Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [155]
Applying double standards is a dangerous game. Europe has been here before, with infamous consequences. In 1933 the Führer of a new Germany was also “democratically elected.” Europe was frightened by his speeches but, until they could no longer be ignored, paid them no attention, preferring to look to its own prosperity and pleasant morning coffee. With Europe turning a blind eye, two nationalities – the Jews and the Gypsies – were held collectively responsible for the deeds of particular individuals. What was the consequence? The consequence was 1945, with millions dead, millions burned in crematoria, and Europe in ruins.
It all started so simply. A particular gentleman with psychological problems took it into his head that one nation was great and the rest were less great, and that some, indeed, should be annihilated. Are we really to say that things are different now? That the Kremlin sometimes gives Chechens honors and medals and even promotes them to top positions and is doing something for them? Hitler did all that too, as a smokescreen for Europe’s benefit. There were “good” Jews, “honest” Gypsies were paraded now and again, and sometimes there were even “civilised” Slavs to be discovered, so that Europe wouldn’t be upset, would not become alarmed too soon. Europe pretended to swallow all this, but that did not save countless men, women and children from dying subsequently at the hands of the people of that “great” nation.
To return to the present. The double standards Europe applies to Chechnya are gradually infiltrating Europe. What did Ingeborg Foss give her life for? Why does nobody in Europe, not even in Norway, not in the OSCE or the European Parliament think it matters that an aged Norwegian mother knows nothing about how or why her daughter died, or that the investigation of the deaths of six doctors and nurses in Starye Atagi has ground to a halt? (That nothing is being done has been confirmed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Russian Federation.)
So what is modern Europe’s moral code? A pretence? Self-delusion for some and a convenient fiction for others who don’t want it to get in the way of pan-European fraternisation between the major powers to crush those who are weaker?
Russia is in the grip of war fever, Europe reacts sluggishly, and here is the result: Ingeborg Foss, a young Norwegian woman, died in Chechnya and now her old mother, Sigrid Foss, is alone in the world. Just like Aishat Djabrailova from Gudermes, who lost her husband and her sons in the Second Chechen Slaughter. Like Ludmila Sysuyeva from Tyumen Province who received an official form advising her of the death of her only son, followed shortly afterwards by a sealed zinc coffin, and who now doesn’t know whom to turn to. We are in close proximity to each other: from Oslo to Moscow is just two hours by air, and another two hours will take you from Moscow to Chechnya. Europe is tiny.
This generation of politicians, to whom we gave the right to rule, have failed us. They act in their own interests, not in the interests of Europe.
As we said our farewells, Sigrid told me, “The fact that you remembered Ingrid has given me a few more years of life.” Behind us the Atlantic roared and the seagulls cried out. “People need answers to the questions which most concern them while they are still alive,” she added. “That may be the most important thing those in authority can do.”
JOSPIN LITE: Novaya gazeta’S SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT SPENDS A DAY IN THE COMPANY OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF FRANCE
April 15, 2002
Seventeen candidates are registered in the 2002 French presidential election, a record. Among the hopefuls are: Lionel Jospin, present Prime Minister and Head of the Socialist Party (“moderate left”); Jacques Chirac, present President of the Republic (“right,” liberal); Arlette Laguiller (“extreme left”); Jean-Marie