Liberasts And Islamists
Monday, October 15, 2012 at 5:03PM A story about friends...
Not so long ago, I wrote about the leader of Left Front, Udal'tsov, going to the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan', to meet with members of a local radical nationalist youth league: "Azatlyk", and attempting to recruit them for the opposition cause. I have said that the media attempted to link "Azatlyk" to the international Islamist organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and say that Udal'tsov hangs out with the Islamists. I have no liking for the bunch of Russophobes that "Azatlyk" are, but I do not think their platform is really Islamist.
Nevertheless, hanging out with Russophobic Tatars does not look good for Udal'tsov in any case, just like hanging out with Georgian agents does not. Browsing the internet, I found another interesting individual, who likes to hang out with ethnic and religious "friends" of all things Russian. This guy, unlike Udal'tsov, hangs out with pure, unadulterated Islamists. His personal name is Vitaliy Ponomarev, not exactly a well know personality like Udal'tsov, but he represents a rather famous organisation: "Memorial." He is their expert on Islamic movements.
It turns out that last year in August, Hizb ut-Tahrir held a conference in Moscow named: "Islam: A Call For Unity." The fact of this kind of conference taking place in the Russian capital is itself interesting. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a banned organisation in Russia. Moreover, it is not only banned but on the list of terrorist organisations. According to the source linked above, the conference did not create much noise. It seems that secret services simply let this pass.
Interesting!
The odd looking guy in red is Vitaliy Ponomarev of Memorial...
However, it is not always the case that security forces let such things pass, dozens of members of Hizb ut-Tahrir were arrested and jailed for membership in the group. It should not surprise us, after seeing "Memorial" people so emphatically involved in Hizb ut-Tahrir activities, that jailed Hizb ut-Tahrir members made their way to the list of "political prisoners" compiled by the so called opposition few months after this conference.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is London based, and past attempts to ban it in the UK have not been successful. This suggests that Hizb ut-Tahrir has some powerful patrons in the British establishment. "Memorial" receives funding from abroad, so their strange affinity towards Hizb ut-Tahrir might have a rational explanation.
Reader Comments (8)
Nothing about these people surprises me anymore. Their outlook presumably is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It seems their hatred of their own government is so great that they are happy to make common cause with those who want to destroy their country. Just as they were happy to destroy the USSR in order to overthrow the Soviet government (and continue to insist that this was something Russians should thank them for) so they would be prepared to destroy Russia in order to overthrow the Russian government.
In terms of siding with the adversaries of a country, Lenin carried on in the same way - something that might very well be motivating Udaltsov in particular.
Recall Dr. Zhivago's half brother, who said his goal was to create internal instability when Russia became engaged in WW I.
' Just as they were happy to destroy the USSR in order to overthrow the Soviet government (and continue to insist that this was something Russians should thank them for) so they would be prepared to destroy Russia in order to overthrow the Russian government.'
Help, I've misplaced my hanky somewhere...a little bit overdramatised here?...just because certain elements in society prefer greater openness and less centralized control? Besides Alexander, you're presenting a nostalgic sovok type impression here, that Leos is so keen to try to distance his brand of russophilism from...a russophilism bereft of sovietism. I' have to admit though, I find your brand much more honest and palatable to accept than his!
The Chechens and some of the peoples of Dagestan, etc. originally were allied with the Bolsheviks against the Cossacks of the North Caucasus. Today their lands are incorporated into Chechnya and Dagestan. The leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir called for Muslims to kill the remaining Russians there, who are probably related to those Cossacks trying to revive their lifestyles there. The parallels between the liberasts and the Bolsheviks are uncanny. The real activities of Memorial should be given a lot more attention, and they should not be immune to the availability of information on the internet.
@ AM
I think that many actions of the opposition figures do not even originate from their own head, but from the head who pays. ;-)
Ah well, if you believe what you read in the Western MSM, because Udaltsov is a "democrat" he should be exempt from any investigation.
A bit like Pussy Riot: because they are "democratic heroes", no one should ever talk about chickens.
In a number of instances, the Western mass media coverage leaves something to be desired.
That said, Udaltsov has been viewed with a noticeable degree of caution:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/world/europe/sergei-udaltsov-russian-protest-leader-takes-center-stage.html?pagewanted=all
In the long run, the Pussy Riot hoopla has a good chance of dying down. As is, the time spent on them is limited in the more serious of high profile media instances, like the recent one hour Charlie Rose segment with Sergey Lavrov.
A softer view of Udaltsov, which includes his claim of having changed:
http://www.rferl.org/content/udaltsov-putin-dialogue/24708471.html
He's well past the age when it's considered more normal to flirt with contentious views and suddenly drop them.
Udaltsov's apparently ongoing habit of getting involved with anti-Russian leaning positions is a Leninist attribute.