The Case of the Arsonists

Finally, in St. Petersburg, those responsible for inciting interethnic hatred were found. But do not think, reader, that these are the publishers and authors of Black Hundred leaflets, or those who sell them at Gostiny Dvor, or those who, with distorted faces, call on live television to roll the once fraternal Georgia into asphalt. You'll never guess it! - “Novaya Gazeta in St. Petersburg.”

I haven’t read it, but I angrily condemn it
On Friday, the department of Rossvyazohrankultura for St. Petersburg and the region issued a warning to the editors based on the results of checking the article by Dina Davydova “Summer camps for genatsvale.” More precisely, not even the article itself, which sharply condemned the intentions of DPNI activists to organize “raids” on Georgian cafes, restaurants and casinos and noted the complete indifference to this on the part of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate - which promised to intervene “only if violations of the law are recorded during the raids” " As they say, “don’t take us away from work, when they kill us, then contact us.”
As the head of the department, Vitaly Kalinin, explained, the claims arose solely in connection with the excerpts from an open letter to the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, “added” to the text (marked “Verbatim”), in which the DPNI called for “internment of Georgian citizens.”
This is precisely what was assessed by unknown to us specialists (the names of the inspectors are unknown to us) as “calls aimed at inciting hatred towards citizens of Georgian nationality, at violating the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person and a citizen, depending on his nationality.” And, accordingly, as “signs of extremist activity, provided for in Part 1 of Article 1 of the Federal Law “On Combating Extremist Activities.” According to Kalinin, there would be no complaints if the official website of the DPNI was quoted - but it turns out to be “unofficial”...
It is difficult to maintain a calm tone when commenting on the position of a respected agency: to warn society about the extreme danger of the actions of nationalists, which are at least provocative, and most likely, in the opinion of the author of the article, inciting national hatred, and to receive from the “security” agency an accusation that exactly The newspaper, it turns out, is inciting this discord! Because she dared to quote what she condemns. Is Kafka resting?
“If we talk about the publication against which claims have been made,” says lawyer Yuri Shmidt, then the entire page is devoted to this topic. The position of the newspaper was expressed both in a large article by Dina Davydova and in direct speech by Oleg Basilashvili and Yuri Vdovin, and it is absolutely clear! The fact that the author, having analyzed the position of DPNI, confirms his correctness by citing a quote from their website, only testifies to his good faith. It is, in principle, impossible to regard this as inciting ethnic hatred. After all, the law of any polemic is to reproduce, without distorting, the opponent’s opinion. And if you argue with someone without citing his statements, it turns out like “I haven’t read Pasternak (Solzhenitsyn), but I angrily condemn him.” What then to do with the conclusions of experts in cases of incitement of national hatred? The conclusions of the late Nikolai Girenko were often published and aroused constant interest - but there it was necessary to accurately cite the “expert” text! We have a legal ban on public display of Nazi symbols. But if a film is being made about war, then the SS men cannot be shown without a swastika, and the Fuhrer’s speech cannot be shown without a Nazi salute. And only a complete idiot can, having seen the corresponding fragment of the film, accuse its authors or the television channel of the corresponding “crime”.

Whoever got the power got it with a slipper
Let us note, by the way, that Russian television has recently regularly created “video sequences” from Mikheil Saakashvili’s speeches, reports about the “atrocities of the Georgian military” and Hitler’s newsreels—downright a favorite propaganda technique. This is where to look for direct intent in the display of Nazi symbols...
According to Schmidt, Rosokhrankultura should look for “incitement of hatred towards citizens of Georgian nationality” not in the speeches of the newspaper, which constantly speaks about the dangers of nationalism and xenophobia, but in the speeches of politicians and fighters of the ideological front, which are broadcast, including by federal television channels. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Alexander Prokhanov, Mikhail Leontiev and others allow themselves, in his words, monstrous things - from war propaganda (calls for military action against Georgia) to calls for deportation. “And after this Zhirinovsky is received by Putin? — Yuri Schmidt is perplexed. “In my opinion, it should be received not by the prime minister, but by the prosecutor!”
“What’s happening is completely absurd,” says Dmitry Dubrovsky, director of the Center for Human Rights, researcher at the Ethnographic Museum. — Firstly, it is impossible to warn society about the danger of any phenomenon without explaining what this danger is. Maybe we should ban condemning the actions of fascists in the media, because it will be impossible to talk about what they are condemned for without risking being accused of fascism? What kind of official website can DPNI have if they are not a registered organization? And secondly, despite all the disgusting calls of the DPNI, which must be categorically condemned, they are not calls for interethnic hostility, because “citizens of Georgia” are not a nationality! People of various nationalities live in Georgia, just like in Russia. And I see absolutely no grounds for complaints against the newspaper: it complied with all the norms of journalistic ethics and ensured the right of readers to socially significant information. Even if the message they quoted had said “let’s put everyone in jail,” there would be no reason for complaints, because we are talking about a phenomenon clearly condemned by the newspaper and the author of the article. Maybe we should jail everyone who condemns fascism while quoting Mein Kampf? What kind of logic is this: national hatred is incited not by the one who speaks, but by the one who sounds the alarm, demanding that the nationalists be stopped. I want to see the faces of the experts who checked the article in Novaya! And, by the way, pay attention to the speed: sometimes you won’t get a reaction from Rosokhrankultura for months to fascist publications, but here it is the next day. Did the team pass?
...Note that on the same Friday, representatives of the DPNI began to renounce their intentions. In the Radio Liberty program, the head of the Public Control Service of the DPNI of St. Petersburg, Semyon Pikhtelev, stated that “these raids are not planned and were not intended.” However, he immediately admitted that “we have been engaged in such activities for two years, since the creation of the department in St. Petersburg, we collect information about offenses, transfer it to the police, and on illegal immigrants from Georgia, we also collect such information and will transfer it.”
“I think they were stopped,” says Dmitry Dubrovsky. “But not because the authorities want to prevent nationalist actions, but because there is no need to run before the horse.” The search for “enemies of the state” is a state monopoly: there should be no such thing as DPNI running ahead of the police...
What's next? Here's what: we will insist on canceling the absurd warning. If this is not done, you will have to go to court.

Boris VISHNEVSKY
Caricature by Victor BOGORAD

Direct speech
Yuri VDOVIN, deputy chairman of the human rights organization “Civil Control”:
— In such cases, legal norms clearly apply. If the media quotes something controversial in order to demonstrate how someone (for example, DPNI) is inciting discord, then the media does not violate anything. From my point of view, Novaya did absolutely the right thing. Novaya Gazeta journalists did not advertise the “forbidden” statement as the main one. And they demonstrated what they were against. The entire page is dedicated to opposing the intentions and views of the DPNI. Such punitive measures must be resisted and this warning must be cancelled.

Malkhaz Zhvania, director:
— I carefully read the article “Summer camps for genatsvale.” If in this material the state saw signs of extremist activity, as provided for in Part 1 of Article 1 of the Federal Law “On Combating Extremist Activities,” then this means that not everything is in order in the state - it is wildly turning everything inside out, turning the obvious on its head.
What does NoGa’s material inform readers about? About how xenophobes and Nazis make plans for repression and pogroms. The public should be informed about the meanness that hides behind a completely decent, socially useful name? It's just the name that's hiding behind it.
If information from the population about a negative and socially dangerous phenomenon is interpreted by officials of Rossvyazohrankultura as a socially dangerous act, then it’s time to take a closer look at this structure, reorganize it, make personnel changes—do something.

Security guard from Rosokhrankultura
From the first day of the Georgian-Ossetian war, the St. Petersburg pages of Novaya became perhaps the only media in the city where representatives of the Georgian community in the northern capital and citizens of Georgian nationality living in St. Petersburg were given the opportunity to express their point of view (including director Malkhaz Zhvania , actor Oleg Basilashvili, etc.). Without a doubt, this point of view was at odds with the official position of Smolny and the Kremlin. On this occasion, the newspaper was reproached for everything: for a “pro-Georgian position”, for “neglecting the interests of the homeland” and even for tolerance and internationalism unacceptable for wartime. But officials from Rossvyazohrankultura turned out to be the most original of all: they accused the St. Petersburg “Novaya” of inciting hatred towards citizens of Georgian nationality.” In our opinion, this is about the same as accusing Miklouho-Maclay of cannibalism, and Dumas the Father of stealing the pendants of the French queen.
And the point is not only that, according to the logic of the official department, from defenders of the unjustly persecuted, we ourselves have turned into persecutors and preachers of hatred. The fact is that over the past week, hatred did not crawl out of the TV box, hatred played with its nodules in front of a bewildered world, hatred screamed in barking voices on the radio waves, and no experts thought of noticing it. We listened to the quiet voices, in which there was confusion and pain, and only once allowed ourselves to quote from that “barking” world. And they were immediately convicted of incitement.
You can’t say anything: it’s Leninist. From here it is not far from accusations of sabotage and espionage against ten intelligence services in the world. From here it’s a stone’s throw to the clumsy absurdity of the thirties of the last century. The war brought us even closer to this bright past.

Editorial