News From Former USSR
NSC Correspondent
When Moscow was still the capital of the Soviet Union, one of the greatest features was the absence of organized crime, minimal petty crime and an almost absolute safety for its citizens, foreign tourists, diplomats, officials and foreign students. You could walk the streets if Moscow during the day or in the middle of the night and be totally free of any fear or threat of an attack or robbery. Many foreign students studied there free of charge, at the Lumumba Friendship University, to get a free education they could use to help improve conditions for the people back in their country.
Editors of NSC
By Beth Mydans
New York Times Service
The morning starts with 100 push-ups for Constant Olivier Diboi Kath, as he prepares for the most dangerous moment of his day – his subway ride to the chemistry class on the other side of the city.
Diboi Kath, 23 years old, is an exchange student from Cameroon, and like many other African college students in Russia, he says that he feels threatened by racist thugs, every time he leaves his dormitory.
He has been beaten, abused during his 5 years at the People’s Friendship University, where about one third of the students come from developing countries.
Since Perestroika and since coming to power in Russia, first Yeltsin, then Putin, the racial attacks on foreigners are growing – against Asians, Arabs and especially against Blacks and some of the victims include even diplomats of these countries. Last year Ambassadors from 37 African counties appealed to the Russian Foreign Ministry for protection for their citizens. The human rights organization also blames the connivance of the police in these attacks.
The rise of skinhead groups is alarming and they enjoy support of the Russian Orthodox Church, since the church keeps very mum on these attacks, because it itself preaches Russian chauvinism instead of tolerance or internationalism.
Some experts say that there are about 200 publications in Russia with racial overtones. The lack of a real and concerted struggle by the government of Putin or a crackdown on these skinheads, helps to promote them as "patriots".
Attacks such as happened last summer in Moscow at a McDonald’s restaurant where a 19-year old medical student from Malaysia was beaten up because she was wearing a headscarf. The skinheads’ motto is "Russia is for Russians!"
The complete silence of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Putin’s police and the whole government, helps to blame all foreigners for the terrible economic hardships of the country.
Most of these students just want to finish their University courses and get back home.
Yes, it’s a far cry from Soviet times when streets were safe, there was internationalism practiced and any racism was dealt with harshly. Thousands of foreign students studied free in the USSR, received stipends and felt as if they were home.
But that was Soviet "dictatorship"! Now it’s Putin’s "democracy".
Can you see a difference?
From newspaper "FORWARD"
Minsk, Byelorussia
In the last few months most people living in Minsk, as all over our Republic are in a terrible state of economic hardships due to the unwarranted rise in costs for rent, communal services, not keeping up with the wages of the workers or their pensions. A case in point, during these hard winter months, the cost of hot water rose by 60% while the wages either were frozen or only raised not even by 30%.
The state media always praises the growth of industry, but does not mention the privatization and the ongoing path towards capitalism which is self-evident. The main reason is the government’s policy of more and more privatization of national industries and more and more foreign ownership.
We, the representatives of left opposition, we demand the lowering of the costs of social service as they were when the Soviet Union was existing.
We want you to listen to the people!
We demand less graft and more accountability to the people of Byelorussia!
We demand of you as president, to take steps to save the people from poverty, destitution, sicknesses and start the improvement in health care, social services and put a stop to capitalism in Byelorussia!
All Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Byelorussia
Braving a snowstorm last December 6, 2003, scores of protestors in Minsk demonstrated against capitalism and hardships.
By Vladimir Pronin
As the developing situation showed, Communists and all patriots were happy that finally Mikolas will be free, because all of the facts pertaining to this provocative arrest were fabricated, and this was even admitted by the provocateurs who in January of 1991 organized this provocation. The Vilnius court therefore decided to free Mikolas on January 15, 2004, after being in jail for 10 years.
At the beginning, everything was going well for his freedom. At the end of October 2003 the deputy and member of the European Parliament for external affairs, member of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece, Stratis Korakos, visited Mikolas in jail and also visited the former Secretary for ideology of the Lithuanian Communist Party, O. Kulolialis. They discussed the falsification of the charges, the perspective of the legalization of the Lithuanian Communist Party and the joining of Lithuania the European Union and NATO.
During this meeting, Mikolas gave a letter to the comrades about the fabrication of charges against him and the background of the former president of Lithuania putting pressure on the Vilnius Court regarding Mikolas. The behind the scenes ongoing manipulations were tremendous and the idea was to not let the courts know all of the details as to how the fabrications against Mikolas were fabricated and by whom, including the illegal banning of the Communist Party of Lithuania.
The fabrications and the dismembering of the USSR was also laid at the feet of Gorbachev, who in 1991 gave his consent to the banning of the CPL. This is a historic falsification. This falsification was condemned even by the Russian Duma which sent a letter to the president of Lithuania, blaming Gorbachev and his ideological chief Yakovlev, plus documents by the Committee for the Rights of Freedom.
The leadership of the illegal (so far) Communist Party of Lithuania made statements that describe the falsification of the Lithuania joining USSR. That was blamed on the CPL instead of telling the truth that the majority of the people voting to join the USSR when the danger of fascism was very real. Also, when the 1991-92 debacle took place, there were still existing Soviets of Lithuania and the changes for the worst happened only after August 1992. .
It is self-evident that the leadership of Lithuania decided to make certain that Mikolas suffers, because of his dedication and patriotism to Socialism, and thus his freedom was cancelled.
It is only through the international solidarity movement that Mikolas Burokiavicus can be freed or his sentence reduced in this his 70th year. We have to break the imposed silence about this travesty of justice in Lithuania and in all other former Soviet republics. The more the people know about the treatment and injustice to Mikolas, the more people will demand his freedom.
Unfortunately we had to shorten the article, even though it contains details of the legal wording of sentencing and other manipulative actions by the Lithuanian government.,
From Pravda, January 20, 2004
1,500 people took part in this survey and only one quarter of all Russians (24%) believe that democracy is primarily the power of the people. A further 20% said that democracy means the protection of human rights while 19% believe it means freedom of speech plus other answers. Curiously, 5-6% are convinced that democracy in Russia is characterized by anarchy plus a free press and the liquidation of Soviet power.
However, 92% of respondents said that Russian citizens either have no power to influence important national decisions or have very limited influence. Only 6% held the opposite view. Interestingly, most of those who believe in the ability to influence important decisions were members of the armed forces, while business entrepreneurs mostly said that their influence over such matters is limited(!?)
From Pravda (RU)
Net removal of capital by individual Russian businessmen is going on unabated, and last year there was $42.9 billion removed to offshore banks while in 2002 there was removed $8.1 billion. This was reported last month by the Russian Central Bank.
In 2001 the outflow of capital from Russia to off shore banks was a record high of $14.8 billion.
COMMENT:
Where is the demand and censure motion by Zyuganov and the CPRF members of the Russian Duma, demanding President Putin’s resignation because of this robbery of the country?
From PRAVDA
The living wage for most workers is practically the same as the living optimum of a British cat.
In general, a British dog owner spends about 982 Pounds per year to maintain his pet. Keeping a cat is cheaper, about 476 pounds a year.
Sainsbury’s Bank of GB issued a report saying that the whole of British nation spends 11, 23 billion pounds a year for domestic pets; the average means 586 pounds on average per dog and 328 pounds per year per cat.
According to the official report of the RF Central Bank, one British pound is about 53 rubles. So, the living wage in Russia is practically the same as the living optimum of as British cat. Is this funny or is it more likely a tragedy?
COMMENT:Well blimey!! Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun. No wonder we didn’t hear about the cats. They were loaned to Eastern Europe to work in the Actuarial Departments.
From newspaper
Bolshevik
Odessa, Ukraine
This park and this monument stood on the same place since 1944, until Leonid Grach, a member of the Communist Party of Ukraine, First Secretary of the Crimean Republic, returned from a visit to Brussels to meet other statesmen. Upon his return, he decided, without asking the people of Symferopol that he, together with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch, to demolish the Victory Park, take the Soviet Tank off and find another place for it. What was his reason?
He wants to build a Church-Cathedral and call it in memory of Alexander Nevsky.
Mr. Grach should remember, as a "communist" that this Church that stood there until 1930, was the center of all counter-revolutionary activities in Crimea of the White Guards and elements that fought against Soviet power and murdered people en masse.
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