Training Course in Perm
On
the 13th and 14th of November there has been one more
training course organized by the Center for Interethnic Cooperation. Leaders of
national associations from the Perm district, representatives of the district
administration and the city Perm, as well as young students interested in
interethnic relations had been invited to participate in the training. The
course was one part of the project пїЅNetwork of Ethnic AssociationsпїЅ, financed
by the John and Kathrin MacArthur Foundation. From the very beginning the
administration of the Perm district took very actively part in the
organization and realization of the training course. The beginning of this
co-operation was rather nerve-racking. Firstly, the staff of the
Administrative Authority of the Perm district decided to let the two-day
training course take place not on Saturday and Sunday, but on working days. In
present Russia occurred a unique situation. On the one hand, the authorities
(local as well as federal) understand, that a considerable reformation of the
social and economical structures is necessary for the development of the
country. On the other hand, in Russia traditionally not the laws but the
authorities do define, what is allowed and what forbidden. The authorities treat the citizens as if they were
little children. The citizens think, that only the authorities are
responsible for the fate of country and region as they made all of the
decisions. As a result the protection of human rights is a prerogative of the
authorities. And any violations in this sphere proof the bad work of the
authorities. Because of that, representatives of authorities from the South
as well as from the North of Russia think, that there are no violations of
human rights in their districts. Our experience shows, that the polemics on
the side of authorities concerning the issue пїЅAre there human rights
violations in the region or notпїЅ does not help to make the national
minorities feel and live better. They even are beginning to fear that the
activities of the Moscow human rights activists
could cause the anger of authorities at their national Diasporas. And this
would be the worst possible situation for the activities of national
associations. Therefore, the leaders of national associations consider any
improvement in the relations with the authorities as a sign for good work,
and, in addition, as reason for the growth of authority among the
representatives of their nationality. Referring to this, effective
negotiations with the authorities are a real instrument for the protection of
national minorities in Russia. Most effective are negotiations, when the
leaders of national associations know the most modern methods of negotiation
conducting. And, what is very important, when they coordinate their
activities well timed. For that reason, our main mission of the training
course I Perm was to train the leaders of national minorities in methods of
negotiation conducting. Indeed, it is already an old tradition, that a
representative of the Center for Interethnic Cooperation reads a special
mini-lesson on problems of protection of national minority rights. Here is to
mention that our fears concerning the organization and preparation of the
seminar had not been necessary. The Administration undertook the most
complicated part of the work that is the invitation of the participants of
the training course. And they achieved the best possible result of this work.
Our meeting with the representatives of the district and the municipal
Administration before and after the training convinced us, that the Perm
district is much more advanced concerning the interaction with the national
associations than other regions. Concerning the financial support of national
association it surpasses even the Samarian district. Thus it might have been
not coincidentally that all participants of the training arrived in time at
the meeting point in front of the Perm Administration at 8 oпїЅclock on the 13th
November to leave together for the hostel by bus. Ten minutes after, we were
already on the one hour trip to the popular Sanatorium пїЅUctпїЅ-KachkaпїЅ. After
the check in and the breakfast the training started in a conference room
calles пїЅMalahitпїЅ. Quite soon, there were the first and very interesting
training outcomes. The participants of the seminar, that is leaders of national
associations, representatives of authorities, and students, have collected 27
concerns, which should negotiated with the authorities. They proofed the old
truism, that good relations to the authorities do not mean the absence of
negotiation topics. And good relations to the authorities are a condition to
discuss even problems which are not discussed in other regions. The
concerns were as follows: 1.
Founding
a House of Nationalities 2.
Administrating
the House of Nationalities 3.
Problems
of peoples in Russia/ Solutions 4.
Establishment
of an Public Organ of the Nationality Council 5.
Interaction
between national minorities and authorities 6.
Establishment
of leadership organs 7.
Building
a path on the property of the church 8.
Establishment
of a Polish school 9.
Formation
of a positive and sensible public opinion concerning Nationalities 10.
Overcoming
of the bureaucratic barriers by getting humanitarian aid 11.
Overcoming
bureaucratic borders in general 12.
Indecency
of officials 13.
Privileges
and responsibility of officials 14.
Fiscal
Policy concerning work in the third sector 15.
How
to secure the economic independence of NGOs 16.
Proportion
between state and society concerning the national problem 17.
Effective
use of governmental resources 18.
Bureaucratization
of the interethnic sphere 19.
Formation
of a new national policy with aid of the civil society 20.
Rooms
for Jewish and Korean associations 21.
Artificial
(non-existing) problems 22.
Intolerance/
stereotypes 23.
Absence
of tolerance 24.
Mass
media 25.
Responsibility
for the fate of peoples and individuals 26.
Passivity
of the population 27.
Found
raising for cooperation The
participants liked the working in groups. The following points are considered
as mistakes during negotiations: 1.
Outward
appearance 2.
Bad
mood 3.
Lack
of time 4.
Not
coming in time 5.
Incorrectness 6.
Aggressiveness 7.
Speaking:
пїЅYour not right, that is not right!пїЅ Categorical behavior 8.
Obtrusiveness 9.
Lack
of respect for the opponent as a person 10.
Lack
of arguments 11.
Interrupting
the negotiations 12.
Ending
the negotiations with negative results According
to the participants, the following arguments should be used in the
negotiations: 1.
Declaration
of the desired final result 2.
Reference
to the legislative basics, to the experience of other states and regions 3.
Advantages
for the opponentпїЅ 4.
Role
of the personality 5.
Positive
common/ joint experience 6.
Competence
of the opponent 7.
Formation
and reference to the public opinion 8.
Effectiveness
of the decision for a big group of people 9.
Declaring
that a joint decision could create a long-lasting cooperation At
the end of the first day of the training course, we got a completely
unexpected result. The participating leaders of national associations decided
to stay for one more hour in the conference room to create a committee for
the establishment of a Council of National Organizations in the Perm
district. They considered that the establishment of such an organ makes a
better preparation for negotiations possible and increases the chances for
getting good results. We started very soon had informed the local authorities
that the single outcomes of our training course will be new skills of the
participants. Thus the decision of the participants was a really good one.
The more as the establishment of new coalitions in the Perm district was not
planned. They showed understanding for such initiatives. In addition, the
representatives of the municipal administration declared, that they have been
waiting for a long time for the establishment of an organization uniting
different national associations. But of course they did not want to be the
one that initiate its creation. |
