimination law (see below).

 

ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITIES

An increase in antisemitic activity was recorded in Chile. Harassment and graffiti were the main forms of antisemitic expression, exceeding the figures for the previous three years.There were 40 antisemitic incidents altogether, including two violent incidents against Jews, 19 of harassment and 12 of graffiti.

 

Violent Incidents and Harassment

On 25 June, a member of the Jewish community reported that his son had been attacked verbally and physically on the previous two Fridays by a group of people, in the area of the La Dehesa. The attackers were not identified.

Following insults hurled by a group of Palestinian youths at a group of youngsters from the local Jewish community at the Sala Murano discotheque on 2 July, the two sides began a fist fight, until they were separated by the guards.

Several incidents of harassment occurred in the vicinity of Jewish community centers. For example: on 24 June, passengers in a car passing the Jewish community center in Santiago De Chile, threw a toy bear out of the window, with a message saying, “Death to the Jews!” At the end of the Yom Kippur service on 13 October, a person driving a Toyota jeep shouted an insult, which sounded like “Dirty Jews.”

In October, a women who ordered chala bread in the Lider de Tobalaba supermarket, found a swastika drawn on the order form when she came to collect it.        A message saying “Heil Grossdeutschland,” signed by the ‘National Socialist Comrads’ appeared in the guestbook of the Bet-El Youth Movement web page. However, it is unclear whether such a group exists.

 

Antisemitism on Campus

Several antisemitic events were reported at universities. On 18 May a poster claiming Professor of Law Miguel Orellana Benado was a Jew, appeared in the Faculty of Law, University of Chile.

On 16 June, two Jewish students at the University of Los Andes reported to community leaders that a professor of anthropology had stated during a lecture that Jews are ignorant and smell bad. A similar claim relating to the same professor was made in 2004.

It was reported in July that three 1st year law students openly proclaimed that they were pro-Nazi and were active in a neo-Nazi organization.

A student at the University of ARCIS (Universidad ARCIS) asked her professor, Francisco Krebs, to postpone by a day a group seminar for presenting papers because of the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. When the professor entered the class on Yom Kippur, he asked Catholic, then Evangelist, and finally, Jehovah Witness students to raise their hands, and continued: “If Hitler had completed his work you wouldn’t have this little problem [the delay in the presentations] today.”

 

Graffiti

A member of the Jewish community reported antisemitic graffiti drawn twice on the door of his apartment in early 2005. A Magen David was erased and replaced with a swastika on the wall of the community center of Reñaca (Estadio Israelita de Reñaca), on 7 October.

On May 15, a 70 x 70 cm swastika was found at 670 Matta Avenue, near the community building of Bikur Cholim. Trash bins were defaced with graffiti such as “Adolf Hitler” and “Long live Chile” accompanied by swastikas on Ejercito Road on 19 May. On 15 August, a graffiti saying “No more Jews” and under it a crossed-out Magen David was reported in the city of Viña del Mar.

 

Propaganda

The newspaper El Tiempo of the city of Santa Cruz (2 May) published an article by Marcelo Contreras, who compared Jews to usurers, commenting that they were an unfortunate fact that had to be tolerated.

On the same day, the radio program “Good Evening Chile, Good Evening Pudahuel” on Radio Station Pudahuel broadcast a quiz, which included the question: Who put the bread in the oven? One of the respondents replied “the Jewish dog,” which was voted the best answer.

            The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, edited by Editorial Solar, was on sale at the Chilean Book Exhibition held on the second floor of Portal La Dehesa.

 

responses to racism and antisemitism

A draft of an anti-discriminatory law was approved on 5 October. It includes discrimination motivated by xenophobia, class differences, racism and religious belief. It has to be approved by the Senate and the Supreme Court before it is passed into law.