AN NATIONAL CONFERENCE ENTITLED "ON THE PATH TO A CIVIL FORUM" WILL TAKE PLACE IN MOSCOW TODAY. A NUMBER OF NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS WHICH HAVE RECENTLY BECOME A SIGNIFICANT FORCE WILL PARTICIPATE IN IT. THIS IS PART OF PREPARATIONS FOR THE CIVIL FORUM IN NOVEMBER.

A national conference entitled "On the path to a civil forum" will take place at the President Hotel in Moscow today. Sergei Abakumov, chairman of the Civil Society group and Social Recognition Foundation, told us about the aims and objectives.

Sergei Abakumov: The conference is devoted to discussing problems of interaction between civil society institutions and every branch of power. It is a sort of finishing stage for them, of the preparation for a Civil Forum that is to gather in the Kremlin in late November. One can't but acknowledge that there is a new political reality gradually taking shape in today's Russia: citizens stop setting hopes on the state resolving important questions of their vital functions and the life of the country. Today, we are facing a new and no less difficult task - choosing the future for society, in which the greatest emphasis would be on equal cooperation of the state and society for the well-being of all Russian citizens.

Civil society in Russia is going through the period of formation - and the most rapidly developing are organizations that render social help to little secured population groups, communities of ecologists and rights watchers, women's and youth movements, scientific, cultural and educational centers, interest clubs, charity institutions - it is impossible to count every form of self-organization of free citizens capable of self-dependently solving numerous problems life sets to them. Among them, habits of democratic supervision of government are formed and experience of social innovations is accumulated. According to certain calculations, the number of people active in non- governmental organizations amounts to one million, while the social, legal, medical, cultural, educational, and other services rendered by them embrace about 20 million people. Today, unions and associations of Russian citizens have indeed become a serious force. This, by the way, was noted by President Putin, who met representatives of non- commercial social organizations on June 12. For me personally, this meeting was significant. Our organization was created five years ago, but then the state had no concern for us. I would not claim that President Putin has fewer problems today that his predecessor. However, it was Putin who first came forward with the idea to establish a constructive dialogue between civil society and the government. In one of the statements preceding this meeting, he particularly noted that any initiative, any concept or program coming from the state would be extremely ineffective - or even doomed to fail - without real support from citizens and the whole of society.

Question: Will the "voice" of your conference be heard?

Sergei Abakumov: Its participants are going to address every social and civil association, as well as representatives of every branch and level of government, with an appeal for broadening the dialogue and cooperation with institutions of civil society. It is an open secret that sometimes socially relevant civil initiatives of individual citizens encounter indifference or even aversion from representatives of government and the bureaucracy, both local and federal.

In their turn, civil society institutions will be able to more actively fill niches unoccupied by the government. I will single out important spheres such as protection of consumer rights, education of the young and upbringing of children, social initiatives in environmental, cultural-historical and other spheres, and charity. By the way, as far as charity is concerned, it is the state that ought to take steps to encourage it. Foreign investors, for example, cannot understand why they have to pay customs duties on wheelchairs meant a s a gift for Russian disabled children. Why, it's absolutely absurd; but our legislation has not yet responded to this. All these legislative absurdities - to give many Russian business leaders their due, they're not put off. There are many ready to help the destitute. Thanks to this, we regularly hold charity fundraisers, for example in aid of Chernobyl clean-up workers, or participants in the anti- terrorist operation in the Caucasus... The scope for such activity is very great.

(Translated by P. Pikhnovsky)

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