Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [198]
I do not know whether the Orthodox Church will canonise Anna Politkovskaya, and neither do I care. For me Anna was a saint. For me she is still alive, because I often go to her memorial website and meet there a circle of people who think and feel as I do. With these people Anna generously continues to acquaint me. They helped me to survive, and accordingly it is precisely Anna who helps me to live worthily the fragment of life’s path allotted me by fate.
Thank you, Anna, for having been among us. Neither Putin, nor his evil henchmen, nor your pro-Kremlin journalist colleagues have been able to kill you. In this undeclared war of honor against dishonor you have come out the winner for eternity. May your name be revered!
Vytautas Landsbergis, Member of the European Parliament for Lithuania
They have killed Anna Politkovskaya.
She stood selflessly, squarely, and looked the new, or perhaps merely reawakening, Russian fascism straight in the eye. They tried to kill her earlier. She stood up for the humiliated and insulted, against untruths and arbitrariness. The fewer such champions remain, the brighter does their example shine in the night and the more clearly is their voice heard, which is so unwelcome to gross ears. One cannot pass over in silence either the weakness of the Russian democrats or the indifference of Western democrats, all of whom are complicit in her death. But who will fill this new yawning breach for Russia?
Galina Starovoitova once told her Russian democratic comrades-in-arms, “If men are cowards, a woman will lead.” In January 1991 in Moscow she led a 100,000-strong demonstration, despite the warnings of the Armed Forces, under the slogan of “Freedom for Lithuania!” She was later murdered in just the same way, in her stairwell, and in this instance too those who took out the contract will not be found. But will men be found capable of standing up for the entrancing star of decency and freedom? That would be a worthy rejoinder.
From Lithuania, condolences to the family of this woman who died for truth and to the last remaining Russian democrats.
Yevgeniya Lyozina, Student
Anna Politkovskaya. I saw her only a few times, and never met her personally. A young, good-looking woman. Born in 1958, the same year as my mother. Very composed and self-assured. It is impossible to forget people like her, because your first impression when you meet them is that they are real human beings, and that is how you remember them. Like many others, I can see that this murder was committed because Anna Politkovskaya’s activity gave no peace to those in our country who are violating all the laws of truth.
I am still not very old and, looking at the example of this courageous woman, I want to live my life honorably, as she did. For that, as I understand it, I must be sure always to stay close to the truth. As regards Anna Politkovskaya, truth was undoubtedly and always on her side.
People kill, or more precisely take out contracts for the killing, of those they fear. Those who rode to power in our country on anti-Chechen chauvinism, on their willingness to “burst into the latrines and snuff out” their supposed enemies, fear most of all that the truth should become known about what this bravado of theirs has turned out to be. They are afraid of the truth about Beslan and Nord-Ost, about the deaths of civilians, tortures, security sweeps, a war which has lasted many years. We all know, as they do themselves, that in recent years it was primarily Anna Politkovskaya in Novaya gazeta who told the truth about this. She spoke intelligently and professionally, which was important in getting her message heard. It was heard in Russia, as always, however, only by those who had ears to hear, and by those beyond its borders. During my recent visit to London it was amazing to see Anna Politkovskaya’s books on the shelves of all the bookshops. They are bestsellers there, people read them! And of course, that annoyed “them.” It annoyed those who unleashed and supported the war in Chechnya. The truth Anna told was a slap in