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ARA National Convention in New York on May 6
American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights - 5.3.12 communication about 5.6.12 event - JRL 2012-81

American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights
ARA National Convention in New York on May 6
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Xenia Grubstein, 646 309 0643
Email: xenia.grubstein@gmail.com, headquarters@amrusrights.org

Russian-speaking Americans and their allies - supporters of the movement for democratic change in Russia - will gather for their first national convention in New York, on May 6, 2012

May 3, New York. American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights, Inc. (ARA) will be holding its national convention on Sunday, May 6, at 12pm, at 55 Exchange Place in New York. The title of the convention is "Russian-Speaking America on the Rise: Awakening and Empowerment Through the 'Fair Vote for Russia' Movement. Participants will discuss the effect that this movement has had on the Russian-speaking community in the United States.

Following the convention, participants witll hold a rally in support of the massive protest actions happening on the same day, the day before Vladimir Putin's presidential inauguration. The rally will start outside of the convention place at 3pm and will continue at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN (136 East 67 Street) at 4pm.

The Association was founded in February 2012 by the participants in the rallies for fair elections and for the release of political prisoners in Russia. These rallies took place between December 2011 and March 2012 in Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. The founding of ARA was greeted by a video message from Ludmila Alexeyeva, Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group and Member of Russia's Presidential Council on Civil Society Development and Human Rights (the video will be shown at the convention). ARA currently has representatives or affiliates in 19 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Representatives of ARA partners from the Coalition of Russian-Speaking Organizations for Civil & Human Rights - including Institute of Modern Russia; Democratic Russia Committee; Russian-Speaking Community Council of Manhattan & the Bronx; International Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners and Victims of the Communist Regime; Wake Up Russia; and Fair Vote for Russia regional groups - will also take part in the event.

The convention shall discuss ARA's activities in support of the congressional action to replace the Jackson-Vanick Amendment with Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. It will also consider the situation with the payment of pensions by post-Soviet governments to their former employees currently residing in the United States and ARA position on the H.R. 2494: Former Soviet Union State Pension Fairness Act of 2011.

Speakers at the convention will include prominent leaders of Russia's civil and human rights movement speaking by video from Moscow, as well as the Association's founders and leaders. Speakers will also include Alexey Semyonov, President of The Andrei Sakharov Foundation; Dr. Alexander Bolonkin, former Soviet political prisoner and subsequently senior researcher at NASA; and Andrew Grigorenko, President of the General Petro Grigorenko Foundation.

To inquire about participation, please write to headquarters@amrusrights.org.

---------

Convention program (subject to further changes)

Note: Participants will speak in Russian or in English at their discretion. Limited interpretation will be provided

12:00 pm - Video greeting by Ludmila Alexeyeva and welcoming remarks by Dmitri Glinski, ARA Executive Director
Remarks by Association founders and leaders, friends and partners
Alexander Militarev, Russian-Speaking Community in America: The State of Affairs by December 2011
Xenia Grubstein, Fair Vote for Russia Rallies and Movement
Dmitri Glinski, Why We Need a U.S.-Wide Advocacy Organization? Our Strategies and Goals
Alex Kodner, Our Association and Community Building: Beyond Advocacy and Politics
Alexey Semenov, Human Rights in Today's Russia and the Sakharov Legacy
Alexander Bolonkin, Civil Rights for the Senior Generation: Pensions for ex-Soviet Citizens, Compensations for Former Political Prisoners
Andrey Piontkovsky, What Russian-speaking Americans Can Do To Help Change Russia (by video from Moscow)
Natalia Pelevina, Our Campaign Against Corrupt Russian Officials (by video from Moscow)
Pavel Ivlev, Institute for Modern Russia's Research Agenda and the Russian-Speaking Community
Andrew Grigorenko, Our Shared Human Rights Legacies Today

1:15pm - Lunch break
1:45pm - Remarks by Association coordinators and partners from other cities
2:25pm - General Discussion
2:55 - Closing Remarks (Xenia Grubstein)
3:00 pm - Leaving for the rally of solidarity with the civil and human rights movement in Russia

Keywords: U.S.-Russian Relations - Russia

 

American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights
ARA National Convention in New York on May 6
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Xenia Grubstein, 646 309 0643
Email: xenia.grubstein@gmail.com, headquarters@amrusrights.org

Russian-speaking Americans and their allies - supporters of the movement for democratic change in Russia - will gather for their first national convention in New York, on May 6, 2012

May 3, New York. American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights, Inc. (ARA) will be holding its national convention on Sunday, May 6, at 12pm, at 55 Exchange Place in New York. The title of the convention is "Russian-Speaking America on the Rise: Awakening and Empowerment Through the 'Fair Vote for Russia' Movement. Participants will discuss the effect that this movement has had on the Russian-speaking community in the United States.

Following the convention, participants witll hold a rally in support of the massive protest actions happening on the same day, the day before Vladimir Putin's presidential inauguration. The rally will start outside of the convention place at 3pm and will continue at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN (136 East 67 Street) at 4pm.

The Association was founded in February 2012 by the participants in the rallies for fair elections and for the release of political prisoners in Russia. These rallies took place between December 2011 and March 2012 in Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. The founding of ARA was greeted by a video message from Ludmila Alexeyeva, Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group and Member of Russia's Presidential Council on Civil Society Development and Human Rights (the video will be shown at the convention). ARA currently has representatives or affiliates in 19 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Representatives of ARA partners from the Coalition of Russian-Speaking Organizations for Civil & Human Rights - including Institute of Modern Russia; Democratic Russia Committee; Russian-Speaking Community Council of Manhattan & the Bronx; International Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners and Victims of the Communist Regime; Wake Up Russia; and Fair Vote for Russia regional groups - will also take part in the event.

The convention shall discuss ARA's activities in support of the congressional action to replace the Jackson-Vanick Amendment with Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. It will also consider the situation with the payment of pensions by post-Soviet governments to their former employees currently residing in the United States and ARA position on the H.R. 2494: Former Soviet Union State Pension Fairness Act of 2011.

Speakers at the convention will include prominent leaders of Russia's civil and human rights movement speaking by video from Moscow, as well as the Association's founders and leaders. Speakers will also include Alexey Semyonov, President of The Andrei Sakharov Foundation; Dr. Alexander Bolonkin, former Soviet political prisoner and subsequently senior researcher at NASA; and Andrew Grigorenko, President of the General Petro Grigorenko Foundation.

To inquire about participation, please write to headquarters@amrusrights.org.

---------

Convention program (subject to further changes)

Note: Participants will speak in Russian or in English at their discretion. Limited interpretation will be provided

12:00 pm - Video greeting by Ludmila Alexeyeva and welcoming remarks by Dmitri Glinski, ARA Executive Director
Remarks by Association founders and leaders, friends and partners
Alexander Militarev, Russian-Speaking Community in America: The State of Affairs by December 2011
Xenia Grubstein, Fair Vote for Russia Rallies and Movement
Dmitri Glinski, Why We Need a U.S.-Wide Advocacy Organization? Our Strategies and Goals
Alex Kodner, Our Association and Community Building: Beyond Advocacy and Politics
Alexey Semenov, Human Rights in Today's Russia and the Sakharov Legacy
Alexander Bolonkin, Civil Rights for the Senior Generation: Pensions for ex-Soviet Citizens, Compensations for Former Political Prisoners
Andrey Piontkovsky, What Russian-speaking Americans Can Do To Help Change Russia (by video from Moscow)
Natalia Pelevina, Our Campaign Against Corrupt Russian Officials (by video from Moscow)
Pavel Ivlev, Institute for Modern Russia's Research Agenda and the Russian-Speaking Community
Andrew Grigorenko, Our Shared Human Rights Legacies Today

1:15pm - Lunch break
1:45pm - Remarks by Association coordinators and partners from other cities
2:25pm - General Discussion
2:55 - Closing Remarks (Xenia Grubstein)
3:00 pm - Leaving for the rally of solidarity with the civil and human rights movement in Russia


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