Russian Federation Repressing Opposition with Force as Elections Draw Nigh
Amnesty International Decries the Unity Party Tactics of Suppression
On the evening of November 22nd, Farid Babaev, a prominent political activist involved in human rights work, was shot and fatally wounded outside his home in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala by unidentified perpetrators. He died in the hospital two days later. Babaev was the first candidate on Yabloko's party list for the Russian State Duma elections in the southern Russian republic.
On November 24th and 25th, Russian police detained scores of people before, during, and after "marches of dissent" in several Russian cities. These people were kicked, beaten with night sticks, and so on.
In St. Petersburg, Russian human rights defender Ella Poliakova, who is the head of the Soldiers' Mothers Committee of St. Petersburg, was detained along with several other people on November 25th for 12 hours after she had attended a press conference of the Yabloko party, which opposes the Unity party that is allied with Putin.
"From the unprovoked arrest and imprisonment of opposition leader [former world Grand Master chess champion Gary] Kasparov, to the beating of journalists...the Russian authorities have created a climate in which it is difficult, if not outright impossible, to express dissenting views and report abuses," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia program director at Amnesty International.
In spite of all this, current Russian president Vladimir Putin enjoys an extremely high rating of approval among the Russian populace.
Some journalists have wondered if this could be due to the fact that the Russian people may not "have it in their blood" when it comes to enjoying the freedoms that Americans have come to take for granted.
The Russians have two words in their language that can be translated into English as "freedom".
Under the Tsars, the non-aristocrat Russians were svobodnye--that is, slaves or serfs. Prisoners and foreigners whose territories were occupied by Russian forces were also svobodnye. From this derives the word svoboda, which means the condition of not being any one of those things.
The word volia, also accurately translated as "will," corresponds with the concept or feeling of being a wild Cossack riding out on the steppes, and has no overtones of political freedom within civilization.
Neither svoboda nor volia translate into the Western concept of freedom in the sense of liberty, justice for all, and certain inalienable human rights. That cultural meme does not seem to exist in what is called the Russian Idea.
Putin has also been the captain at the helm as the transforming Russian economy finally began turning around in the 21st century after its depression following the Soviet collapse in 1991. Russians are now seeing an unprecedented explosion of wealth, and the feeling among some observers is that given their lack of a historical precedent for liberty in the Western sense they are overly-grateful to Putin for steering their nation back to the status of a power on the world state.
Original Newswire Source:
http://prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-28-2007/0004713144&EDATE=
Published by Brant McLaughlin
I am a Writer driven by endless curiosity and a deep desire to waste time creatively. View profile
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3 Comments
Post a CommentI love the linguistic input. Note to Jamie- c'mon and write some more about it, we're waiting...
Personally, I did not know Russians had any rights of assembly, or anything else for that matter. Great article!
Very interesting take on this indeed. Russia has scared the pee out of me for a couple of years now since I did some serious research for articles for a Russian expat client, and found out a BUNCH of stuff that never hits the Western press. The alliances they are developing, their claim to the North Pole -- all shaping up to be pretty ugly.