| A different historical time has arrived in Russia A monument will be erected on the site of school No. 1 in the city of Beslan. Never before in human history have so many children died in terrorist attacks. This “never yet” means the beginning of another historical time for Russia.
We find ourselves at a critical point of historical choice. There is a war in the country - the president admitted this. Moreover, this is a war that, by definition, cannot be won only by the army and only by the special services. Because the enemy is everywhere and nowhere. Because terrorism has no nationality or registration. Such a war can only be won through the joint efforts of the authorities and civil society. But for this to happen, responsible government and civil society must finally appear in Russia.
The choice that Russia faces is essentially a choice between dictatorship and democracy. You can continue to “tighten the nuts.” You can try to fight terrorism by finally replacing objective information in the country with pretentious propaganda, eliminating any political process, relying on the “power of the security forces” alone.
There is another way. An end to the small and large propaganda lies that have accompanied politics in the Caucasus in recent years, including the Beslan tragedy. Transforming the indistinct, confused, chaotic monologue of the authorities, trying to explain another barbaric terrorist attack by extremists and another failure of the security forces, into a full-fledged honest dialogue with society.
Nobody forces the authorities to reveal the details of special operations. Professionals in the intelligence services have their own information and their own methods of work, which they should not share with the public. But in order for a civil society to emerge in Russia, so that the authorities have real support in the fight against terrorism, 100 or 110 million active citizens of Russia must know what is really happening in their country. In our country.
Citizens should know that Chechnya is still very far from establishing a peaceful life and there is no successful counter-terrorist operation there, but there is war. That there is no force in Chechnya that would fully control the situation in the republic. Neither the federal troops, nor the clergy, nor the newly elected president of the republic are yet such a force. That total and often random sweeps do not lead to a reduction in the terrorist threat. That the security forces based in the North Caucasus are uncoordinated and in their current state are unable to prevent terrorist attacks.
In order for society and all conscious citizens to help the authorities fight terrorism, they must be explained that there are serious interethnic contradictions in Dagestan. That the situation in Ingushetia remains extremely unstable. That the conflict around the Prigorodny region of North Ossetia between Ossetians and Ingush was driven deeper, but was by no means resolved.
Society needs to be told honestly for whom and why the war in the Caucasus became a business, and to admit that among these “businessmen” there are not only terrorist thugs. Finally, society needs to be informed in detail about legislative initiatives and political decisions that the government will make in its effort to stop terror.
There is one more fundamental thing: security measures should not be directed against basic civil liberties. If you create the situation of a besieged fortress in the country, people will live as if in a fortress, in an atmosphere of total fear. This is exactly what terrorists are trying to achieve - total fear of people for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
Society is a necessary, irrevocable partner of the state in the fight against terrorism, and not just a wordless “protected object.”
Only democracy will help Russians recognize themselves as a full-fledged people, that very united nation of people of different nationalities who are able to resist common and unconditional evil.
Tragedies of historical proportions have one important property - they unite people. The distance between the authorities and the people, which has always been unjustifiably large in Russia and which, alas, has not decreased in recent years, must be reduced. Not just one president is responsible for the country, the whole nation is responsible for the country. But in order to be responsible for the country, the nation must know, feel, understand what exactly it is responsible for. What are the country's goals and values?
The wave of terror sweeping Russia is a sign of trouble. This disaster today claimed the lives of children in Beslan, but tomorrow it can claim the lives of children anywhere else in the country. The people are given a chance - albeit at such a terrible, bloody price - to finally become a people. The government is given a chance to become a government that protects people, not corporate and personal interests. So that we will never again have to erect monuments to our dead children on the sites of schools blown up by terrorists. Semyon NOVOPRUDSKY |
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