The confrontation between director Alexander Sokurov and Vladimir Putin at the meeting of the Human Rights Council (HRC) at the end of last week became one of the main political news stories in Russia, which also affected its Muslims. However, different groups of Muslims who were affected by it have different assessments. While it caused outrage and calls for investigation for violation of the Russian criminal code in official Chechnya, many in the Ingush community supported Sokurov for raising the issue of Ingush political prisoners.
However, we would like to remind everyone that Sokurov’s position is called «Member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation», not «People’s Truthseeker». And this does not mean that he should not be such a truth-seeker, it means something else. Today, anyone with a name or a source of information can be a seeker of truth who raises burning questions. And we all understand very well that this cannot solve anything in the existing coordinate system, but still we can thank such people for speaking the truth.
However, the position of a member of the Human Rights Council under the President implies that such people can bring about change. And logically, if a person agrees to take this position, he does it for this very reason, that is, to bring about changes, to solve problems using his official position and status. But the issue of Ingush political prisoners was raised by Sokurov in his capacity as a member of the Human Rights Council two years ago. What has happened during these two years? The situation of these political prisoners has only worsened. Meanwhile, Sokurov continues to hold his position, knowing that he cannot change anything, that the situation is only getting worse.
So why does he continue to hold this position? Why does he lend his name to maintain the appearance that there is a dialog between society and the authorities on this issue, and that the former can somehow influence the latter? In this connection, it should be noted that Maxim Shevchenko, who was also a member of this council for many years and raised sensitive issues there, eventually left it. Realizing that he could not influence this power from within or close to it, he finally joined the opposition. Sokurov is not going anywhere, but he is earning political capital as a «truth-seeker» and «conscience of the nation» while staying within the system.
At the same time, for unclear reasons, he repeatedly raises sensitive interethnic issues, assuming the role of advocate for some nations and prosecutor for others in Russia (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=37719). And this time, the same thing happened — Sokurov spoke from the position of a defender of Russians and rural Russians, pointing out the danger of an «Islamic revolution» and complaining that «Russians are not liked» in the Federation and that «republics have a national character, suggesting to let go of everyone who «does not want to live with us».
But the devil is in the details. Sokurov opposes the national character of the republics, especially with an Islamic factor, in principle. But it should be understood that if such an approach prevails, in practice it will not necessarily mean that «everyone» who wants to leave such a Russia hostile to everything non-national will be «released». Most likely, only mono-ethnic republics will be liberated, while those in which the titular nationality does not constitute an explicit majority (and they are the majority) may be abolished and turned into provinces, as various Zhirinovskys have long suggested: «In our underdeveloped state, our northern provinces and regions… And now we are creating opportunities for the enrichment of certain corporate unions in the Caucasus, where huge stadiums are being built, a huge number of very wealthy people, while in the Arkhangelsk region they are sucking their thumbs, so to speak.»
In other words, it turns out that supposedly wealthy Caucasians are to blame for the poverty in the Arkhangelsk region, but the most interesting thing is the «we» he keeps using in his argumentation: «we create», «we should let go». Because an ordinary Ivanov or Magomedov will not say that they decide something in this country or direct someone (unless it is a transfer of money to their relatives), simply because they understand perfectly well that others, those with whom they do not identify — «they» and not «we» — are the ones who do it. For Sokurov, «we» refers precisely to this power in which he is actually involved.
And let’s not forget that back in 2000, this «truth seeker» along with other «masters of culture» (truly a «corporate alliance,» including seasoned political prostitutes and syncopists) came to the defense of Putin against foreign cultural figures who tried to stop the genocide in Chechnya being carried out for the sake of his rise to power (http://www. index.org.ru/glavred/letter21.html).
So, the stupidest thing Muslims and ordinary Russians can do in this situation is to fall for THEIR, with a capital «T», provocations and let them be arbiters between Chechens and Ingush or Russians and Caucasians. Because no one has authorized them, with a capital «T», to speak on behalf of these and other peoples of Russia. And these peoples do have problems, it’s just that those of their representatives who try to address them quickly find themselves behind bars, in exile, or even killed. Meanwhile, year after year, Sokurov is allowed to express ideas for which ordinary Russians today risk being sent to prison for many years. Where, by the way, they will be tortured and humiliated by the inaction of the official human rights defenders of the Human Rights Council, including Sokurov himself, so do not be fooled by these «truth seekers» and «advocates».
As long as they represent the peoples of Russia, their success will be about the same as the «success» on the issue of Ingush political prisoners over the past two years. We must demand the end of this circus, namely the departure of the dictator, the guarantee of freedom of speech and public activity, and the holding of free elections, where citizens and peoples will choose their true representatives. And then they will have to decide how they want to live with each other — together or separately. By the way, it is not excluded that in such a case it will be necessary to «liberate» not only or even primarily those whom Sokurov would like to liberate. Well, or offer them conditions under which they would agree to stay.