Select Society

Well-known human rights activists were not invited to the Civil Forum

Today, the All-Russian Civil Forum begins its work in the Moscow Manege. The review of non-governmental organizations (the event is expected to bring together representatives of more than a thousand NGOs from most regions of Russia) is being held for the second year in a row under the auspices of the Public Chamber. Accordingly, this body should become the main character of the event. “It is planned, among other things, to discuss with society the achievements and problems of the first composition of the OP,” the secretary of the chamber, Evgeny Velikhov, told reporters. In addition, it was stated that the forum will discuss issues of public control over the activities of government structures at the federal, regional and municipal levels and will talk about the development of partnerships between society and government in Russia. However, it is obvious that the highlight of the program should be the speech of First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - it is expected that it will become a presentation of the election theses of the presidential candidate from the party in power.

On the eve of the opening of the human rights forum, which the opposition hastened to dub pro-Kremlin, a black cat ran between the oppositionists and human rights activists. There was a split in the alternative association of non-governmental organizations - the All-Russian Civil Congress (VGK). The co-chairs of the congress, leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva and head of the INDEM Foundation Georgy Satarov, resigned due to the “impossibility of continuing cooperation” with the third co-chair, one of the leaders of the “Other Russia” Garry Kasparov. “The most negative inherent in modern Russian political practice is introduced into the work of a civil organization,” is how Alekseeva and Satarov explained their break with the other Russians.

At the same time, Ms. Alekseeva and the head of another well-known human rights organization - the Memorial society - Oleg Orlov remained outside the Civil Forum. They also explain this circumstance for political reasons. In turn, the director of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights and a member of the Public Chamber of the new convocation, Alexander Brod, believes that not only those whose names have been heard in the last 10-15 years should participate in the “new wave” of the social movement.

Lyudmila Alekseeva: At the first forum they looked closely at us to understand how best to manipulate

-- Were you going to take part in the Civil Forum?

- I didn’t intend to. Yes, I wouldn’t have gone, although I took part in the last forum. But then we began to prepare the agenda six months in advance, after we agreed with the Kremlin administration. It was impossible to refuse, because I am happy for any cooperation between civil society and the authorities . When Putin's presidency was just beginning, both he and his entourage discovered a fact that was unexpected for them - there is a civil society in the country. Then I tried to determine what they needed us for: maybe to manipulate, or maybe to cooperate. After all, political stability can only be achieved when government and society cooperate as equal partners.

Before the last forum, we worked very intensively, every issue was discussed very seriously, and we tried to agree on every problem. In this case, it is not clear who prepared the forum and how it was prepared. All this is not serious.

Now it is clear that they were looking closely at us in order to understand how best to manipulate. With the personnel that was at the first forum, the manipulation did not work. Then they created the Public Chamber, with which there are no problems. I don’t like the name “Public Chamber” itself, because it does not correspond to reality. If practically this chamber is appointed by the president , then it would be called the Presidential Chamber. The Public Chamber should be formed by the public.

- But still you do not refuse cooperation with the Public Chamber.

- The Public Chamber, as one of the channels of communication between the government and society, is a necessary thing. And at least one communication channel, even one as imperfect as the OP, would be very helpful.

—What, in your opinion, is the purpose of the forum being held now?

— The first forum was conceived by the authorities so that Vladimir Putin would speak to a representative meeting of the public. Now it is necessary to hold some kind of meeting at which Dmitry Medvedev will speak.

Alexander Brod: This will be a new wave of human rights activities

--What do you expect from the Civil Forum?

- I think this will be an interesting event. More than a thousand people gather, representatives of public organizations, regional public chambers, people who are just starting to work in the public human rights movement, but who have a desire to protect human rights, solve social issues, and charity issues. This will be a new wave of active public, which we have attracted thanks to the efforts of the Public Chamber and regional public chambers. It is necessary that this process involves not only traditional human rights activists, leaders of public organizations, whose names have been heard in the last 10-15 years.

--What will be your personal participation in the forum?

— I run the human rights section together with Vladislav Grib, the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Man and the Law,” who headed a new human rights organization with the same name. The third co-host is member of the Public Chamber Pyotr Shelishch, a former State Duma deputy.

—What do you intend to tell your colleagues?

— In particular, I am going to talk about the fact that the situation with human rights in Russia still cannot be called anything other than complex. Just in the last month, I have received from different regions - from Tatarstan, the republics of the North Caucasus, regions of Central Russia - a large number of requests from citizens who complain about ill-treatment by law enforcement agencies, including torture, about the appalling conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centers. There are also questions regarding specific criminal cases, from which the motives of ethnic hatred have been excluded.

There are a lot of complaints about the situation in the housing and communal services sector, there are appeals from citizens who have encountered arbitrariness in the judicial system. Questions are piling up, and therefore it is necessary to provide expert support and fine-tune the system of public control so that departments learn to quickly respond to citizen complaints, without unsubscribes or imitation of support. Therefore, not only human rights protection of political protest is necessary. In my opinion, the time has come for mass legal support of the population. We need to talk about real mechanisms of assistance - assistance in litigation, establishing a system of legal services.

Oleg Orlov: The forum was organized formally and in a hurry

—What do you think was the criterion for selecting forum participants?

-- Those who are represented in the Public Chamber are invited. We have nothing to do with the OP, which means they didn’t consider it necessary to invite us. Honestly, I'm not upset about it. They decided to carry it out without us, well, thank God. All this is organized under the auspices of the Public Chamber. When we recently, just the other day, learned about the forum, we began asking our regional colleagues why they were not invited. They explained that in the regions, governors organize everything: they call representatives of NGOs and form delegations. In my opinion, the forum was organized quite formally and in some colossal hurry.

— Do you think there is still a possibility of dialogue between the authorities and civil society?

- I don’t see any special movement of the authorities towards society. Rather, we can talk about the use of civil society for political purposes. Apparently, as my colleagues suggest, a certain background is being created for Dmitry Medvedev’s speech and his communication with the public. A certain image is created to promote the candidacy of a successor.

Recorded by Mikhail MOSHKIN