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Agree with Louis. This is a telling example of the general phenomenon, i.e. the tankies' practice of assuming EVERY report of a crime/atrocity/etc. from a human rights organization can be labeled a lie without examination because that organization supposedly a) sided with an imperialist government on something, b) took money from same, and/or c) criticized an "anti-imperialist" government. Ergo the tankies' pickets against HRW in NYC over Venezuela; ergo the childish Maoists on twitter laughing hysterically at anyone quoting HRW, Amnesty, etc. Tell it to the Palestinians and others who have relied on such groups to document Zionist crimes. On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 9:46 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > This article illustrates why it is wrong to automatically dismiss anything > that Mikhail is involved with because he is an oligarch. Open Russia is a > group that he funds. It has worked with Committee Against Torture, a > UN-sponsored NGO of the sort that can be grouped with HRW and Amnesty > International. As I have said repeatedly, I broke with PSL type > "anti-imperialism" when it backed Putin's war in Chechnya. Here you have a > bunch of fucking gangsters raiding a group that opposes the destruction of > houses belonging to the families of men accused of terrorism. Ring a bell? > That's the same punishment the IDF metes out to Palestinians. I absolutely > support the work of Open Russia and the Committee Against Torture. If > Mikhail Khodorkovsky funds Open Russia, more power to him. When it comes to > an oligarch standing for the rule of law and fascist mobs using violence > against a group committed to human rights, I take my stand against the > fascists. > > NY Times, June 4 2015 > In Chechnya, Human Rights Group’s Offices Are Vandalized > By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN > > MOSCOW — Cheered on by a small crowd, masked men vandalized the offices of > a human rights advocacy group in Grozny, the capital of the Russian region > of Chechnya, on Wednesday. > > Employees of the Committee Against Torture, some of whom fled through > windows as the vandals smashed into the office with crowbars, said the > local authorities had ignored calls pleading for help. They suggested that > the attack was officially sanctioned by the government of Chechnya, which > is led by Ramzan A. Kadyrov, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of > Russia. > > It was not the first attack on the Committee Against Torture, which seeks > to draw attention to human rights abuses in Chechnya and throughout Russia. > In December, the group’s offices were firebombed. > > The firebombing occurred shortly after the group criticized Mr. Kadyrov > for engaging in “collective punishment” by destroying the homes of family > members of men accused in a shooting attack blamed on Islamic insurgents. > > There were no injuries reported after Wednesday’s attack, but computers, > other equipment and records in the office were destroyed, and a car > belonging to the organization was damaged. > > Video of the attack showed the small crowd cheering and applauding as one > of the vandals smashed a security camera on a balcony of the group’s > offices, in an apartment building in central Grozny. > > Because of the inherent dangers of operating in Chechnya, a region where > Russia fought two brutal wars to suppress Muslim separatists, the Committee > Against Torture regularly rotates its staff members, who live in the same > building as their office. > > Mr. Kadyrov and his regional government have long been accused of > persistent rights abuses. However, he is credited by Mr. Putin with > imposing order and stability in the region, and with suppressing Islamic > extremists. > > The Committee Against Torture was featured in a documentary film released > last week by Open Russia, a civil society group, that seeks to draw > attention to abuses in Chechnya under Mr. Kadyrov and also to his > relationship with Mr. Putin. > > One of Open Russia’s Moscow-based leaders, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was > suddenly stricken with a mysterious illness last week, a day after the > film’s release, and remains hospitalized. Doctors said that Mr. Kara-Murza > had suffered from some kind of poisoning and has been treated for renal > failure. > > Mr. Kadyrov, posting on Instagram, his preferred means of public > communication, wrote that there had been a “sanctioned rally” related to a > shooting in April, in which police officers from the neighboring Russian > region of Stavropol killed a Chechen man they were trying to arrest in > Grozny. > > That shooting led Mr. Kadyrov to issue an order authorizing the Chechen > security forces to “shoot to kill” any law enforcement agents from other > regions of Russia operating in Chechnya without his authorization. > > Mr. Kadyrov said that after the rally demonstrators marched to the offices > of the Committee Against Torture, where he said the group’s employees had > instigated the attack on their offices themselves. > > “Analysis of the events gives us basis to conclude that the employees of > the committee deliberately provoked the incident, having the aim of once > again gaining fame in the world press, and obtaining new American grants,” > Mr. Kadyrov wrote in the post. > > He said that local law enforcement authorities had dispersed the crowd and > that the vandalism would be investigated because “no one is allowed to > break the law.” > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
