Monday, October 8, 2007

American Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty Marks Anniversary Of Anna Politkovskaya Murder.

PRAGUE, October 4, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Friends and colleagues of slain Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya gathered at RFE/RL's Prague headquarters today to honor her memory through personal remembrances and discussions of the struggle for press freedom in Russia.

In addition to today's conference in Prague, ceremonies and vigils marking Politkovskaya's assassination also are scheduled to be held in Moscow, New York, Washington, Stockholm, Hamburg, Paris, and London.

Speaking via video link from Moscow, Dmitry Muratov, Politkovskaya's editor in chief at her newspaper, "Novaya gazeta," recited the telephone number that so many people had dialed to convey the truth about Russia's war in Chechnya and other issues that received little or no coverage in the country's mainstream press.

"798-1034. This telephone number stopped answering on October 7 last year," Muratov said in an emotional speech. "Hundreds of people called this number. On this number, she heard numerous curses and threats. She heard many expressions of gratitude. On this number, people called her to set up meetings during which she was given extremely important information on corruption in the Russian Federation."

Muratov said "Novaya gazeta" will reactivate Politkovskaya's old mobile telephone on October 8 in hopes of reviving the stream of calls ended by an assassin's bullets one year ago. Once again, Muratov said, Russians will be able to call with their pain, grief, gratitude, and information about official malfeasance -- and get a sympathetic ear from Politkovskaya's former colleagues.

Read more:
http://rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/10/07D8CD2C-7518-4D7E-B390-725CBA592F41.html
Special page of Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty in memory of Anna Plitkovskaya

Sunday, October 7, 2007

The New York Times. October, 6, 2007: Save the Gnostics!

By NATHANIEL DEUTSCH

THE United States didn’t set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the oldest, smallest and least understood of the many minorities in Iraq. This extinction in the making has simply been another unfortunate and entirely unintended consequence of our invasion of Iraq — though that will be of little comfort to the Mandeans, whose 2,000-year-old culture is in grave danger of disappearing from the face of the earth.

The Mandeans are the only surviving Gnostics from antiquity, cousins of the people who produced the Nag Hammadi writings like the Gospel of Thomas, a work that sheds invaluable light on the many ways in which Jesus was perceived in the early Christian period. The Mandeans have their own language (Mandaic, a form of Aramaic close to the dialect of the Babylonian Talmud), an impressive body of literature, and a treasury of cultural and religious traditions amassed over two millennia of living in the southern marshes of present-day Iraq and Iran.

Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/opinion/06deutsch.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

October, 4, 2007. Action of Solidarity with Burman Monks and Human Rights Activists and Against Burman Military Dictatorship.




This action took place in Moscow, in front of Burman Embassy; it was organized by our "Free Radicals" libertarian movement and by Russian members of Nonviolent Radical Party. Photo: France Press.