I. Russian Prisons and Camps will be Represented on the Internet

With the goal of bringing world attention to the disastrous situation of Russian prisoners and, perhaps, to find additional funds to remedy the present situation, the humanitarian foundation "ZEK" (zaklyuchennii) -support along with the catalog "Internet-Capital" began a project to create a WWW page "Prison." The foundation "ZEK"-support has already started to make available on the Internet letters and confessions, requests and complaints, poems and pictures from prisoners, which have tens of millions or people can view via the global information network. The goal of the project is to obtain the maximum amount of publicity on conditions in prisons and the possibility for both the prisoners themselves and the prison administration to speak out, so that the greatest number of people can find out about the problems of the penitentiary system.

To do this, the foundation and the catalog "Internet-Capital" have turned to prisoners in Russian prisons and camps. Their joint declaration states, "Over the years the Russian prison has remained and still remains the most closed institution in the world. Only several fragments of information enable one to judge the level of poverty and lawlessness which has befallen on those citizens that the government decided to "correct" and re-educate. Hunger, overpopulation, mass unemployment, epidemics of tuberculosis became the normal way of life for people in prison."

Their address also contains an appeal to prisoners who are soon to be released and are able to work, to send the foundation information on their profession, age, and date of release. Those who have already been released but, against what is stipulated by law, have not been issued a passport or are not allowed to return to their former place or residence can also appeal to the foundation.

The appeal is also addressed to workers in the prison administration. "We are aware of what harsh conditions you must work in. A debt of over two trillion (rubles) owed for provisions, electricity, medicine, and building materials caused by a lack of financing form the state budget as well as unemployment does not allow you to fully carry out your duties to maintain the convicts. Tell us what equipment your institutions have, what products and in what quantities it can be produced," it says in the letter.

The project also provides for a "connection back": each person who turns to the group will receive an answer, can hire a lawyer, those who have been released will get help finding work, correctional facilities will receive orders for their products.

Address for the foundation "ZEK"-support: 117321 Moscow, a/ya 86. Internet address: http://www.data.ru/ catalog "Internet-Capital," section "Zakon/Pravo-- Turma".

II. In August the League of Women Voters Opened an Office in St. Petersburg

In August 1997 the League of Women Voters of St. Petersburg opened an office. At the office one can receive free juridical information of voters' rights, on protecting the rights of women and children, information on elections, on candidates for the forthcoming municipal elections and on already elected deputies, etc. For female candidates there are also free consultative sessions and campaign advice from experts in voters' technology, sociologists, and psychologists. A monthly newsletter also began publication in August. This newsletter sill contain articles on elections, problems within the city, etc. Contact telephone: (812) 110-1531.

III. Non-governmental Organizations Active in the Sphere of Small Business Believe that the New Tax Legislation is Capable of Ruining and Discrediting Private Enterprise in Russia

On June 30 in the editorial office of the weekly newspaper "Argumenty i fakty" a press conference took place in connection with an open letter which non-governmental organizations active in the small business realm to the President of the Russian Federation, B. Yeltsin. In particular, the letter said: "We recognize the right to private enterprise. But what has bee reached today has been achieved despite the economic policy of the bureaucracy, in particular, in the realm of tax assessment, which is designed to ruin and discredit private enterprise . . .

"The massive evasion of taxes by enterprises given the lack of protection from the arbitrariness of the bureaucracy and the criminal structure at all levels is not done with evil intentions, but is the only means of self-preservation . . . But we know that without support from private entrepreneurs the government will never raise the economy . . ."

Entrepreneurs believe that there is not a competent policy regarding the development and support of small business. The tax burden is excessive for many small enterprises, and namely of this, they conduct their work in the shadow economy. To be an honest entrepreneur in this day and age is simply not profitable. Non-governmental organizations who sighed the letter have assert the necessity "to conduct the rehabilitation of all private entrepreneurs who are prepared to form a strong economic and social support for reform in Russia."

"To large economic forums only representatives of large business are invited, but never the representatives of small and medium-sized business," asserted the president of the Union of productive cooperatives, Sergei Smolyanskii. "But namely the representatives of small enterprise are capable of doing a lot for the development of the Russian economy. That, and the production of consumer goods and services and the creation of new jobs. For example, the housing reform did not rely on small business, although namely we can provide various services to construct a building, to break the monopoly in the housing construction business."

Many other laws that regulate the activities of small enterprise have thus far not been reviewed by the President. The new tax code does not consider the interests of small enterprises . . . Ivan Grachev, a Duma deputy and the chairman of the subcommittee on small business, submitted to the Duma an alternative tax code for small and medium-sized business, which will be reviewed in the fall. Ivan Grachev also stated his opinion that it is necessary to establish an organizaitonal strucutre to lobby for the interests of small and medium-sized bsiness within the governement. Nowadays 12 million people work in small and medium-sized businesses, but they are not united. However, many of them are prepared to join together in associations . . .

Contact telephone for the State Duma office for the development of small and medium enterprises: 261-0856.

IV. The Elderly Who Live Alone Ought to Have the Right to Choose Between Private and State Rest Homes

On June 30 the Solodovnikov brothers philanthropic center of entrepreneurs in Moscow held a meeting from the lectures series "A deserving old age in a Moscow home." It took place in the . . . small rest home "Zamoskvoreche" for single elderly Muscovites . . .

The theme of the meeting was "The entrepreneur and philanthropy today." Viktor Lange, the chairman of the construction cooperative "Marble," spoke of how, with the participation of the cooperative, the small rest home "Zamoskvoreche" was established and is now currently run. In 1992 the cooperative shouldered all the expenses for the repair and equipping of the three floor building and the basement. The single elderly give the government their place of residence, which is given to those waiting for an apartment, and they are resettled in the rest home. Each elderly person has their own room. They are given food and fee medical care. Famous artists visit the rest home. "The most important thing that we receive here is peace of mind," says Valentina Stepanovna Semakova, who has lived in the rest home for 2 years. "We are sure that no one will throw us out, that no one will take away the roof over our heads."

This small-sized rest home exists not only as a private enterprise, but also has the legislative support of the Moscow city government. In 1992 the mayor legalized its existence with a special decree, having given, as an experiment, the status of a permanent institution for social welfare . . .

The experiment was a success, is the opinion of all the meeting participants. However, for now the rest home "Zamoskvoreche" remains as an experiment. Among all Moscow-based permanent residences for the elderly, it is the only one organized on private funds. The number of elderly who have been lucky enough to wind up here is altogether only 15. In only the Central district alone, a third of the residents are pensioners, more than 20 thousand of which were born before the revolution. Many live in private apartments, although they are not strong enough to care for themselves. "Well-off people often come to us with the desire to care for the elderly, but we cannot trust them: they cannot conceive how all this is set up, how the elderly are taken care of, where to get funding for their room and board," said Natalya Tsibizova, the director of the department of permanent institutions within the Moscow city government's Committee for social protection.

At the meeting an exhibition of documents and materials on Russian businessmen-philanthropists, prepared by members of the Solodovnikov brothers philanthropic center of entrepreneurs, was organized. In the future, the center plans to set up similar meetings in every qurter. Contact telephone: 231-3360 (Nina Mikhailovna Kovaleva), 231-0873 (Viktor Mitrofanovich Lange).

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