Sometimes, a draft bill can be refused - or a law can be voted against - by different groups for completely opposite reasons. This is, for instance, the situation with the law about abortion in Italy, that in its actual form is not liked by both the integralist catholics and the radical reformers.Something similar is happening in Russia as for the draft bill about alternative civil service. If Maria Ivanjan had more political experience and a less nervous attitude, she was probably not so shocked by the fact that the extreme party of Zhirinovsky has appearently in common with the Antimilitarist Radical Association a negative approach about. The reasons are of course absolutely different. Unfortunately, the most democratic parliamentarian groups in the Russian Duma lost a good opportunity to present a better draft bill, more respectful for the constitutional right of every citizen to refuse the military service. I do hope that the initiatives of A.R.A. aimed to fully support this right will succeed in getting more and more Russian citizens positively involved, in order not just to have "any" law about alternative service, but a really good one. Probably, it will be possible when the majority of the Russian Parliament will be truly democrat; and for this, a serious action in the Russian society to prep
are it for the coming political elections is needed.
