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After 7 years of working in the organization, I was elected a member of the board of the Komi Human Rights Commission “Memorial”. Judging by the publication in the “paint”, it seems as if instead of Rogachev. But this is not so, Mikhail Borisovich both headed the Repentance Foundation and the Memorial, which deals exclusively with repression, and, I hope, will continue to lead them for a long time.

For me this event is important and responsible. Many people probably don’t know, but according to some estimates, our organization is definitely one of the twenty, or even the ten, most successful human rights organizations in Russia. Just think, what has been done in Syktyvkar that is included in the top ten of any rating in the country? And we enter, and first of all because, as I already noted theinterman in Safronov’s post , “an interesting company you have gathered there.” Indeed, when in one place and for a common purpose they organize seringvar , mezak , onchoys , dear Rogachev, excellent lawyers and entrepreneurs: Ostrovsky, Zubkov, Kikot, Shchigolev, and also Zilberg, and Didyuk, and many others, then the community has enormous potential.

(And if you remember that Pavel Marushchak is still a member of Memorial, and his role in the current political situation in the region, then the picture turns out to be funny :))

Separately, I would like to say that despite 7 years in a human rights organization, I do not consider myself a human rights activist and am not one. Human rights defenders are our lawyers and non-lawyers who provide real assistance to citizens who come to the organization in huge numbers and are subjected to repression by the cops and other authorities. I did not defend human rights, and do not defend them. I'm trying (and I hope it's working a little) to promote human rights . For me, this is a global goal - to increase the number of citizens in society who value the values ​​of human rights, freedoms, democratic ideals and humanistic approaches. It sounds pretentious, but thousands of people have already gone through Memorial’s educational projects, and our regular PR audience is one of the largest in the republic.

What is most interesting is that all the activities of the CCP are carried out practically without money. The entire budget for last year was 170 thousand, of which 120 thousand went to the office utilities. And all this money is membership fees (hello to those who like to shout about “jackals outside Western embassies”). A unique situation for a public, and especially a human rights organization. The organization is “self-sustaining” largely due to the fact that 6 out of 7 board members are entrepreneurs (only Sazhin is a rogue :)), and some are very successful, and practically no one at Memorial comes to earn money - only to invest, albeit for various selfish purposes.

However, this financial situation is quite crafty. If the commission does not receive external funding, then some of its members are in great demand by federal public organizations. I won’t give away the secrets of the others, I’ll say for myself that just last year I mastered the money-making projects of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Memo.RU Information Agency, the Yoshkar-Ola organization “Man and the Law”, conducted research for the German Foundation. Heinrich Böll, the Russian “Public Verdict” and others.

In general, recently the KPK has become a resource center for many public organizations; dozens of projects have been implemented without mentioning Memorial at all, but would have been impossible without the existence of Memorial. Perhaps the most striking example of this phenomenon is the magazine 7x7 , which completely grew out of the memorial environment.

But enough boasting and narcissism, there is plenty of shit within the organization and in each of its members. So I will be happy to listen to any criticism of everything related and associated with Memorial.

Memorial, like all human rights communities, now faces many challenges and threats. We need to react to them somehow. Good luck to all ill-wishers :)

Original post - http://pavel-n13.livejournal.com/53069.html