Fifteenth issue of the monthly Chechen Society Today releasedPRAGUE, November 11 - The fifteenth issue of the monthly Chechenskoye obshchestvo segodnya (Chechen Society Today) has been released.
This latest edition of the magazine focuses on Chechnya's links with the outside world, and the experiences and problems of Chechens living abroad.
Notable features include a report on a "movlid", or prayer ceremony, held at a Moscow hotel by the city's Chechen community on October 3 to celebrate the Muslim feast of Ramadan. The event was attended by more than 400 people. There are articles about the opening of new rail links between Chechnya and Simferopol and St Petersburg, and about the burgeoning growth of digital telephone exchanges throughout the republic, which are making it possible for landline telephones to be used again after the damage that was done to infrastructure during the two recent wars.
Taking up a prominent thread of previous editions of the magazine, a series of essays and articles concentrates on the disturbing issue of physical attacks on Chechens living in Russia and Kazakhstan, and the republic's human rights Ombudsman, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, speaks on Chechenophobia, which he considers to be a barrier and hindrance not only to Chechens, but also to hopes of positive change in Russian society for Russians themselves.
As usual, the magazine contains an extensive section devoted to Chechen cultural and scientific affairs. An account of the recent 90th anniversary celebrations of the first congress of Muslim women in Russia centres on the concert that was given in honour of the event by the distinguished Chechen singer Liza Umarova, who had earlier this year performed for inmates of the Chernokozovo penal colony. There is an illustrated profile of the accordionist Ramzan Paskayev, with some interesting background about the artiste's life in Israel as one of the "Chechen Jews" in the Chechen community there. The oil executive and businessman Khasan Khadzhimuradov is interviewed, and this section of reports is rounded off with a look at the cultural life of the Khanti-Mansiisk okrug's autonomous Chechen community, which recently celebrated its sixth anniversary and can with some justification claim to be a leader in helping to gain recognition for this far-flung northern Ural region of Russia.
Literary items include a selection of recent Chechen poetry, another excerpt from Kanta Ibragimov's new historical novel, a continuation of historian Indarbi Byzov's study of the eighteenth and nineteenth century Caucasus Wars, and a further chapter from Lecha Ilyasov's book Shadows of Eternity. The visual arts section contains an interview with contemporary Chechen painter Zamir Yushayev, and the issue concludes with a report on recent developments on the republic’s Olympic wrestling scene.
Visit this page to see and download the issue.
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The black-and-white Russian-language publication Chechen Society Today is a joint project of Prague Watchdog and the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, which is being implemented thanks to support from the US-based National Endowment for Democracy. The journal’s aim is to strengthen Chechen civil society, promote independent media in Chechnya, and provide objective information to Chechens living in Russia and Europe.
A thousand copies are published in Moscow; additional copies are printed and distributed by Prague Watchdog for Chechen exiles in Europe. In addition, a printer-friendly PDF version can be downloaded from the PW (http://journal.watchdog.cz) and CJES websites (http://chechnya.cjes.ru). Free e-mail subscription to the PDF version is also available.
Prague Watchdog welcomes proposals from both organizations and individuals for participation in this project, especially the distribution of the paper version of the journal.
(D/T)
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