Criminalization of communism in European Union’s supranational remembrance policy
The article examines how European Union’s supranational remembrance policy deals with the issue on criminalization communism after Eastern Enlargement of EU in 2004. The domestic policy conditions that relate with “coming to terms with totalitarian communism legacy” in respective region significantly influence to European remembrance policy. With efforts of a number MEP’s from postcommunists states in 2008-2009 the supranational institutions (mainly the European Parliament) implement anti-totalitarian narrative of European history. This provides a basis for equating the Nazism and Communism crimes. The core of the narrative based on the fact that both regimes brutally violated the human rights. With references on official EU’s documents, politician’s speeches and activities of non-governmental “Platform of European memory and conscience” author conclude that the main strategy for criminalize the communism is comparing this regime with national-socialists one. This equalize gives the legitimacy to the requirements for legal responsibility on the crimes committed by communists rule in the Central and Eastern Europeas well as banned any public denying or condoning of this crimes qualify them as “genocide”. Since in the EU there is no basic agreement on the assessment of communism as unambiguous negative and criminal political regime, and the main symbol as the crime against humanity is still the Holocaust, one of the task which take on account by “memory entrepreneurs” is the formation of political and public consensus in the interpretation of theirs combusts past based on “totalitarianism” conception. Author focused on activities and projects of organization “Platform of European memory and conscience” that was established with support from European institutions and Governments of some Central European states. Despite that main goal of the “Platform” as it declared is a keeping memory on crimes committed by different totalitarian regimes in Europe, initiatives of this organization focuses precisely on the criminalization of communism at the pan-European level. Debates on consequences of totalitarian communism in European history reflect various visions of European project and European identity, but concentration on defense of democracy values and human rights protection has its own potential for shaping supranational panEuropean memory.
Keywords
remembrance policy,
European Union,
Eastern Europe,
communism,
totalitarianism,
NGOsAuthors
| Getman Margarita A. | Tomsk State University | margarita.getman2015@yandex.ru |
Всего: 1
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