General Council of the Antimilitarist Radical Association

Moscow, September 20/21, 1997

GENERAL MOTION

General Council of the Antimilitarist Radical Association,

gathering to its session in Moscow on September 20 and 21, 1997 with participation of invited activists of the ARA and Radical Party, members of Russian Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, Democratic Perspective and other associations participating in the antimilitarist struggle together with Radicals,

have heard reports of the Secretary and Treasurer ad interim and have them approved.

General Council reaffirms engagement taken by the ARA on its First Congress to campaign for soonest adoption of a democratic and non-discriminatory federal law on alternative civilian service. General Council denounces attempts undertaken by conservative militarist lobby in the State Duma to distort the content of Malkin - Savitsky bill passed the first lecture by means of increasing the terms of alternative service up to 4 years, of limiting the legitimate convictions only by religious faith, and of transforming alternative civilian service into military noncombatant service.

General Council stresses again the ARA's principal position on conscientious objection, implying that such a right should belong to every citizen of Russian Federation without exception, that its realization should have declarative and not permissive character, that future alternative service should have strictly civilian character representing social service and not a form of a state duty, that duration of alternative service should not exceed duration of military service.

General Council considers nevertheless that a provisional and reasonable compromise could have place, but its limits should in any case not cross the borders outlined by the draft law adopted by the State Duma in the first lecture in December, 1994.

General Council expresses its decisive support to the Civil Obedience Campaign in favour of the alternative civilian service law, which has been launched this May by activists of the ARA together with "Particular Case" program on TV-6 Moscow channel and its director Aleksandr Gordon. General Council confirms the principal goal of this campaign: achieving the amount of 7,000 requests of alternative civilian service within next military draft campaign.

General Council considers necessary, apart of actions on federal level, to launch an offensive on Moscow front, concentrating during next months main resources and efforts of the Association exactly there.

General Council invokes to start campaign for creating in Moscow and Moscow region working places for young citizens requesting alternative civilian service. The proposed work should satisfy the criteria of the draft law supported by us. In this context General Council proposes to organize within next weeks a workshop for studying such a possibility and elaborating ways to conduct such a campaign.

General Council considers as top-priority the Moscow City Duma election scheduled for December, this year. We are convinced that it is necessary not to loose a chance to give an essential and visible antimilitarist element to the electoral campaign, which is at Russian antimilitarists' disposal. We should do our best in order to propose to voters clear and distinct goals, which are the reasons of our unification.

General Council expresses its support to the decision taken by Nikolaj Khramov and Sergej Sorokin to run for the Moscow City Duma and calls upon members, adherents and supporters of the Association to take part by efficient way in this antimilitarist electoral campaign.

General Council instructs Secretary, Treasurer ad interim, President and President of General Council to carry out consultations with other candidates for Moscow City Duma in order to decide about support which could be given by ARA to certain candidates whose program and goals are corresponding to goals, objectives and ideals which Antimilitarist Radical Association stands for.

General Council urges to launch decisively campaign in defence of conscientious objectors who - as Denis Jazykov or Andrej Pastuhov - refused to carry out military service or to participate in the dirty war in Chechnya and who are criminally persecuted for their conscientious objection. It is necessary to campaign for strict implementation of the amnesty of March 12, this year, which has been already applied to our companion, sergeant Artem Onoprienko who objected to participate in Chechen war in January 1995.

General Council states the complete absence of any positive response from side of the State Duma after all the attempts of dialog with the highest legislative body undertaken both by the ARA and other antimilitarist non-governmental organizations. We see the reason of such a situation in overwhelming predominance of parliamentarians with distinctly articulated antireformist, militarist views.

In such a situation, General Council affirms that it's time today as during the Chechen war to unite efforts of all public associations, movements, groups of activists who represent certain part of civil society already existing in our country - first of all, associations of soldiers' mothers and youth organizations.

General Council pays attention to the danger which represents for Russian democracy the activization of militarist forces opposing reforms and choosing as their banner rebel general Rokhlin and his "Movement to Support the Army". Withstanding to militarism of Rokhlin's, Rodionov's, Terekhov's, Zyuganov's or any other style is still one of the priorities of the Antimilitarist Radical Association.

In this context, General Council considers as necessary to start without delay consolidation of all antimilitarist forces, first of all on the base of initiative for dialog with liberal reformers in the Government. We address our appeal first of all to Russian Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, other associations of soldiers' mothers, youth associations, political parties and public movements, human rights groups and organizations, public activists, politicians, personalities of culture, science and art.

General Council instructs executive bodies of the Association to elaborate an appeal to President and Government for a cardinal military reform and to launch a wide campaign to collect adhesions of not less than 30 associations and 3,000 citizens within the middle of November.

General Council promotes the initiative of holding a round table meeting of antimilitarist forces, with participation first of all of those organizations which would support the above mentioned Appeal.

General Council urges to re-launch an extra-ordinary membership and adhesion campaign as an invariable condition not only for realizing the designed initiatives, but for the very existing of the ARA and Radical Party. It is the more important in context of re-structuring of Radical Party, taking in consideration that ARA uses the Party's resources till now. As a concrete objective of such a membership campaign General Council determines 1,000 of members and adherents till the end of the year 1997.