"And you are lynching Negroes" (Russian: "А у вас негров линчуют", A u vas negrov linchuyut, "And at your place, they are lynching Negroes") and "And you are hanging blacks" (Russian: "А у вас негров вешают") are anecdotal counter-argument phrases, which epitomize the tu quoque arguments used by the Soviet Union in response to allegations that it had violated human rights.[1] Use of the phrase refers to such attempts to deflect criticism, e.g. by referencing racial discrimination and lynching in the United States.[2] The Economist popularized the term whataboutism for the repeated usage of this rhetorical tactic by the Soviet Union.[3]

The use of the phrase as a reference to demagoguery and hypocrisy is traced to a Russian political joke, about a dispute between an American and a Soviet man.[4]

Variants

Similar phrases are used in the languages of Eastern Europe, in different variants.

Czech: A vy zase bijete černochy! [5] (Literally, "And, in turn, you beat up blacks!")

(Literally, "And, in turn, you beat up blacks!") Hungarian: Amerikában (pedig) verik a négereket (Literally, "And in America, they beat up Negroes") [6]

(Literally, "And in America, they beat up Negroes") Polish: A u was biją Murzynów! [7] (Literally, "And at your place, they beat up blacks!")

(Literally, "And at your place, they beat up blacks!") Romanian: Da, dar voi linșați negrii! [8] (Literally, "Yes, but you are lynching Negroes!")

See also

References

^ Lucas, Edward (2009). The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Menaces Both Russia and the West. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 307. ^ Interview with a Soviet emigrant Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives University of Arizona ^ "Whataboutism". The Economist. Jan 31, 2008. ^ (Russian) "Your Letters", at Radio Liberty "Your Letters", at ^ "Nepoučitelný Topolánek" (Czech) ^ "A pragmatikus szocializmus évtizedei" (Hungarian) ^ "Gdzie Murzynów biją albo racjonalizm na cenzurowanym" (Polish) ^ România Literară, 1/2002 (Romanian) Ștefan Cazimir , "Acordul de la Peleș",, 1/2002

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