#3
Obshchaya Gazeta
November 22-28, 2001
CIVIL SOCIETY LINES UP FOR DISPLAY TO THE PRESIDENT
An interview with Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky
Author: Anatoly Kostyukov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
ON WEDNESDAY A CIVIL FORUM OPENED IN MOSCOW. THE STATE KREMLIN PALACE WAS CROWDED WITH ABOUT 5,000 PEOPLE, FROM ALMOST 3,000 NON- GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS RUSSIA. PRESIDENT PUTIN WARMLY GREETED THEM.
Question: Mr. Yavlinsky, we heard that the Civil Forum was initially an initiative of the Yabloko movement, which was intercepted. So actually, it is an amended version of your "Democratic Conference".
Grigory Yavlinsky: I do not think so. At least the Civil Forum has not interfered with the agenda of the Democratic Conference. Soon we will hold the next meeting and we are working in accordance with the agenda we had taken from the very beginning. The Democratic Conference is a constant dialogue between democratic political parties and civil organizations, while the Kremlin forum is so far a one-time occasion. If the initiators of this PR action came to the president after September 11, I am sure he would advise them to think about more serious things. However, the forum has been prepared since the summer, after the NTV scandal, after the severe criticism of our actions in Chechnya from all over the world, and the visit of Kim Jong Il.... At that time we needed something to improve the international image of the Russian president and it was decided to present him as a constructor of the civil society. However, since the September 11 events, everything has been all right with the international image of the Russian president and this big performance became unnecessary. But since the forum had been announced, funded, and prepared already, naturally it was inconvenient to cancel it.
Question: Why don't you want to believe that it is a real attempt of the authorities to start a dialogue with the civil society structures?
Yavlinsky: Because I cannot understand what dialogue can take place when five thousand people are gathered in one place, who represent the greatest majority of all kinds of various interests. For instance, there are bee-keeping, rabbit-breeding, scuba diving and so on societies that undoubtedly are necessary and useful and need some state support. But there are civil formations whose objective is to control the activities of the authority. For instance, right- protecting organizations, which have very peculiar relations with the state. If the authorities were willing to listen to the right- protectors, they would give them an hour of open air on a state TV network. However, they do not listen to the right-protectors, their reports are not read, their congresses are not attended, but they are invited to the Kremlin to a forum. Is this a dialogue?
I am convinced that it is impossible to achieve any objectives of constructing a modern and competitive country without a support from the civil society. And I have no idea what are the goals of organizers of this forum. For instance, Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko also likes to lean on the public. But he has a special, "advanced public" that was selected for communicating with the president. And the latter can always refer to their opinion in arguments with his opponents. So, I do not know, perhaps the organizers of the forum have the same goal: to substitute the civil society for "advanced public". I do not believe they will be able to do so, as among the participants of the forum there are many experienced people and they are hardly likely to allow anyone to manipulate them.
I hope that sensible people will not take the Civil Forum very seriously. It is a one-time action that will end, while the issues of cooperation between civil organizations will remain.
(Translated by Arina Yevtikhova )
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