Thirteenth issue of the monthly Chechen Society Today releasedPRAGUE, August 30 - The thirteenth issue of the monthly Chechenskoye obshchestvo segodnya (Chechen Society Today) has been released.
In this issue of the magazine, the emphasis is on contributions made by Chechens to Russian - and Soviet - political, social, economic and cultural life, including an interview with Chechen correspondent Khasan Kagermanov, who recently took part in a tour of China by Russian journalists, and a profile of Visradi Anasov, the new director of the Gazpromregiongaz energy company, which recently changed its name to Altaigazprom.
There is a study of the life and work of the Chechen-born Komsomol Prize-winning singer and songwriter Adnan Shakhbulatov, who combined Chechen folksong with Russian classical music, and set texts by Lermontov and Esenin, and of the Chechen dancer Makhmud Esambayev, who was a favourite of Leonid Brezhnev and a member of the Supreme Soviet. The Chechen sculptor Ilyes Tatayev is shown in photographs taken at the recent opening of a large exhibition of his work in the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, and the accompanying article stresses the friendly links between Tatayev and the Kadyrov family, father and son. The exhibition was timed to coincide with an official visit to France by President Ramzan Kadyrov.
Other notable features of the issue include a vivid historical report by Tatyana Gantimirova, backed up by firsthand interviews with eyewitnesses, on the effects of the first Chechen war on the republic's agriculture; the conclusion of Edilbek Matsiyev's study of the history of the Sharo-Argun area of Chechnya; a short outline by historian Indarbi Byzov of the role played by North Caucasus mountaineers during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78; and a report on two projects being undertaken by the Chechen community in Belgium, focused on integration with the host community through jobs and labour, and on the unification of the various Chechen migrant groups and organizations in the country.
The editorial section concentrates on the ascendancy of the anti-immigrant DPNI party in Russia, which was behind the disturbances in Kondopoga and elsewhere, noting that Chechens have rarely if ever been responsible for starting the inter-ethnic disputes that have recently led to violence and an increase in anti-Chechen feeling in Russia. Meanwhile, Chechen human rights ombudsman Nurdi Nukhadzhiyev is under fire from Chechen prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov, for reasons that are not too hard to fathom, as a thought-provoking article reveals. The issue concludes with some fairly extensive coverage of the contemporary Chechen football scene.
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/T)
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