Leif Kihlsten in memoriam

Yesterday, news broke that the popular Swedish Russia expert and lieutenant colonel Leif Kihlsten has passed away at the age of 66 after a period of illness. Kihlsten was an officer true to his profession, and for long served within Swedish military intelligence. He was also a frequent commentator on Russia and the CIS in Swedish media.

The news of Leif's death has struck the Swedish East European analytical community with sorrow. It is no exaggeration to say that he was very well-liked within the community. Combining humour and wit with deep knowledge about and enthusiasm for his subject, many of us have been inspired by him throughout the years. He was a true story-teller who could fascinate his audience by the most unexpected and still ingeneous parallels on phenomena within our field of study. Leif will be truly missed and his memory cherished by those of us who had the privilege of knowing him as a friend or colleague within our community.

Moscow Has Lost Its Pride

Yesterday, thirteen years had passed since the law prohibiting homosexuality was abolished in Russia. Yesterday, Russia's first pride parade was crushed by police. The event was carried through, despite an official ban on a LGBT-demonstration in the streets of Moscow. However, it seems that this opportunity to advance homosexual rights in Russia was lost by the Pride organisers.

The Moscow Pride parade was preceded by a prolonged legal battle with authorities for the basic right of assembly and demonstration. Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was among those that at an early stage tried to prevent Moscow Pride. This comes as no surprise, as the LGBT-movement has all the more become a target of populist politicians. Less than a month ago, right-wing demonstrators prevented a gay party in Moscow.

So, what happened in Moscow on Saturday? In short, organisers decided to carry through the Moscow Pride march, despite a Friday court decision to prohibit it. In view of the legal battle and anticipated violent right-wing protests, the turnout was small - 50-100 people at the most. As expected, they were confronted by a much larger right-wing anti-demonstration of skinheads, Orthodox clergy, and general reactionaries. Also, more than 1,000 riot policemen oversaw the parade. Thus, it was the general setup for running the gauntlet for gay rights in Central and Eastern Europe, as witnessed over the last year with gay events in e.g. Warzaw and Kiev. The few brave LGBT-rights demonstrators started out facing the general bigot scorn and phsyical abuse expected in these parts of the world. All things alike, this is however where similarities ended.

Approaching the Red Square, Pride organisers decided to go along with plans of laying down flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, thus equating the fight for gay rights with the victims of the fight against fascism in WWII - Russia's Great Patriotic War. This was a provocation that Russian authorities could not accept, and the tumultuous reactions to this attempt led to the arrest of some 40 gay activists as well as 30 anti-demonstrators. Thus, the Moscow Pride parade was dispersed by riot police, under the close supervision of international media. Organisers must have been aware of the effect this was destined to provoke. Controversial actions at this national memorial next to always lead to stern police reaction.

Having stated the facts, there is reason to question whether the Pride manifestation at the Tomb was in the best interest of the Russian LGBT-movement. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is Russia's most revered national shrine to the approximately 20 million soviet citizens who perished in WWII. Its fundamental significance to the relatives of victims of fascist oppression is something that goes far beyond politics. Therefore, any attempts at exploiting the monument for purposes other than commemorating the victims are regarded a grave sacrilege by most Russians.

However, it is everyone's right to commerorate the victims of fascism at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This right is even more important for homosexuals to be allowed exercising, not least while gay and lesbian rights are human rights. Fascist crimes against gay people during WWII were especially heinous, why LGBT-victims should be rightly revered. Commemorating gay victims of fascism deserves greater attention, and the issue has until recently largely been overlooked by historians and society alike.

So, what was the purpose of laying down flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Was it "a symbolic protest to equate the struggle for gay rights with the struggle against fascism in World War II," as BBC reports, or was it to commemorate LGBT-victims of fascist aggression? Little evidence to support the latter is regrettably found. Being aware of walking a thin line concerning a discussion on the confines of exercising one's rigths, the question still deserves to be put, what the motive for this action was.

Whereas there is no doubt whatsoever of the right of access for all to a national monument like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, exercising this right may prove disastrous to gay rights in Russia. If the intent of Moscow Pride organisers were to commemorate gay victims of WWII fascist oppression, this might well have aroused public sympathy. The right of commemoration is cherished among Russians, and focussing on gay victims could have brought a long overdue Russian moral self-scrutiny on equal rights in this regard to the public agenda.

The alternative of instead equating the struggle for gay rights with the struggle against fascism, may to the contrary well have played into the hands of anti-gay forces in Russia. As long as the media version of events is the equation of struggling for gay rights with struggling against fascism, Russia's LGBT-movement stands to lose from this action. That there is little difference between the two, regrettably does not much matter, as the pedagogical task of explaining this is too great in comparison to the possibilities of actually doing so.

The overall effect for the Russian LGBT-movement thus seems to be in the negative. Thus, already before the parade, gay.ru reports that it is a very controversial issue also within the Russian LGBT-movement. One gay activist's statement is telling: "This gay parade is actually making our life much tougher." Leading Russian liberal, Grigori Yavlinsky, has also turned his back on LGBT-rights in view of recent debate.

Desperation brings desperate measures, and from this perspective, Moscow Pride's action may be understandable. The situation of gay people in Russia is close to desperate. Russia is a fundamentally homophobic society. A recent opinion poll shows that an overwhelming 73% of Russians are opposed to homosexual relations. Some 43% think that homosexuality should not only be criminalised but also penalised. Another poll showed that some 80% of Muscovites were opposed to the 2006 Moscow Pride festival. These are indeed harrowing figures on the situation for Russian gays.

Thirteen years ago, homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia. Still, every year the homophobic lobby in the Russian parliament proposes that it should be criminalised again. Until now, a small majority has voted against such proposals, but the margin has narrowed in recent years. Historically, homosexuality was outlawed in Tsarist Russia. After the revolution, the communists legalised LGBT-relations, regarding the opposite "bourgeois prejudice." However, as early as in 1933, Stalin reimposed the ban, by introducing the infamous article 121 in the soviet penal code. Thus, homosexual relations could be punished by up to five years imprisonment.

Since article 121 was abolished by president Yeltsin in 1993, liberalisation has regrettably come to a halt. Homosexuality and LGBT-rights are rarely discussed in public, and these issues are in practice suppressed by the tacit norms of Russian society. It is an alarming fact that gays are still regarded as perverts or psychically ill by most ordinary Russians. The 73% opposition against gay relations tells a lot about the situation.

In this perspective, it was a brave and wise decision by organisers to go through with the Pride festival. They knew what to expect in words and violence, and still they did it. Giving in at this point would have meant that authorities and society never would have respected the equal rights of homosexuals. The long and arduous struggle for LGBT-rights in Russia has come to be epitomised by the 2006 Moscow Pride. International support has been massive and extensive.

This was a pride moment that was too precious to be lost for Russia's LGBT-movement. It was a moment when Russian authorities should have looked down in shame for denying the people their constitutional and instrinsic rights. It was also a moment when Russian gays should have looked up in pride for trying to uphold the very same rights. Instead, the opportunity to exploit international support and improve public sympathy domestically was lost. The action at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was simply carrying the argument too far. The result was a tremendous anticlimax, which may negatively reverberate for Russian gays for years to come. Moscow lost its pride, but so it seems did also the Russian LGBT-movement. It is unlikely that Russian authorities will allow Moscow Pride parades in the foreseeable future. In 2010, the Russian LGBT-movement will host the XXV conference of the International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA). This is a great success for the movement, but the question is if there will be much progress for Russian gays until then. Conditions truly seem discouraging.

GUAM leaves CIS for ODED

Among this plethora of abbreviations, leaders of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova (GUAM), met in Kiyev earlier this week to agree on forming the regional Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM, Ukrainian Journal reports. In effect, this means that the four countries are about to pull out of the CIS, as previously speculated upon.

Formation of a new organisation is perhaps an overstatement of the results actually reached at the Kiyev summit. In essence, it simply establishes the final metamorhosis of the old GUUAM into a new GUAM, this time definitely closing the door to renegade member Uzbekistan. Thus, the GUAM-states will now proceed in cooperation within economy and free trade to form a bloc of peace, stability, and prosperity throughout the region. The Kiyev Declaration on Establishment of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM, states as its aim "the enhancement of democracy, adherence to the rule of law, respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, economic development of States and assuring of security and stability." Great emphasis is also put on the importance to safeguard "sustainable supply of energy resources."

The headquarters of ODED-GUAM will be in Kiyev. Its rival regional organisation - the CIS - leads a fading existence from its offices in Belarus capital Minsk. As the GUAM-states now seem destined to withdraw from the CIS, the Commonwealth may however gain a renaissance. With less internal opposition, Russia may want to use the CIS more as a tool in its policy towards the near abroad than was previously the case due to CIS-membership of the GUAM-states. Whether Moscow opts for such a solution is however far from clear, while Russia may prefer a unilateral policy towards its lost empire. What is becoming strikingly clear however is that reform-oriented nations of the former Soviet Union are forming a cordon sanitaire against Russia to curve Moscow's influence over its near abroad.

Belarus Bans Helsinki Committee

Yesterday, a voice of freedom, justice, and democracy was silenced in Belarus. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee was finally banned by the Lukashenka regime, having fought a long and uneven struggle in defence of Human Rights. This leaves the people of Belarus without a champion for the individual rights and freedoms enjoyed by the bulk of European citizens.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court decision to illegalise the Helsinki Committe was announced by Belarusian Ministry of Justice. Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president, why the decision to ban the Committee must be seen in this context. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee has fought a consistent and continuous battle for the observance of Human Rights in Belarus. Since last autumn, its activities have however gradually petered out in view of the regime's increasingly oppressive measures against it, drastically curtailing conditions for its mere existence. It therefore comes as no surprise that the Lukashenka regime now has taken the final step of closing down the committee by outlawing it.

The pretext for the ban are accusations of Committee irregularities during the 2004 parliamentary elections, and breach of laws regulating NGO activities in Belarus. Last autumn, the Helsinki Committe was fined some 75,000 USD for tax evasion. Needless to say, most of the charges brought against the Committee have been fabricated by the regime. The ban testifies to Lukashenka's fear of the power of human rights and individual freedoms. He is probably right in this fear, as norms and values have previously proven a mighty power to change the minds of people in Central and Eastern Europe. The struggle for human rights was a contributing factor to the demise of the communist East bloc. Creating awareness of these issues led people to realise that: "We can no longer live like this - we have rights."

Little did Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev realise that values and not weapons would become the crucial issue, when he in 1975 approved the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Its third basket, dealing with individual freedoms, laid the foundation of a rights movement that was to contribute to the downfall of the Soviet Union and put an end to political oppression in the Eastern bloc. In 1976, the Moscow Helsinki Group was formed to make the Soviet Union observe its commitments from Helsinki, inspiring dissidents throughout the East bloc to follow in Czechoslovakia - Charta 77 - and in Poland in 1977. The inspiration from Helsinki initiated a movement today associated with names such as Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Vaclav Havel, and fellow dissidents like Yelena Bonner, Adam Michnik, and Jacek Kuron.

The Helsinki Final Act to this day stands out as a beacon for freedom and enlightenment in the eyes of the oppressed throughout the Eurasian hemisphere. By linking peace and security with the respect for human rights, soft security in the 1980s made the difference for change whereas hard security spiralled into an arms race threatening our very existence. Instead, by the recognition of universal rights, humanity became the salvation for mankind. Today, peace is secured but the Helsinki rights live on - as self-evident and inalienable as those of the American bill of rights.

When Lukashenka now bans the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, it is because he understands that it is a threat to his power. What he does not realise is that ideas, norms, and values can neither be suppressed nor banned, while they rest in the minds of people. Lukashenka may deprive the people of their rights, but he cannot silence the voices of the people calling for freedom and justice. Instead, robbing the people of their rights only leaves them with a feeling that they are bereaved of what is intrinsically theirs. It only serves to further spur them to better know and act upon their rights and duties, and by exercising them bring about change. It is with this in mind, one realises that the ban of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee is yet another step towards a level of repression that in the end will produce a counter-reaction. Sooner or later the people will rise to the challenge of reinstating freedom and democracy in Belarus. That day, come when it may, will inevitably mean the downfall of Lukashenka and his dictatorial accomplices.

Belarus, human rights, Helsinki Committee, ban

Russia: A New Go at Defence Reform

Russia is apparently having a new go at trying to reform its defunct military. So at least, BBC reports on Wednesday. Accordingly, "Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has announced sweeping plans to modernise the country's armed forces."

Ivanov now declares that the number of conscripts will be reduced, whereas conscription per se will remain, although the model now seems to be leaning towards 3-year contracts. Attempts at creating a professional army have previously failed. Also, some 30,000 auxiliary jobs will be cut, which is in line with international trends of military reform. What perhaps is most important is Ivanov's announcement that he will cut the number of generals and admirals by some 300 in the coming years.

Cutting down the high brass may be the key to truly initiating reform of the Russian armed forces. Ivanov has for long fought an uneven battle with the General Staff, but in recent years he seems to have got the upper hand. Being the first civilian defence minister, he has met with much opposition by the military, not least because of his KGB-background.

Renewed efforts at reform also comes in response to widespread public discontent with penalism and bullying in the army. If Ivanov is to become a serious candidate for the 2008 presidential elections, he must succeed in reforming the military both materially and spiritually. Increasing defence expenditure is however not the main solution to the problem. Changing the culture is. There is simply no idea of pouring more money into the black hole of Russia's defunct military. Getting rid of the human obstacles therefore seems as a necessary first step towards reform. A committment to development instead of maintenance can only succeed if all forces unite around a common vision on the military future of Russia. As long as the old brass stays on, reform is mission impossible. Reform needs mind as much as money.

Russia, defence, military, reform, Ivanov