[CivilSoc] Putin's Remarks to Civil Forum Meeting in Moscow

[Center for Civil Society International]

This item comes from:
Johnson's Russia List
#5559
21 November 2001
A CDI Project
www.cdi.org
#2
BBC Monitoring
Russia's Putin says state ready to listen to society
Source: Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian 0800 gmt 21 Nov 01
[Presenter Yelena Vykhodtseva] The Civil Forum opened in the Kremlin
an hour ago. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the opening
session.  The authorities will lose out unless free society is their
partner, Putin said, emphasizing the importance of civic society in
building the state.  The following is an excerpt from Putin's
address.
[Putin] Let me, first of all, greet you and present my
congratulations on the beginning of your work. I want to say right
away that the assistance rendered by the state in organizing this
event was dictated by nothing other than a realization of the
necessity of a dialogue and partnership between the authorities and
civic society.
You know that various opinions and concerns were voiced during the
preparations of the forum to the effect that the state was trying to
shape civic society in its own image, to take control over it. But I
think that all of us know--and I can assure you that includes the
representatives of the authorities--realize perfectly well that civic
society could not be organized at their initiative, that is at the
initiative of the representatives of the authorities, according to
their desire, and especially not according to their instructions.
Moreover, I regard any attempts to impose a civic society from above
as absolutely counterproductive, practically impossible and even
dangerous. It can never be created on someone's instructions.
I want to say it again: everybody understands it perfectly well. It
[the civic society] grows independently, it has its own roots, and it
feeds on the spirit of freedom. Only in this case will society become
genuinely civic. Yes, our civic society cannot be regarded as fully
mature. But I think one can hardly find a country where one could say
that a civic society has finally matured. In democratic conditions
this process is organic and permanent, but in Russia - and we must
recognize this - this process is just starting. One can hardly have
universal guidelines for nurturing a civic society, but the
authorities as a whole must have a single goal: to create the most
favourable medium for its development. This is the main and, in fact,
the sole objective.
Representatives of different civil institutions are present in this
hall. They differ in their goals and in what they expect from the
state.  There are those who strongly oppose the authorities on issues
of principle concerning state policy. I consider that to be not just
normal, but--in democratic conditions--to be extremely useful.
Without real relations of partnership between the state and society
there can be no strong state nor can there be a flourishing and
prosperous society. What we need is a dialogue of equals. We realize
that the efficiency of this dialogue to a large extent depends on us,
on the representatives of the authorities and on the authorities as a
whole.
In this relation, we are ready to undertake the essential
organizational measures and, if necessary, legislative measures. We
are ready to provide efficient feedback between the state apparatus
and society. In any case, we shall try to do this.
We are ready to listen and to hear attentively what you propose. I
believe that especially now, when a time of great opportunity has
come for Russia and its citizens, such cooperation may be very
productive. Our state needs that.