HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
. . Global and Local Analysis & Action ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; 'NATO' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; 'News' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; 'SNN' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 2:26 PM Subject: Zyuganov blames officials for extremism [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- 2002-04-20 02:16 MSK - Zyuganov blames officials for extremism MOSCOW - Russia's Communist Party chief blamed President Vladimir Putin's administration on Thursday for policies that he said had spurred the growth of violent extremism. Speaking in an interview just hours after Putin delivered a "state of the nation" speech, Gennady Zyuganov said the Kremlin leader had failed to come up with anything positive for Russians and had ignored the poverty and lawlessness afflicting society. "It is the authorities' extremism which pushes people towards extremism. People have nothing to eat. Young people graduate from fine institutes and cannot find work. Entire generations are growing up knowing nothing other than drugs, vodka and life on the street," Zyuganov told Reuters. "It is extremism which begets extremism and this is inevitable. Our people are calm and reasonable. But if they are pushed, it will be hard to stop." Nationalist groups periodically stage organised attacks on ethnic groups, particularly traders, from southern Russia and adjacent ex-Soviet republics. Putin has called for a crackdown on nationalist gangs ahead of Saturday's anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth. Zyuganov, 57, who has been beaten in two presidential elections, said Putin had ignored his party's suggestions for improving the economy. Communists, he said, wanted reforms and had drawn on the experience of other countries, particularly China, in forming plans to develop Russia's economy that took into account Russia's "very specific nature". He said it was the "oligarchs" - industrialists who made money in the post-Soviet period - who had put Russia in its current state, with "nearly 70 million people either going hungry or reduced to begging". OLIGARCHS TO BLAME The Communist Party chief singled out for criticism Anatoly Chubais, long a hate figure among Russian communists for his role in mass privatisations in the mid-1990s, which created vast fortunes for some industrialists. Zyuganov accused Chubais of causing widespread misery in his current job as head of the country's electricity utility, RAO.UES. "He cuts off power to maternity hospitals, to rocket bases....in any other country he would be pushed to the wall," Zyuganov said of Chubais. "This is extremism. Whole districts without power, patients lying on the operating table and power cut off. Fascist Germany did not even cut off power to its people." Zyuganov is credited with rebuilding the Communist Party after a ban on its activity was lifted. He was defeated by Boris Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential election and lost to Putin four years later. Latest polls give the party a 34 percent rating - far ahead of pro-Putin centrists who control the State Duma lower house. The Communists are the Duma's largest single group, but lost much of their power base when deputies removed them from top positions on key committees, prompting Zyuganov to declare the party in "all-out opposition". In his interview, the barrel-chested Zyuganov said the party remained united despite its recent setback in parliament. He was confident recent good results in local elections would lead to mass support in next year's parliamentary polls. "What is sad is that the party in power has no ideology. Its base is made up of officials looking after their own interests. Once Putin is gone, everyone will simply run off," he said. "We, on the other hand, have an idea, an organisation, in even the most remote village." He said enduring hardship for millions of Russians would mean a big turnout for street rallies he has called for May 1, international workers' day, and May 9, when ex-Soviet states mark the anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany. "I think there will be many more people turning out this year," he said. "In the past year, because of Putin's policies, no one has seen improved living standards except the oligarchs." -Reuters --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
