23.04.2005 I HOPE

An interview with Efimov Maxim, chief of the Karelian Regional Department of Interregional Youth Public Charitable Organization УYouth Human Rights Group (YHRG)Ф.

УWe, the people of the United Nations, are fully determined to save the overcoming generation from war disastersЕ and reestablish belief in basic human rights, virtues and values of the human personalityЕfor these purposes to show tolerance and live peacefully with each other as good neighborsФ.
UN Charter.
- LetТs start with general questions. How do you evaluate our modernity?
- I feel worried. External calmness is just lather. In fact, serious conflicts are coming up not only in our society and this worries most. A lot of new evil appeared and everybody is aware of it. But why a thread of terroristsТ attacks is more dangerous than a thread of overall stupidity and indifference, governmental facade, formalism, pseudo-patriotism? ItТs sad to realize that one could do whatever they want to our people. The countryТs structure needs to be heavily changed. The real life in the state of total higher education and bureaucratization is faked with the abstract thinking and papers. At the same time, life looks differently from official documents. All the people have been living in virtual reality of self-deception for a long-long time.
- Is this point of view common for all human rights defenders?
- I express my view, but consider human rights defenders who got used to dealing with tough situations, not to have any illusions. It is them who are to cope with nowadays system. I should mention that those who used to exhibit a real state of affairs in a better way are occupying governmental posts and defend human rights now.
- PessimisticallyЕ
- ThereТs always a place for hope. Honest and critical understanding of reality and ourselves is indispensable. One should judge by deals not words. We need publicity and transparency of governmental actions, different structures and total control over every official, employed by us. Moreover, we should pay more attention to moral education of a personЕ For a civil citizen Quixote is the same model as for religious Ц Jesus. Quixote is the very picture of the faith in unlimited creative abilities of a human-being, victory of humanity and kindness.
- Perhaps, people lack education on the field of human rights?
- As we know, the constitution of Stalin was the most democratic one in the world, but nobody followed it. You can cram Constitution, International Declaration of Human Rights, plenty of conventions but rest absolutely rightless. Effective individual and common actions are needed. An idea of an ethic society is more important for me than an idea of a legal one. Look, what right makes of a creature and what a creature makes with right. ThereТs a real difference between words and deals in our country. ItТs essential to realize that one should know their rights to defend it and live according to democratic rules.
- What are the aims of a new project?
- The main aim is to spread democratic values among young people. Prophylactics of xenophobia, fascism, neo-Nazi in all forms they could take. Development of democratic and ethic basement in the youngstersТ consciousness. We invite specialists from Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg and Moscow Universities. Only at our lections you can get acquainted to such terms as nobility, mercy, magnanimity, justice, unselfishness and self-assurance of a person. The only professor on ethic of our University, V.A. Filippova, is working with us. It is not a popular discipline nowadays. It becomes funny that the extra course on ethic is substituted with УLakeys in Ancient RussiaФ. Lections on history of fascism, danger of spreading of a neo-Nazi ideology, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racial hate is reading A.F. Usupov, a senior lecturer of world history faculty of PetrSU. The activists of our organization, basically students, conduct trainings for pupils on УOvercoming the mass stereotypesФ. Only we make professors read lections for students of technical schools.
- To your point of view, why is the young generation so indifferent to the questions of social life?
- The problem is in absence of an outlook. They are taught everything in school but this. The same is with the University where professional education is stressed. And who could be the role model here? Thank God, there are of decent and principled people with an active civil position but they are not in plenty. The youngsters donТt know what they are to fight for; they can not tell apart good from bad. Due to age and psychological peculiarities they could not oppose mature people. One more problem is, so called, gregarious instinct Ц a desire to be like the others. And this is bad if the norm is today-like. Simple routine donТt let them realize their social temperament. Moreover, studying in University, technical school or school takes too much time Ц inventive form of escapism. So, we have many problems with this.
- And how are you going to involve them, making them socially active?
- Yes, we want to make young people socially active. Being a juvenile, I read German Hesse, I realized the opposition between the active life and contemplative one. Now, it is important for me to find the balance between the two. HereТs a simple example why it is indispensable to partake in the social life. The monopoly of the government on violence leads to its excessive amount. Moreover, institutionalization of violence makes it anonymous and decreases the perception of it. Indirect character of violence increases the sphere of its application. ThatТs why society should monitor it purposefully, whatever it may be: army or law enforcement body or penitentiary system. Any monopoly is bad because human being has a tendency to go too far with it. ThatТs why any action should give rise to counteraction. The society benefits from such a kind of concurrence. The policy of constrains and back-balances should function for the advantage of society. ThatТs why one-party system and the absence of an opposition are bad. The fact that the monopoly on violence is localized promotes the civil control over it. It is easy to monitor. This is applicable to all spheres of life. How many years has our government been not building social housing? The deputies havenТt been solving the problem. Authorities cynically say that itТs important to save hope of the people, meaning the decrease of social tension. Looks like a plot! ItТs important to realize that the same as elections, functioning of the person in a new status needs to be monitored. The same is with distribution of work places and a budget and so on and so forth. The practice has proved the elections to be true profanation. ItТs impossible to improve anything without a civil society and social activity. ItТs interesting to mention that thereТs no a force to protect the young in our city.
- There are active and conscious young people working in YHRG, as I understood.
- IТm proud of them. They are thinking as Europeans do, studying foreign languages to gain the European culture and civilization. They are very sympathetic and care for the society they live in, aspiring to make it better. YHRG is a school of life and a springboard for them. All of them are successful and claimed due to their skills, professions and knowledge. I could call them true citizens. I want to invite young people to our organization where they could find opportunities for self-realization and for serving the society. Initiative is always welcome. I personally do social work altruistically. The thought that I take somebodyТs place which I would concede immediately if got aware that somebody is doing better being paid, is unbearable for me. In my public organization I can embody my understanding of solving a problem, I can work with my adherents on the questions IТm worried about.
- You have mentioned xenophobia and nationalism. How much are they popular in Karelia?
- You wonТt shock anybody by swastika or language of hate in press or life as well as demonstration of racial hate today. The thing is that Russian educational system works little to overcome xenophobic prejudice in the society. ThatТs why weТve decided to organize trainings, seminars and lections for pupils, students and teachers. Moreover, we issue a digest of articles УDemocracy is my choice!Ф because there is only totalitarianism, dictatorship, Nazi or communism in the way we know it on the other side of the scales. Even foreign organization are worried about the real state of affairs concerning understanding and development of democracy, interethnic relationship, cases of xenophobic behavior, racial and national hate here. German fund УThe Memory and the FutureФ has donated us a sum of 5000 euro. The skin movement today is a new kind of disorganized political youth extremist movement. And this should worry our society and our government. According to the dew data 58% of our citizens agree with the nationalistic motto УRussia is for the RussiansФ.
- What will be the digest of articles about?
- There will be popular scientific and publicistic articles, interview, essays, pictures, poems and notes describing authors position concerning the level of development democracy and civil society in Russia as well as following the human rights, realization of constitutional freedoms such as of speech, concession, conviction, social activity of the youth, the problems of interaction of authority and society, the need for the control over the authority, the role of the media and noncommercial organization in the process of democratization; tolerance, development of concurrence, state of affairs in the army, pollution, ethnic conflicts, extending of xenophobia and neo-fascism, the problem Уminority and majorityФ, consumer attitude, immorality, articles contributing to the critical view of the reality, of an analytic and debatable character. the book will be distributed among the libraries and educational institutions of Karekia and some other regions of Russia.
- Where does xenophobia come from?
- Here is a simple example. When you donТt understand a foreign language but some familiar words everything turns to be inaccessible. Due to this selectivity, the speaking person seems not to know other words thus they look like to be defective. But actually it proves only the fact we donТt understand the language. The same thing is with the interethnic relationships. We usually agree only when we understand but we donТt understand much in the other person and that is the reason for them to look defective in our eyes. The main reason for the ethic conflict is always our ignorance. To understand we are to apply some efforts, study much and not everybody likes that. To see the difference is easier than to look for the unity.
- Does your social work help young people to overcome the prejudice?
- I hope so. According to data obtained by the Center of The New Sociology there are more than 55 000 of skinheads in Russia. As Moscow bureau of human rights informs УskinsФ are making 30-40 pogroms annually. The number of attacks because of the racial hate has grown up on 30% in the previous 3 Ц 4 years. Unfortunately we still use a social stigma Уa Caucasian-nationality personФ. A set of negative stereotypes applied to some national group has developed in the most regions of the Russian Federation. These groups, as a rule, are under the nationalistic pressure all over the country and the racist attitude towards them has deep and implanted character. this worrying phenomenon is mentioned in the previous report over the Russian Federation by the EU commissioner of human rights in which is said about Уsuspiciousness if not hate or contempt to those came from the CaucusesФ. We suggest young people to think about these questions and discuss them with us.

The interview was led by Daria Makoveckaya.