From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/20/2006 3:14 AM
19.12.2006 12:25 MSK
Nationalists and populists participate in the “March of the Dissenters”
RUSSIA, Moscow. “…We do not consider it right to formulate the aim of the united democratic March of the Dissenters as a struggle with those who “control the market and the purse-strings”, ..it is the “hero of privatization”. The slogans founded on populism and with a clear nationalistic tone, such as those which are in the manifesto “March…”, must not become the uniting slogans of the democratic opposition”, announced Russian human rights activists on the 16 December.

The executive director of the movement “For Human Rights”, Lev Ponomarev, the coordinator of the movement “We”, Roman Dobrokhotov, the representative of the Anti-war Club, Mikhail Kriger and the president of the Youth human rights movement, Andrei Yurov in their announcement noted, in particular, that “We, the undersigned, consider ourselves as supporters of democracy and are prepared to support those who share our belief in the unconditional priority of the rights and freedoms of a person. However, recently we have observed with concern as political forces, which have become or are able to become our members of our cause, are using dubious rhetoric which could potentially create an inaccurate impression of Russian democrats and human rights activists as a whole…

The style itself of the manifesto, which is littered with phrases of the kind “get lost” or “you are nobody here”, creates the impression of an opposition member as being psychologically unbalanced and, possibly, even mentally deranged, and all this when it is precisely rational thought and intellectual superiority which are the main trump cards for the opposition in the struggle with the authoritarian regime of Russia.

Big questions are raised when nationalists such as Petr Miloserdov, organiser of a previous Russian march and a nationalist meeting outside a Georgian school, take part in the “March of the Dissenters” organisation. Mass action is not the aim in itself. . If must not be forgotten that the main task and the one which unites us is the struggle for freedom and a legalised state. Even the desire to act as a single democratic front cannot serve as justification for nationalism and head strong populism because such a front would simply cease to be democratic”.

Information agency PRIMA-News [2006-12-16-Rus-18]
http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2006/12/19/37327.html