I. Creation of the "Forest Club" of Russian NonCommercial Organizations
III. Social Organization "Perspectives" has now opened its second Socio-Medical Station in St. Petersburg
IV. November 9 Marked the Day of Remembrance of Victims of the Genocide of the Jewish People
I. Creation of the "Forest Club" of Russian NonCommercial Organizations
The "Forest Club" is an informal working group which presently includes activists from The Center for the Preservation of Wilderness, the Save the Taiga Network, the Student Union Movement for the Preservation of Nature, and representatives of Greenpeace and of departments of the Socioecological Union. The idea of creating the club arose a long time ago, when the need to coordinate the actions of the numerous social organizations concerned with the problems of protecting Russian forests from those who would destroy them, from poachers, and from illegal logging as well as with [other] problems of preserving the forests and biodiversity began to make itself felt.
The club gave a presentation at the end of October in Finland at an international conference on forestry issues. One of the issues on the conference agenda was the barbaric logging of old growth forests in Karelia by the Finnish company "Enso." The work of the club includes publicizing and preserving stands of old growth forest. The club's members have struggled with problems of this kind for some time. Club members will also work on the completion of forest legislation, on environmental improvement of forestry technology, and on controlling the condition of specially protected forest lands.
Some successes in this work have already been achieved. Thanks to the common efforts of noncommercial organizations changes in the draft Forest Code were successfully made. In particular, the article on limiting public access to information about forests was changed, a series of causes of action and fines for gross violations of environmental protection laws was formulated, and investigations of various protected forest lands were instigated.
II. On Nov. 7 The Children's Shelter "The Road Home" of the Charitable Foundation "Nada" Completed Four Years of Work
The idea for the shelter arose when the charitable foundation "No to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction" ["NADA"] began work with psychological therapy groups for women alcoholics. It was necessary to rescue both the women and their children. In 4 years 700 "street" children have passed through the shelter.
"We understood that 93% of these children are somehow connected with problems of alcoholism and drug addiction in adults, first of all their parents," says the president of NADA Oleg Zykov. "If developmental delays are observed in these children, they are of a social not a mental nature, and this is remediable." Representatives of the social organizations "Ekilibr," "United Way," "The Spirit of Humanity," "Sympathy," and "Ledi-Lider" were guests at the birthday celebration. The head of the shelter Sapar Kulianov showed albums with picutres of children taken 3-4 months earlier on their first day at the shelter--thin, with the eyes of a beaten wolf cub. These same children took part in an amateur concert; they had changed beyond recognition.
The American artist Debbie Deg was a guest of the shelter. She has dedicated her unusual creativity to social themes, first of all the lives of children and youth. The problems of children are the same in any society--drug addiction, the influence of gangs, abuse by adults, conflict with parents. The titles of Debbie's works speak for themselves: "Gun Freaks," "Money," "Target."
Alas, the situation the American artist depicts cannot be avoided by the boys and girls now at the shelter. After all, the shelter is not a boarding school, and the children may not stay there, warm and cared for, for more than 18 months. Then they must return to their alcoholic parents. Recently so-called foster families have appeared. Some of the children are sent to families in Moscow who become their guardians. About 10-12% of the young vagrants go from the shelter to the street in the tracks of their parents.
Contact telephone: 128-6620 (Sapar Mullaevich).
III. Social Organization "Perspectives" has now opened its second Socio-Medical Station in St. Petersburg
The sociomedical station "Island" began work on Nov. 9. The station was created by the social organization "Perspectives" (St. Petersburg) together with KhMDS (St. Petersburg) and "Diakonisches Werk" (Hamburg). The station staff consists of a psychologist, a nurse, and a social worker. This is the second sociomedical station opened by "Perspectives" (the first station--Infirmary-- has been at work in the central region since 1994).
The station provides assistance to homeless children and youth. The assistance includes providing food (cafeteria coupons) and in cases of extreme need clothes, first aid, and social advocacy for children and youth who have been drawn into street life or who have difficulties in the family.
The station's work hours are 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. daily except Saturday and Sunday.
The address is Vasilievskii Ostrov, 2nd Linia, d. 25.
Contact telephone: (812) 315-4270, (812) 349-4939.
IV. November 9 Marked the Day of Remembrance of Victims of the Genocide of the Jewish People
This day is connected with the tragic events of Nov. 9, 1938-- the anti-Jewish pogrom which has come to be known as "Crystal Night."
The mass pogroms incited by the Nazis in Jewish quarters, the murder of hundreds of people, and the destruction of shops and homes has become a horrible symbol of the inhumanity and senseless brutalities of fascism and anti-Semitism.
On Nov. 9, the antifascism commission of the society "Memorial" organized a commeration of the victims of genocide in St. Petersburg. On that day at the Armenian Church on Nevskii Prospect pickets were displayed and antifascist newspapers and leaflets wer distributed. In the evening there was a concert at the facilities of the society "Russian-German Exchange," in which the choir of the Jewish Community Center of St. Petersburg, Germans working in Russia, and veterans of the war who were prisoners in fascist camps took part.
Contact telephone: (812) 22-2835.
The work of ASI is supported by the C. S. Mott Foundation (USA), USAID through the Eurasia Foundation, and by the Social Initiative Support Program, the European Free Speech Foundation (France) and by a series of Russian noncommercial organizations.
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