Opinion: Charge of Russian Museum Director With "Inciting Religious Hatred" Anti-Democratic

May 30, 2004

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64716-2004May28.html

On May 30, 2004 The Washington Post ran an opinion piece by Walter Reich, former director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, who holds the Yitzhak Rabin chair in international affairs at George Washington University and is a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, about a case involving a director of a Russian art museum charged with "inciting religious hatred" through artwork. Reich writes, "Samodurov [faces jail time for exhibiting the offensive works] -- and given the mood in Russia these days, he may well lose his case. Which would be bad not only for him but also for Russia. In its second decade after the fall of communism, Russia is showing worrisome anti-democratic signs. Most troubling is probably the state's increasing control of media organizations, resulting in the government's ever-greater influence over, and manipulation of, television and radio, especially evident during recent elections. But increasing nationalism, favoring the Orthodox Church at the expense of other churches and religions, is no less troubling. Samodurov's troubles are a reflection of inclinations in the parliament on the part of nationalist elements that have made common cause with the Orthodox Church -- inclinations increasingly shared, it seems, by President Vladimir Putin, whose moves against political opposition and the rule of law are escalating. Before the 1917 revolution, nationalism and the Orthodox Church were dominant. After the revolution, the church and personal liberties were repressed. In both periods, democratic freedoms were unknown. Now that the Soviet era has ended and those freedoms have entered Russian national life, it would be a pity if Russia were to lose them and end up combining the worst of both worlds."