Subject: Re: Civil obedience campaign: appeal to Russian conscripts
At 21:13 07.04.97 +0400, you wrote:
>
>I've read this post and sent it on to the War Resisters League Disarmament
>Task Force (or that part of the task force which is on email).
>
>Taking into account problems of translation, language, culture, etc., I think
>I understood you quite well. Except you leave one problem not fully addressed
>- while you are quite right not to make the soldiers the enemy or the
>problem, yet what is your alternative way of defending Russia? Any discussion
>of Gandhian concepts, etc., because otherwise you seem to be saying "we won't
>serve in the military but we respect those of you who do".
>
>Fraternally,
>David McReynolds
Dear David,
Thank you very much for your letter and please excuse for such a big delay with answering you.
Actually, ARA is an affiliated association to the Transnational Radical Party (in order to learn more about the TRP you can visit our Web site at http://www.agora.stm.it/pr
ARA has been created two years ago in Moscow. Its nearest and concrete goal is to get passed the law on alternative civilian service in Russia. Although we are non-violent, gandhian anti-militarist and we stand on the libertarian view point that military should be voluntary, no draft is needed, we nevertheless represent a sort of one-campaign-association. It does not mean, of course, that none of us is reflecting on the issues of security, national defense, anti-militarism, etc. In particular, we are more or less in principle against national defense systems since they are not adequate to the current state of things in the world. Instead, we - as members of Radical Party - advocate the drastic change of world security system, based on the enhanced role of the reformed United Nations. By other words, we prefer to see sovranational security system, which would include both civilian and military elements (a kind of "UN army" or "UN police force" too). But - I repeat - currently we are focusing on obtaining at l
east the right of every young Russian not to be drafted by force into the military.
Cordially,
H. XPAMOB
Nikolaj Kharmov
nkhramov@glasnet.ru
N.Khramov@agora.stm.it
