Open Democracy Russia

[Robert Chandler]

Dear all,

I am more and more impressed by Open Democracy Russia.  It is probably less
known in the US than it is in the UK, so I thought it would be worth
forwarding this message to the list.

Yours,

Robert Chandler

Subject: openDemocracy/Russia: an anniversary message

                       London, Moscow, 18.06.2009
http://opendemocracy.net/russia

Dear Friends,  Дорогие друзья!

Last month, in in May, openDemocracy Russia celebrated its first
anniversary. 

>From a breeders' perspective, the match was good: the publication would be
the child of two e-zines which have won themselves high reputations. On the
one hand there was the London-based openDemocracy, co-founded by one of the
editors of openDemocracy Russia, determinedly global in outlook and
coverage. On the other there was the determinedly independent-minded
polit.ru, based in Moscow, with its primary focus on Russia and the
post-Soviet space. 

But pedigree is not enough. Not only can children not be relied on to carry
on the best characteristics of their parents.  The parents' relationship is
a critical factor. odRussia was starting at a time when Russia's
relationship with the West had soured. There is no need here to go into the
details of that breakdown. There is plenty of room for blame on both sides.
The point is that however open-minded the editors tried to be, the shadow of
that breakdown, and indeed the far longer, darker shadow of the Cold War,
was bound to dog the opening phase of odRussia. The relationship might look
promising, but neither side knew each other.  Was the other party really as
independent as it purported to be?

Russia's military operation in Georgia in August 2008 was the deciding
factor. At that moment the reflexes of war kicked in. The mass media in
Russia and the United States (and to only a slightly lesser extent the West
in general) reverted to the worst Cold War stereotypes.

How would openDemocracy Russia react? Would it prove able to resist this
primitive impulse? Well, we did. Our coverage unerringly rose above that (
for example Inal Khashig's  Lesson to the West- Abkhazian independence is a
fact, 
(http://www.opendemocracy.net/Russia/article/lesson-to-the-West-Abkhazian-in
dependence-is-a-fact) published on 28 August, while Russian tanks were still
on Georgian territory, and the editorials by polit.ru editor Boris Dolgin).
This conflict cemented our editorial relationship. After that what room
could there be for anxiety as to the motivation of our fellow editors?

Now, as our progeny starts growing up, we are confident that it will develop
new traits of its own, ones which will sometimes surprise its parents as
much as anyone.  The new series we have just launched entitled Letter from
Provincial Russia promises just such surprises.

Over the last year our small team has expanded to include Felicity Cave. It
has produced more than 200 articles on a wide range of subjects. Our English
articles are read by Russian and post-Soviet experts, but more importantly
by  openDemocracy readers in general - that is to say people concerned about
the integrity of information and democratic values. For its part polit.ru
draws on articles produced for openDemocracy as a whole.  openDemocracy's
authors are highly respected in the West, but possibly less known in Russia.
Thus Russian readers are exposed to a wider spectrum of opinions and issues,
and to a global events which sometimes take place in remote corners of the
world. 

A year ago we focused on the Russian presidential transition, from Vladimir
Putin to Dmitri Medvedev.  Recently we have published assessments of
Medvedev's first year in office. Other odRussia topics have included:
*  Corruption in Russia
*  Changes in the Russian Orthodox church
*  Relations between China and Russia
*  The danger of Russian fascism and xenophobia
*  Living in poverty
*  Russia's attitudes towards West
*  Russian Internet
*  Russian economic crisis
*  Stalinism and its heritage
*  Situation in the Northern Caucasus (Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya)
*  Western policies towards Russia
*  The state of Russian prisons
*  Russian football
* 
openDemocracyRussia tries to react immediately to the most important events.
Our coverage of the war in Georgia apart, we have published reports and
analyses of the repercussions of events in Moldova, responded to the
confiscation of data from Memorial and paid tribute to the murdered lawyer
Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova.  We are covering the
murder trial of Anna Politkovskaya on an ongoing basis. In September, we
will be publishing a printed collection of the best of openDemocracy
Russia's articles. 

On this our first anniversary we would like to thank all those who have
helped us - authors, translators, readers, friends and sponsors.

We look forward to your input and feedback as our collaboration proceeds.

Boris Dolgin, Zygmunt Dzieciolowski, Susan Richards


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