"See you on Thursday at Pushkinskaya!"MOSCOW - Every Thursday, between 5.30 and 7.00 p.m., a group of people of various ages and walks of life gather near Moscow's main street, holding banners and handing out anti-war leaflets. They are protesting the six years of war in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya that is characterized by the Russian government as an "anti-terrorist operation".
This past Thursday, the organizers from the "Anti-war Action Committee" again gathered at Pushkinskaya Square to express their dissatisfaction with the Kremlin's policies on Chechnya and to inform the public about the latest developments in the republic.
Holding placards and distributing leaflets to passers-by, nearly twenty activists tried to bring their fellow citizens' attention to what is really going on in Chechnya, and how the situation is seriously impacting the entire Russian Federation.
"Putin Promised to End Terrorists in the Outhouse – the Whole of Russia Has Become an Outhouse", "Answer Yourself - Who Profits from the War in Chechnya?", "Prevent Your Son, Friend, Beloved from Perishing in Chechnya,", "Putin Kills Our Freedom", "Let's Protect the Constitution from State Abuse", "The War in Chechnya is a Crime against Humanity", "Chechnya, Forgive Us!" - these were some of the messages on the placards.
The "Pravo-zashchita" newspaper, which is published by human rights advocates from Nizhny Novgorod, was distributed. Last year, the paper published peace appeals by Chechen resistance leader Aslan Maskhadov and his foreign envoy Akhmed Zakayev, as a result of which the publishers came under attack from the authorities and the editor, Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, is now facing fabricated criminal charges.
Not all passers-by pay attention to the protesters, and some who do show interest do not agree with them. "Chechnya needs to be surrounded by barbed wire. We don't need that republic at all. They have quite a different culture from ours. I don't understand it at all," said a 45-year-old man.
However, another passer-by, a university lecturer, said, “Personally, I agree with their protest. Chechnya is forgotten here now, and one can get better information about it from the world press than from Russian sources. Unfortunately, there are no viable [political] forces left in Chechnya.”
Protest organizer Yelena Batenkova, a history teacher, who began the tradition of the Thursday rallies, said: “People between the ages of 25 and 40 show the most understanding of our actions, since they are used to thinking independently. The young (under 25’s) are more radical - they either stand together with us here, or they go forcefully against us."
According to Batenkova, people are beginning to be critical of the Russian leadership, and tension is increasing, but there is also a tremendous feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness about the situation. "Some people fear to approach us. Others are very surprised that we can freely stand here and they find it hard to accept that the protest is sanctioned by the authorities," Batenkova said with a smile.
"We don't have big problems with the authorities any more - they are used to us. Only during key events, such as the Moscow theatre siege, the presidential elections in Chechnya, the Beslan school drama, were we detained. But we appealed and won all three lawsuits," Batenkova added.
The first rally took place on December 30, 1999 and the activists started protesting regularly in March 2000. The next gathering will be on Thursday, August 25. "And the following Thursday, September 1, will be the first anniversary of the Beslan tragedy. I think that the authorities will again try to thwart the protest. But we intend to carry it out," said Batenkova, adding, "See you on Thursday on Pushkinskaya!"
(T/E) RELATED ARTICLES:
· Website of the Anti-War Action Committee
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