OS and the war in Chechnya

[Raffi Aftandelian]

Dear friends,
As an American living in Russia doing peace work here for several years,
I have the fortune of going back to the USA 1-2 times a year. And it
never fails to strike me how what goes on in the rest of the world does
not even seem to enter the mental radar screen of people I know, who I
consider progressive, and who I would consider activists. What goes on
in Russia is very far from people's consciousness. I suspect the above
is true to a much lesser degree for my OS colleagues overall, and
particularly non-US OS colleagues.

My question requires a little background.

I consider Russia's most pressing problem at the current moment the war
in Chechnya, or more precisely the Chechen Genocide. I don't think you
can call it anything else:

1. 1/5 of all Chechens since 1994 have been killed.
2. 1=4 of all Chechens are disabled.
3. Cancer and TB has risen among Chechens 75 fold.

According to a Russian newspaper, Obshchaya Gazeta (www.og.ru  in
Russian, Th. July 26th; good English-language info on the war is
available at www.glasnostonline.org ) has published the results of a
recent roundtable on Chechnya. The roundtable drew seven conclusions on
the  war as it is currently:

1. It has shifted to a partisan war that is unmanageable.
2. The growth of antireform, antiwestern, antidemocratic sentiments in
Russia.
3. A profound "primitization" of society-an increase of the number of
people violating all human and higher laws-murderers.
4. Russian servicemen now kill other Russian servicemen - a turf battle
over control of oil wells in Chechnya, a source of money.
5. The danger of the war in Chechnya shifting from a partisan war to an
all-out rebellion, an intifada
6. The danger of this conflict shifting into an all-Caucasian war.
7. The absence of an exit from the war on the part of the Russian
government.

And "what do officers and soldiers say during so-called mopping-up
operations? 'I will not let you procreate. I came here to kill as many
as you as possible." Half of all men who have been detained in
filtration camps (these men are for the most part civilians who have
nothing to do with the war) emerge with mutilated genitalia."

If you feel that this message is not appropriate to this list, I hope
that this will be my first and last such message on this topic to OST-L.
If people would like to receive information about Chechnya and what you
can do to create peace there, contact me off-list.

What do we as people and also as OS'ers feel called to do in connection
to this war in Chechnya? What can we commit ourselves to doing?

Might there be a place for doing OS's in our communities on this theme:
What can we in city X do to create peace in Chechnya?

If OST is about empowerment, building civil society, democracy, and
social change, where do we fit in this picture in relation to Chechnya?
I feel that our deafening silence in relation to this war is perceived
as consent. That it is ok with us.

One of the lessons I drew from the OST training in Novosibirsk is that I
saw yet again that we as people are capable of anything we wish to
create. All we need is the desire and the intention.

And one more thought, I believe profoundly that the bulk of the
responsibility in creating peace in Chechnya lies on the citizenry of
Russia. I think it is critical to dispel the myth of a "civilized West"
common in Russia, and of a West that will end the war in Chechnya. There
is no such thing as a "civilized West". We have plenty of our own
skeletons. We Westerners are no less or more "civilized" than others.

If people deem this issue relevant, but best continued offlist, get in
touch with me. Share your ideas and I'll share mine.


In peace,
Raffi Aftandelian
Moscow

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