***World Chechnya Day, UK***
www.worldchechnyaday.org
In this email:
• World Chechnya Day Memorial Service, London, Feb 23
• Stanley Greene’s Award-Winning Exhibition, London, Feb 23
• Talk by Professor George Hewitt & Film Showing, London, Feb 23
• Talk by Dr John Russell & Film Showing, Bradford, Feb 23
• Documentary Night, Brighton, Feb 15
• Talk by Dr Tony Wood & Film Showing, Brighton, Feb 23
• Talk & Film Showing, Bristol, Feb 27
• Talk by Satanay Dorken & Film Showing, Cambridge, Feb 24
• Talk & Film Showing, Southampton, Feb 23
For further information on World Chechnya Day, please contact Hajira Qureshi on 0208 904 4222 or at info@savechechnya.org
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World Chechnya Day Memorial Service, London
Date: Thursday 23 February
Time: 12 – 1pm
Venue: Yalta Memorial, Cromwell Gardens, South Kensington, SW7 2SL Nearest tube station: South Kensington (District, Circle and Piccadilly Line)
As part of World Chechnya Day, you are invited to attend the Save Chechnya Campaign remembrance service at the Yalta Memorial in South Kensington from 12-1pm on Thursday 23rd February to commemorate the Deportations and Genocide of the Chechen people in 1944.
Sixty two years ago, on 23 February 1944, Stalin ordered the forcible deportation of the Chechen, Ingush and other nations of the North Caucasus to Central Asia. The people who were were transported with little or no provision in cattle trucks and more than half died in transit or in massacres committed by Soviet troops. Those who survived the journey were left facing starvation and disease in the harsh winters of Siberia and Central Asia. In 2004 the European Parliament passed a motion formally recognising this tragedy as a genocide.
Speaking at the Memorial will be:
* Professor George Hewitt – Professor of Caucasian Languages, SOAS * Mrs. Saida Sherif – Chairperson, Save Chechnya Campaign
* Vanessa Redgrave – Actress and Human Rights Activist
* Ahmed Zakayev – Representative, Chechen Resistance
* Revd Father Frank Gelli – Former Curate of St Mary Abbots, Kensington Parish Church. Founder of Arkadash Network for Religious Dialogue. * Abdur Raheem Green – London Central Mosque
Schedule:
12.00 Gather at the Yalta Memorial
12.15 Opening: Mrs. Saida Sherif
12.20 Vanessa Redgrave
12.25 Professor George Hewitt
12.30 Ahmed Zakayev
12.35 Revd Father Frank Gelli
12.40 Abdur Raheem Green
12.45 Recital of Memories
12.55 Prayer
12.59 Minutes Silence
1.00 Balloon Release
Directions:
The Yalta Memorial is situated in South Kensington, London SW7 in public gardens between Cromwell Gardens and Thurloe Place:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=526983&y=179003&z=1&sv=526750,179250&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf
For further details of this event, please contact Hajira Qureshi on 0209 044 222 or at hajira@cantab.net
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Stanley Greene’s Award-Winning Exhibition, London
@ the London Muslim Centre, 46-92 Whitechapel Road London E1 1JQ
Date: Thursday 23 February
Time: 3 – 9pm
Nearest tube station: Whitechapel or Aldgate East
Over the last ten years, Stanley Greene made some twenty trips to Chechnya as a photographer and he has come back as a witness to the death and destruction that took place, is taking place, and will go on unless the international community refuses to be deceived any longer. With Open
Wound: Chechnya 1994 to 2003, an exhibition of images taken from his recently published book of the same title (Trolley), Stanley Greene does not ask us to pity the people of Chechnya. What he demands is our outrage. Stanley Greene is the recipient of the 2004 W. Eugene Smith Award in Humanistic Photography and Open Wound: Chechnya 1994 to 2003 is the first prize award-winner for the 2004 World Press Photo for Daily Life stories.
Directions:
The London Muslim Centre is on Whitechapel Road, half way between Whitechapel and Aldgate East tube stations:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=534317&y=181612&z=0&sv=E1+1JQ&st=2&pc=E1+1JQ&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf
For more information of this event, please email Ayesha Ansari at duskey@hotmail.com
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Talk & Film Showing, SOAS, London
Date: Thursday 23 February
Time: 4 – 6pm
Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
4pm Talk by Professor George Hewitt
Professor George Hewitt is Professor of Caucasian Languages and Head of Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle East at SOAS. His main areas of research are Caucasian linguistics and ethnic relations.
5pm Film Showing of ‘Chechnya: The Dirty War’
Reporters Mariusz Pilis and Marcin Mamon travel to neighbouring Chechnya, one of the most dangerous places on earth, to report on what life is like after more than a decade of Chechen terrorism and Russian repression. Filmed over the course of nine months, the film reveals that what started as a separatist movement in 1994 has now become synonymous with terrorism.
For more information of this event, please contact Ghazal Tippu at suwelfare@soas.ac.uk
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Talk & Film Showing, Bradford
Date: Thursday 23rd February
Time: 6pm
Venue: John Stanley Bell lecture theatre, Main University Building, Bradford University
Programme: Address by Dr John Russell on ‘Chechnya: the story so far’
Dr John Russell is a Senior Lecturer in Russian Studies and in Peace Studies at Bradford University. He is also the Director of MA in Interpreting & Translating.
Film showing: ‘Chechnya: The Dirty War’
Reporters Mariusz Pilis and Marcin Mamon travel to neighbouring Chechnya, one of the most dangerous places on earth, to report on what life is like after more than a decade of Chechen terrorism and Russian repression. Filmed over the course of nine months, the film reveals that what started as a separatist movement in 1994 has now become synonymous with terrorism.
For further details of this event, please contact Nazia Ali at n.ali8@bradford.ac.uk
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Documentary Night, Brighton
Date: Wednesday 15th February
Time: 7.45 – 9pm
Venue: Meeting House, University of Sussex
Documentaries Showing:
**Chechnya: The Dirty War**
Reporters Mariusz Pilis and Marcin Mamon travel to neighbouring Chechnya, one of the most dangerous places on earth, to report on what life is like after more than a decade of Chechen terrorism and Russian repression. Filmed over the course of nine months, the film reveals that what started as a separatist movement in 1994 has now become synonymous with terrorism.
**Murder with International Consent**
Why are the atrocities that take place in Chechnya not given the same international attention as those in other countries, such as Iraq? This is the question the film seeks both to answer and to begin to remedy, by drawing attention to the human toll of the Chechen conflict. It draws attention to some of the thousands of victims; corpses beaten beyond recognition, wives searching for their missing husbands, and children living in the region’s packed orphanages. It was from one of these orphans that perhaps the powerful message came: ‘Your indifference is killing us’ she said.
This ‘indifference’ was blamed partly on the media controls placed on the reporting of Chechen affairs by the Russian government, but it was Russia’s power and influence that was held largely responsible, a power that means Europe and America are ‘afraid’ of addressing the Chechen crisis. The referendum that took place in March of this year was thus exposed as an empty gesture designed to placate the international community, with the empty streets on election-day clearly contradicting the purported 96% turnout. Chechnya is shown as a region in turmoil, without the international support that is doubtless crucial to ending the conflict.
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World Chechnya Day, Brighton
Date: Thursday 23 February
Time: 7 – 9pm
Venue: Meeting House, University of Sussex
With Guest Speakers: Dr Tony Wood & Satanay Dorken
Dr Tony Wood studied French and Russian at Cambridge, and Russian at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London. He is currently assistant editor at New Left Review, and he is working on a book entitled ‘The Case for Chechnya’.
Satanay Dorken is a graduate from Birkbeck College, London. She is currently the Chief Executive of MARCCH, Medical Aid and Relief for the Children of Chechnya (www.marcch.org).
For further details of these events, please contact Ahmed Uddin on 07931103639 or aeu20@sussex.ac.uk
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Talk & Film Showing, Bristol
Date: Monday 27 February
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Programme: Addresses by Dr Tony Wood & Fahad Ansari
Dr Tony Wood studied French and Russian at Cambridge, and Russian at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London. He is currently assistant editor at New Left Review, and he is working on a book entitled ‘The Case for Chechnya’.
Fahad Ansari is a researcher at the Islamic Human Rights Commission. He has a background in Law and is the author of the excellent ‘British Anti-Terrorism… A Modern Day Witch Hunt’. He is currently engaged in doing his Legal Practice Course.
Film showing of ‘Chechen Lullaby’
A French independent film, made by Georgian director Nino Kirtadze, depicts the human tragedy of the Chechen conflict as seenthrough the eyes of four veteran reporters. Their testimonies reveal the absurdity and hopelessness of the current situation and their own frustration as they watch civilians die on a daily basis in a war largely outside the concern of the West. The documentary was awarded numerous prises, including Prix Europa, 2001, Festival au Sloop, 2001, FILA, 2002 and Adolf Grimme Award in Gold, which is considered the “Oscar” of German Television.
For further details of the event, please contact Abdul Azeem at aa4166@bristol.ac.uk
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Talk & Film Showing, Cambridge
Date: Friday 24th February
Time: 6pm
Venue: LG19, Law Faculty, Sidgwick Site, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge
Programme: Addresses by Dr Tony Wood & Satanay Dorken
Dr Tony Wood studied French and Russian at Cambridge, and Russian at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London. He is currently assistant editor at New Left Review, and he is working on a book entitled ‘The Case for Chechnya’.
Satanay Dorken is a graduate from Birkbeck College, London. She is currently the Chief Executive of MARCCH, Medical Aid and Relief for the Children of Chechnya (www.marcch.org).
Film Showing: Chechen Lullaby
A French independent film, made by Georgian director Nino Kirtadze, depicts the human tragedy of the Chechen conflict as seen through the eyes of four veteran reporters. Their testimonies reveal the absurdity and hopelessness of the current situation and their own frustration as they watch civilians die on a daily basis in a war largely outside the concern of the West. The documentary was awarded numerous prises, including Prix Europa, 2001, Festival au Sloop, 2001, FILA, 2002 and Adolf Grimme Award in Gold, which is considered the “Oscar” of German Television.
For further details of the event, please contact hr@isoc.co.uk
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Talk & Film Showing, Southampton
Date: Thursday 23rd February
Time: 7pm
Venue: Murray Lecture Theatre (Room 58, Building 1067), Main Highfield Campus, Southampton University
Programme: Address by Humza Qureshi
Humza Qureshi is Volunteer Co-ordinator at the Islamic Human Rights Commission (www.ihrc.org) and acts as spokesperson for Save Chechnya Campaign (www.savechechnya.org).
Film showing: ‘Chechnya, the Dirty Way’
Reporters Mariusz Pilis and Marcin Mamon travel to neighbouring Chechnya, one of the most dangerous places on earth, to report on what life is like after more than a decade of Chechen terrorism and Russian repression. Filmed over the course of nine months, the film reveals that what started as a separatist movement in 1994 has now become synonymous with terrorism.
For further details, please contact Omar Bradford @ ob104@soton.ac.uk
www.worldchechnyaday.org
