Translated material
Other faces of Russia
In France, a collection of biographies of Russian civilian activists went out of the press
"Other Faces of Russia", Les Autres Visages de la Russie - this is the name of a collection of biographical portraits that goes out of the press in France. In Paris, a presentation of this book took place.
Several dozens of Russian emigrants and French, who are not indifferent to what is happening in Russia, gathered on board the small barge-restaurant on the hay. There were representatives of the co-authors of the book-six public organizations advocating for compliance with civil rights and freedoms in various corners of the world: "International Amnesty", "Reporters without Borders", "International Federation for Human Rights", Russian-Libertes , Inter-LGBT and Christian activists against torture.
The President of the Russie-Libertes Human Rights Association Alexei Prokopyev told Radio Liberty that the idea of publishing a collection in French appeared last year, during the Olympic Games in Sochi.
“We decided to choose people who are not very famous, who are not famous political activists,” Prokopyev explains. -Each organization chose two or three biographies that she decided to present in this book.
The book, according to Prokopyev, will allow the French audience to discover many unknown names. The collection includes biographical portraits of fourteen civilian activists, the names of most of which are few people outside Russia (and which, incidentally, are well known to regular readers of the Radio Liberty site and its listeners).
The heroes of the collection were the journalist Olga Romanova , the executive director of the public movement "Sitting", which protects the rights of prisoners and their families; Mikhail Kosenko, accused in the "swamp business", for several months undergoing compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital; Natalia Taubina, director of the public verdict fund, opposing the use of torture; participants in the punk group Pussy Riot ; Sergey Krivov , one of the defendants in the "Swamp case", sentenced to four years in prison in a general regime colony; Lev Ponomarev , political and public figure, executive director of the Movement for Human Rights; Vera Lavreshina , journalist, civil activist; Peter Pavlensky , actual artist; Nikolai Yarst , journalist of "Public Television of Russia", detained last year in Sochi; Denis Sinyakov , photo correspondent, activist of the Greenpeace environmental organization, last year convicted in the Arctic Sanraise case; Svetlana Reuters , journalist, civil activist; Suren Gazaryan , public figure, member of the Council of Ecological Watch in the North Caucasus; Ilya Farber , a rural teacher, in 2012, convicted of eight years in prison on charges of receiving a bribe; Elena Kostyuchenko , journalist, activist of the LGBT movement.
The French branch of the International Amnesty was responsible for the compilation of biographical portraits of soloists Pussy Riot, Leo Ponomarev and Mikhail Kosenko, said Ann Nerdrum , coordinator on Russia's issues. According to her, the main hope of the co -authors of the book is to find understanding from the Franco -speaking reader:
- I really hope so. We have chosen a wide range of personalities that we can say: they think differently. Here, journalists, and dissidents, and environmental defenders, and musicians from Pussy Riot, opposing the connection of the Church with the authorities. There are completely different characters, and, I think that the choice is made successfully. We can show the French public a variety of people who oppose all Russians of the same political line imposed on all Russians.
In France, elections to local authorities have just been held, where right -wing radicals from the "National Front" have significantly strengthened their positions. Nerdrum in this regard draws a parallel with modern Russia:
- Two "French extremes", left -wing and right -wing political wings, consider Putin an exceptional leader. In the case of Marin Le Pen, such an approach can be understood: after all, Putin is very conservative, he opposes homosexuals, defends the interests of the Orthodox Church. All this impresses the supporters of the National Front. On the other hand, the French left -wing radicals find Putin an excellent leader - by virtue of the fact that the Russian president is configured against the United States, which they consider to be the root of evil.
The collection of portraits "Other Persons of Russia" has so far been published in a circulation of several thousand copies. According to representatives of the publishing house of the publishing house Les Petins Matins , if there is no demand, it will not be difficult to print as many copies as it will be required.