Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Wed, 29 Oct 1997 09:52:34 -0800 (PST)
CCSI presents excerpts from the Agency for Social Information (ASI) e-mail
information bulletin. Translated from Russian by CCSI volunteer Alyssa
Deutschler. For more information on how to receive ASI's bulletin
regularly, contact:
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AGENTSTVO SOTSIALNOI INFORMATSII
Kutuzovskyi pr. 22 pod. 14a,
Moscow, 121151
Tel./fax: (095) 249-3989
E-mail: [email protected]
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ASI - No. 31
In this issue:
* Russian Prisons and Camps will be Represented on the Internet
* League of Women Voters Opens an Office in St. Petersburg
* NGOs Active in the Sphere of Small Business Protest New Tax Legislation
* The Elderly Should Have the Right to Choose Between Private and State
Rest Homes
* * * * * * * * *
Russian Prisons and Camps will be
Represented on the Internet
In an effort to bring world attention to the disastrous situation of
Russian prisoners and, perhaps, to find additional funds to remedy the
present situation, the humanitarian foundation "ZEKA-Support" has begun a
project to create a WWW page (note: ZEK is a Russian acronym meaning
"prisoner"), with help from the "Internet-Capitol" server. "ZEKA-Support"
has already posted letters and confessions, requests and complaints, poems
and pictures from prisoners to their site, making the materials accessible
to millions of people via the global information network. The goal of the
project is to provide the clearest picture possible of conditions in
prisons and allow both the prisoners themselves and the prison
administration to speak out, so that the greatest number of people can
find out about the problems of the Russian penal system. To accomplish
this goal, the foundation has turned to prisoners in Russian prisons and
camps. Their declaration states, "Over the years the Russian prison has
been and still remains the most closed institution in the world. Only a
few fragments of information allow one to see the level of poverty and
lawlessness which has befallen those citizens that the government decided
to "correct" and re-educate. Hunger, overpopulation, mass unemployment,
epidemics of tuberculosis became the normal way of life for people in
prison."
The "ZEKA-Support" site contains a request for prisoners, who are
approaching parole and are able to work ,to send the foundation
information on their profession, age, and date of release. Those who have
already been released but, contrary to Federation law, have not been
issued a passport or been allowed to return to their former place of
residence can also appeal to the foundation.
A notice at the site is also directed to workers in prison administration:
"We are aware of what harsh conditions you are obliged to work in. A debt
of over two trillion (rubles) owed for provisions, electricity, medicine,
and building materials caused by a lack of financing from the state budget
as well as unemployment does not allow you to fully carry out your duties
to maintain the convicts. Tell us what equipment your institutions have,
and what products and in what quantities they can produce."
The project has made provisions for a "connection back;" that is, each
person who turns to the group will receive an answer or will have the
opportunity to hire a lawyer. Those who have been released will get help
finding work, and correctional facilities will receive orders for their
products.
Address for the "ZEKA-Support" Foundation : 117321 Moscow, a/ya 86.
Internet address: http://WWW.DATA.RU for the "Internet-Capital" server.
Page can be found in the section on law & rights.
* * * * * * * * *
League of Women Voters
Opens an Office in St. Petersburg
In August 1997 the League of Women Voters of St. Petersburg opened an
office. Services offered by the League include free legal information on
voters' rights, the rights of women and children, elections, candidates in
the forthcoming municipal elections and the incumbents. For female
political candidates there are also free consultative sessions and
campaign advice from experts in voters' technology, sociologists, and
psychologists. A monthly newsletter also began publication in August.
This newsletter will contain articles on elections, problems within the
city, etc.
Contact telephone: (812) 110-1531
* * * * * * * * *
NGOs Active in the Sphere of Small Business
Protest New Tax Legislation
On June 30 a press conference was held in the editorial office of the
weekly newspaper "Arguments & Facts" in connection with an open letter
sent to President Yeltsin by non-governmental organizations active in the
field of small business. The letter was protesting the new tax
legislation, which the letter's authors believe is "designed to ruin and
discredit private enterprise" and will only harm small business in Russia.
Entrepreneurs believe that Russia lacks a competent policy regarding the
development and support of small business. The tax burden is excessive
for many small enterprises, and because of this, they conduct their work
in the shadow economy. To be an honest entrepreneur in this day and age
is simply not profitable. Non-governmental organizations who signed the
letter to President Yeltsin offered "to carry out the economic
rehabilitation of all private entrepreneurs who are prepared to support
economic and social reform in Russia."
"Only representatives of large business are invited to the significant
economic forums, never the representatives of small and medium-sized
business," asserted Sergei Smolyanskii, president of the Union of
Production Cooperatives. "However, small enterprises are capable of
doing a lot for the development of the Russian economy via the production
of consumer goods and services and the creation of new jobs. But, for
example, the housing reform did not rely on small business, even though we
could've provided various services to construct a building, and break the
monopoly in the housing construction business."
In the opinion of the groups taking part in the June 30 press conference,
the new tax code does not consider the needs of small enterprises; under
the new code it will be easier for one man, working on his own, than for a
small production firm. Ivan Grachev, a Duma deputy and the chairman of
the subcommittee on small business, submitted an alternative tax code for
small- and medium-sized business to the Duma. The alternative code will
be reviewed in the fall. Grachev has stated that it is necessary to
establish an organizational structure to lobby for the interests of small
and medium-sized business within the government. Currently, 12 million
people work in this sphere in Russia, but they are not united. However,
many of them are prepared to join together in associations.
Contact telephone for the Duma Office for the Development of Small and
Medium enterprises: 261-0856.
* * * * * * * * *
The Elderly Should Have the Right to Choose
Between Private and State Rest Homes
On June 30 the Solodovnikov Brothers' Philanthropic Center of
Entrepreneurs in Moscow hosted the first in a series of discussions on the
issue of Moscow's elderly population. The meeting took place in the
"Zamoskvoreche" rest home for single elderly Muscovites, with
representatives from governmental and private social welfare organizations
in attendence.
The theme of the meeting was "The entrepreneur and philanthropy today."
Viktor Lange, the chairman of the "Marble" construction cooperative, spoke
of how, thanks to the participation of the cooperative, the
"Zamoskvoreche" rest home was established and is now currently run. In
1992 the cooperative shouldered all the expenses for the repair and
equipping of the three-floor building and its basement.
Unmarried elderly individuals give the government their place of
residence, which is then given to those waiting for an apartment. The
individual is then resettled in the rest home with their own room, four
meals a day and free medical care. "The most important thing that we
receive here is peace of mind," says Valentina Stepanovna Semakova, who
has lived in the home for two years. "We are sure that no one will throw
us out, that no one will take away the roof over our heads."
This small rest home exists not only as a private enterprise, but also has
the legislative support of the Moscow city government. In 1992 the mayor
legalized its existence with a special decree, giving the home the status
of an "experimental" institution for social welfare. The experiment was a
success in the opinion of all the meeting participants. However, for now
the "Zamoskvoreche" rest home remains an experiment. Among all
Moscow-based permanent residences for the elderly, it is the only one
organized on private funds. Only fifteen individuals have been lucky
enough to end up here. In Moscow's Central district alone, a third of the
residents are pensioners, more than 20,000 of whom were born before the
revolution. Many live in private apartments, although they are not strong
enough to care for themselves. "Well-off people often come to us with the
desire to care for the elderly, but we cannot rely on them: they cannot
conceive how all this is set up, how the elderly are taken care of, where
to get funding for their room and board," said Natalya Tsibizova, director
of the Department of Permanent Institutions within the Moscow city
government's Committee for Social Defense.
Contact telephone: 231-3360 (Nina Mikhailovna Kovaleva), 231-0873 (Viktor
Mitrofanovich Lange).
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| CCSI presents excerpts from the ASI Bulletin. The |
| ASI Bulletin is a publication of the Agency for Social |
| Information (ASI) in Moscow. Originally published in |
| Russian, selected stories are translated and posted to |
| the CCSI listserv CivilSoc. Back issues are available |
| in both English and Russian language by following the |
| "Archives" link and choosing "ASI Bulletin Excerpts" |
| |
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