MINELRES: News of the Public Movement "Multinational Georgia"

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Original sender: Multinational Georgia <pmmginfo@pmmg.org.ge>


5 September 2008

The representatives of the Public Movement "Multinational Georgia" have
addressed the newspaper "Alia" editor Giorgi Bregvadze being concerned
regarding the article "Death to the Russian Men, Cheer the Russian
Women" published in the editorial on September 2-3 of the current year.

According to the members of the organization the headline of the article
is the direct call for sowing interethnic hatred and violence and
consequently represents the quintessence of developing xenophobia and
hate speech. The title is also carrying the character of the sexist
statement. The representatives of the Public Movement "Multinational
Georgia" believe that it is absolutely unacceptable for the civilized
world to tolerate such definitions in the press especially at the time
when the military and political conflict is still underway. Therefore,
they point out the fact that such propaganda in the Georgian mass media
might influence in a negative way Georgian citizens and persons of the
Georgian origin residing in the Russian Federation.   

Taking into consideration the fact that the pure text of the article
does not imply the propagation of interethnic hatred and the headline of
the article is just an abstract from the speech of the young men
interviewed by the newspaper correspondent, the members of the
organization addressed the editor of the news paper to take all the
resent public reaction into account and restrain from printing in the
future similar kind of materials which might lead to the escalation of
the civil confrontation by disseminating unbalanced and outrages
information. Otherwise the organization will employ all the legal means
to litigate the similar fact. 

As you might know the Public Movement "Multinational Georgia" has
previously protested Russian language music clip "Russia 2008" aired on
the TV "Rustavi 2" (the composer of the song - T. Rtskhiladze, performer
Z. Doijashvili), which implied the criticism of the authorities and
politics of the Russian Federation. The clip consisted rude wordings and
formulation, which might be percepted as offensive for the all Russian
people.  

The Public Movement "Multinational Georgia" will continue the monitoring
of the mass media. It will also address the Public Defender and the NGOs
of Georgia with the intentions of calling for the meetings with the
directors of the leading media sources aiming at the balanced coverage
of the recent developments as well as the discussion of interethnic
component in their media coverage

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5 September 2008

Public Movement Multinational Georgia, International Youth Human Rights
Movement and Moscow Helsinki Group launch new civil initiative
"Georgian-Russian Civil Dialogue" - attempt to overwhelm confrontation
between to states by two civil societies. Please find the enclosed
Declaration open for signing.

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Declaration on Building Georgian-Russian Civil Dialog 

As a result of political crisis between Russian Federation and Georgia
which has developed into military confrontation, the relationships
between the two nations have sustained serious losses. This fact can
cause destabilization in the Caucasus region as a whole. Today we talk
not only about rupture of diplomatic relations between our two states,
but about possible breaking off of any communication between people
divided by unconscientious propaganda and anguish caused by losses in
the conflict.   

Citizens and non-governmental organizations of Georgia were the first to
respond to the tragedy of civilians. They rendered and continue to
render the first necessary assistance to victims of the conflict. Civil
organizations of our countries are open to cooperation. Despite the
gravity of situation we have been able to begin consolidation and
believe that uniting the efforts of civic groups is the only way to
establishment of long-term peace in our region and in the hearts of its
people. 

We, NGO representatives of Georgia and Russia,
- understanding that our peoples should live in peace and develop
good-neighbour and friendly relations with each other;
- taking into account the complexity of today's situation and the role
of some politicians and media in destroying historical and cultural ties
between our nations;
- realizing the role of NGOs in development of bilateral relations
between our societies, independently on individual politicians'
positions;
establish a network of non-governmental organizations.

 The main aims of the network must be the following: 
- development and establishment of direct civil connections between
societies of our countries, including first of all between NGOs of
Georgia and Russia;
- strengthening of dialog and mutual understanding between our peoples;
- planning of joint activity to minimize humanitarian problems for the
civilians, who suffered during the armed conflict;
- decrease the level of xenophobia in society, struggling against all
forms of discrimination, spread of objective unbiased information about
the situation in both countries;
- development of long-term peaceful initiatives in our countries aimed
at encouragement of culture of peace including the Caucasus region;
- strengthening of mutual help and support  for NGOs in our countries;

For achievement of these aims we plan: 
- to conduct meeting, visits and joint humanitarian programs;
- to develop the direct public connections among students, teachers,
journalists, actors of culture and art and other members of our
societies;
- to support any public, governmental and international activities aimed
at realization of the mentioned goals.

We appeal to all NGOs from our countries to join this initiative and
contribute to consolidation of connections between our peoples. 
We invite NGOs from other countries to join the Initiative a partners

Public Movement "Multinational Georgia"
Russian branch of Intermational Youth Human Rights Movement

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-----------------------------------

3 September 2008

PMMG assisted in the organisation of the International monitoring
mission to Georgia, report of the Mission was submitted to the European
Parliament and Erocomissioners in Brussels yesterday. To read the report
- please follow the link bellow

http://www.pmmg.org.ge/uploads/publish/EUreport_final.pdf

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3 September 2008

PMMG announced competition for the local organisations and initiative
groups seeking to support displaced persons.
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