Seventeenth issue of the monthly Chechen Society Today releasedPRAGUE, February 21 - The seventeenth issue of the monthly Chechenskoye obshchestvo segodnya (Chechen Society Today) has been released.
An editorial focuses on recent statements by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who has taken exception to the large number of portraits of him to be found all over the city of Grozny. "Don't just hang them up anywhere," he is reported to have said. "Even I have felt embarrassed." Another introductory article looks at the recent Chechen presidential cabinet reshuffle, which the editorial says was mainly connected with economic and social development . There is an examination of the results of a recent sociological survey on xenophobia in Russia, in which almost one quarter of respondents said that they felt hostility towards representatives of one ethnic group or another.
In an article about recent anti-Chechen violence in Kazakhstan, Said-Khamzat Gerikhanov ponders the tragic irony of the fact that Chechens have traditionally seen the country as their second homeland, and points out that much of the recent trouble appears to have been stirred up by non-Kazakh outsiders. Another reflective feature considers the modern situation in Chechnya from a historical perspective, contrasting the experiences of the 19th century Russian military there as portrayed in Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time with the contemporary phenomenon of figures like Colonel Budanov, who was found guilty of murdering a young Chechen girl.
Other reports and essays in the issue include an account of harassment of North Caucasus people by Moscow police in the run-up to the December State Duma elections, a study of the unemployment situation in the republic, which is aggravated by widespread corruption among officials, and the so far half-hearted attempts by the local authorities to tackle it, and an in-depth look at the recent shelling by Russian troops of the village of Gekhi in southern Chechnya - a grotesque event claimed by the soldiers who took part in it to be a "mistake".
The issue concludes with the usual varied selection of articles and items on Chechen history and culture, and one particularly interesting feature on the meaning of Chechen village place names.
Visit this page to see and download the issue.
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The black-and-white Russian-language publication Chechen Society Today is a joint project of Prague Watchdog and the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, which is being implemented thanks to support from the US-based National Endowment for Democracy. The journal’s aim is to strengthen Chechen civil society, promote independent media in Chechnya, and provide objective information to Chechens living in Russia and Europe.
A thousand copies are published in Moscow; additional copies are printed and distributed by Prague Watchdog for Chechen exiles in Europe. In addition, a printer-friendly PDF version can be downloaded from the PW (http://journal.watchdog.cz) and CJES websites (http://chechnya.cjes.ru). Free e-mail subscription to the PDF version is also available.
Prague Watchdog welcomes proposals from both organizations and individuals for participation in this project, especially the distribution of the paper version of the journal. (D,B,T)
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