Mitch Moxley, Time, July 27, 2009
In the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, “Shoot the Chinese” is spray-painted on a brick wall near a movie theater. A pair of swastikas and the words “Killer Boys . . . ! Danger!” can be read on a fence in an outlying neighborhood of yurt dwellings. Graffiti like this, which can be found all over the city, is the work of Mongolia’s neo-Nazis, an admittedly implausible but often intimidating, and occasionally violent, movement.
Ulan Bator is home to three ultra-nationalist groups claiming a combined membership of several thousand—a not insignificant number in a country of just 3 million people. They have adopted Nazi paraphernalia and dogma, and are vehemently anti-Chinese. One group, Blue Mongolia, has admitted to shaving the heads of local women found sleeping with Chinese men. Its leader was convicted last year of murdering his daughter’s Mongolian boyfriend, who had merely studied in China. {snip}
The neo-Nazis may be on society’s fringe, but they represent the extreme of a very real current of nationalism. {snip}
Fifty-year-old Zagas Erdenebileg is the leader of Dayar Mongol (All Mongolia), the most prominent of the neo-Nazi groups. “If our blood mixes with foreigners’, we’ll be destroyed immediately,” says Erdenebileg, who has run unsuccessfully for parliament four times. {snip}
If Erdenebileg is the elder statesman of Mongolia’s neo-Nazis, Shari Mungun-Erdene, the 23-year-old leader of the roughly 200-strong Mongolian National Union (MNU), is the new kid on the block and sports a swastika tattoo on his chest. The MNU takes vigilante action against law-breaking outsiders, Mungun-Erdene says, mainly Chinese. When I ask what kind of action, he replies, “Whatever it takes so that they don’t live here. {snip}
Dagva Enkhtsetseg, program manager for the Open Society Forum, an Ulan Bator—based organization that promotes public participation in civic life, points out that the neo-Nazis don’t enjoy broad support. A graduate in Mongolian nationalism, she argues that hard-line nationalism’s allure is subsiding as more young Mongolians are exposed to globalization or study abroad. {snip}
{snip}
Original article
(Posted on July 22, 2009)
Comments
Mongols are serious about preserving their typical phenotypes and genes. I have heard people from Outer Mongolia or the nation of Mongolia calling the Mongols from Inner Mongolia or Mongolia inside china mix breeds as they had mixed with the Chinese and lost some typical Mongol traits. Even the racially similar Chinese!
It is a pity Whites outside Eastern Europe do not have such sensible and healthy values.
“If our blood mixes with foreigners’, we’ll be destroyed immediately,”. Boy, did he ever get that right! Anyway let’s see… a nation of 3 million sitting next door to a heavily armed, and belligerent nation of 1.5 Billion. Does the drop of wine have anything to fear from the ocean when it’s on the beach near the waves? It’s too bad more people don’t have the sense these “nazis” do, when it comes to self-preservation. By the way, it doesn’t sound like they’re true Nazis, swastikas and all. Seems like they just picked up a symbolism that relates to ethnic survival.
The real “Nazis” are the Chinese regime and its concentration camps and rigorous control of thought and speech.
“Fifty-year-old Zagas Erdenebileg is the leader of Dayar Mongol (All Mongolia), the most prominent of the neo-Nazi groups. ‘If our blood mixes with foreigners’, we’ll be destroyed immediately,’ says Erdenebileg, who has run unsuccessfully for parliament four times. He loathes the Chinese — whom he accuses of involvement in prostitution and drug-trafficking — and reveres Genghis Khan, who he says influenced Adolf Hitler. I ask him if he considers his adoption of the beliefs of a regime that singled out and executed people with Mongol features from among Soviet prisoners of war to be in any way ironic. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he shrugs. ‘We share the same policies.’”
This fellow is a REAL race realist!
Whether he’s a political realist also, I don’t know enough about Mongolia to know.
Doesn’t China also claim Mongolia, like Tibet, as among those “territories” that are, or should be, historically part of Greater China? I believe so.
Add to that, China’s bitter hatred against the Mongols to this day (for the Mongol conquest), and the Mongolians have good reason to worry!
Humans must be genetically predisposed to ethno-nationalism. The recent ethnic violence in China should serve as a warning to us.
I wish they had made a shot of the swastika they’re so excited about. Buddhist sects use a reverse swastika called a sonnenreich(sun wheel.) It can frequently be seen on necklaces, pendants, and rings. At least that was my impression while in S. Korea.
Hitler did take the sonnenreich, reverse it, and used it for the Nazi party.
Considering how an inverted cross is symbolic of the Anti-Christ.
That made me laugh in the morning.
What can this extremely poor, backward, depopulated tiny low IQ country against the Chinese? I highly doubt.
I’d hold good relations with my gigantic neighbor, instead of angering her.
“What can this extremely poor, backward, depopulated tiny low IQ country against the Chinese? I highly doubt.”
Actually, according to Lynn’s “IQ and Global Inequality,” the average estimated IQ of Mongolia is 101, which is the same as Iceland and Switzerland, and higher than every other European country aside from Italy. So it’s probably not accurate to refer to them as “low IQ.”
Interesting article. My guess, and it is a pure guess, would be they are taking their lead from some of the equally ridiculous, though very dangerous, Russian neo-Nazis.
Doesn’t China also claim Mongolia, like Tibet, as among those “territories” that are, or should be, historically part of Greater China? I believe so.
The Peoples Republic of China has no claim to Mongolia. In fact Mongolians were socialist brothers, along with the Russians - at least until around 1959/60.
It is in fact the so called Republic of China (Taiwan) who still claims Mongolia as part of China - and indeed Mongolia is shown as a part of China on ROC maps.
Add to that, China’s bitter hatred against the Mongols to this day (for the Mongol conquest), and the Mongolians have good reason to worry!
I don’t think for a moment Chinese hate Mongols. The Mongol conquests were a very long time ago. Chinese have no more hate for Mongols, than the average Englishman would have of Vikings.
In fact the Chinese, including Mao, claim Genghis Khan as more or less one of ours. But then so do a whole lot of other countries.
Personally I am proud of Genghis, an Asian - the greatest conqueror the world has ever seen. Somehow though, I don’t think my admiration of Genghis would count for much if I happened to run into some of these crazy Nazis.
But I suppose Chinese are a threat to Mongolia - not out of aggressive or malign intent - but simply because there are so much more of us than them. So our influence is probably just about unavoidable.
What can this extremely poor, backward, depopulated tiny low IQ country against the Chinese?
These people are not too stupid- as many an unfortunate Chinese, Persian, Arab, Russian, Pole, and Hungarian found out many centuries ago.
Michael Hart considers the Altaics (Northern Mongoloids) as one of history’s most successful human groups:
“Three thousand years ago, less than 1 percent of the world’s population spoke Altaic languages; and even today, less than 1.5 percent do…..In 1000 BC, the Altaic-speaking people were illiterate herdsmen inhabiting a sparsely-populated region north of China (see Map 39-1). By 1700 AD, their descendants ruled or occupied territories stretching from Algeria in the west to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the Far East; and the three large Altaic-ruled empires contained a majority of the world’s population!” Understanding Human History, by Michael Hart
interesting that this reflects more of a history of ethnic strife between these two groups.Using the sign of Hitler who would have killed them for not being aryan makes this stupid on their part.It only shows the danger of not understanding history.
@alex:
Sorry but do you really think this estimation is correct? I doubt that Mongols are that intelligent…
Human Development Index:
1 Iceland
Buddhist sects use a reverse swastika called a sonnenreich(sun wheel.)
Yes, reverse swastikas, often mistaken for swastikas, are common in China as well. They are usually posted on the doors or windows of restaurants to indicate to customers that the restaurant serves vegetarian food, which Buddhists customers prefer.
I find this article interesting, since my travels to China actually contributed to my interest in racial issues. When I realized that I could not condemn Mongolians if they bemoaned the (hypothetically) large number of Russians moving to their country, displacing their people and changing the ethnic makeup of the country, I could not condemn whites who had similar concerns about their own race. I did not know, until now, that (some) Mongolians felt that way about Chinese too.
By the way, when I was in China, I watched an excellent TV program that showcased talent from all over China. One of the contestants was a Mongolian band, who put on one of the most culturally enriching shows I have ever seen. It was not just music, it was an experience. A year later, I found this very same show uploaded to youtube. I think Amren readers will enjoy it:http://tinyurl.com/locgvt (starts at 0:28)
“13 — William Cutting wrote at 1:31 PM on July 23:
Sorry but do you really think this estimation is correct? I doubt that Mongols are that intelligent…
Human Development Index:
1 Iceland
Drs. Lynn and Vanhanen did address this issue, arguing that disparities between actual GDPs and those predicted by IQ could be the results of differences in natural resources and/or economic systems. Of course a simpler answer might be that economic success is not entirely predicated by national IQ levels. The example of North and South Korea, where the people are almost genetically identical, but the disparity in economic success is quite stark, is a good illustration of this fact.
Regardless, their studies of national IQ averages are pretty accurate, even if the economic numbers don’t line up as one might expect.
(To Anonymous at 1:52 PM on July 23):
“…a Mongolian band…it was an experience.”
Whew, your link fulfills my diversity quotient for about 5 years.
I was finally able to enjoy that flute, when I imagined it as the musical expression of a ceaseless wind blowing as I stood atop an arid peak overlooking an arid landscape and with a hunting eagle fastened onto on my forearm.
John Liu says that the Chinese have no animosity towards Mongolians - not quite true. The Chinese looked as though they were prepared to invade Mongolia in 1921, until the latter declared its independence on June 11, 1921 - with Soviet backing. Mongolia also supported the USSR during the Sino-Soviet rift of the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Chinese may not have territorial designs on Mongolia now, but their memories are long.
Drs. Lynn and Vanhanen did address this issue, arguing that disparities between actual GDPs and those predicted by IQ could be the results of differences in natural resources and/or economic systems.
___
Actually, Mongolia has far more natural resources than Iceland or Switzerland.
I personally don’t think that those people are more intelligent than Europeans. Can you name one thing they contributed? Great civilizations? Inventions? Innovations? Art? Culture?
As far as Genghis Khan is concerned, he surely was just an invader, rather than a conqueror. A real conqueror would be let’s say Hernan Cortes. Note the whole Central and Southern America except Brazil speak Spanish.
The Chinese may not have territorial designs on Mongolia now, but their memories are long
To tell the truth - I as a Chinese would love to welcome Mongolia back to the motherland. But I admire the Mongolian culture and would wish for it to maintain a high level of ethnic and cultural autonomy.
I doubt though the Russians would accept this - Mongolia is a buffer for them - this was certainly the case when they clashed with the Japanese in the 1930s.
The main topic should be do the Mongolians have a right, regardless of GNP or IQ, to exist as a distinct people? I say yes. Just as the Pygmies in Africa and the Indians in the Amazon and yes, the European peoples and Diaspora.
Whew, your link fulfills my diversity quotient for about 5 years.
I refuse to take part in this ridiculous belittling of Mongolians (this discussion in general), and quibble about their IQs, and whether they’ve done anything great. Here we have a race of people with at least some portion of the population who wants to preserve their race and culture. So what if their IQs are significantly lower than whites, and so what if their IQs are significantly higher than whites. So what if they’ve never accomplished anything that rivals what whites have accomplished (in anyone’s opinion), and if they are not a significant player in the global power struggle. What matters is that they are a people who, like me, love their race, love their culture, and do not want to see it adulterated by outside influence. I say, “great!” With talented musicians like that, they should preserve their culture.
The SS Chief Heinrich Himmler sent Archealogical expidtions to Mongolia, and Nepal, to search for distant Aryan Tribes, and those forebarers of the Aryans, which is something Himmler was convinced about.
The Swastika is and Acient symbol for Good Luck. It also resresnts the Sun, or is refered to as the Sun Wheel.
Swastikas can be found on ancient carvings from Ireland and Scotland, to Iran and China.
I believe the “Nazism” being displayed is a move to repel intrusive Communist China, from their traditional Mongolian Nation, and its people, and customs, and it takes the outward form of a fortress, while inwardly, uniting the people behind them, under Nationalism.
Anon. #14: Well, that Band you linked certainly isn’t the Clancy Brothers, or Wolfe Tones, that’s for sure.
By 1700 AD, their descendants ruled or occupied territories stretching from Algeria in the west to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the Far East; and the three large Altaic-ruled empires contained a majority of the world’s population!
If Michael Hart considers Ottoman Turks (from Algeria to Iran) as Altaic speaking and Northern Mongloid, he really needs to get a brain.
By the way, the dreadful Turks who were at the gates of Vienna and whose empire lasted 622 years, have an average IQ of 91 but those Mongols who didn’t do anything else except fighting are smarter than Caucasoids and white Europeans. What a joke!
They were also not invincible, many times defeated by Mamluks, formed by Kipchak Turks in Egypt.
Turks and Mongols were and are different. Although their languages were related, they have never been racially related. This was even visible at that times when Turkic speaking tribes fought the Chinese. Their names were GokTurks because of their blue eyes.
“Actually, Mongolia has far more natural resources than Iceland or Switzerland.”
Yes but Mongolia suffered under communism. The difference between North Korea and South Korea shows what communism can do in inhibiting economic growth
“I personally don’t think that those people are more intelligent than Europeans. Can you name one thing they contributed? Great civilizations? Inventions? Innovations? Art? Culture?”
Mongolians outscore Whites in IQ tests. You cannot built the world’s second largest empire with low IQ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire
The Germans who conquered Rome did not have much to show with respect to art and culture (compared to Rome atleast) but were they low IQ? The Vikings did not have opera singers but were brilliant designers of boats and ships. Higher IQ populations living in harsher conditions cannot build up the population to make civilizations supporting high art, high philosophy feasible. They had to concentrate on practical matters and in this Mongols, Goths and Vikings excelled.
“As far as Genghis Khan is concerned, he surely was just an invader, rather than a conqueror. A real conqueror would be let’s say Hernan Cortes. Note the whole Central and Southern America except Brazil speak Spanish.”
If you believe Genghis Khan and his descendants were not conquerors, you need a brain. They conquered China and the Chinese emperors for some centuries hence were of Mongol blood. They made Russia pay tribute. Their descendants conquered India to form the Mughal empire (Mughal = Mongol in Persian).
“They were also not invincible, many times defeated by Mamluks, formed by Kipchak Turks in Egypt.”
Nobody is invincible, even the British redcoats lost battles to lower IQ groups like the Marathas in India or the Zulus in Africa.
“By the way, the dreadful Turks who were at the gates of Vienna and whose empire lasted 622 years, have an average IQ of 91 but those Mongols who didn’t do anything else except fighting are smarter than Caucasoids and white Europeans. What a joke!”
Turkey was a multiracial empire where the descendants of the Central Asian Turks made up the elites. Intermarriage with Turkish women and other European women means that their features became European. The same thing happened with the Mughals of India. Babar the first Mughal looked Mongol but his descendants married Indian princesses and ended up looking Indian. What you call today’s Turkey has a lot of European and Middle-Eastern genes floating in here. The elites are all high IQ European looking while the masses especially in the South and East have loads of middle-Eastern ancestry depressing their IQs. The Mongols who stayed behind in Mongolia did not intermix with lower IQ groups in the South.
(To 21 — Anonymous2 at 12:30 AM on July 24):
“With talented musicians like that, they should preserve their culture.”
If you say so, dude. I hated that music. Even more than I hate a lot of Western classical music, and that’s going some.
Musical taste is very personal, and almost inexplicable. But I totally share your admiration for the Mongolians’ desire to preserve their race and culture. Including their music, of course.
(But, as the old joke goes, some of us feel our personal musical tastes are broad enough if we like both country AND western. That’s me.)
William Cutting, while nobody disputes that modern Turks are indistinguishable from any number of Caucasoid peoples, there is no denying their Mongoloid origins. Kazakhstan is a Turkic-speaking nation, and most of their people look like you would expect from the geography - Mongoloid/Caucasoid hybrids. Add to that the fact that there are pockets of Turkic-speaking peoples as far-ranging as Northeastern Siberia (who look 100% Mongoloid). Turkic is also of the same language family as the Mongol and Tungusic (Manchu) groups, and those people are mostly Mongolid in appearance.
Of course, you can’t discount Caucasoid admixture even in predominately Mongoloid countries. During the hayday of the Mongol Empire, many Caucasoids might have migrated to the Mongol heartland (forcefully or otherwise). In fact, I’d argue that the Koreans are racially the “purest” of the Mongoloids; moreso than the Mongols themselves. Linguists are divided as to whether Korean and Japanese are part of the Altaic language family, or are language isolates.
Please note how John Liu is so proud of Genghis, “the greatest conqueror in history”. I doubt though he would take anything other then the dimmest view of say a White admiring Cortez. I like too how he tries to peddle the idea that Mongolian / Chinese ethnic tensions are some kind of crazy Russian “conspiracy”. By the way, Liu, Russia didn’t “clash” with Japan in the 1930’s. The Japanese (who had already invaded your beloved China, a point you are silent on) launched an unprovoked attack against the Russian forces. They got it handed to them too by the tough Ruskies. This was actually one of the most important but little known military campaigns of the 20th century. It helped convince the Japanese to turn their aggression southward and away from Russia.
I doubt though he would take anything other then the dimmest view of say a White admiring Cortez.
Frankly, doesn’t worry me. Whites are free to admire whoever they want to.
I would have supported Russia against Japan - in fact all Chinese would have.
I was brought up to admire Joseph Stalin, and especially Marshal Zhukov, who was the one who ‘handed’ it to the Japanese. Also admire and have a portrait of one Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - one part Ruskie, one part German, one part Jew, and one part Kalmyk, I believe.
I am not racially aware when it comes to heros.
But the facts are the Russians did peel Mongolia away from China - that is an unavoidable fact. They also tried same with Xinjiang.
But I don’t hate them for it. That’s just geopolitics. And China did get a lot of aid (which we had to pay for in the end) from the Soviets in the 1950s.
I hate the English far more for pushing opium onto China.
By the way, many of those tough Ruskies were of course of Asiatic origin. Remember also it was tough Siberian troops whose role was absolutely critical in saving Moscow from the Germans.
One famous tough Ruskie is of course the Yakut sniper Fyodor Matveevich Okhlopkov. He is credited with 429 kills in WWII and was made Hero of the Soviet Union.
http://tinyurl.com/lb8h84
If you believe Genghis Khan and his descendants were not conquerors, you need a brain. They conquered China and the Chinese emperors for some centuries hence were of Mongol blood. They made Russia pay tribute. Their descendants conquered India to form the Mughal empire (Mughal = Mongol in Persian).
Mr. Jasper,
The Mughals were NOT Mongols by race as you are claiming.
So in reality, the Mughals were neither Turks or Mongols
“Fyodor Matveevich Okhlopkov (shown above in an early publicity photograph) was officially credited with 429 kills at the end of World War 2. In comparison with other famous WWII snipers, Ludmilla Pavlichenko earned 309 kills to her name, and the famous Soviet/German arch-rivals Vasili Zaitsev and Erwin Konig totalled 400 kills each at the end of their military career. Okhlopkov ranks number 7 for sniper kills out of all armed forces that fought in World War 2. The top “honor” goes to Simo Hayha of Finland, with 542 kills.”
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hayha.html
http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/simohayha.asp
Interesting A Swain. This Finnish bloke sure is a hero. In spite of my admiration for the Soviet Union, I will admit that the Finns had every right to protect their territory to the death.
Are not Finns part Mongoloid anyway? This from an Amren article:
“Traditionally, Swedish-speakers have thought of Finnish-speakers as a Mongolian people, and there may be some justification for this. The Finnish language is part of the Finno-Ugric language group and, along with Estonian and Hungarian, is one of the few European languages that is not Indo-European. Some anthropologists have argued that Finns are about half Mongoloid and half European; the Nazis considered only the Swedish-speakers white. Some anthropologists, however, have suggested that only about one quarter of Swedish-speakers are of Swedish descent; the rest are Finns who changed their names along with their language.”
http://tinyurl.com/mdstx9
Amazing that anyone is still going on about the Opium War.
Full marks for chip-on-the-shoulder histoical memory; the Brits and the Portuguese and the French and the Germans are long gone, while the Russians still occupy immense tracts of formerly-Chinese land, like that around Vladivostok, but it is the Opium War alone which still rankles!
It is now accepted that drug use is demand-driven and not supply-driven. If the Chinese had not wanted opium, they would not have bought it and smoked it.
I have smoked opium in Laos and Thailand; it’s no big deal - more fuss and palaver than smoking grass in a waterpipe or a bong but not really a spectacularly different high; rather a disappointment, in fact.
Being addicted is a matter of having an addictive personality or even an addictive gene. The addictive gene for most Chinese these days is gambling, not opium.
“Some anthropologists, however, have suggested that only about one quarter of Swedish-speakers are of Swedish descent; the rest are Finns who changed their names along with their language.”
And there are also the Lapps, whom you’ve neglected to consider.
Full marks for chip-on-the-shoulder histoical memory; the Brits and the Portuguese and the French and the Germans are long gone, while the Russians still occupy immense tracts of formerly-Chinese land, like that around Vladivostok, but it is the Opium War alone which still rankles!
You have made a good point. I do mourn the loss of Chinese land to Russia. But I also admired the Soviet Union.
But certainly I hope that China can one day reclaim Outer Manchuria - and Mongolia.
John Liu
“Are not Finns part Mongoloid anyway? This from an Amren article:”
“Traditionally, Swedish-speakers have thought of Finnish-speakers as a Mongolian people, and there may be some justification for this. The Finnish language is part of the Finno-Ugric language group and, along with Estonian and Hungarian, is one of the few European languages that is not Indo-European. Some anthropologists have argued that Finns are about half Mongoloid and half European; the Nazis considered only the Swedish-speakers white. Some anthropologists, however, have suggested that only about one quarter of Swedish-speakers are of Swedish descent; the rest are Finns who changed their names along with their language.”
This is a matter of interpretation and personal conclusion, the operative word being ‘some’ (anthropologists).
“Some anthropologists have argued that Finns are about half Mongoloid and half European.”
Again, ‘some’ (anthropologists).
Arguing something and proving it, are too different things. Also, my link referred to a Finnish man, not Swedish.
The fact is that there are many ethnicities in the vast areas of the Baltic and Polar regions, but that does not mean that they all miscegenated with one another.
The Sami are regarded as the indigenous peoples of Finland as well as Sweden, Norway and Russia and they are not a Mongoloid or part Mongoloid peoples either.
http://www.visitfinland.com/w5/trade/index.nsf/(Pages)/The_Sami_in_Finland?opendocument&np=A
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people
I omitted to state that I’m alluding to the aboriginal Sami who were not of Mongoloid origin and they still exist today.
http://stason.org/TULARC/travel/nordic-scandinavia/2-3-2-Sami-history.html
I omitted in my last post, to explain my point that the original Sami people were not of Mongolian stock and are still in existence today.
“Anthropologically there are two types of Sami people, the eastern type which resembles northern Asian peoples, and the western which is closer to Europids; blood survey, especially in this century, indicates western rather than eastern heritage.”
http://stason.org/TULARC/travel/nordic-scandinavia/2-3-2-Sami-history.html
Here’s a better story about Mongolian Nazis and the one the ‘journalist’ stole most of his layout and ideas from…
The Naivety of Mongolia’s Nazis
UB Post
By Kirril Shields
FOLLOWING the July 1 riots a spate of repetitious graffiti began appearing on the walls of Ulaanbaatar’s buildings. Graffiti, either as an art form or used as political slander, is relatively uncommon in Mongolia’s capital city, yet this recent trend was spray-painted across buildings, on bus stations, on the walls of monasteries, over the windows of Chinese restaurants, even on national monuments.
Just as aggressively as the group barred the entrance to the police headquarters, waiting to expel angry and drunken rioters, so too their open hatred of immigrants, in particular the Chinese. “We hate the Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese,” the current head of Dayar Mongol calmly states in an interview, “because they do a lot of illegal things such as human trafficking, selling drugs and prostitution […] We are against Chinese influence as it’s dangerous for Mongolia’s national security.” The Asian Gypsy website writes that Dayar Mongol “also sends a warning to Mongolians working with foreigners against national interest, promising the ‘traitors will be dealt with harshly.’” Rhetoric from the M.Y.A. echoes Dayar Mongol: “The Chinese are our main enemies as they contaminate Mongolian blood by getting married to Mongolian women, and intend to assimilate Mongolians to Chinese.”
To be ‘dealt with harshly’ by one of these groups means anything from being beaten, having your shop windows repetitively smashed, being publicly spat on, to the extremity of being killed. The leader of Blue Mongol (the third of these right-wing groups), B. Enkhbat, was on trial in June of 2008 for “the suspected murder/manslaughter of his daughter’s boyfriend […] whose patriotism was questioned.” He was later found guilty. The former head of Dayar Mongol was executed for a similar crime, a crime the current leader describes as “a passing away. He fought for security and the goodness of the Mongol nation and its people.” Ola Wong from the Far Eastern Economic Review in April of 2008 highlighted another of the trio’s racial intimidations. “[They] shave the heads of women caught sleeping with Chinese men.” G. Damdinsuren, a Dayar Mongol board member, justified the tactics. “It is for their own good […] A small nation can only survive by keeping its blood pure.’’
Racial hatred –and the perceived “need to keep a nation’s blood pure”- is the obvious backbone to all right-wing groups globally, and though they normally represent an extremity within society, in Mongolia, these right-wing organisations reflect the sentiment of a large percentage of the population. Ask Mongolians what they think of their southern neighbours and at best the response is one of reluctant acceptance. “To say that Mongolian’s feelings towards China borders on racism and hatred would not be an understatement,” writes a Mongolian on the Internet. In an article for the Sydney Morning Herald, John Garnaut discussed similar feelings of resentment. “Amarbayasgalan runs a small trading company that imports all manner of goods from China. He personally knows ‘some good Chinese, some bad,’ but this nuance is not widely shared among his friends.” The closely related rise of right-wing groups, he continues, “is fueling an already toxic concoction of racism, historical grievance, Chinese insensitivity and, above all, a pervading fear of economic annihilation.”
This nationalistic and anti-Chinese mindset is the reason why pro-Mongolian groups such as Dayar Mongol, Blue Mongolia and the M.Y.A. are beginning to swell in popularity. Membership is on a sharp rise, two of the groups profess, and so are public monetary donations. “We are many,” the head of Dayar Mongol proudly boasts. There is even international support, says Murgun-Erdene, head of the M.Y.A., supplied by other neo-Nazi organisations in Russia and Germany. While financial help for Dayar Mongol has yet to come from international neo-Nazis, the relationship they have formed with their cross-border counterparts is one of “an understanding in philosophy.” The M.Y.A, however, reveals that organizations both national and international “invest in us.”
Finding funding within the nation is not a farfetched concept, yet receiving funding and support from international bodies outside of Asia seems somewhat ironic. So too does the blatant use of logos and rhetoric from Hitler and the Third Reich’s regime: either a great irony or a huge lack of education on these Mongolian neo-Nazis’ part. The head of M.Y.A. refutes the idea. “We are nationalists,” he says “because we distribute views of nationalism. In other words, we can be called Nazis. Generally, people believe that Nazis are fierce, but this is wrong. In my opinion, every country and every nation has some nationalists.”
If this nationalism were purely Mongolian in form, it would make Murgun-Erdene’s statement a little easier to understand. As it is, the head of the M.Y.A. arrives at an interview wearing an Iron Cross, a hat with the SS Death’s Head pinned to its front and military fatigues; he has not donned anything that resembles traditional Mongolian attire, nor do the two ‘minders’ who accompany him.
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. While the swastika, as numerous historians and authors note, has its origins in a Buddhist tradition and was bastardised by Germany’s National Socialists in the early twentieth century, the SS icons and the use of various pieces of Nazi uniform are not so easily excused.
One justification or explanation, states Murgun-Erdene when asked about the correlation between Mongolia and Hitler’s despotic Germany, is that he believes Hitler was, in many ways, a student of Chinggis Khaan. “Historically, when Hitler was reading the history of Chinggis Khaan in prison, he enjoyed the book and chose this sign as his symbol.” He also adds that the way Hitler conquered the world with his blitzkrieg was reminiscent of Chinggis Khaan’s art-of-war. Jack Weatherford, author of the best-selling history Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, does not agree. “The Secret History of the Mongols was not available in Germany until the 1940s, nearly two decades after Hitler’s imprisonment,” Weatherford said. On the similarity of ethos between the two rulers, he again disputes any similarity. “Chinggis Khaan believed in the unity of all people under heaven and in respect for all religions. In this regard I see no similarity between him and Hitler.”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum makes interesting note of just where Mongolians stood in the eyes of the Third Reich. “The Germans carried out systematic mass killings of persons […] and systematically selected from among Soviet prisoners of war persons perceived to have ‘Asian’ or ‘Mongolian’ characteristics in order to shoot them.” In another great irony, Weatherford noted, “the Germans […] considered the Mongols as the opposite to the Germans. They taught that the existence of retarded children among the Germans was a result of the rape of pure German women by Mongols during the invasion of the thirteenth century.”
Statements such as these highlight a lack of insight into both Germany’s history and the expansion of the Mongol Empire by Mongolian right-wing groups. Propaganda such as: “We tell the young not to have close relationships with foreigners and to contaminate our Mongolian blood. We are also anti-companies and organizations which mediate between foreigners and Mongolians, and do not allow them to marry. Agitating the public is an essential way to gain people’s awareness of our activities,” does not reflect the unity and respect Chinggis Khaan is said to have extolled. “Seemingly, without a sense of what the Nazis actually did, this phenomenon is more about ‘tough guys’ viewing Hitler as a great conqueror, similar to Chinggis Khaan” a Mongolian citizen comments on their blog.
The skewed view of history voiced by groups such as the M.Y.A. is another of the naiveties that engulfs the nation. While under Soviet rule, Mongolians were taught that the Nazis were “bad” but were not schooled on the Holocaust. More recently, education in many schools has passed over the Second World War altogether. “In my opinion,” writes a man called Tuvshin after a survey he conducted suggested 90 percent of Mongolians believe in the politics of the Nazis, “this reflects the opinion of Mongolians who believe in a history transcribed by poor literature and ineffective secondary schooling. So it’s inevitable that we have racist attackers who call themselves neo-Nazis, yet who believe they support human rights and the nation.”
A lack of education and the amount of ‘poor historical literature’ also provides explanations for a Nazi themed pub which contains Nazi flags, Third Reich political posters, display cases of mannequins dressed in Nazi uniforms and photos of Goebbels, Himmler and the likes. It accounts for groups of motorcyclists partly dressed in SS uniform, taxis adorned in the red and black flag of the facists, and the abundance of photos of Hitler hanging beside portraits of other famous world leaders found in the nation’s capital. Unfortunately, the irony of believing the rhetoric of the Third Reich is not lost on those Mongolians caught in Russia’s current wave of nationalism. As reported in the RIA Novosti in 2006, “Two Mongolian students were beaten on Saturday in the St. Petersburg subway. Routine attacks by skinheads and youth gangs on foreigners with non-Slavic features have also been reported in other Russian cities.” More recently, Mongolians were victims of Neo-Nazi attacks in Prague and in southern Germany.
Back in Ulaanbaatar, news such as this does little to deter the enthusiasm of the M.Y.A. They even take on similarities in their aggressive methods to stamp out foreign interest and influence. “All members study the art of fighting including battle sambo and karate and we are in training […] Someone who protests our activity can’t overcome us.”
In a 2002 address to the United Nations by the Mongolian government’s former representative, P. Gansukh, a correlation between social issues and the rise in right-wing nationalism within his country was noted. “My delegation wishes to single out the fact that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance are closely linked with the socio-economic factors. Inequitable economic and social conditions can breed and foster racism and racial discrimination, while reduction of poverty and unemployment, overcoming economic backwardness would affect the human rights protection positively.” In another ironic twist, according to Murgun-Erdene, it was on the government’s advice that he registered M.Y.A. as an NGO. The Ministry of Justice suggested a number of smaller parties “with the same goal in mind” unite to strengthen the organisation politically and economically.
Complicity with government offices and organisations is also evident in an article found on the Montsame news site. It reports that members of Dayar Mongol “joined with the Police Department of Sukhbaatar district” to check that Chinese and Korean shops and companies had removed any signs written in their native tongue and had them replaced with Cyrillic script. The ‘raid’ was initially instigated by Dayar Mongol after sending these companies a three-day written warning.
Working in close proximity with the government does not mean, for Murgun-Erdene, that the M.Y.A. allies itself to any political party, nor politics at large. “We don’t fiddle with politics. We want to purge and improve current society. Our main goals are to remain Mongolian and to keep Mongolian blood fresh and to establish good order.” While he believes both the ruling MPRP and their opposition, the DP, are “wrong in their ideals,” he does not outline why. Dayar Mongol are not so timid. They believe, the UB Post reported in 2007, that “high ranking officials are corrupt and are giving the land to foreigners.” To tackle the issue not only did they stage a number of protests in Sukhbaatar Square, but members of both Blue Mongolia and Dayar Mongol ran for parliament in the 2008 elections, both failing in their attempt. That was not due to a lack of public support, noted the Asian Gypsy blog, but a lack of campaign experience, a lack of publicity, and a lack of substantial finance.
“Oddly, most Mongolian neo-Nazis don’t want to promote the death of human beings, which they also think leads to them being able to implement Nazism correctly, which the Germans could not do. In my opinion, though they call themselves Nazis, they don’t understand the concept of being a Nazi,” writes a Mongolian citizen. Yet racial hatred -and a nation’s complicity- is not so far from implementing ‘Nazi concepts.’ Add to that an ignorance that comes with a lack of education, a yearning to better -in some degree- what other great leaders had previously tried, an increase in the divide between rich and poor, and an insidious pattern takes on a dimension reminiscent of 1920s Germany.
Whether nationalism spreads to the extent it did 80 years ago remains to be seen. Yet even if racial hatred grows to a small percentage of what occurred in Germany under the rule of Hitler, that in–of-itself is a frightening concept. Unfortunately, if the spate of graffiti, the rise in racial attacks, or the general public’s opinion of their southern neighbour is a measure of racial intolerance, the ‘small percentage’ mark has already been surpassed. Slow as the bubbling may seem, if government organisations, the public, international companies and the naivety of those who broadcast the rhetoric, begin to believe their own propaganda, what began as a slow simmer may eventually begin to boil.
http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2446&Itemid=42
Thank you Rob. That was very interesting.
China seems also to have taken note.http://tinyurl.com/kl5sqh
But they are correct to warn that this could be another Western attempt to sow discord between Chinese and Mongolians. Afterall these people are still a tiny minority of the population.
The problems in Tibet and Xinjiang were undoubtedly whipped up by outside forces. Creating enmity between Han and Mongolian - which have been generally very good up to and including now - would be a logical next step for some in the West.
While under Soviet rule, Mongolians were taught that the Nazis were “bad” but were not schooled on the Holocaust. More recently, education in many schools has passed over the Second World War altogether.
Communists of course held that there were no real national or racial distinctions - those that did exist were fomented by fascists or capitalist exploiters who set the working people of one country against another country.
So East Germans had in fact escaped with a good deal less Holocaust guilt and soul searching than West Germans. It was of course not the German nation who were guilty of WWII persecutions of Slavs and others (the suffering of the Jewish people was not recognized to be something unique), but rather fascism & Nazism. A different approach, of course, was taken in the West.
In China we were fighting the Japanese fascists and miltarists. After all the Japanese working class and Chinese working class had common interests, and would really rather be fighting together against a common enemy - fascism.
Rather absurd, but certainly believed by a lot of people not too long ago (but not of course perhaps by their cynical rulers).
But at least it did prevent racial pogroms (though not prejudice) against Japanese citizens left in Manchuria after WWII. They were adopted out to Chinese peasant families who raised these children as their own. Recently many have been keen to explore their Japanese roots, and some have returned to Japan.
Even my Dad, a Communist, who hated Japan, was against the atomic bombing of that country.
“Some anthropologists have argued that Finns are about half Mongoloid and half European; Some anthropologists, however, have suggested that only about one quarter of Swedish-speakers are of Swedish descent; the rest are Finns who changed their names along with their language… the Nazis considered only the Swedish-speakers white.”
Whether their language is Indo-European or not, Finns are Caucasian and white. End of story.
#14, I followed your link to Youtube, and was astonished by the Mongolian band. That was intensely cerebral music, perfectly nuanced, and with a surprising amount of structural continuity, considering that the piece has so many distinct and sharply contrasting segments. To me, such a musical style proves that yes, the Mongols are an intensely intelligent people.
Mr. Liu, my favorite inlaw is also named Liu. His lines of descent include Genghis Khan, as, apparently do yours. His offspring with my relative has been astonishingly aggressive since toddlerhood. Someone remarked that the child’s genes from Khan seem to have had a catalytic effect on those inherited from Charlemagne, King David, and the Senators of Ancient Rome. Of course the kid’s smart, but the aggression thing was a total surprise. We’ve never seen a child survey a new environment in the way that this one does…like a conquering emperor, or a bird of prey. Very interesting, although we cannot imagine what such a phenomenon may portend…
