An excellent profile on an amazing Russian dissident. Lyudmila M. Alexeyeva is 82 years old and still protesting and demonstrating against Russia's authoritarian government. She has fought for freedom and human rights for decades. By her own count, she has been provoking Russia for 43 years. She has sat through so many KGB interrogations that "she rolls her eyes rather than count them." She was most recently detained on New Year's Eve for leading an unsanctioned protest.
Growing up she experienced her neighbors being arrested during Stalin's purges. When she was 19 years old, she was reported to a Community party secretary for reciting banned poetry. Soon after she turned 40, she worked on a journal that criticized the state. The journal was compiled in secrecy. One time she was hauled in for questioning, and she stuffed eight copies of the manuscript into her bra. On her way to the KGB headquarters for questioning, she would stop to buy a ham sandwich, an eclair, and an orange. At the time, these were delicacies -- even for the investigator "who was headed for a lunch of gray cutlets." Halfway through the interrogation, she would pull out her lunch and lay it on the table. She explained, "They reacted very nervously when they started to smell ham. Then I would start eating the orange, and the aroma would start dissipating through the room. That's how I amused myself. It was a way to play on his nerves."
She immigrated to the United States in 1977; and after living in the U.S. for 16 years, she moved back to Russia in 1993. Russia was now a different place. Human rights organizations could work out of offices and publish their work online, and it was all legal. "New fears have replaced the old ones, though. Ms. Alexeyeva has received death threats, and last year she buried two friends who were killed. Legal risks are unpredictable, too. While Soviet dissidents could strategize to protect themselves -- knowing, for example, that prosecutors needed at least two witnesses -- their tricks are of no use in a post-Soviet justice system, where cases can be wholly fabricated, she said." She explained, "Now they do what they want. There were rules then. They were idiotic rules, but there were rules, and if you knew them you could defend yourself."
Answering critiques that many Russians don't get very involved in protests and are apathetic, Ms. Alexeyeva explains that she believes that Russians are passive because they are poor, and things will not change as long as they remain so. "They are completely not stupid people; they understand everything. They just have no power to act. They have no power to even think about these issues, to analyze them, never mind being active."
She works hard to get her message out, especially to the West. During the New Year's Eve rally (these rallies are regularly held on the 31st day of the month, to exercise their right to freedom of assembly, which is guaranteed in the Russian Constitution). At the last rally, everyone but Ms. Alexeyeva was arrested. This time, she was detained with 50 others, who were put in buses. Within 40 minutes, the police realized who they had detained. They opened the doors and said Ms. Alexeyeva was free to go. She refused. And by that time, photographs were shown around the world of an old, frail woman looking up apparently in terror at a policeman (photo). The next day, Russian leaders received angry statements form the U.S. National Security Council and the president of the European Parliament. Paul Goldberg, who helped Ms. Alexeyeva write her memoir, The Thaw Generation: Coming of Age in the Post-Stalin Era, said he laughed upon hearing the news about what happened on New Year's Eve. "They should actually print out pictures of Lyudmila Alexeyeva and hand them out to all the law enforcement authorities with a note saying 'Do not arrest this person.' It is not fun to tangle with this person. She will make you feel like dirt, and she will not do it gratuitously. She will do it because you are dirt."(Full Story)
Dear Washington Post, what did I say about you trying to be funny with headlines? The World High Wire Championships are taking place in Seoul, South Korea. Participants cross the Han River on a high wire. The Washington Post headline: "Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo." That is PUNishing! (Full Story)
The New Jersey legislature has passed a bill that would legalize medical marijuana. Governor Jon Corzine said he would sign it into law before leaving office next Tuesday. Under the new law, patients diagnosed with severe illnesses like cancer, AIDS, and muscular dystrophy will have access to marijuana grown and distributed through state-monitored dispensaries. It is expected that within nine months patients (with a marijuana prescription from their doctors) will be able to access medical marijuana at one of six locations. Once it's signed into law, New Jersey will become the 14th state (and one of the few on the East Coast) to legalize medical marijuana. (Full Story)
No comments:
Post a Comment