I. Organizations in Pskov Work to Improve Conditions for Women

In July of this year the Independent Social Center for Women in Pskov started an informational telephone hotline for women, providing consultations on a variety of legal, medical and social questions. However, given that users must pay for the calls they make to the hotline, far from every woman in Pskov can take advantage of the service. Thus, the Independent Social Center has turned to the telephone company and the local city government to help them determine the fate of the telephone hotline - and with it, the fate of the women of Pskov.

Pskov's female population has many unresolved problems; for example, the large number of unemployed women. As the director of Pskov oblast's Office of Employment, Leonid Kirillov, explained at a recent conference held in September, the unemployment situation in Pskov is at a critical stage. In 1997 alone, the oblast has lost some 6,000 jobs. And women suffer most of all in such times, as it is harder for them to find work in the first place. As a result of this, the women's movement in Pskov has been growing over the past months, led by the Independent Social Center for Women. Together with various other women's organizations, the Independent Social Center is attempting to unite civic initiatives with the resources available to the city government.

The oblast's women's movement is developing not only in the cities, but in the countryside, too. For example, in the village of Poseva , the Independent Union of Women was established on the foundations of a pre-existing women's club, in the attempt to resolve some of the pressing problems facing the women of the village. Since January of 1997, grants from the Ford Foundation and the Eurasia Foundation have funded various projects for women throughout the region. In the words of Natalia Vasil'eva, chairwoman of the Independent Social Center, "one of the main goals of our organization is to unite women's organizations across the region and provide information on the activities of women's groups throughout Russia and abroad." In support of this goal, the Center publishes a monthly newspaper, "Woman of Pskov," which is available free of charge to all women's organizations in the Pskov oblast. Contact Telephone: (8112) 46-7716

II. Parliamentary Hearings Recommend the Implementation of Measures to Support Chechen Refugees

On October 7, parliamentary hearings in the Federal Duma were conducted on the topic of resettlement of refugees and displaced peoples from the Chechen war. Representatives from both governmental and non-governmental organizations took part in the hearings, which were organized by the Duma's Committee on Nationalities and various refugee advocacy groups.

Sources at the hearings reported that recommendations were prepared for President Yeltsin, the federal Migration Agency and different governmental organs that, in the opinion of one of the hearings' participants, "current measures for assisting in the resettlement of refugees and displaced peoples from Chechnya are both insufficient and ineffective." Attendees at the hearings advised the president to "implement a set of measures that will truly support the social adaptation of Chechen refugees."

On the very same day that the hearings began, a group of Chechen refugees held a protest in front of the Duma building; but the demands and placards of the protestors failed to catch the attention of government officials. Duma deputy Zhana Lozinskaia felt that the ignored protest attested to the government's indifference to the refugee problem: "These people literally haven't the right to housing, employment, or education, but neither the government nor the president are troubled by this. The government wants to close its eyes to refugee issues. A glaring example of this can be found in the 1998 federal budget, where, just as in previous years, funds for the compensation of refugees are alloted from residuals."

Svetlana Gannushkina, co-chairperson of the "Civil Assistance" center, is also convinced of the government's indifference to refugees and displaced peoples. In her opinion, the government could ease the situation for displaced Chechens without budgetary waste, by simplifying the procedure for attaining refugee status, by allowing refugees to apply for jobs and allowing refugee children into school.

III. Young Journalists Get Closer to Social Issues

Perspectives on social journalism were discussed at a symposium on the topic of "Social Themes in Russian Periodicals," held on October 7th in Moscow. The symposium was sponsored by the Agency for Social Information (ASI), as part of a larger project on social issues in Russian media. The goal of the meeting was to elicit younger journalists' interest in social issues and aid in their analysis and understanding of these issues, so that they may present the problems of contemporary Russian society in a compelling way, stated Larisa Rovnianskaia, director of the project. The project was designed for journalists who are between the ages of 20 and 35, working in St. Petersburg, Nizhnii Novgorod, or Yekaterinburg, and interested in social themes.

Those gathered at the symposium were interested in how social issues are represented in Russian media. Participants agreed that the media frequently focuses on political and economic issues. Thus, stories on a social theme can appear boring or dull in comparison with reports on political scandals. Elena Topoleva, ASI director, explained: "If a publication is presenting a story on the poor, the perspective of the journalist is usually limited to human sympathy or the defense of the interests of minorities, which once again serves to isolate and stigmatize the subject. Even the non-profit sector fails to be seen as a societal phenomenon in the writings of journalists - articles on non- profits' activities are lacking in 'social approach'."

Participants at the symposium included representatives from the newspapers "Argumenti i Facti," "Moscow Komsomolets," "Economics & Life," "Literaturnaia Gazeta," "The New Paper," and "The Russian Paper;" from the magazines "Russia," "Charitable Digest" and radio stations "Voice of Russia," "Moscow Speaks," and "Resonance."

IV. Support Centers for Charitable Initiatives to Be Built in Small Russian Cities

Sergei Aleshchenok, a representative from the "East - West" humanitarian foundation, spoke on October 7th about a project to create support centers for charitable initiatives outside of Russia's urban centers. The project received funding from TACIS this year. "For Moscow NGOs things are easy; they have access to extensive information and aid from the mass of support centers in Moscow. But in small cities, organizations work in isolation and rarely even know about one another's existence." In 1996, in the town of Lytkarino, a group of less than a dozen local NGOs gathered in order to form an association based on the preservation of local lore, history and culture. Together with local environmental groups, the fund began to work towards protecting a nearby lake. The ten NGOs sent a letter to Lytkarino's mayor, asking him to focus attention on the problem of the lake. In response to the letter the mayor ordered Saturday volunteer crews to begin a clean-up of the lake, and provided tools for the job. "We have proven that, working together, we can help both the city and its inhabitants and present ourselves not just as requestors of funds," said the leader of the Lytkarino group, Liudmila Pakhomova.

Sergei Aleshchenok stated that centers similar to one created in Lytkarino will be established in towns in the Moscow, Tula, Vladimir, and Kaluga oblasts. The centers will bring different groups together to work towards a common goal (primarily those with an ecological or local history emphasis). "East -West" will then provide training seminars, legal advice, and information on other NGOs to the new centers. "In many small towns a number of unique projects and NGOs have accumulated," said Aleshchenok, "but even the residents of the town don't know they exist. I hope that our project will aid in the establishment of civil society in Russia's provinces."

V. Tragedy Mars Protest for Clean Air in Sochi

On October 4, members of the radical environmentalist group Rainbow Warriors staged a protest in Sochi. In order to draw the public's attention to the problem of air pollution in the city, protesters chained themselves together and attempted to block traffic on one of Sochi's main thoroughfares. But the protest ended tragically when two of the Rainbow Warriors were seriously injured. As a result of the blockade, a young man was run over by a car, and a young woman's hand was partially severed by the chains.

Following this occurrence on October 7, members of the Social- Ecological Union and the Russian branch of the international environmental organization Greenpeace issued a joint statement. They criticized the protest for its recklessness but appealed to Sochi city administration to deal with the problem of air pollution and to take the Rainbow Warriors' demands into consideration. Additionally, they called on all Russian non- governmental organizations to provide assistance to the two wounded protestors. However, the statement condemned those who "so frivolously take part in the organization and carrying out of such protests" and advised that they leave the ecological movement.

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