The Far Right in Mongolia
August 3, 2010 4:19 AM   Subscribe

The Guardian and Time write about the rise of neo-Nazi groups in Mongolia. The view (or at least a view) from Ulan Bator. Pertinent images from the Guardian and from Time's photographer here and here respectively.
posted by Dim Siawns (24 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I guess every country has assholes that make no sense. It's like the Tea Party of Mongolia. One of my very closest friends is in Mongolia with the U.S. Peace Corps, though not in Ulan Bator (a city I am salivating to visit) but in the rural areas, teaching English. I passed these links along to him in case he hadn't heard of the hidden Nazi scourge of Mongolia. He may have though, as according to the Guardian article his employer "has warned travellers of increased assaults on inter-racial couples in recent years – including organised violence by ultra-nationalist groups." I am very curious to see if he has any insight at all, from an American in Mongolia perspective. It will be quite awhile before he sees these links as the village he is in has only basic infrastructure but I must thank you for the links because this has opened my eyes to an issue I never knew (or would have thought) existed.
posted by IvoShandor at 4:32 AM on August 3, 2010


Hey great shot! What a composition!
Hey, you! Little girl!
Yo, Chingiz, get that little girl to skip past here the other way?
Yeah, perfect! Again!
posted by Meatbomb at 4:42 AM on August 3, 2010 [1 favorite]


"Adolf Hitler was someone we respect. He taught us how to preserve national identity."

Yeah, how'd that work out?
posted by PlusDistance at 4:50 AM on August 3, 2010 [3 favorites]


The articles both read like attempts to sex up what could have been more substantial articles on sinophobia and nationalism in Mongolia. It's the typical post-Soviet ideological weirdness and nationalism (albeit in a country that was only a satellite of the USSR) combined with the continued novelty aspect for Westerners of Asians who don't really take the Nazis or Hitler very seriously (similar to the way some people think this would look awesome on a T-shirt or bandanna). I doubt these weirdos have anywhere near the thousands of members they claim. More general stuff on xenophobia, anti-Chinese sentiment and Mongolian nationalism would make this something beyond news of the weird, but this is basically like writing about those issues in Russia by solely discussing (and, more importantly, photographing) the National Bolsheviks.
posted by Gnatcho at 4:52 AM on August 3, 2010 [1 favorite]


Previously (sorta)
posted by Deathalicious at 5:00 AM on August 3, 2010


There are a few ways of being smart and an infinite number of ways to be stupid.

This is yet another example of the long tail of stupid.
posted by srboisvert at 5:00 AM on August 3, 2010


Reminds me of The Onion's headline about World War II: “Japan Forms Alliance With White Supremacists in Well-Thought-Out Scheme”.
posted by chorltonmeateater at 5:42 AM on August 3, 2010 [9 favorites]


Gnatcho, you're kinda right in that I think I didna present this as deeply as I ought to have. The links above do discuss the anti-Chinese sentiment that seems to be the main fuel source for far-right nationalist groups in Mongolia, complicated by the fact that Inner Mongolia, the province of China, more or less shares a culture with Mongolia (i.e. Outer Mongolia) itself. There is somewhat more substance here and here, where there is brief discussion of the economic climate in which anti-Chinese feeling has arisen; there are cultural aspects as well, in that the attempts of the Chinese government to hegemonise all the various cultures of China into a single 'Chinese' identity seems to have backfired somewhat in Mongolia.

As a penance for my poor framing, here's a translation from German of this article describing the sentencing of Enkhbat for the murder of his daughter's boyfriend:

Höchststrafe für B. Enkhbat
Am 25. Juni fand vor dem Stadtbezirksgericht Bayanzurkh der mehrmals verschobene Prozess gegen B. Enkhbat, Vorsitzender der nationalistischen Gruppe „Khukh Mongol" (Blaue Mongolei), statt. Vor zehn Monaten hatte „Khon-Khereed" B. Enkhbat den Freund seiner Tochter erschossen.

Ersten Aussagen von Vater und Tochter zufolge habe das Mädchen den Schuss aus Versehen ausgelöst, später erklärte Enkhbat, er habe geschossen, jedoch nicht in der Absicht, den 24-Jährigen zu töten. (Alle drei waren gemeinsam im PKW weggefahren, nachdem der Angeklagte sich geweigert hatte, den Freund seiner Tochter zu Hause zu empfangen).

Das Gericht kam zu dem Schluss, Enkhbat habe in voller Absicht gehandelt, die kriminaltechnischen Untersuchungen hätten die Unhaltbarkeit der zunächst gemachten Aussagen ergeben, so die Richter, die die Todesstrafe verhängten. Der Angeklagte sei mit dem Freund seiner Tochter nicht einverstanden gewesen: „Ich dulde nicht, dass meine Tochter mit einem Chinesen geht." (Ganbat studierte Medizin in Khukh Khot, der Hauptstadt der Inneren Mongolei).

Im Gerichtsaal bat der Verurteilte den Vater des Opfers, der dem Prozess beiwohnte, um Verzeihung.

Nach der Urteilsverkündung wandte sich Enkhbat an seine weinende Frau mit den Worten: „Sorge Dich nicht, ich werde rehabilitiert werden." Zuvor hatte er verkündet, er sei bereit, jedes Urteil zu akzeptieren, Widerspruch werde er nicht einlegen.
Seine Frau widersprach dem. „Mit der Höchststrafe haben wir nicht gerechnet. Mein Mann hat den jungen Mann nicht absichtlich getötet. Wir werden Berufung gegen das Urteil einlegen."


Highest punishment for B. Enkhbat
On the 25th of June (2008), the frequently-delayed case against B. Enkhbat, founder of the nationalist group "Khukh Mongol" (Blue Mongol) took place in the municipal court of Bayanzurkh. Ten months ago "Khon-Khereed" B. Enkhbat shot and killed his daughter's boyfriend.

The initial testimony of the father and daughter was that the girl had accidentally fired the shot; Enkhbat later explained that he had fired the shot, but not with the intention of killing the 24-year-old. (All three were travelling together in a car, after the defendant had refused to receive his daughter's boyfriend at home).

The court came to the decision that Enkhbat acted intentionally, and the criminal investigation concluded they could not take the current statements as true. The judge therefore imposed the death penalty. The accused did not get on well with his daughter's boyfriend: "I cannot suffer my daughter to go out with a Chinese." (Ganbat studied medicine in Khukh Khot, the capital of Inner Mongolia.)

In the courthall, the father of the victim, who attended the proceedings, pleaded for a pardon.

After the announcement of the sentence, Enkhbat turned to his weeping wife with the words, "Don't worry, I'll be rehabilitated." Earlier he had announced that he was prepared to accept any sentence, and that he would not lodge any appeal. His wife replied, "We had not reckoned on the death sentence. My husband did not intentionally kill the young man. We will lodge an appeal against the decision."
posted by Dim Siawns at 5:44 AM on August 3, 2010


It's kind of amazing how a place can go from the capital of the largest land empire the world has ever seen to a russian/chinese backwater.
posted by empath at 5:58 AM on August 3, 2010


It won't stay that way - we're about due for another conquest of civilization. Hyksos, Sea Peoples, Huns, Turks, Maygars, Mongols - the steppes of Central Asia makes bad-ass like Shanghai makes counterfeit Panasonic TVs.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:10 AM on August 3, 2010 [1 favorite]


Hip hop tracks such as Don't Go Too Far, You Chinks by 4 Züg – chorus: "shoot them all, all, all" – have been widely played in bars and clubs.

The word "irony" doesn't go even a fraction far enough for the idea of Mongolian neo-Nazis listening to racist/xenophobic hip hop. Of all the weird cross-cultural pastiches, this has got to be almost the weirdest.

Nope, I take that back. A quick googling tells me that there is white power hip hop music out there, which is even more head-boggling.
posted by Forktine at 6:17 AM on August 3, 2010


I remember a really good magazine article about a cultural exchange between Mongolian and Texas cowboys where they played country music and traditional Mongolian songs together, but I can't find it now.

Also -- does anyone else suspect that this might be driven by Russian intelligence trying to drive a wedge between the Chinese and Mongolians?
posted by empath at 6:25 AM on August 3, 2010


Head-boggling, but no more head-boggling than white power rock music. Reminds me of another Onion article: "Whites Invent "Rock N' Roll"".

Young people are dancing to its exciting, Caucasian beat!
posted by Beardman at 6:27 AM on August 3, 2010


A quick googling tells me that there is white power hip hop music out there,

I almost want to follow up on that. Almost. I'm not sure I can process that amount of doublethink all at once.
posted by MikeMc at 6:29 AM on August 3, 2010


"They stole all the beats from white artists anyway" would be my guess at the doublethink.
posted by empath at 6:39 AM on August 3, 2010


You heard it here first.
posted by phrontist at 6:45 AM on August 3, 2010 [1 favorite]


I hate Mongolian nazis.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:47 AM on August 3, 2010 [4 favorites]


At least they're not Illinois neo-Nazis.
posted by gern at 7:19 AM on August 3, 2010


So, um, I just got to ask, how do these guys figure with Nazi Race Theory that placed "Mongoloid" peoples as lesser even than Jews?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:31 AM on August 3, 2010


This was covered a bit during NPR's week of stories on Mongolia last year.
posted by kmz at 8:00 AM on August 3, 2010


"It becomes clear during the interview that these right-wing groups have neither remorse, nor more importantly, any real idea why they use (even quasi-worship) Third Reich iconography and ideals. "

Once again, I blame the schools ;-)
posted by djrock3k at 8:12 AM on August 3, 2010


A quick googling tells me that there is white power hip hop music out there

Reading that made me laugh and feel sad and angry at the same time. An emotional cocktail I don't recall experiencing before.
posted by ob at 8:14 AM on August 3, 2010 [1 favorite]


So, um, I just got to ask, how do these guys figure with Nazi Race Theory that placed "Mongoloid" peoples as lesser even than Jews?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:31 AM on August 3 [+] [!]


I'm assuming they're more familiar with the Ehrenarier described here

the South African apartheid power also gave the Japanese "honorary White" status, due, I believe, to a trade agreement.
posted by jtron at 1:21 PM on August 3, 2010


And growing up, believe me, I knew plenty of kids who would say the most amazingly racist things in complete sincerity, yet only listen to rap
posted by jtron at 1:24 PM on August 3, 2010


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