The process of liquidation of the “Memorial” society begins in Moscow. More precisely, two legal entities at once – the public organization “International Historical, Educational, Charitable and Human Rights Society” Memorial “(MM) for violations of the law on foreign agents, to which” International Memorial “is classified by the decision of the Ministry of Justice, and the Human Rights Center” Memorial “. In this case, the authorities are trying to prove that the compilation of the list of political prisoners by the center contains “signs of justification” of terrorists and extremists.
Why, destroying one of the oldest human rights organizations, do officials clearly go against the interests of Russia, its citizens, and even their own?
Society in Russia has lost the habit of living without human rights protection
It is worth starting with the fact that for the Russian society, human rights protection and human rights defenders over the past decades, since the late USSR, have become one of the systemic foundations. They have specific functions, which are also performed by Memorial. And it is already clear that as the human rights community is liquidated in Russia, this niche cannot be simply eliminated, it has to be filled by other people.
Ivan Preobrazhensky
More precisely, representatives of the authorities who can no longer turn to NGOs for help. A striking example is the introduction by Chechnya of a bill that prohibits the media from naming the nationality of potential criminals. Ramzan Kadyrov, who actually banned human rights defenders from working in the Chechen Republic, is now himself forced to implement the idea that many current foreign agents advocated 10-20 years ago.
Another example – a well-known participant in the annexation of Crimea, a fighter for the “Russian Donbass”, deputy Konstantin Zatulin suddenly spoke out against the “anti-immigrant” campaign in the media. Within its framework, the conviction has been persistently imposed recently that it is migrants who are the main cause of many types of crimes in Russia. The parliamentarian recalled how human rights defenders so unloved by him did this earlier, that even according to official statistics, the percentage of crimes among migrants does not differ from the average number of criminals among Russians. Nevertheless, every high-profile crime involving a foreigner is discussed in Russia more actively than violation of the law by compatriots.
It turns out that even if they are recognized as foreign agents and then, as in the case of Memorial, try to close down all human rights NGOs on trumped-up charges, the problems they voice and struggle to resolve will not disappear. the authorities will simply have to solve them themselves. Moreover, to start from scratch, to invent a bicycle – because the experience gained by human rights protection will remain unclaimed by the deputies, the Chechen authorities or, for example, the Kremlin. The results can be very dangerous, because in the place of an unresolved or incorrectly solved problem, over time, a point of social tension will surely arise.
Memorial as a human rights hub
The authorities are irritated by the activities of Memorial, especially the compilation of lists of political prisoners and the identification of the names of former executioners who may turn out to be relatives of modern officials or “Chekists”. Therefore, they strive to quickly “crush” this center in all its forms.
At the same time, at least in words, it is argued that, in general, human rights activities do not interfere with the authorities. However, the Kremlin cannot fail to understand that the closure of Memorial, which has long become the largest human rights “hub” in Russia, will have what is called a “cumulative” effect and, therefore, threaten the interests of the majority of Russians.
OVD-info, another Russian organization announced as a foreign agent, writes directly about this. In its appeal in defense of Memorial, one of dozens of similar Russian and foreign documents that have appeared in recent weeks, OVD-info indicates that they themselves and other partners of the center will have to start rebuilding many of their work processes.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of such partners in Russia. Someone is provided with technical assistance, others – consulting. As a result, Memorial will be hit, and, relatively speaking, mothers with many children in a republic far from Moscow will suffer.
Even the Russian authorities need Memorial
The last thesis confirming that the Russians and even the Russian authorities need Memorial is to preserve the memory of the repressions. In its current role, this center holds a gigantic archive of past crimes and maintains a de facto register of current violations of the law. Systemic memory of this is a way to avoid future repetition. This is of fundamental importance for ordinary Russians, who, thanks to Memorial’s archives, can both restore the history of their repressed ancestors and make their family memory a part of the national one.
But this also applies to the authorities. They cannot but remember that the wheel of history has repeatedly turned sharply in Russia – and just the ruling class fell into the meat grinder. Memorial’s work is aimed at making everyone remember that mass repressions are unacceptable under any circumstances. Including if the political situation in Russia changes and repressions begin against the representatives of the current government, their children or grandchildren.
The Russian authorities should not forget this. But they seem, like many other autocrats, to hope to rule forever.
Author: Ivan Preobrazhensky – Ph.D. in Political Science, an expert on Central and Eastern Europe, a columnist for a number of media outlets. Written a weekly column on DW. Ivan Preobrazhensky on Facebook: Ivan Preobrazhensky
The commentary expresses the personal opinion of the author. It may not coincide with the opinion of the Russian editorial staff and Deutsche Welle in general.
See also:
.