Dispatches: As Sochi Opens, Russia Shows True Face

[struggle4progress]

FEBRUARY 7, 2014
Minky Worden

Today, the day of the opening ceremony of Russia’s Sochi Olympics, prominent human rights activist Anastasia Smirnova was arrested in St. Petersburg. Her offense? She was on her way to take photos with a banner that promoted principle 6 of the Olympic Charter, which states that “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender, or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement” ...

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/07/dispatches-sochi-opens-russia-shows-true-face

[struggle4progress]

1. Russia: “Foreign Agents” Law Hits Hundreds of NGOs: Updated February 5, 2014

Updated List of Nongovernmental Organizations Targeted under the “Foreign Agents” Law
FEBRUARY 5, 2014

In early March 2013 the Russian government launched an unprecedented, nationwide campaign of inspections of thousands of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to identify advocacy groups the government deems “foreign agents” and force them to register as such. The list below tracks the legal consequences of the law on dozens of NGOs ...

On September 3, 2013 after Women of Don had refused to comply with the prosecutors’ orders to register as a “foreign agent” organization (for details, see Section IV), the prosecutor’s office filed a civil law suit against the group. The suit argues that the group engaged in “political activities,” inter alia, by publishing on its website its annual reports on activities, which the group submitted to the Ministry of Justice as required by law. According to the prosecutors, the information included in the report on roundtables and other public events organized by the group to discuss the issue of police reform “shapes public opinion and is aimed at changing government policies” ...

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/05/russia-foreign-agents-law-hits-hundreds-ngos-updated-february-5-2014

[freshwest]

8. Uh, huh. I wish we had one of these laws for Romney and Cheney and the US CoC... n/t

[struggle4progress]

11. I joke like that -- but in reality, I've spent enough of my life surrounded by rightwing lunatics,

who really believe in suppressing opinions other than their own, that I'm quite convinced such laws, if we had them, would be used against people like me, so I'm inclined instead to prefer political organizing as the way forward: it's hard work, of course, but persuasion (through free speech, free press, and free assembly) has a certain elegance, and an atmosphere of fairness, that heavier-handed methods lack

[freshwest]

13. Yeah, but just getting 'registered' shouldn't be that onerous. At the present time, we have too much

money changing hands from shadowy groups, you know?

IDK, maybe the IRS does this now, but it hasn't stopped all this funny money in elections.

A lot of foreign and out of state corporate money went to defeat CA's environemntal law a few years back, but at least the voters dldn't fall for it.

When Obama spoke against the Citizens United decision, he also mentioned the foreign money that we've since heard went through the USCoC, giving them some bad press.

[struggle4progress]

2. Russia: Sochi Games Highlight Homophobic Violence

Authorities Turn Blind Eye to Crimes Against LGBT People
FEBRUARY 4, 2014

(Moscow) – The Russian authorities need to address a deteriorating situation of widespread and concerted abuse against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and activists. The authorities’ failure to act and some officials’ homophobic comments expose LGBT people to further harassment and violence and embolden the attackers, Human Rights Watch research found ...

At least three murders allegedly motivated by homophobia were reported in May, a month before the adoption and signing of the federal anti-gay “propaganda” law.

... Violating the law is an administrative offense punishable by a range of fines. Media and organizations face particularly hefty fines. On January 30 a court found a newspaper editor in Khabarovsk, in the Russian Far East, in violation of the federal “propaganda” law and fined him 50,000 rubles (US$1,450). The editor was charged in connection with publishing an interview in which a gay school teacher, forced to resign over his sexual orientation, was quoted as saying, “My very existence proves that homosexuality is normal.” The editor will appeal the decision ...

The law also bans representing “traditional” and “nontraditional” relationships as equally acceptable. That makes it illegal to say anything positive about being gay publicly or to tell a child that there is nothing wrong with being gay or being raised by gay parents ...

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/03/russia-sochi-games-highlight-homophobic-violence

[struggle4progress]

3. Russia: Crackdown on Government Critics

Bias, Rising Violence Against Migrants, LGBT People
JANUARY 21, 2014

... “The Kremlin is treating foreign-funded independent groups, LGBT people, and migrants as though they were enemies of Russia,” Lokshina said. “Instead of portraying these groups as destructive forces alien to Russian traditions, Russian authorities should acknowledge their contributions to society” ...

In July, Russian authorities opened a discriminatory campaign against allegedly irregular migrants, detaining people based on their non-Slavic appearance with the stated aim of identifying alleged violations of migration and employment regulations. High-level officials used xenophobic rhetoric against migrants, and ultra-nationalist groups targeted them for violence.

Enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial executions persist in the campaign against the Islamist armed insurgency in the North Caucasus ...

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/21/russia-crackdown-government-critics

[uppityperson]

6. Noticing your posts.

[freshwest]

9. They should not be importing foreign workers if they can't treat them fairly. Isn't Russia having a

problem with natives moving away, anyway? Why penalize the ones invited to work there?

[uppityperson]

4. k&r with thanks.

[struggle4progress]

5. Russia: Silencing Sochi Critics Intensifies on Eve of Olympics

IOC Fails Russian Activists by Not Challenging Ugly Harassment Campaign
JANUARY 15, 2014
February 3, 2014 Update

On February 3, 2014, a court in the southern Russian city of Tuapse sentenced environmental activist Evgeniy Vitishko to 15 days’ detention for allegedly swearing in a public place, an administrative offense. The authorities denied Vitishko the opportunity to have his own lawyer present at the court hearing. He immediately filed an appeal against the detention but is currently being held in police custody pending the appeal. Vitishko is a member of the leading environmental watchdog group Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus (EWNC) and has repeatedly criticized negative environmental impacts of the government’s preparations for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, which open on February 7. Police detained Vitishko at a bus stop after he had just informed his parole officer that he intended to visit Sochi in the near future. Vitishko is required to inform the authorities of any plans to travel outside of Tuapse because he was previously convicted on dubious criminal hooliganism charges. He is currently appealing that conviction, for which he faces a three-year sentence in a prison colony ...

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/14/russia-silencing-sochi-critics-intensifies-eve-olympics

[uppityperson]

7. Olympics charter regarding discrimination...

http://www.olympic.org/Documents/olympic_charter_en.pdf
6. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race,
religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic
Movement.

[freshwest]

10. They destroyed an important wetland for this monstrosity. That sucks. n/t

[Cha]

12. So much for Putin's Russia and Snowden's Propaganda..

From your link..

"What could possibly explain or justify hauling away a few people standing with a sign which makes the accurate (and obvious)point that discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic Charter? One might ask the same question about the arrest in Moscow a few hours later of a group of 10 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) activists, including two foreigners, who tried to hold the rainbow flag and sing the Russian national anthem near Red Square. Such is the sad state of things in Russia today."

[Behind the Aegis]

14. ...