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Alexander, Jancis and Ioulia during their presentation…
In early December I had a very interesting week in Moscow. The most disappointing part was my excuse for going, an annual meeting held by the Moscow School for Human Rights that was to focus on the teaching of human rights, cultures of peace and open society. While there were many interesting people at the conference, the arrangements made it difficult for us to learn from each other. It was hard even to meet in a meaningful way, let alone work on common problems by sharing our different experiences. Basically it was a lesson in how NOT to run a conference, and reminded me again how the SiT ethic of playing and sharing and working together allows people to "meet" each other, not just spend some time in the same place.
What can come from such real "meetings" was demonstrated by the best part of my Moscow visit, the wonderful hospitality from SiT people, Alexander Shapiro, Ioulia Gradskova and Albina Pashina. It was from their homes and workplaces, their showing me the city, talking about this and that, and the introductions they made for me that I felt I got as near as one can in a week to having a sense of a city and the times it is going through. I say city, not country, because everyone told me that one does not know Russia if one has only been to Moscow. I would build on this for SiT to say that perhaps one does not know the full meaning of post communist "transition" until one knows Russia. At least from my Moscow experience I felt both the depth and variety of hardship the past 10 years have brought to Russians, the remaining influence of Soviet thinking that is breaking like the ice on spring rivers, but still interfering with the flow, and the legacy of the Gulag that as one writer put it (and Alexander has written about) "lies like perma frost" in the history of most families. On the other side is the energy, resourcefulness, depth of feeling and resilience of those who survive . The subheadings of the past two SiT meetings "Poverty and Resilience" and "Reconciliation and Integration" (as well as the need implied by the main heading Overcoming Violence) seem perhaps to be more intensely part of the Russian recent experience than anywhere else. I cannot say anything useful about the politics and economics that have helped make the Russian intensity of the ‘90’s but highly recommend to people Sale of the Century by Chrystia Freeland. In very readable interesting way you learn who did what, and a lot about why in Russia’s "wild ride to capitalism."
Personal highlights of the week were celebrating Alexander’s birthday with his family; visiting Ioulia’s family and meeting there two Chechnyans, one of whom told the terrible story Susan circulated recently to the network, and both of whom I hope will be in Prague; and visiting "Jaroslava" the women’s hotline for getting help with family violence and its aftermath which Albina runs and Ioulia adds to her many workplaces. Albina has a moving and excellent collection of drawings and paintings made by abused women. Ioulia talked of this Center, and the ideas on which it was based, in her presentation to the Human Rights Conference. A man from the audience asked "Isn’t this in danger of becoming feminism?" The suppressed laughter here and there from the room suggested an excellent debate - if only debate had not been so far from the agenda of the moderator.
Many more stories, but there must be a lot of SiT stuff to compete for the space. Can’t leave though without the following. Alexander arranged for me to talk to his "Psychology in English" group at the University. The topic was cultural differences in what makes people feel valued and good, versus devalued and bad. We talked of the overlapping cultures in Russia today formed by the considerable remains of Soviet Culture, Russian culture, pre and post Soviet, , and Modern Western Culture. I asked what was something that made people feel valued and good in Soviet times. A woman said "The kitchen table conversations." I learned that no-one wanted to talk about "bad" , at least not with a stranger . I asked about feelings towards US "culture" and its effect on Russia and young people. A long silence. A man said "Perhaps they are too polite to tell you!" Perhaps we needed more time around the kitchen table. Can we ever get the money together for SiT to meet in Russia?
Ioulia and Albina in Jaroslavna Center