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TRAINING
COURSE IN EKATERINBURG We decided
to start the organization of the training course with the following
experiment. In PermпїЅ it had been the job of the local administration to
invite the leaders of ethnic communities to our training course. In
Ekaterinburg we wanted to take care of this problem on our own. By the way,
we did not choose the word пїЅproblemпїЅ by chance. To find out the addresses and
telephone numbers of the leaders of ethnic communities is not as easy as it
might seem. It is simply not possible to find them in telephone directories.
And to get the information from the local administration is not easy at all. As
the local administration usually has not known anything about the Center for
Interethnic Cooperation until we contact them, we strive for showing them
that we are monitoring the situation in their region. That is not for the
purpose to give them additional troubles but to help them knowing and
understanding better the problems of ethnic minorities. For this reason we
are searching for the mentioned lists on our own. It is amusing, that Bugaj,
the chairman of the Department of National Questions of the Ministry of
Affairs of Nationalities of the Russian Federation, forbade his colleagues to
hand over any information about ethnic communities. What ministry has no
secrets? In our opinion information on ethnic communities must be available.
Any journalist, public person, and first of all representatives of ethnic
minorities should have the possibility to contact the heads of organizations
represents the interests of the given ethnic group. That is the reason why we
do not only search the data of ethnic communities and organize training
courses for them, but also publish their data on our website.
In
result, only 15 of the 21 invited leaders of ethnic communities took part in
the training on the 18th and 19th January, which took
place in the rest home пїЅOstrov sokrobischпїЅ which is half an hour from
Ekaterinburg. As in other cities, there were representatives of German and
Jewish organizations among these 15 organizations. In the training
participated also representatives of the local administration: Maya
InnokentпїЅevna Mikhalova, the chairman of the Department of Relations with
Public and Religious Organizations of the Administration of the city of
Ekaterinburg, and Maria YurпїЅevna Plyacynova, the responsible secretary of the
Consultative Council on Nationality Affairs of the Svetlovsk OblastпїЅ.пїЅ Worth
mentioning that the interethnic atmosphere in Ekaterinburg is, resembling
many cities in the Northern Regions of Russia, considerable less tensed than
for example in the Krasnodar district, in Moscow and in the Moscow oblastпїЅ. Our
meetings and the common work with the administrations from the Samara, Nizhny
Novgorod, PermпїЅ and Svetlovsk oblastпїЅ have shown that this appearance is not
only connected with the absence of a big number of immigrants, but also with
the professional and specialist skills of the administrationsпїЅ personnel.
Maya InnokentпїЅevna and Marina YurпїЅevna had a very responsible attitude
towards the training. They took actively part in all tasks given by Viktoria
Shukhat, our trainer. Concerning the training, they behaved even more
responsible than the leaders of ethnic communities. They were really natural
and in the same time, there have not been any пїЅboss пїЅ subordinateпїЅ relations
between them and the other participants of the training. The
participating leaders of ethnic communities of Ekaterinburg and the Svetlovsk
oblastпїЅ specified 58 acute problems. The problems were as follows: 1.
Non-
perfect laws, budget, oblastпїЅ do not allow to realize the necessary work 2.
Laws
do not work and/ or are ignored 3.
Absence
of partnership relations with other organizations and organs of the
authorities 4.
Ambitions
of the leaders of ethnic communities 5.
No
abilities for a dialog 6.
Insufficient
nationality self-confidence 7.
Formalities
of the bureaucracy 8.
Dawdling
in the resolution of problems 9.
Assimilation 10.
Mixed
marriages 11.
No
professional working on the side of the national NGO 12.
Many
are only interested in the process, but not in the purposeпїЅ 13.
No
national policy on the governmental level 14.
No
fixed priorities 15.
Absence
of a necessary Consultation Council 16.
No
interaction in between the authorities 17.
No
financial means 18.
No
coordination 19.
Relations
to law enforcement bodies 20.
No
cultural center 21.
No
registration of marriages in the residential place 22.
Problems
of language and traditions 23.
No
horses/ rams for the traditional Mari festivals 24.
No
adequate immigration policy 25.
Employment
exchange 26.
Conflict
of laws concerning ethnic minorities 27.
Violations
of human rights 28.
Pressure
of national tensions 29.
Absence
of necessary interaction with the mass media 30.
Unprofessional
journalists 31.
Women
programs 32.
Room/
remises 33.
Regularity
of subsidies 34.
Library 35.
Responsibility/
who is responsible or competent for what? 36.
No
responsibility of a person regarding his/her nation 37.
Difficulties
with fundraising 38.
The
leaders of an NGO have a lack of knowledge and skillsпїЅ 39.
Emigration 40.
Rehabilitation!
Help for repressed people 41.
Language
tests (for Russian Germans who want to emigrate to Germany) 42.
Education
for Roma 43.
Work
permit/ Ministry of the Interior 44.
Difficulties
with the view on the residence place 45.
Freedom
of practicing faith 46.
Manners
of the state 47.
Equality
of all nations and ethnics before the state 48.
Absence
of tolerance 49.
No
social economical conditions for adaptation 50.
Problems
of education in the middle school (history, geography, ethnology and culture) 51.
No
constitutional state, persons and not a system 52.
No
continuity of authorities 53.
Politicizing 54.
Policy:
пїЅseparate and ruleпїЅ 55.
The
authorities manipulate and interfere with the affairs of NGOs 56.
Political
demands towards NGOs 57.
Inner
contradictions within the NGO After
having specified such a big number of problems, the participants of the
training were supposed to commit their selves to the three most important (in
their opinion). According to the express-inquiry the following problems are
the most urgent ones: 1.
Absence
of tolerance 2.
No
constitutional state 3.
No
adequate immigration policy 4.
Assimilation 5.
Mass
media 6.
Absence
of financial means However,
the problem пїЅAbsence of toleranceпїЅ did not only get the highest rating, but
also differs considerable from the other points. Thereafter
the participants of the training defined temporary steps to be done to
prepare negotiations. The outcomes of this work are as follows: 1.
Monitoring
the problems 2.
Monitoring
the legislation 3.
Preparation
of documents (project, application) 4.
Establishment
of a personal characteristic of the partner 5.
Structuring
the performance 6.
Orientation
towards a positive result 7.
Knowledge
how to escape from a situation with negative results 8.
Argumentation
advantageous for both sides 9.
Possibility
that partners share the expenses for the project 10.
Influence
channels (Mass media) After
answering to questions concerning the foregoing preparation, Viktoria divided
the participants of the training into three groups. She asked them to collect
and to write down which arguments they would use during negotiations. Then,
one representative of each group had to present the results and give
commentaries. The outcomes were as follows: First group: 1.
Knowledge
about the problem from the inside 2.
Having
resources (organizational, personal, more rarely пїЅ financial) 3.
Having
information concerning the problem 4.
Direct
interest in the anticipated result 5.
Prevention
of interethnic conflicts 6.
Visiting-card
of the organization and partners with authority 7.
Active
support of the given project by the mass media Second group: Packet of documents 1.
Argumentation
of the general significance, importance and actuality of the project a.
Meeting
of the interest of the different sides b.
Statistic
investigations c.
Monitoring
of the project 2.
Including
of experts/ specialists 3.
Support
of sponsors, other organizations, estimates of expenses, expenses, part of
financial commitments, space of time of the realization 4.
Professional
cadre, chair of the organization 5.
Evaluation
of the project, results 6.
Coordination
of activities with other organizations 7.
Forms
of a further cooperation with state organs -
Development
of the direction пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ -
Information
about the results Third group Revival 1.
Development
and conservation of the ethnos 2.
Integration
in the local culture 3.
Development
of tolerance 4.
Increase
of the general cultural level 5.
Economic
development 6.
AchievementsпїЅпїЅ Worth
mentioning, that Viktoria paid much attention to the informational part of
the training course in Ekaterinburg, as the previous training had turned out
the need of receiving this information.пїЅпїЅ
The
next day, on Sunday at 10 oпїЅclock in the morning, Ashot Airapetyan, the
director of the Center for Interethnic Cooperation, opened the second
training day. He talked about one and a half hour about the problem of the
protection of ethnic minorities of Russia, about the international and
Russian laws dedicated to the support of these minorities, about the Network
of Ethnic Association and its tasks and purposes, and about the project in
general. He also reported on the success with ethnic associations and local
authorities achieved in different Russian regions, etc. After
the following informational part, the participants of the training were
separated into two groups. Then the role game пїЅNegotiations of leaders of
ethnic communities with the authorities for the elaboration of a tolerance
programпїЅ started. We had chosen one of the problems, which had got the
highest ratings on the first day. To make the game more realistic, the
representatives of the authorities had to play their selves. AndпїЅ the
negotiations ended without results. Like in Perm, it turned out that the
leaders of ethnic associations were considerable worse prepared than the
пїЅauthorityпїЅ group. They proposed a small project with a negligible budget the
authorities, which could neither have big influence on the tolerance of the
inhabitants of Ekaterinburg, nor of the Svetlovsk oblastпїЅ. The authorities
proposed to postpone the negotiations for the elaboration of a basic and
global plan for the support of tolerance and declared their interest in the
support of this program. However, this is a good result. Let us hope that the
leaders of local ethnic communities will use this chance. |
