Information bulletin of antimilitarist actions

No. 11 * 23 February 1999

Edited by the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA),

an association of the Transnational Radical Party.

Russian and English editions.

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ARA - ANTIMILITARIST RADICAL ASSOCIATION

Pechatnikov pereulok, 6, Moscow, 103045 Russia

Tel.: (095) 208-1805, 208-4902

Fax: (095) 208-1805

Mail to: ara@glasnet.ru

http://www.ara.ru

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SPECIAL ISSUE: THE SECOND CONGRESS OF THE ARA (Moscow, January

16-17, 1999)

REPORT OF THE ACTING TREASURER ANNA ZAITSEVA

Dear friends,

I am very glad to see You all today. We are here to take very important decisions, to determine our objects and goals, to discuss our position on a number of questions, such as the present situation of the Alternative civilian service law, to solve other important problems.

As for me, I would like to report back to You, esteemed participants and guests of the Congress, on financial and economic activity of our Association in 1997-98.

We will have to set the annual membership fee to the ARA in 1999 as well.

It goes without saying that within this long period many things happened in our country and in our Association - the Secretary of the ARA has already told You about our activity in details. I shall confine myself to mentioning the most significant facts: Postal attack at the State Duma, meetings and pickets for the adoption of the ACS law, participation in trials of conscientious objectors, Civil obedience campaign. Certainly, we continued our every-day work for informing the conscripts about their constitutional right to conscientiously object. In this connection I would like to thank Sakharov Museum and all its staff for the possibility to hold our meetings-consultations here. We also held individual consultations and took part in some trials of conscientious objectors. We carried out a number of non-ordinary actions such as Father Frost in the Red Square distributing the Russian Constitution; we laid a garland with the words "To the victims of the national militarism" on the Tomb of the Unknown So

ldier in Aleksandrovskii Garden; we organised a procession with "wooden crosses" that symbolised the heavy burden of military expenses; we participated in the elections to the Moscow City Duma. The last campaign helped us discover and test new effective ways of informing people - we appreciate and adopt some of them in our everyday work. Thus, for example, pasting stickers in the metro, distributing informational materials in the places of accumulation of people. More and more people visit our WEB-page. This is a very effective way of informing people too - INTERNET has already become a part and parcel of our everyday life and, I am sure, day by day it is becoming more important.

The membership fee for 1999. Unfortunately, the last Congress was held more than two years ago, that is why it was the Treasurer to set the fee for 1997 and 1998, although, according to the Charter of the ARA, this should be done by the Congress. Now, in 1999, before the Congress, the Treasurer has already set the membership fee of $10 - we either have to confirm it or to set another fee. May be today $10 seem too much, but I ask you to confirm this sum for the following reasons. First, it is clear that our expenses grow with the growth of the dollar. Second, the majority of ARA members are conscripts - for them the problem of the military service is urgent - and it must be recognised that $10 are not too much for those who really want to know how to exercise their constitutional right to conscientiously object, to apply for the alternative civilian service and to get in this our concrete help. I suppose that first and foremost these people, who took part in our Civil obedience campaign, should help

the ARA. Third, the ARA has a debt. You may see in the table below that we our balance is negative. We know by experience that if we set a small membership fee, e.g. $5, the number of members and adherents will not change considerably and we will only loose. Certainly, You are to decide, but, please, take into consideration these facts.

As far as financing the activity of the ARA by different foundations is concerned, the situation has changed for the better. Thus, the foundation For the Civil Society has given its grant to the Autonomous non-profit organisation ARA International towards our project concerning the booklet about the right to conscientious objection and to the alternative civilian service (5500 copies to be published and distributed). This booklet will also include the information about the Antimilitarist Radical Association and about the decisions of our Congress. ARA International has also applied for grants for other projects, but we do not know the results yet, so I think it does not worth speaking about them today.

Below You may find a table with a list of revenues and expenditures. The principal revenues still come from the fees of members and adherents of the Association, the contributions we manage to collect at our actions and some special contributions, such as, for example, for holding the General Council of the ARA, for publishing advertisement in Argumenty i Fakty weekly, for the information campaign among the conscripts of the South -West Administrative District of Moscow, for the collection of signatures for nominating Nikolai Khramov for election to the State Duma and for his election campaign. In 1997, 89 people joined the ARA as members, 198 as adherents; in 1998 there were 66 members and 172 adherents.

As far as our expenditures are concerned, I would like to point out that the ARA has never contributed to the rent of the premises, i. e. The Moscow office of the Radical Party, and to the expenses for the WEB-page. However, it should be taken into consideration that the Association pays the collaboration of secretaries who help the Radical Party too. The militants of the ARA, its members and adherents, prepare and take an active part in all actions of the Radical Party. I would also like to mention that many militants collaborate with us for several years. Among them there are mothers of conscripts, conscripts and their girlfriends - all the people who are not indifferent to the destiny of their country and who carry out into life our slogan "For the Right to Life! For the Life of Right!".

To my mind, we have to do the following:

1)Do as much as possible to provide support in the form of grants and mini-grants from different Foundations for the realisation of our special programmes, first of all the campaign of informing and consulting conscripts and potential conscientious objectors, including our publishing activity.

2)Intensify the campaign for drawing in our activity new members and adherents of the ARA.

APPENDIX

1997 (thousand roubles) 1998

Revenues of the ARA: 107212,95 55055,54

Including:

Membership fees: 24629,75 27341,76

Special contributions: 79453,40 14548,00

Contributions collected

at consultation seminars

and street tables and

other manifestations: 3129,80 10225,74

Other contributions: 0,00 2940,00

The rest: 6360,24 -30839,64

Expenditures of the ARA: 101704,18 92255,42

Including:

Office cleaning: 0,00 0,00

Telephone: 452,35 1215,58

Office keeping: 1447,03 1578,10

Other Expenditures

(Internet, photographs,

press and others): 26814,35 3717,98

Secretariate: 3389,99 43603,90

Campaign for informing

the conscripts

(distributing leaflets,

posters, stickers,

holding consultations): 24147,72 10529,95

Translation: 2807,20 3897,00

Copying: 15447,50 0,0

Stationery: 4354,61 2448,60

Transport: 7386,19 2878,70

Postal expenses: 11451,71 1122,46

Office equipment service: 554,80 0,00

Outlay materials: 2419,66 1289,80

Hotel, restaurants: 909,27 0,00

Stickers: 121,80 18173,35

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SPEECH OF THE SECRETARY OF THE RADICAL PARTY OLIVIER DUPUIS

Dear friends and comrades, members of the Radical Party, I am glad to be with you today.

I suppose that the main question of today's assembly may be formulated as a choice between the pessimism of Reason of Nikolai Khramov and the optimism of Valerii Borshchev. I'd like to tell you right away that as to me, I side with Valerii, although I understand perfectly well the reasons that urged Nikolai on making his introductory speech the way he did.

Probably we all should remember once again that our opponents are still rather strong and several years ago they were much stronger. That's way ours is not a small local battle that does not interest anybody, but a battle that concerns crucial problems of the Russian society. Our opponents do their best to continue keeping in the centre of the Russian society the State instead of its citizens, while we struggle to affirm the rights and the Law for all citizens of Russia. Therefore, in spite of our defeat at the Duma that did not pass the Alternative Civilian Service law, the omnipotence of the military-industrial complex in the Russian society is no longer as it used to be ten, five and even two years ago. Today, unlike it used to be three or two years ago, it is legitimate for the citizens of Russia to ask themselves, to reflect and to put forward suggestions concerning the security of the country. Therefore, this issue is no longer a privilege of the Armed Forces or of few politicians, but it becomes, day

by day, a general patrimony of all citizens. I do no mean that it is no longer necessary to ask ourselves about the real possibilities and the real conditions of our work after the voting of the Duma. By the way, we know that in ten months there will be parliamentary elections for the new Duma. So, soon we will have a new Duma, and I am sure (or at least I hope so) that its composition will be different from that of the present Parliament. We also know that there will be an election campaign, that means that we will have the chance to ask different political parties and candidates to explain their position concerning the alternative civilian service before their eventual election. So, I think the situation for promoting new ideas is very favourable.

I suppose that we should take advantage of this situation in order to develop another proposal made by Valerii Borshchev: to launch the campaign for the total abolition of conscription, of the compulsory military service and for the professional army.

There is also a third proposal, that I would like to speak about today and that probably still needs to mature: in ten months we will have a new Duma, in five-six months a new European Parliament. I suppose that we should also try to lay down foundations for a real dialogue between Russia and the European Union - in order to overcome the old schemes, the old logic of opposition that no longer corresponds and can no longer correspond to the present-day situation between the two great countries. I firmly believe that here, in Russia, a lot of resistance to the alternative civilian service and levy reform takes origin in the lack of information about the point of view of the European countries and of the USA concerning Russia; therefore there is a certain kind of Russian chauvinism conditioned by the old regime, the communist regime; the chauvinism that is being used by certain sectors of the society and that is being "fed" by the so-called "intentions of Europe", of the European Union that have absolutely not

hing to with the truth.

As far as the Radical Party is concerned, with all its traditional difficulties, within the few next months we will try to do our best and we will continue backing you up, providing you our firm support. So let me wish your Congress a success under the badge of the optimism of Reason of Valerii Borshchev. And please, try to convince Nikolai Khramov - who personally had to face all the difficulties of this period and, I'm sure, needs you help and support, - in order to start once again, to launch with you, together with you this campaign. Thank you.

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SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE ARA VALERII BORSHCHEV

Dear friends,

speaking about such a brown study of Nikolai Evgen'evich Khramov, I'd like to remind you of the place where we are holding our Congress. We are in Sakharov Museum. In the seventies, when we met in the flat of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, we used to propose a toast: "To the success of our hopeless cause!". Naturally, at that time nobody believed that we should live so long as the time when the communist regime will fall and our friends will be released from lagers. However, we believed that this would happen, sooner or later. Will our life be long enough to see it, shall we be witnesses of these events - it was a minor question; we were convinced that ours was the right cause. So, I suppose that if somebody is fighting for the right cause, the lack of some visible, I would like to stress - visible results, there is no reason for pessimism. I can tell you about myself. I needed two years to have this law adopted. The first reaction was negative. My ardent enemy - recently all saw him on TV-centre channel - is

the Minister of Labour Sergei Kalashnikov. He fought like a lion against this law. Today he and I, we also had a discussion on the same TV channel, like "sworn friends". However, the law was adopted. There is a logic of the public opinion, including the changes in the consciousness of the deputies.

Another example. I have proposed a law concerning the moratorium on executions. Sergei Adamovich Kovalev and I bet on a bottle of cognac. He indicated one number, I a different one. I've lost. However, not long ago I met Luk'yanov. And I told him: "What is to be done? On the 26-th of February the term set to Russia to adopt the law is over, so the situation is rather delicate! What are we to do?". He shook his head: "Well, yes, we have to do something". You see, there is a logic of time, of political life - both in the country and in the world. And it sides with us. The fact that we are loosing today does not mean, as Nikolai Evgen'evich said, our definite failure. That's not true! I don't know if the Duma adopts the death penalty moratorium. But what we have achieved for today - that there are no more executions - is a success. There are no executions since August 6, 1996. Although many people are for the death penalty, they want it back again.

Now I'm concerned with the law on the public control of the prisons. It may seem a hopeless affair too. Mr Maslyukov burst into a letter that says that we have no right to interfere at all. There is a struggle too. May be some of you have read my article in Novaya Gazeta - an answer to Maslyukov. It's a natural struggle for our principles, for the right-defence principles.

Nothing new, nothing strange, nothing unexpected in this situation. Particularly, if you take into consideration that the society has moved to the left. It's a fact, a historical fact. Naturally, one can be angry and regret like Pushkin: "What the dickens ever made me be born in this country!" Pushkin did not leave and was not going to.

But it's all rhetoric. We live in a real situation, if we are really involved in right-defence activity. It goes without saying that the ARA makes the corner-stone of the conviction that we have to take a deep breath and begin to work. We have gathered at our Conference in this hall three years ago. We were speaking about the dramatic situation in the prisons, and the Prosecutor's Office attacked us: "You defend the criminals, you'd better think about their victims!". And today the Prosecutor's Office recognise that the conditions of the prisoners are a torture. They do recognise it!

A few words about our long-suffering Alternative Civilian Service law. You know, I wouldn't take it that hard, as Nikolai Evgen'evich. There is a progress, a definite progress. Certainly, in our position there were many mistakes. But it's difficult for me to consider maximalism as a mistake, it cannot be a mistake, it's a normal position. And I have respect for it. I myself have a maximalist attitude to certain things. Although in politics, I suppose, it is necessary to take into account the real situation.

I always repent that in the previous Duma, under the influence of the Committee of the Mothers of Soldiers, I voted against that ASC law, although that Duma could have adopted it. Anyway, I respected that point of view. Now I am not sure if I were right, but it doesn't matter, I think that we need this law and that we will adopt it. It's a fact that the Duma has voted it down now. But it did not present an alternative draft law. This is very important, it did not present anything. The Defence Committee was crying that it would do something, but they didn't do anything. Why? Do you think that they have no project? Sure, they have one. But they cannot present the project of Makashov, that would be a shame.

Why, do you think the military men cannot lobby their project? They cannot do it anymore. Because since the ARA exists with its propaganda, we managed to convince -not only the deputies, but the government ministers as well - that the service must be only civilian. We pointed it out, that the service must be civilian. This was our conviction, and the Defence Committee that was arguing with us when I was speaking in the Duma, they said "the alternative military service". I said: "Gentlemen, let's follow the Constitution - the alternative civilian service". Later Mikhail Semenovich Surkov, the Vice President of the Defence Committee, came to me and said: "I beg your pardon, but I was compelled to do it, because the Committee does not feel at ease... comrades military men". Is there any progress? No doubt!

The fact that the service must be civilian, we have already hammered it into people's heads. Till that moment, I repeat, both Rokhlin and the others controlled the situation. And the amendments proposed by Rokhlin and by all the military men were of this kind - for a civilian personnel in the Armed Forces. But nobody in the Duma keeps this position, event the most ardent henchmen, because they have understood that this position can only compromise them. They won't win. And not long ago they defended it like lions. Not long ago there was a sitting in the Defence Committee and we just heard them repeat the same things - Vorob'ev, Arbatov, I and Galina Starovoitova...

There were few of us, but the situation has changed and this is serious. Thanks to what? Thanks to the activity of the ARA. Thanks to the Civil obedience campaign. This is very serious, what we've done.

When we were thinking how to call it - "obedience" or "disobedience" - we decided "obedience"! The military men violate the Constitution! The State tries to drive its citizens to the path of juridical corruption and juridical nihilism. The Courts still ask the people to prove their convictions, violating Art. 29. And the fact that we launched our campaign at that time - it was very useful. No doubt, it was very useful that we launched our campaign. NO doubt, the letters were useful because we were crying against the law. A few deputies did not vote, we did not get the majority, but now there are not so many ardent enemies of the ASC law as in the past.

No doubt, the law will be adopted, sooner or later. The fact that it will be a service in the social field, in the health service and for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, some other things... This is very important, we have already won this position. This is the basis for the future Duma. This is what we have laid. We have conquered it. Now it's a shame to pronounce the words "the alternative military service" , it's not correct from the point of view of law. Is it a success? No doubt! Not long ago we had to defend it.

What next? What next with this idea? Now we have an ally in the government, a minister. He is my opponent in one field and my ally in the other field. I mean Kalashnikov. He is for the experiment in several regions - for the realisation of the alternative civilian service in the social field and in the health service. Is there a law basis? Yes, there is! The direct action of the Constitution. That's enough. There is no mechanism? OK! Let's develop the mechanism in several regions, in accordance with the regional administration. In St. Petersburg they do agree. In Karelia too. I visited Novosibirsk - they agree too. Our Social Partnership Foundation carried out this activity. They are already putting the government under pressure: we need an ACS. Exactly in the social field and in the health service! I hope that we will carry out this experiment. However, independently of all, it's an advance, a change in the public consciousness...

Recently I appeared on television. I was told: "Somebody calls you a traitor because you are against the compulsory military service.." No, I can't understand: why to kill is a greater honour than to treat or to help sick men!? And my opponents became flustered. Really, what can one reply?

Not long ago I participated as public defence in a trial of my elector. A TV journalist approached him and asked: "You are applying for the alternative service while your friends die in Chechnya. Aren't you ashamed?" Today they don't ask it any more. You see, we have staked out this right in our society - that there are some people, and this is their sacred right, if they do not want to touch the arms. And their right is to be respected.

This is a victory: we have staked it out in the public consciousness. I repeat, three years ago it was different. Even two years ago it was different. I often meet the press. I often heard similar reproaches, I always discussed it. Today they don't ask it any more. Today we speak about the mechanism of the alternative civilian service.

Another thing is also important: there must be a place where the objectors may come for help and consultation. It's an axiom. Otherwise we commit a great crime, if we don't help these young men - thank God there are such guys.

Nikolai Evgen'evich was right: "The Duma we have is the Duma we have elected". One can be angry of the deputies, but we have elected them, it's our fault, we didn't work well enough. It's another problem. We live in a real world, we perform our duty. I suppose that this appeal - "to the success of our hopeless cause"- hasn't lost is topicality.

Thank you.

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