08.06.2006 Injections of Mind

An interview with Maxim Efimov, chairman of Karelian Branch of Youth Human Rights Group, editor of the Karelian anti-fascist bulletin УHour ZeroФ (УChas nolТФ).

- I hand the bulletin УChas nolТФ edited by your organization. In my view УHour ZeroФ is a timelessness, loss of moral orientation. Do I understand the name right?
- You are right, but only in some way. The name dialectically unites two opposite interpretations. On one hand, in is a collapse, existential tragedy, on the other Ц the birth of a new age, the reference point of eternal world.
- Your bulletin, as seen from the headline, appeals to youth. I read a couple of articles and must confess, not everything was understandable to me Ц itТs so sophisticated. Maybe youth should be appealed to in more simple terms? Or does УyouthФ mean the young authors, first of all?
- The bulletin is for youth and by youth. The scholarly style of some articles only seems difficult to understand, though we may be justly accused of a heavy style. But such articles give a broad vision of a problem and its deep analysis, and, which is the main, give an unbiased outlook on the subject without any publicism. It is important to pull readers up to a certain level and to give him information he can operate. The authors of the collection of articles УDemocracy is My ChoiceФ are students, activists of our organization, participants of a discussion club УPro et ContraФ. This book is a declaration and constitution of our organization. Still, I will take your remark into consideration and try to publish more simple and emotional texts which could be read at once.
- Your organization is being supported presently by two grantors Ц from Germany and USA. Suspicions may spring from this fact that you Уsold yourself to the WestФ. I know, you have recently returned from Denmark, and before that had visited Poland, FranceЕ
- I have nothing to say to the grantors but words of gratitude. It is thank to their aid that we succeed to make our work more efficient. This aid speaks of a higher level of development of Western society, anxious about the same problems our group tries to handle. The contribution made by the foundation УMemory and FutureФ and the Committee on democracy under the US Embassy in Moscow to the development of democracy and social welfare in Russia is very significant. It must be noted, that the work with the foundations has in no way influenced our vision of what should be done and how, but has, rather, improved our activity. What concerns the trips, they were paid by the inviting side. Why should we travel there? Because our neighbors on planet Earth need a predictable and kind-hearted partner with whom we speak one language. The openness, mutual interest and respect are impossible without acquaintance and cultural bonds, contacts. This is the aim of such trips and various exchange programs which enabled many Russians to visit Europe and America. HereТs another moment. Thanks to such trips, strange as it may seem, you tend to value your own culture, country and language more. We can enjoy the fuma patriae dulcis only after long wanderings. There are plenty of other advantages.
- What do think about the advertiser which publishes racist advertisements?
- When in a republic-level newspaper published in large editions there appear advertisements of rent Уfor Russians onlyФ Ц it is not simply the business of the advertiser, since the information gets into public. IТm sure such advertisements offend everybody, including Russians, who must be ashamed of the discrimination which occurs on their behalf. In a multiethnic society such segregation followed by a mistrust to all other ethnic groups threatens the fragile interethnic peace and nourishes intolerance. About 60% of Russian citizens have negative ethnic attitudes and the editor must understand why such advertisements appear. The publishing of such advertisements gives the negative stereotypes rights of citizenship in public consciousness. It results in escalation of tension and hate in our society, which suffers from xenophobia and ethnic extremism.
- Last year the journal УNorthФ (УSeverФ) published two articles about YHRG. The last issue of 2005 had in it a letter by a female pensioner from Saint-Petersburg, stoning your group. How do you take criticism in your address?
- Yes, the good granny did a nice work! I feel sorry for her. She complains of her life, which is made unbearable by the state and bureaucrats, but seeks for enemies on the other side of the world or among those here, who support democracy and rule of people. Democracy, unfortunately, has become a swear-word in out country and not only here. No wonder, thoughЕI like criticism. Our organization is the only one which lets others criticize it. A fear of criticism means inconsistence and inferiority. It were intellectual kicks that built me up. Criticism is essential in civil position, it is always constructive. What concerns УSeverФ and its editor Yana Zhemoitelite, I can only thank her and the journal for cooperating with youth and not being afraid of acute social topics.
- Say something about the right protection carried out by your organization. Whose rights do you protect and in what way?
- There are two ways. The first is legal assistance. The second is legal education. Now the work of YHRG is focused on the latter. It is indeed basic, because until people realize they have rights which should be protected, no legal activity can be fruitful. Besides, I claim for an ethically responsible state, not only law-abiding, for I see what can be made of law by a scum and what can be made of a scum by the law. People lack thinking and consequently Ц broad views, tolerance, civil position. We try to develop these.
- What is the УeducationФ you give?
- Our target group is youth. It is for youth we organize trainings, seminars, lectures, discussions, trips, write articles, issue the bulletin, arrange street actions, processions. It is for youth we edited a collection of articles УDemocracy is My ChoiceФ, a brochure УEssays on Modern RacismФ by a famous Russian scholar V.A. Shnirelman and a book by the Karelian philosopher Y.V. Linnik УNovgorod the Great and Russian NorthФ. Soon we are going to edit a new book by the same author which we hope is going to be a big event in our literature. We created an I-site http://right.karelia.ru and a forum to discuss topical social problems, made a film on the history of Holocaust. We are now collecting data from the ex-prisoners of death camps in Germany. We issue DVDs with lectures by our intellectuals (philologists, philosophers, historians etc.). All this is done to prevent and fight such things as xenophobia, nationalism, anti-Semitism, neo-fascism, neo-Nazism, ethnic extremism and racism.
- Your video-project is a special topic. LetТs speak about it in more detail.
- The idea of the project is to make it an alternative to official TV. The discs are proliferated free of charge, we get nothing for our work. The viewer needs nothing to do but make a mental effort. If he does, we hit our aim. I was so lucky that none of those people, I asked to speak for the video, refused. They all are wonderful speakers, the most interesting persons, our compatriots, unfamiliar to most of the audience. Their ideas push us strongly forward. They speak of things you rarely hear from anyone else. Their arguments are original, deep, accurate and honest. I will name few of the speakers: E.Z. Tarlanov, V.A. Filippova, Y.V. Linnik, V.M. Berstein, M.P. Belousova (S.-Petersburg), A.M. Sergeev, M.L. Goldenberg, A.F. Yusupov. We can represent their lectures by video and this way influence, hopefully, the young minds.
- YHRG is not also an anti-fascist organization. I think, many readers wonder, what are you struggling with in this perspective in Karelia?
- I dare to say today social atmosphere in our country is poisoned by xenophobia and intolerance. It enabled a young man in Moscow attack the people in the synagogue. He belonged to no extremist group, but he had a free access to neo-fascist sites and neo-Nazi books. This was enough for committing a crime, based on national hate. There are more than enough social and economic reasons for resentment (and consequently for seeking an enemy) in Karelia. This situation is fraught with social explosion. Some teachers speak of latent xenophobia and fascization of school. The society is chronically ill and our activities are injections of mind which help for a while. Intolerance, nationalism, chauvinism and racism are the diseases which spread with more speed than bird flu. We need not simply prevention but surgery. In Petrozavodsk now we also have attacks of foreign students and fights between National Bolsheviks and neo-Nazis. In one of such fights a skinhead got killed. The quiet of our republic is seeming Ц itТs a swoon.
- I heard you called a Russophobe and blamed of hate towards your peopleЕ
- ItТs a lie. I am anxious about my people, but I donТt want to share its mistakes. I donТt want people to lack civil rights. ThatТs why I try to change this situation and make my people see the light and stop being a slave. And if I call people slaves it is not because I hate them, but because I feel concerned about their lot and yearn to help them become free. It is a sober outlook without illusions. Only having taken it and being able to solve problems, defend our rights, create a fair democratic society can we attain that which many people dream of.
Interviewed by Anton Smirnov