Archive of Events 2007
The events
advertised below were held in 2007. They were organized either
by CAN in cooperation with our partners (and identified as
a "Chechnya Advocacy Network Event") or by different
institutions and listed as a service to our audiences. Please
be aware that links, speakers' affiliations and contact information
may no longer be correct. Events are listed in reverse chronological
order.
Archive
of 2006 Events
Archive of 2005 Events
Archive of 2004 Events
November
20, 2007: The aftermath
of the War in Chechnya. A Lecture by Gistam Sakaeva
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
Co-sponsored
by the Central and Southwest Asia Studies Program/UM and
Thomas Goltz, Visiting Scholar at UM
Central
and Southwest Asia Studies Program
Old Journalism Building
Lounge Room on 3rd floor
University of Montana
Missoula, Montana
12:30-2:00pm
Gistam
Sakaeva has been an aid worker since the start of the first
Chechen war in 1994, when she was recruited by Doctors Without
Borders from a refugee camp. In addition to Doctors Without
Borders, she has worked for Handicap International, Care
Canada and the OSCE. She is currently a project officer
for the Chechen NGO “Reliance”, where she runs income-generating
programs for vulnerable women and those with disabled family
members.
Gistam
holds a degree in English, Russian and Chechen from Grozny
University, and is currently a Fellow of the International
Center for Tolerance Education, New York, and project officer
at Reliance, a Chechen NGO.
The
event is open to the public.
November,
19, 2007: A moderated discussion
of Tony Wood's new book "Chechnya. The Case for
Independence"
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
Lindsay
Rogers Room (7th floor)
International Affairs Building
Columbia University
420 West 118th Street
New York
6pm
With
the author, Tony Wood. Discussant to be announced.
Tony
Wood's book "Chechnya. The Case for Independence” was
published in 2007 by Verso Books and provides an analysis
of Chechnya's pro-independence movement. It examines the
question "whether or not the Chechens have the right
to a state of their own". The book has been reviewed
by Charles King in the Times Literary Supplement at http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25346-2646373,00.html
. A debate between Tom de Waal and Tony Wood earlier
this year at the Frontline Club in London can be watchedhere:
http://www.frontlineclub.com/club_videoevents.php?event=190.
Tony
Wood is assistant editor at New Left Review in London; his
writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, Times
Literary Supplement and Art Monthly, among other publications.
Disclaimer:
According to our mission statement,
the Chechnya Advocacy Network, "does not side, and
has never sided, with any of the parties involved [in the
political and armed conflicts in Chechnya] nor do we promote
any specific political outcomes". Therefore, CAN does
not support the central tenet of Tony’s book, i.e. independence.
However, in line with our goal of promoting research and
debate, and because the author values a critical, vigorous
discussion of his arguments, we are assisting Tony Wood
and Verso Books with this US book tour.
November
16, 2007: The
Impact of War on the Population of Chechnya, with Gistam
Sakaeva
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
Course
"War and Morality", Professor David Kinsella
Ondine
room 218
Portland State University
1912 SW 6th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97201
9am-10am
Gistam
Sakaeva has been an aid worker since the start of the first
war in 1994, when she was recruited by Doctors Without Borders
from a refugee camp. In addition to Doctors Without Borders,
she has worked for Handicap International, Care Canada and
the OSCE. She is currently a project officer for the Chechen
NGO “Reliance”, where she runs income-generating programs
for vulnerable women and those with disabled family members.
Gistam’s main interests are gender-based violence and the
marginalization of mine victims and otherwise disabled children
and adults in Chechnya. In her experience, the war and its
side-effects of violence, power disparity and a harsher
social climate have had a particularly detrimental effect
on already marginalized groups. For example, in today’s
Chechnya, children with mine injuries as well as those with
congenital birth defects are de facto excluded from all
schooling, cannot get the care and rehabilitation they need
and are often simply hidden away at home. Domestic violence
has become more common, and women are also faced with various
forms of sexual exploitation. Gistam holds a degree in English,
Russian and Chechen from Grozny University. As an ICTE Fellow
in the US, Gistam intends to learn from the comparative
experiences of organizations working with disabled children
and victims of domestic violence. She also aims to raise
awareness of these issues among donors, experts and partner
organizations.
The
event is open to the public.
November
13, 2007 (rescheduled for November 14, 2007, 6pm!):
The Aftermath of the War in Chechnya by Gistam Sakaeva (Fellow,
International Center for Tolerance Education, New York and
project officer at Reliance, a Chechen NGO)
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
83 Dwinelle Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
5pm
Sponsored
by:
Institute for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies,
UC Berkeley
Boalt Hall Committee for Human Rights
American Friends Service Committee, San Francisco
Chechnya Advocacy Network, New York
Gistam
Sakaeva has been an aid worker since the start of the first
war in 1994, when she was recruited by Doctors Without Borders
from a refugee camp. In addition to Doctors Without Borders,
she has worked for Handicap International, Care Canada and
the OSCE. She is currently a project officer for the Chechen
NGO “Reliance”, where she runs income-generating programs
for vulnerable women and those with disabled family members.
Gistam’s main interests are gender-based violence and the
marginalization of mine victims and otherwise disabled children
and adults in Chechnya. In her experience, the war and its
side-effects of violence, power disparity and a harsher
social climate have had a particularly detrimental effect
on already marginalized groups. For example, in today’s
Chechnya, children with mine injuries as well as those with
congenital birth defects are de facto excluded from all
schooling, cannot get the care and rehabilitation they need
and are often simply hidden away at home. Domestic violence
has become more common, and women are also faced with various
forms of sexual exploitation. Gistam holds a degree in English,
Russian and Chechen from Grozny University. As an ICTE Fellow
in the US, Gistam intends to learn from the comparative
experiences of organizations working with disabled children
and victims of domestic violence. She also aims to raise
awareness of these issues among donors, experts and partner
organizations.
October
7, 2007:
The
Life of Anna Politkovskaya: A Panel Discussion
Refectory, Union Theological Seminary
Broadway and 121st Street
5:00pm
Participants:
Ann Cooper, Coordinator, Broadcast Program
at the Columbia Journalism School, and former Executive
Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists
Rachel Denber, Acting Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe
and Central Asia Division
Mary Holland, NYU School of Law
Michaela Pohl, Vassar College
Moderator: Catharine Nepomnyashchy, Director,
Harriman Institute
The panel discussion will be followed by
a brief reception.
Attendance of the panel discussion does
not guarantee seats at the performance of the Requiem for
Anna Politkovskaya at 7pm. Please reserve your tickets at
the Box Office (212-854-5638).
October
7, 2007: The
Harriman Institute and the Barnard Slavic, Theatre and Music
Departments present: A Requiem for Anna Politkovskaya
James Chapel, Union Theological
Seminary
Broadway and 121st Street
New York
7:00pm
Created by Amy Trompetter
Music composed by Alexander Bakshi
Featuring Barnard and Columbia Students
A Requiem for Anna Politkovskaya commemorates
the life and death of a Russian journalist, who persisted
in her clear-eyed reporting on the war in Chechnya despite
having been poisoned and issued multiple death threats.
She was shot on October 7, 2006 while entering her Moscow
apartment. A Requiem for Anna Politkovskaya features new
music by renowned Moscow-based composer, Alexander Bakshi,
and the visual poetry of Amy Trompetter's giant puppetry.
At the top of his field in the Russian theater world, Alexander
Bakshi liberates and stretches sound to express narrative
and dialogue. Amy Trompetter’s iconoclastic puppets, ranging
from the tiny to the gigantic, honor Anna’s life and death,
her tenacious observation of indefensible war, her bold
expose of political folly, and her lament for the suffering
of women and children.
To
reserve tickets, please call the Box Office at 212-854-5638.
October
6, 2007: The
Harriman Institute and the Barnard Slavic, Theatre and Music
Departments present: A Requiem for Anna Politkovskaya
James Chapel, Union Theological
Seminary
Broadway and 121st Street
New York
7:00pm
Created by Amy Trompetter
Music composed by Alexander Bakshi
Featuring Barnard and Columbia Students
A Requiem for Anna Politkovskaya commemorates
the life and death of a Russian journalist, who persisted
in her clear-eyed reporting on the war in Chechnya despite
having been poisoned and issued multiple death threats.
She was shot on October 7, 2006 while entering her Moscow
apartment. A Requiem for Anna Politkovskaya features new
music by renowned Moscow-based composer, Alexander Bakshi,
and the visual poetry of Amy Trompetter's giant puppetry.
At the top of his field in the Russian theater world, Alexander
Bakshi liberates and stretches sound to express narrative
and dialogue. Amy Trompetter’s iconoclastic puppets, ranging
from the tiny to the gigantic, honor Anna’s life and death,
her tenacious observation of indefensible war, her bold
expose of political folly, and her lament for the suffering
of women and children.
To
reserve tickets, please call the Box Office at 212-854-5638.
October
4 and 6, 2007: Screening
of "Alexandra" at New York Film Festival
Frederick
P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Building
Columbus Circle
New York
6pm (10/04); 1:15pm (10/06)
The
2007 New
York Fim Festival at Lincoln Center presents two screenings
of "Alexandra", the most recent feature film by
Aleksandr Sokurov. Best known in the West for his stunning
"Russian Ark" (2002), Sokurov is one of Russia's
most important contemporary directors. "Alexandra",
a French-Russian co-production, tells the story of a Russian
grandmother (played by opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya,
the widow of the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich), who
travels to Chechnya to visit her grandson, who serves there
as an officer. Alexandra becomes a witness to the soldiers'
life on an army base, but also meets local civilians. Shot
in and around Grozny, "Alexandra" has been called
Sokurov's "most directly political work for years".
For
more information and to buy tickets, visit the film's
website.
October
3, 2007: One
Year after Anna Politkovskaya's Murder:
Where Is Russia Heading and What Is the Position of the
EU in this Regard?
A
briefing by Amnesty
International, the International Federation for Human Rights
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
7 Avenue des Gaulois
1040 Brussels
Metro: Merode
9:30 am
Speakers:
Tanya Lokshina, DEMOS center (Russia)
Oleg Orlov, MEMORIAL Human Rights Center (Russia)
Sacha Koulaeva, Head of Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Desk, FIDH
Lotte Leicht, EU Director, Human Rights Watch
Dick Oosting, Director, Amnesty International EU Office
One year after Anna Politkovskaya's murder,
the human rights situation in Russia remains bleak. Journalists
continue to risk their lives, civil society is openly curtailed
and torture and disappearances remain common, particularly
in the Northern Caucasus.
What has the EU done to that end, and what
more is needed? Leading human rights NGOs invite you to
attend a press conference to address these questions.
The press conference will include the participation
of two prominent Russian human rights defenders who will
be in Brussels for the EU-Russia human rights consultations
taking place on the same day.
Please
RSVP to Juliette Le Dore.
September
23, 2007: Documentary
screening “I Remain the Same"
Tropfest@Tribeca
World Financial Center Plaza, Battery Park City
New York
8pm (start of screenings of 16 short films)
In
early summer 2007 the Achilles
Track Club, an organization that helps disabled athletes
participate in mainstream sports, brought three young Chechens
to New York for medical treatment, new prosthetics and participation
in sporting events. Chechnya Advocacy Network volunteers
assisted the visitors with interpreting, doctor’s visits,
sightseeing and some regional travel. You can read press
coverage about the young Chechens' time in New York here
and here.
One
of the young men, Adam Mezhiev, is 22 years old and lost
a leg when he was ten. While Adam was in New York, two American
film-makers made a shot documentary about him, titled “I
Remain the Same” It will be shown at “Tropfest”, which is
part of the Tribeca Film Festival and dedicated to short
films (more here).
Adam has since returned to Chechnya, but hopes to come back
to New York and run in the annual New York Marathon.
The
open air Tropfest is free and open to the public. From 5pm
until 8pm, when the screening of short films start, there
will be live music.
August
3-26, 2007: Godislav
- A play by Nancy Beverly, directed by Susan Lee
Miles
Memorial Playhouse
1130 Lincoln Boulevard,
Santa Monica, CA
8pm (Fridays and Saturdays); 3pm (Sundays)
An original
play by Nancy Beverly, premiering on August 3, about an
American documentary filmmaker and a Chechen doctor who
has survived the wars and become a refugee. Ms. Beverly
and her collaborators are happy to arrange for discounted
group admission rates and/or a talkback session with the
writer and the cast after performances (contact
Nancy). Go to www.playwrights6.com/
for more information.
June
26, 2007: Join
us to welcome Raphael Glucksmann, Aurelia Chaudagne, Milana
Bakhaeva and Raisa Borshchigova from the French student-led
organization Etudes Sans Frontieres - Studies Without Borders
(ESF).
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
Room
1219 International Affairs Building
Columbia University
420 West 118th Street
New York
5:30pm to 8pm
ESF
(www.etudessansfrontieres.org)
is a student-led initiative that has been bringing students
from war-torn countries to European universities since 2003
and would now like to expand its successful approach of
student leadership and peer guidance to US universities.
Raphael and Aurelia, two founding members of ESF and among
its current leadership, are in NY with the two of the program's
fellows, Milana and Raisa from Chechnya, to meet with US
students and discuss their planned expansion of ESF in the
US.
ESF
is based on a revolutionary approach in which students take
the lead, unlike traditional exchange programs which are
run by foundations, governments and university administrations.
This model allows students to strengthen their universities'
global commitment, bring diversity to their campus and change
the life of talented young people from some of the most
troubled parts of the world. The success rate of ESF compares
well to conventional fellowship programs, due to student
volunteers' contribution: upon arrival, fellows from Chechnya,
Rwanda or other suffering parts of the world are embraced
by a group of peers that assist them with orientation and
language classes, advise them on their course of study,
help them build professional networks and offer friendship
and support.
Etudes
Sans Frontieres was founded in 2003 by a group of French
students, who wanted to take fast, pragmatic action to help
their peers in war-torn Chechnya by giving them an education
and introducing them to a peaceful, democratic society.
Through volunteer action, they brought a highly motivated
group of young Chechens to France, enrolled them in graduate
and undergraduate programs at elite universities and assisted
them with internships and professional development. In fall
2006, the first class of ESF students graduated, and they
have since then been returning to Chechnya where they use
their new skills in local NGOs, media and humanitarian organizations.
Since its inception, ESF has expanded to universities across
France as well as Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy and Canada.
The organization has also started recruiting students in
other conflict-ridden parts of the world, like Rwanda, Congo
and Afghanistan.
If
you are interested in learning more about ESF and/or would
like to bring this initiative to your own school, please
join us for snacks, drinks and conversation.
Please
RSVP to can@chechnyaadvocacy.org
to help us gauge how many guests we will have!
Co-sponsored
by the Russian international association at Columbia University
and the Harriman Institute
Directions:
Take the 1 train to 116th street/Columbia University, cross
the campus towards Amsterdam Avenue and enter the IA building
on 118th street. Or take the M11 bus going uptown on Amsterdam
Avenue to 118th street.
June
24, 2007:
|
Reading
from “Danser sur les ruines, une jeunesse tchetchene”
(Dancing on ruins. A Chechen youth) by Chechen author
Milana Terloeva
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
The
Tank @ C:U
279 Church Street
New York
6:30pm |
Please
join us for a reading from "Danser sur les ruines, une
jeunesse tchetchene" (Dancing on ruins. A Chechen youth),
by 27 year-old journalist and author Milana Terloeva from
Chechnya. Since the book has only been published in France
to date, the reading will be from excerpts translated into
English.
Milana was 14 when war broke out in her
native Chechnya. During the following years she experienced
bombings, flight and displacement, the destruction of her
home town and the deaths of people around her. Milana was
studying French in Chechnya’s bombed-out capital Grozny
when the second war started in 1999 and she became a refugee.
Unlike most of her generation, Milana was fortunate: in
2003, she was given the chance to go to Paris and embark
on a graduate education in journalism at the elite Institut
d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, by a new grass-roots initiative
of French students, Etudes Sans Frontieres (Studies Without
Borders), who wanted to help their peers in Chechnya. After
writing for French and Italian newspapers, Milana was approached
to write her book, which was published in 2006, the same
year she graduated second in her class. Milana has since
returned to Chechnya, where she is working to establish
a European cultural center and writing her next book. Milana
is visiting New York with three of her colleagues from Etudes
Sans Frontieres.
The excerpts of the book will be read by
New York-based journalist Marisa Robertson-Textor, who spent
seven years living and working in Russia. Marisa holds a
graduate degree in International Affairs from Columbia University
and has previously worked with human rights organizations
in Russia and written about Chechnya.
Since seating is limited, please RSVP to
can@chechnyaadvocacy.org.
There will be a suggested contribution of $5 to cover expenses
of the venue.
June
22, 2007: “Dancing on Ruins:
Youth in Chechnya Today”
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event, in cooperation with the
American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus
The
two Russian-Chechen wars have left the educational infrastructure
of Chechnya in disrepair, the economy destroyed, and an
entire generation of Chechen youth isolated from the rest
of the country and the world, with little or no opportunities
in their future. Two talented young Chechens, Raisa Borshchigova
and Milana Bakhaeva, have come to the United States to tell
us about the everyday reality their peers face, including
the experiences described in Milana's book, “Dancing on
Ruins: A Chechen Childhood”.
Freedom
House
1319 18th Street NW
2pm
Milana
Bakhaeva:Growing up in the midst of two Russian-Chechen
wars, during which her home town was destroyed and her family
displaced, Milana managed to attend and graduate from the
Grozny University. Upon completion, she was one of the first
Chechens selected to participate in the Studies without
Borders fellowship program in Paris where she studied journalism
and in 2006 graduated 2nd in her class. Milana chose to
move back to Grozny where she is now helping to set up a
European cultural center. She has written a number of articles
and is the author of a best seller “Dancing on the Ruins:
A Chechen Childhood”. She is currently writing her next
book, on women in Chechnya.
Raisa Borshchigova worked for a UNICEF implementing partner
on the problem of HIV/AIDS in Chechnya. Raisa was selected
by the Studies without Borders program in 2006 and is currently
studying journalism in Europe.
Raphael
Glucksmann and Aurelia Chaudagne are co-founders of the
French student-lead organization Etudes Sans Frontieres
– Studies Without Borders that has been helping Chechen
students receive higher education at French and other European
universities. Over the past four years they have put dozens
of students from Chechnya through elite graduate programs
while providing them with personal support in their professional
development.
Please
RSVP to intern-acpc@freedomhouse.org
June
7, 2007: The North
Caucasus - Europe's Forgotten Human Rights Tragedy?
With
Timur Aliev, Valery Dzutsev and Thomas de Waal of the Institute
for War and Peace Reporting
Frontline
Club
13 Norfolk Place
London, W2 1QJ
7:00pm
Two
local editors for the Institute for
War and Peace Reporting, Timur Aliev (Chechnya's best
known journalist and also editor of Chechenskoe Obshchestvo
newspaper) and Valery Dzutsev (IWPR's North Caucasus Director),
who have covered events in Chechnya and at the school siege
tragedy in Beslan, give a unique on-the-ground perspective
on what is going on in the North Caucasus, together with
IWPR's Caucasus editor and expert Tom de Waal.
The
event is free and open to the public. For more details,
go to www.frontlineclub.com.
April
27, 2007: After
the war:
Journalism in Chechnya
Screening of the Chechen documentary "The Crying Sun"
and panel discussion
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event, in cooperation with
16Beaver
Part of the "16Beaver"
event series
16 Beaver Street, 4th Floor
New York
7pm
Zarema Mukusheva, Katya Sokiryanskaya, Ousam Baysaev, and
Shamil Tangiev of the Russian human rights organization
Memorial's office in Grozny, Chechnya, will discuss the
history of the Russian-Chechen conflict, its impact on Chechnya's
mountain areas and the situation of journalism in this region
today. They will screen the documentary "The Crying
Sun", which focuses on the life stories of people from
the mountain village of Zumsoy in Chechnya, who are faced
with forced displacement and human rights violations by
the federal army, attacks by guerilla fighters and socio-economic
decline. By helping to articulate these voices in the public
and policy spheres, the authors of the documentary call
on Russian authorities to end impunity for human rights
violations, and to restore policies for the return of mountain
villagers to their ancestral homes. In the international
advocacy fora, the video will help bring visibility to calls
for justice in Chechnya. Produced by Memorial in cooperation
with WITNESS in February 2007, 25 minutes long (Zarema Mukusheva,
author; Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya and Shamil Tangiev, producers).
The discussion will be moderated by Olga
Kopenkina.
Participants' bios:
Zarema (Zina) Mukusheva is human right defender who has
been working at Memorial Grozny since 2000. As Memorial
monitor, she uses visual media to bring international attention
to murders, mass graves, disappearances, and kidnappings
in Chechnya. Zarema is the recipient of the 2005 Reebok
Human Rights Award for young human rights activists. Mukusheva
is a graduate of Chechen State University with an MA in
history.
Ousam Baysaev is a human rights defender,
author, and reporter for Radio Free Europe (Chechnya). Since
2000 he has worked in Memorial office in Ingushetia, documenting
human rights abuse in Chechnya. He has co- authored a book
series "People Live Here. A Chronicle of Violence of
the Second Chechen War" and the investigative reports
"Zachistka", "Anti-terrorist operation".
Since 2002 he is a news reporter for Radio-Marcho (RFE/RL,
North Caucasus desk in the Chechen language).
Shamil (Shamsudin) Tangiev is the Head of
Memorial's office in Grozny. Since early 2000 he has worked
on documenting and reporting war crimes in Chechnya with
particular focus on enforced disappearances and summary
executions of civilians. He has also been responsible for
Memorial's UNHCR-sponsored work with internally displaced
people in Chechnya, has co-authored Memorial's annual reports
on "Situation of Residents of Chechnya in the Russian
Federation" and other publications on human rights
violations in Chechnya. Tangiev holds a Degree in Law from
Russian Institute of Economy and Law (Regional branch in
Ingushetia).
Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya has worked in Memorial
Nazran since 2003. She heads the programs "Database
of Enforced Disappearances in Chechnya" and "Counting
Fabrications of Criminal Cases within the Framework of Anti-Terrorist
Operations in the North Caucasus." Sokiryanskaya, a
graduate of Central European University in Budapest, with
an MA in political science of post-communist transition,
holds a Ph.D. in political science from St Petersburg State
University. She is Assistant Professor of Political Science
at History Department of the Chechen State University in
Grozny.
Memorial's Human Rights Center was created
in 1991 for human rights research and advocacy of Memorial
Society, a Russian historical and educational non-governmental
association. It has a particular focus on human rights protection
in the conflict zones in ex-Soviet Republics. Memorial also
operates a Migrants Rights Network, providing free legal
assistance and counseling to refugees and forced migrants
in 58 cities of the Russian Federation. Since the beginning
of the second military campaign in 2000, Memorial has been
the only Russian human rights group with permanent offices
on the ground in the conflict zones in the Russian federal
republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia documenting human rights
violations and offering legal assistance to victims.
March
2, 2007:
Human Rights in Russia: The Case of
Chechnya
Presentation and Discussion
Akademie fuer Internationale Politik des Renner-Instituts
Renner-Institut, Bruno-Kreisky-Saal
Entrance Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf
Hoffingergasse 26-28, 1120 Vienna
1-4pm
Presentation:
Ekaterina Sokirianskaia (Memorial)
Commentary:
Eduard Steiner (Moscow-based correspondent of the Austrian
daily "Der Standard")
Karin Keil (Refugee and Migration department, Caritas Austria)
Conclusions:
Caspar Einem (MP for the Social Democratic Party, Foreign
and European Policy)
Moderator:
Hans-Georg Heinrich (Professor of poitical science, Vienna
University)
Presentation
in English, discussion in English and German with simultaneous
translation
For
details, go to www.renner-institut.at.
Please
RSVP at walla@renner-institut.at
February
27, 2007: From
ethnic conflicts in the North Caucasus to racial profiling
in the Moscow metro: Russia’s spectrum of inter-ethnic problems
and efforts to address them
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
Part
of "Europe's Darkest Corner: New York Photo Exhibition
and Event Series on Chechnya" at the International
Center for Tolerance Education (more
information)
International
Center for Tolerance Education (ICTE)
25 Washington Street
4th Floor
Brooklyn, NY
5:30pm -7:30pm
Reception
to follow.
 |
The
wars in Chechnya and a spur of hate crimes in Russia's
cities have eclipsed less well-known problems in the
area of inter-ethnic relations. From the very local,
such as the frozen conflict between Ingush and Ossetians
not far from Chechnya, to the regional - the growing
alienation between the numerous ethnic minorities
in the North Caucasus - and the national level with
its restrictive internal migration policies and biased
media coverage, inter-ethnic coexistence in Russia
appears to be fraught with dysfunction.
Our
panel of distinguished experts will provide insights
and describe their efforts to promote peace, diversity
and minority rights in the North Caucasus and all
over Russia. |
| Click
here to enlarge and print out the invitation to
the event. |
Moderator:
Mark von Hagen (Columbia University) |
| Panelists:
Rebecca Gould (Columbia University), Ekaterina Sokirianskaia
(Memorial/Harvard University), Tullio Santini (UNICEF
North Caucasus), Nickolai Butkevich (Union of Councils
for Soviet Jews), Julia Harrington (OSI Justice Initiative)
|
Speakers bios:
Historian Mark von Hagen is one
of the most eminent experts on Soviet nationalities policies.
He holds degrees from Georgetown University (B.S.Foreign Service),
Indiana University-Bloomington (M.A., Slavic Languages and
Literatures); and Stanford University (Ph.D., History and
Humanities). He has also taught at Stanford University, Yale
University, the Free University of Berlin, and the Ecole des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). He served as Associate
Director and then Director of the Harriman Institute (1989-2001),
the nation’s oldest university-based research and teaching
center on the states and societies of post-Soviet Eurasia.
Rebecca Gould holds degrees in Slavic and
Comparative Literatures from UC Berkeley (B.A.) and CUNY (M.A.)
and is currently pursuing a PhD in anthropology at Columbia
University. From 2004 to 2006 she lived in Georgia and the
North Caucasus, where she studied local languages and conducted
field and archival research. She has published on violence,
indigenous culture, sociolinguistics, and Islam in the Caucasus,
as well as translated key works of historic and contemporary
literature from the Caucasus region from Russian, Georgian,
and Chechen. Her most recent research focuses on the ethno-linguist
situation of Kist, a dialect of Chechen, spoken only in the
Pankisi Gorge. Her research has been funded by SSRC, American
Councils, and NSEP. Tullio
Santini, based in Moscow, has been UNICEF's North
Caucasus Programme Coordinator since 2003 and manages UNICEF's
Humanitarian/Recovery Programme in the region. He previously
served with the UN Department for Political Affairs (Cambodia)
as well as for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (New York and Burundi). Before joining the UN he
worked in the areas of electoral assistance and human rights
monitoring, with the OSCE (Albania and Bosnia) and NGOs
(South Africa and Bangladesh). In 1995-98 he held a research
fellowship at the Human Rights Centre of the University
of Padua (Italy). He holds degrees in Political Science,
Journalism and Human Rights. He is currently working on
a PhD thesis on the challenge of humanitarian protection
in complex emergencies.
Ekaterina
Sokirianskaia has been working at the Memorial
Human Rights Center in Nazran, Ingushetia, for several years,
where she has, among other responsibilities, initiated grass-roots
programs to reconcile ethnic Ingush and Ossetians. She is
a graduate of Department of Philosophy of St Petersburg
State University as well as Central European University
in Budapest, with a cum laude MA in political science of
post-communist transition, and Russian State Pedagogical
University, with MA in English and Japanese Philology. Katya
is now working on her Ph.D. dissertation Governing Fragmented
Societies: State -Building and Social Integration in Chechnya,
Dagestan, and Ingushetia at Central European University's
Political Science Department. She is also an Assistant Professor
of history at the Chechen State University in Grozny.
Nickolai
Butkevich, the Research and Advocacy Director at
the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews received an MA in
Central European, Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies
from Georgetown University in 1998, and a BA in History
from Mary Washington College in 1994. He has published widely
on the subject of racism, anti-semitism, persecution of
ethnic and religious minorities and hate crime in the former
Soviet Union and has spoken about these issues at universities
and testified in Congress as well as in US asylum cases.
Julia
Harrington Julia Harrington is Senior Legal Officer
for Equality and Citizenship at the Open Society Institute's
Justice Initiative. In 2005/2006, she spearheaded an effort
to document the problem of ethnic profiling in the Moscow
metro system of people belonging to Russia's minorities,
using the same methodology as had been used to document
racial profiling in the US. The Equality and Citizenship
program continues to work in Russia, seeking legal remedies
in cases of discrimination against ethnic minorities. Prior
to joining the Justice Initiative, Julia received Echoing
Green and Ashoka fellowships in recognition of her work
promoting human rights litigation in Africa.
Please
RSVP by Friday, February 23 to BSUBBA@tmf-tolerance.org
Directions:
F train to York Street, A/C to High Street, 2/3 to Clark
Street (1st stop in Brooklyn). Click here for a map.
February
23, 2007: Chechnya:
Past and Present
An event to commemorate the 1944 deportation and assess
the present
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
Berkeley
City College
2050 Center Street, Berkeley, CA, 94704
Our reception with Chechen food starts at 7 pm in the atrium
The presentation starts at 8 pm in room 51
Featured
speaker Professor Michaela Pohl (Department of History,
Vassar College)
February
23, 1944
The wholesale deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people
to Central Asia begins. Their fate - deportation, forced
exile and suffering - is shared by a dozen other ethnic
groups from all over Stalin's Soviet Union. Their very name
is wiped off the map of their indigenous homeland. In 1957,
after Stalin's death, Chechens and Ingush as well as most
other deported peoples are allowed to return home.
December 13, 1994
Russian troops invade the self-proclaimed independent Chechen
Republic, setting off a decade of war, lawlessness and human
rights abuses.
February 23, 2007
After 12 years of war, violence and upheaval: What is the
state of Chechnya today?
Our
3-rd Annual Event is dedicated to looking at the lives of
Chechens in today’s reality, while analyzing and commemorating
their past. Although the story of Stalin's deportations
of entire nations, arguably one of the most massive crimes
of the 20th century, is not widely known, it is a central
part of the Chechen people's collective memory. We will
take look at the present situation in light of the experiences
of the last 3 generations.
Speaker
bio:
Professor Pohl is the foremost Western expert on the deportation
of the Chechen Nation and their lives in the exile and has
conducted extensive oral history research. She received
her Ph.D.in modern Russian history from Indiana University
at Bloomington, Indiana (1999). Her research focuses on
the social history of the Soviet Union after Stalin, especially
the Khrushchev period. Other research and teaching interests
include the history of Kazakstan and Chechnya, diasporas
in the borderlands of the former Soviet Union, youth and
children in Russia and Europe, and Russian and Central European
popular culture. Her on-going projects include research
on the cultural resistance in exile of the Chechen people
(they were deported from the Caucasus to North Kazakstan
in 1944). Among her publications is "'It Cannot be
that Our Graves Will be Here:' The Survival of Chechen and
Ingush Deportees in Kazakhstan, 1944-1957."
This
event is sponsored by the Global Studies Club and the American
Friends Service Committee of San Francisco.
Please
RSVP by February 21 to can@chechnyaadvocacy.org.
January
26, 2007: "Responding
to Conflict and Building Peace in Chechnya and the North
Caucasus" - Informational Panel and Subsequent Workshop
with Chris Hunter of the Centre for Peacebuilding and Community
Development (CPCD)
A
Chechnya Advocacy Network Event
Part
of "Europe's Darkest Corner: New York Photo Exhibition
and Event Series on Chechnya" at the International
Center for Tolerance Education (more
information)
International
Center for Tolerance Education (ICTE)
25 Washington Street
4th Floor
Brooklyn, NY
10:30am-12:30pm Informational Panel
2-5pm:
Interactive Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution Workshop
Speakers
at the morning panel:
Professor Michaela Pohl, Vassar University
Chris Hunter, founder and chief executive of CPCD
Almut Rochowanski, Chechnya Advocacy Network (moderator)
Afternoon
workshop lead by Chris Hunter
 |
10:30am
-12:30pm: Chris Hunter, chief executive of
the UK -based charity "Centre
for Peacebuilding and Community Development"
will talk about his and his organization’s work in
Chechnya and the region during two wars over the last
12 years. He will also introduce a joint project with
a US organization that has created a book Power of
Goodness: Stories of Nonviolence and Reconciliation
and its planned use with children in Grozny to promote
awareness of peaceful and non-violent ways of dealing
with conflict, building tolerance and respect for
human rights. Professor Michaela Pohl of Vassar College
will present background information about the history
of the conflict and the current situation.
12:30
-2pm: Lunch at ICTE |
| Click
here to enlarge and print out the invitation to
the event. |
2-5pm:
An afternoon workshop session aimed primarily at |
| college/
graduate students will provide an opportunity to experience
first-hand peacebuilding and conflict resolution exercises
similar to those that are conducted mainly by local
trainers with young people in the North Caucasus. |
Background
information:
Chris Hunter is one of the most remarkable and influential
civil society leaders and international advocates working
on Chechnya and the North Caucasus. His involvement in Chechnya
started in 1994 at the start of the first Chechen war, when
he organized various peace-related activities in Russia.
Together with Chechen friends, he founded the Centre for
Peacemaking and Community Development (CPCD - www.cpcd.info)
in 1995, which has been the leading organization (and for
a long time the only one) to work in the areas of peace,
tolerance and non-violence. Chris Hunter has been awarded
an MBE by the British government, for services to the people
of Chechnya, an Honour of the Chechen People medal,
the German Shalom Peace Prize, and the United Nations of
Youth International Peace Prize. He is a member of the executive
board of Peaceworkers UK and the Quaker Peace and Social
Witness Overseas Project group.
In addition
to CPCD's peacebuilding activities, which are targeted at
children and young people not just in Chechnya, but across
the region, CPCD has provided humanitarian aid, community
development activities, has pioneered psychosocial programs
for traumatized children and supports cultural institutions.
CPCD is today both a registered Russian organization and
a UK-based charity and combines the best of both worlds
by being deeply rooted in North Caucasus communities while
bringing international expertise and funding to its work.
Unlike other international aid agencies and even most Russian
organizations, CPCD remained in the region during the chaotic
and dangerous interwar years between 1997 and 1999, continuing
to provide aid to the population. One of the remarkable
features of CPCD is its staff recruitment and its investment
in young leaders from the region; the most dedicated, professional
and thoughtful young professionals from the region have
all either been trained by CPCD, worked for the organization
or are still affiliated with it on a volunteer basis. CPCD
invests in training its volunteers and staff members at
home and abroad and many of them go on to influential positions
in local media, international aid organizations and civil
society.
Please
RSVP by Wednesday, January 24 to BSUBBA@tmf-tolerance.org
Directions:
F train to York Street, A/C to High Street, 2/3 to Clark
Street (1st stop in Brooklyn). Click here for a map.
|
