On my moon, I'm always alone. Special correspondent of "Novaya Gazeta" Elena Kostyuchenko about her favorite books
Do you want to change this world
Can you accept it as it is
Get up and get out of the way
Sit on the electric chair or the throne?
Viktor Tsoi
Does Moscow need gay pride parades? The reason for the conversation in the RIA Novosti studio was the story of Elena Kostyuchenko, a journalist " Novaya Gazeta"who, as a parade participant, was beaten up in the capital on May 28. She will tell journalist Irina Yasina how and why this happened, and what Elena and her friends were fighting for. Also visiting" Azbuka Changes "- Evgenia Albats, editor-in-chief of the magazine "The New Times".
Why does a "civilized" society beat participants in a gay pride parade in Moscow
Irina Yasina (I.Ya.): At the end of May, Moscow was agitated by the fact that a gay parade took place. And the blogging community was further agitated by an article by Lena Kostyuchenko, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, in which she admitted that she was a lesbian and discussed why she was going to a gay pride parade. Today my guests are the editor-in-chief of the New times magazine Evgenia Albats and Elena Kostyuchenko. The first question is for Zhenya. What impression did this article in Novaya Gazeta make on you?
Evgenia Albats (EA): Thank you for inviting me, because I think this is a very important topic. It seems to me that we need to talk about it in detail. It was an amazing feeling when I read this girl's post. Because this is the act of a very courageous person who declares what representatives of various minorities - political, religious, sexual - always declare: "I am who I am, be so kind as to accept me as I am."
I.Ya .: And I don't want to hide!
Е.А .: And it was absolutely amazing. And the fact that in our very illiberal, very authoritarian society she allowed herself so openly, in such detail, to even some, if you like, self-indulgence, which is absolutely necessary here, to tell about it - made a very strong impression on me. It's just an act. And the most important thing, it seems to me, is that this Lenin's post broke the information blockade.
I.Ya .: Yes, because I wanted to talk about it.
Е.А .: In general, people suddenly saw that in front of them was the same person as they were. Lena, who has different ideas about how she wants to make love. And nobody's business - to get into this question.
I.Ya .: Lena, after you wrote this note, this post, you went to a gay parade. Did you know what awaits you there? Were you scared?
Elena Kostyuchenko (E.K.): I could have assumed that there was a possibility that I would be beaten, because before that I went to gay pride parades as a journalist for Novaya Gazeta and saw what was happening with the participants. But there was no such direct fear. Rather, when I was still driving to Manezhnaya Square, it felt as if you were going to take an exam for which you were not ready. That is, such an unpleasant feeling, but not fear. Later, when my girlfriend and I unfurled the flag, it was no longer scary. But I cannot say, of course, that I was prepared for what happened. It's one thing when you theoretically understand that someone's fist can fly into your head, it's another thing when someone's fist really flies into your head. It both hurts, and I am very offended that this man came up to me from the back. I didn't have a chance to somehow defend myself, that is, none. For some reason, this is very insulting to me.
I.Ya .: Do you now know who it was?
E.K .: No! And this maddens me, because this man was detained by police officers immediately after he hit me. Now a criminal case has been opened, in which I have been recognized as a victim, but the investigator has not yet given me the name of this person. She said: "First your interrogation, then, after interrogation, let's say your name." Then during the interrogation she said: "No, first there will be an identification, then we will tell you the name." Now she seems to be saying something about holding confrontation, and then I will know his name. This is my first participation in a criminal case as a victim, but, in my opinion, it is not normal when I do not know the name of the person who beat me on the temple.
I.Ya .: Lena, how do you feel now?
E.K .: I would like to say: good, but, in fact, I am going to the hospital today. Yesterday I went to the polyclinic to close my sick leave, but they drove me out for examinations, and it turned out that I had neuro-sensory hearing loss. In short, I am losing my hearing, and this needs to be treated very quickly so that it does not become chronic. Therefore, now my editorial office is engaged in placing me in some kind of clinic. Literally in half an hour, in an hour I go to bed.
I.Ya .: If you need help, you tell us, we will also connect.
Е.К .: Thank you very much.
I.Ya .: Zhen, don't you think that you can get in the temple for an expanded slogan, for some wrong appearance also because in our semi-feudal society these guys shock this society too much. Maybe wait until it is a little civilized, is this society?
Homophobes of the 20th century, or terrible Death on a flagpole
Е.А .: Let me remind you that in our wonderful country, gays were once imprisoned.
I.Ya .: In Nazi Germany they were imprisoned in a concentration camp.
Е.А .: Yes, but lesbians were hung on lanterns. And they hanged gays. Such death for them was invented by the Nazis. They were dying on flagpoles ... I totally disagree, to be honest, with such a formulation of the question. Because gays and lesbians are citizens Russian Federation... And if they are not citizens, then they are tax residents, they are taxpayers, they also contain, by the way, those law enforcement agencies that are obliged to protect them. And they also have exactly the right to the 31st article of the Constitution, namely, the right to rallies, meetings, etc. And if Messrs Sobyanin, Luzhkov and others have a terrible fear that God forbid ... And I must tell you: research shows that the most ardent homophobes are hidden.
I.Ya .: Okay. We will not touch this.
Е.А .: It is necessary to touch it, because where does this fear come from? Here we have seen the statements of Sobyanin and Luzhkov. You see, a person has different sexual fantasies, and people hammer it in themselves.
I.Ya .: But Zhen, I don't want this to be our topic now ...
Е.А .: Ira, then it is not clear where this is coming from.
I.Ya .: I admit that it just goes out of habit. Because it seems to everyone that this has always been in society, and even more so that now we have all become wildly Christian, and any religion prohibits sodomy, so I just would not want to touch this. It is just important for me to emphasize that in these gay pride parades I see, first of all, not a demonstration of my own peculiarity, although this too, but, above all, a struggle for rights. And I insist that there can be no right for some that excludes the same right for others. We are all equal after all. I still wanted to ask. Lena, can you imagine how it started in other countries?
Е.К .: I, of course, know about the Stonewall riots. I don't think I am the best storyteller ... It was not so long ago ...
I.Ya .: I was five years old then ...
EK:… Yes. It is hard to imagine that at that time in America, gay men were not only disenfranchised, but they were persecuted by the law, including if men held hands or danced together, or wore women's clothing. In one gay bar, the police raided with a seemingly routine check. The visitors were lined up along the wall, demanded to show their documents, and some were taken to the toilet for what was then called a "floor check". The visitors refused to obey, after which there were street fighting in the area for three days. And for the next gay action, and before that there were already gay actions, but these were polite gay actions, that is, people did not even use the words "gays", "lesbians" ...
I.Ya .: Were you ashamed of this?
Е.К .: Not that they are shy. "Let's not provoke society, if we say the word" gay ", public morality will die in terrible agony." After that, in fact, a big serious movement for rights began, and now we see that the States ... I cannot say that this is the most progressive country.
I.Ya .: And which is the most progressive, from your point of view?
Е.К .: As far as I know, this is Denmark.
I.Ya .: And in Iceland, as far as I know, the prime minister is an open lesbian ... And the mayor of Berlin is ...
Е.К .: In fact, I don't know much about the history of the LGBT movement. I can now make a lot of factual mistakes, because I am not an LGBT activist ...
"I am who I am"
I.Ya .: But you are a civil activist, I would say. Zhen, I have a question for you. Our liberal friends are fighting for their rights, but they completely deny the rights of these minorities. Let me remind you that at one time the gay movement wanted to join the "Strategy-31". "Strategy-31" was horrified, recoiled and said: "No, no, don't." How do you feel about this?
Е.А .: I have a very bad attitude to this. I'll tell you, Ir, for me there was such a breakdown of consciousness or, as today's youth say, an explosion of the brain. In the summer of 1993, there was the millionth gay and lesbian march in Washington DC. I watched on TV, and it made an incredible impression on me, because the main slogan with which people of this sexual orientation went was: "I am what I am." The right to one's own individuality is an absolute human right. And it doesn't matter in what way your individuality is manifested: in your political views, in your sexual orientation, in anything else - all these are human rights.
I.Ya .: But wait. Something is given from birth, such as skin color, but something is invented as political views.
Е.А .: This is the right to choose. This is the second most important gift of God to man after birth. In general, I’ll tell you: the first man was a hermaphrodite, right? Therefore, all these male bells and whistles that appeared with the development of monotheism are always fear, in this case, of men or rulers in front of others. After 1993, and back in the late 90s, and in the 2000s, there were cases in New York when gays were killed. In our country, this was a complete nightmare. By the way, few people know: we once had a "sociology of deviant behavior" - it was so called, under the Ministry of Internal Affairs Soviet Union, which studied what they called "deviant behavior." And they found out that, for example, in the Soviet Union there were many hidden lesbians, especially among teachers.
Е.А .: Not in secret archives. These were the works of the sociologist Anzor Gabiani. And I wrote about this in the Izvestia newspaper, because the topics were completely closed. We also know that research has shown that approximately 15% of gays and lesbians are people who are born that way. But, again, it doesn't matter - from birth or choice. Now there is a fantastic musical on Broadway with the main aria - "I am who I am". "I am who I am". A person has the right to choose for himself what he wants to be.
I.Ya .: But society is afraid. In particular, some liberals tell me: "Well, how can we, and so we have problems with demography. What a disgrace. They will never give birth to children. Our country without children is dying anyway."
Same-sex relationship - marriage without marriage and the collapse of dreams
Е.А .: The same liberals were afraid at the beginning of the 20th century to give rights to women. This is the fear of competition. At first they were afraid that women would come and take political positions, and the men, poor unfortunates, would not be able to withstand this competition. Of course they can't stand it - the weaker sex. Then they were afraid that people with a different skin color would come, and children would be born with a different skin color. Again, this is the fear of competition. Now Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America. There was absolute fear. Same. Fear of people of other religions. Such a fear of the Jews, such a fear of absolutely anyone else. And here in the same row is the fear of gays and lesbians.
I.Ya .: Lena, what would you like, what rights? Why are you going to the parade?
Е.К .: Sexual orientation is not a question of how you have sex. This is a question of who you love, with whom you want to start a family and how you will protect this family. In our country, unfortunately, it is impossible to register same-sex relationships. I cannot register a relationship with my girlfriend. Accordingly, she is not protected in the event of my death, in the event of a property dispute. She will not be able to come to my hospital, to the intensive care unit, she will not be able to make any important medical decision in this case. We cannot take a family mortgage. We are both from other cities - this is important for us. We cannot get family health insurance. And there are a lot of such little things.
I.Ya .: The most important thing is that it does not threaten anything, if the gay community has these rights, it does not threaten the rest. It seems to me. Zhenya, what do you think?
Е.А .: Well, of course, it doesn't threaten anything. You know, there was such a wonderful film, I saw it quite by accident. This is such a tragedy of two women, one of whom remains alone. Her loved one dies alone in the ward, and she is not even warned that the woman she loved, with whom she lived for more than thirty years, has died. It seems to me that these objections to demographics ... If you look, geist and lesbian couples very often have children. It is completely normal for a woman, it is inherent in the nature to have children. And I know: here, in Moscow, and in the United States, I have many such friends - same-sex families in which children grow up beautifully.
I.Ya .: Yes, I know these statistics. There are no deviations in the average statistics. That is, children grow up with that sexual orientation, which, as they say, is destined for them.
Not a childish question about children, or Two mothers have no place in one passport
Е.К .: I would also like to talk about children. It seems to me that this is the most important part of the rights that we are denied. About demography. I don't know, maybe I communicate with some special gays and lesbians, but among my acquaintances, either everyone already has children, or they are planned in the near future. And in the same "LJ", "VKontakte", "Two Moms" - a wonderful community, some other communities where same-sex families exchange some experience, including on the issue of interaction with the authorities. And what's the problem? The problem is that we cannot ensure that both of us are recorded on the child's birth certificate. Accordingly, we cannot both represent him in kindergarten, school, hospital, God forbid, in court. And the worst thing is that in the event of the death of the biological mother, the child is sent to an orphanage, while the second mother is trying to prove to the guardianship authorities that this child is not a stranger, that she can raise him further.
I.Ya .: Well, before that you still have to swim and swim. Prior to this, rights have not arrived in all developed countries.
Е.К .: I don't know ... You see, the fact is that such children already exist. And we cannot ignore their interests. There are such children, they are growing and are already under legal attack.
I.Ya .: Okay, then I'll say so. What many bloggers consider a provocation at the Eternal Flame, that gay parade that took place on May 28, will it somehow move you and society towards solving these problems? Or do you need to use some, so to speak, calmer forms of lobbying your interests? A question for both of you.
E.K .: We need different forms. Gay parades are needed because they are an extra informational occasion that allows journalists, media, readers, bloggers to once again express their opinion or change their opinion about gay rights. We need, of course, some kind of bill.
"Gays are as scared as vampires and aliens"
I.Ya .: And who could have it ...? I don’t see in our Duma, for example, a person who could support such a bill. Harvey Milk is not among us. Let me remind you that he was a gay, elected to the city council of San Francisco, who made no secret of the election that he was gay. He was killed in the 78th year ... And I must say, the brilliant film was shot in America. For the leading male role of Harvey Milk, not gay Sean Penn received an Oscar. Nevertheless, returning to the Duma. I can hardly imagine such a person.
Е.К .: Alas, but it still seems to me that the situation can be changed by the massive recognition of gays and lesbians, transgender people, bisexuals: "Yes, we are, we are, we live among you."
I.Ya .: That is, you yourself need to stop being ashamed of it?
E.K .: We need to stop being afraid of the reaction of society, the reaction of parents, colleagues at work. We need to declare that yes, we are. And you see, it's very easy to hate and be afraid of some abstract gays, abstract lesbians, abstract Jews ..., vampires, aliens. When a person lives next to you who is a childhood friend, your daughter, your colleague, your neighbor in the stairwell ...
I.Ya .: In this sense, the same happens with the disabled. Ruben Gonzalez Gallego, who wrote a wonderful book "White on Black", once told me: "The sooner you recognize yourself as disabled, the easier it will be for you to live." And as long as I was hiding my difficulties (then it became impossible to hide them, but, nevertheless, I hid them for a long time, and this weighed down wildly), as soon as I said that yes, it’s hard for me, I need help, a huge number of people started helping me. I'm trying to figure out what other ways, besides gay pride parades, are there to achieve equal rights? Because we have come to the general conclusion that this is important. Zhen?
Е.А .: Still, a very important thing happened in 94 -95, when the article for sodomy was canceled in the Criminal Code. Because what happened, I repeat, few people know. It's just that I was on the Pardon Commission under the President of the Russian Federation, so I had to read about this and deal with this article. There was a real hunt for gays. They were forced to put up armored doors, etc. They were suspected all the time that they are the Fifth Column, spies, a nightmare. Therefore, this very important breakthrough was made in the 90s. What Lena tells about children is a completely new topic for me. I never thought about it, because I know our colleague who has two wonderful children ... Somehow I never thought about it at all, that such a problem can arise in same-sex families. I think this is generally a question of education. Why do I think Lena did a great thing by publishing this post? Because people are always afraid of what they do not understand and do not know. And sometimes they need someone to say to them in normal human language: "Guys, but here I am. I love another woman. Or" I love another man. "You understand. This is important for me. I want to live this way."
I.Ya .: At the same time, I do not bother you. After all, this is another question ...
Openness to the world is the key to recognition
Е.А .: Ir, are you not afraid that Lena is sitting with us?
I.Ya .: I'm not afraid. Such a wonderful kid. We have daughters with you about the same. How would you react if your daughter came and said ...?
Е.А .: Quite calmly. I thought about it a lot. For me, it was generally a process when I first met a lesbian couple, they were my fellow journalists at Harvard University. It took me a while to get this into my head. I came from the Soviet Union. I started reading. I thought about it. I talked to them. People are afraid of the unknown or the incomprehensible.
I.Ya .: So, it is important for you that she is happy, your child?
Е.А .: My daughter? Absolutely.
I.Ya .: That is, in what form it will be, you ...
Е.А .: Absolutely. I want her to have children. I want to be a grandmother.
I.Ya .: Now it does not depend either, actually. May God grant Lelka health. You and her will have many children, which is what I wish for Lena. Most importantly, from my point of view, Len, what you did, and here I agree with Zhenya, that courageous wonderful step is this publication, this openness. Persuade your friends to be just as open, because as soon as there are many of you, we will begin to reckon with you, put up with you first, then support you, precisely because you cannot fight for the rights of some, excluding the same rights for others.
Е.А .: If they violate the rights of gays and lesbians, then tomorrow they will come for you and me, Ira.
I.Ya .: Of course, because you and I are exactly the Fifth Column.
Е.А .: No, it doesn't matter. Nobody's rights should be infringed. If we allow people to be next to us, whose civil and political rights have been violated, this means that we are next in line. Is always. It doesn't matter who we are.
I.Ya .: As blogger Tokuak, my friend, said, “phobias and disrespect for other people's rights, whether it be the right to freedom of assembly or to choose sexual orientation, is a characteristic feature of the mentality of societies at a stage of development where their own rights, and all the more, their inalienability is not realized, in general, phobias are the privilege of the backward and those who are afraid of competition. "
And:
Elena Kostyuchenko: Why am I going to the gay pride today
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2011/056/38.html
Dmitry MURATOV: Whose parade? About Kostyuchenko. Characteristic for presentation
You are, of course, aware that our unelected Duma is about to give birth to another brilliant law. The new article for the Code of Administrative Offenses - 6.13.1 - is called “Promotion of homosexuality among minors”. You can watch it. In general, there is a lot of fun here - for example, an explanatory note from the deputies of the Novosibirsk Legislative Assembly - “an avalanche of information falls on these gentle cats every day,” or the conclusion of the legal department, which neatly reminds of the absence of a legislative framework and, in general, a legal definition of the word homosexuality. Gays will coexist with the "propaganda of drugs".
In short, this law wants to make about 5% of Russians invisible. 7 million people including me. Including your loved ones, perhaps your children, sisters and brothers, classmates and classmates, friends and colleagues. Yes, we are deprived of the right to marriage, the right to joint custody of children, the right to peaceful processions - but now we are deprived of the right to just be ourselves - openly. Because to be open means not to lie. Anwser the questions. Articulate your thoughts.
Laws regarding the dissemination of information exist in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Uganda. In these countries, any mention of gays and lesbians in the media, except accusatory indignation, is prohibited. Journalists who write about LGBT people without authorization from above are fired and the media are fined.
In Russia, which should add to this excellent range, a one-time propaganda for an individual will cost from 4 to 5 thousand rubles, for an official - from 40 to 50 thousand rubles, respectively, for a legal entity - from 400 to 500 thousand rubles. At the same time, there is no definition of "propaganda of homosexuality" in the law. Generally. I suspect that the deputies find it difficult to define a non-existent phenomenon. But this gives unlimited opportunities for cops of any rank to replenish their pockets or budget.
The deputies of the Novosibirsk Legislative Assembly write that their innovation will prevent "distorted ideas about the social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional relations", as well as "the idea of \u200b\u200bhomosexuality as a norm of behavior." Fucking our United Russia doctors and sociologists, as well as world science and - not for the first time - the Constitution. Modern Russians must be sure that we are geeks and that our families are inferior and unequal to yours. Geeks will not be able to open their mouths - the law prohibits telling us about what we feel and what we think. It forbids speaking even to the dead - in St. Petersburg people were convicted for the quote of Faina Ranevskaya, this one.
Two years ago, my girlfriend and I went to a gay pride parade for the first time. We left because we needed legal rights equal to you. Then I wrote this post. But now, with Putin's new term, the legal field for LGBT people is narrowing very quickly - just like it is narrowing for volunteers, for activists, for voters, for journalists, for artists.
On December 19, Wednesday, when the first reading begins in the State Duma, and the unelected deputies will emotionally imitate legislative activity, Anya and I will come to the State Duma. We will kiss.
The kiss touches two people. It does not require approval from the Moscow City Hall. Love does not require approval from State Duma deputies. We do not ask permission - we are and we live. We are visible. Nervous United Russia members can hide themselves.
I invite all people - heterosexual and homosexual - to join us. Bring your loved ones. Come alone - with balloons and confetti. You will probably have someone to cuddle with :) Let's arrange a holiday under the walls of the State Duma, a day of kisses.
Because we are free to love. And this should not concern * bathing policy.
19.12.2012
The rally of opponents of the adoption of the law banning the promotion of homosexuality has ended at the building of the State Duma. More than 10 people were detained
Report "Novaya Gazeta", photo by Anna Artemyeva.
Today at 12.00 in the center of Moscow near the building of the State Duma a flash mob "Propaganda of Love" began. The protesters opposed the adoption of a bill banning the promotion of homosexuality.
A few minutes after the start of the action, unknown provocateurs started throwing eggs at the activists and tried to start a fight. Security has closed the entrance to the State Duma "for security reasons." Neither MPs nor journalists were allowed out of the building for 10 minutes, until the police detained the most active provocateurs and several LGBT activists.
During the action, several dozen police officers were on duty in front of the State Duma.
At about 12.30 one of the policemen turned to a girl present at the rally, who had a video camera in her hands, with the words: “Take them off beforehand. It will look like an unauthorized picket, ”and pointed to a group of four LGBT activists holding hands and posing for photographers. After the girl recorded what was happening on video, the activists were detained and taken to a paddy wagon. Among the detainees is the special correspondent of "Novaya" Elena Kostyuchenko.
The promotion has been completed by now. The participants in the flash mob disperse. The central entrance to the State Duma building is blocked.
UPDATE. Yelena Kostyuchenko from the paddy wagon: “9 LGBT activists and 6 Orthodox were detained. One of them is a correspondent for the Orthodox World resource. They brought me to the Meshchansky Department of Internal Affairs, and they are starting to slowly run inside. "
UPD 20.12.12
The trial of the LGBT activists detained at the bottom of the kissing will take place on December 20, starting at 12 noon, in the court area 369 of the Tverskoy Magistrate Court, Novaya Ploshchad, 8, building 1 (may start earlier). They face up to 15 days of arrest for "petty hooliganism".
Among the detained LGBT activists:
- Elena Kostyuchenko, special correspondent for Novaya Gazeta;
- civil activist Anna Annenkova;
- activists of the Rainbow Association Pavel Samburov, Sergey Gubanov, Sergey Ilupin;
- KRI activist Igor Yasin;
- Member of the anarcho-feminist group Nao Lao (Rafail Deleshev).
UPD Elena Kostyuchenko: Everyone, free)
Relatives, thanks to everyone who came with loved ones, who came alone, who supported, handed over food and things (sweaters and blankets saved us), got to the cops, went to court as a witness and a TV speaker, who wrote us sms and put money on telephone, who collected photo and video materials, who worried and prayed. Who drove the information wave. We are together - this is very valuable. We are open. And every hour there are more of us, take a look around :)
Meshchanskoye police officers said that a kiss is more dangerous than a poster. I very much agree with that.
I spent 1.5 days in the police station with real people who took care of each other, defended themselves, sang, thought and had fun. Thank you) Even Enteo turned out to be not so vile (although he is a fucker and a careerist). Even in the cops, most of all shaking for their salaries, we found sympathy (a little, really). Lawyers - Tanya Glushkova, Sveta Sidorkina, Ilnur Sharapov, Kirill Koroteev, Katya Romanova - THANKS.
I'm tired, but very happy. They were questioned after their release - it turned out that none of them regretted leaving. And EVERYONE is going to come out again - on January 22, to which the first reading of the law on the promotion of homosexuality was postponed. And it seems that they will be released not only in Moscow.
In short. You are cool. I love you so much.
P.S. The detainees 29 hours later were charged a fine of 500 rubles under Article 20.1.1 (petty hooliganism). The composition and article were selected for a long time - while there is no law in Russia prohibiting kissing. But it will be if the initiative of the State Duma passes. We will challenge fines, unfaithful cops and dirty fuckers - troll and prosecute according to the norms of law, we will prohibit the law prohibiting kissing.
Kiss your loved ones and do not be afraid of anything.
P.P.S. Kissing at -19 turned out to be very good) Sweet. Try who doesn't
The State Duma postponed the consideration of the bill to 01/22/2013
As it became known to the GayRussia.Ru project, the Council of the State Duma at its meeting on Monday December 17 decided to postpone the consideration in the first reading of the bill No. 44554-6 "On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation", aimed at introducing administrative responsibility for promotion of homosexuality among minors.
Initial consideration of the bill introduced By the Legislative Assembly Novosibirsk region, in the first reading was planned at a meeting of the State Duma on Thursday, December 19, but the Council of the lower house of the Russian parliament decided on Monday to postpone consideration to January 22, 2013. The corresponding decision was published on the official website of the State Duma on the Internet.
Earlier, the Parliamentary Committee on Family, Women and Children had proposed to recommend The State Duma adopt the draft law in the first reading and include it in the work plan of the lower house of parliament for December 19, but the State Duma Council did not heed this.
Recall that leading international human rights organizations “Human Rights Watch” and “Amnesty International”, as well as members of the European Parliament, appealed to the State Duma deputies to reject the discriminatory bill.
On October 31 of this year, the UN Human Rights Committee recognized in the case of Irina Fedotova v. Russia a similar law in the Ryazan region banning the promotion of homosexuality among minors as discriminatory and violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Elena Kostyuchenko is a special correspondent for Novaya Gazeta and the author of reports from the most terrible and marginal places in Russia, from the village of Kushchevskaya to the trailer on the highway, where women who are forced to engage in prostitution live. "Gorky" discussed with the journalist her children's reading, how to write about the war most accurately and which Russian classic is more terrible than Stephen King
These are two different things, first of all, from the point of view of the relation to the language. In journalism, language is a very important, but still a tool. And in literature, in classical literature at least, language is the god to whom you pray. That is why it rarely happens that journalists are good writers at the same time. But we can learn from each other, borrow some goodies. For example, Alexievich gave me a lot. This is nonfiction, but for me it is also an example of journalism. And modern poets read, for example, the press. This is also one of the porridges that they digest in their heads and from which poetry later grows.
What was the first thing you read from Aleksievich?
"Zinc Boys", twelve years old. At home we had a selection of the magazine "Family and School", my mother subscribed to it, and there was a huge article about "Zinkovykh boys" Aleksievich and a selection of letters from readers. Naturally, I immediately wanted to see what they scold so much, I found and read. And away we go: "The Chernobyl Prayer", "The War Does Not Have a Woman's Face", "The Last Witnesses". I read everything that came out of her, and reread it many times. In my second year I had a period when I read all Aleksievich's books in a row for a month. I printed them out in the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta on a printer - forgive me, editorial office.
Many people reproach Aleksievich for the fact that she has actually edited the entire speech of the heroes - what do you think of that?
No, I clearly hear that these are different voices and all these are the voices of living people. When you work with dictaphone transcripts, you start to catch it: I read interviews with colleagues and I even feel the places where they rearranged phrases. Aleksievich has very little of this. I learned from her and from Petrushevskaya to work with human speech. Because individual voices are, of course, unrealistic. I'd like to be able to transfer them and use it.
What other books were important to you in your youth?
I started reading late, it seemed boring to me. I had a turntable and there were a lot of fairy tales on records, so I started with Soviet audiobooks. And then children's detectives appeared in the library. I started reading them, got hooked and away we go. I also liked Bazhov very much. Ekaterina Murashova - she had a book called “The Alienation Strip” about a boy who lived by the railroad. Then my friend and I accidentally found Terry Brooks' hidden books in my mother’s office and sat down on them. This is a British dude, he wrote almost simultaneously with Tolkien. He also has elves, dwarves, magic, druids. On the back cover was a list of his other novels. There were no bookstores in the shops. We went around all the shops in the city, and then we found a book collapse, and there were two. They cost 90 rubles a piece - very expensive. I ran home and told my mother: “Mom, whatever you want. I need 180 rubles. Right now". Mom gave it, I ran and bought it. We worked part-time with a friend, I washed the floors, and she, in my opinion, worked as a greenery, or rather a counter-greener, tore out weeds. And so we made money with her and went to buy Terry Brooks - it was a great feeling.
At some point, I accidentally found it on the Internet as an adult, of course, immediately downloaded it, rushed to read it - and it was a huge disappointment. For example, there is one such moment: the main character rafting down the river and, in short, there is a very ****** [bad] trip that will most likely end with his death and just complete ******** [failure]. And he does not want to go, but he cannot but go, because there are circumstances there, there is no choice left. And he rides on a foreign land, the river is gray, some kind of autumn slopes. I remember reading this as a child - it is a feeling of inevitability when you know that you are making a mistake, but at the same time you know that everything is going right, that you cannot turn anywhere. And you just have to wait and watch, and try not to sink too deep into it. I remember this feeling very well. Well, then, in short, I found this passage, opened it, and there was something like: Vil was looking at the river, the river was gray, the trees were orange, an incomprehensible melancholy gripped my heart. And that's all. It was kind of ****** [amazing]. It was very strange.
And if you remember journalistic texts that somehow sunk into your soul?
Oh, well, there are quite a few of them. Actually, I ended up in Moscow because of the journalistic text. At first I decided that I would enter the philological faculty of the Yaroslavl pedagogue, write poetry. Well, in parallel, perhaps, to work in a newspaper, because it was not the most difficult way to earn money, at least compared to my previous part-time jobs - washing floors, uprooting bushes. You write something there and they give you money. And then I accidentally bought a Novaya Gazeta kiosk - I didn't know what it was. And she opened it with Politkovskaya's text about Chechen children. There was a story about a boy who forbids his mother to listen to the radio when Russian songs are played on it, because the feds took his father away from this boy and returned the corpse with the circumcised nose. And some other stories of children who grew up between two Chechen companies. To say that I was shocked is to say nothing. I rated myself highly enough. I thought that I was educated, that I was well-read. The school subscribed to some newspapers for us - Komsomolskaya Pravda, Argumenty i Fakty, and so on; I read them in the library. I watched the news on TV. I thought that I knew what was happening in the country. And of course, I thought that I knew how the lyrics were made. And then suddenly this. I read the entire newspaper from cover to cover. I realized that I don't know *** [anything] at all about the country, about journalism, about the texts - nothing about anything. And I realized that I want to be there, since there is such a wonderful place. The last page listed the addresses of Novaya's editorial offices - the closest was in Moscow.
In general, colleagues had a lot of texts. Lena Milashina has a wonderful text “The Fate of the Prosecutor”, for example. About the prosecutor who was a really stellar professional in her field and who simply broke her career as a locksmith who came to her. I still remember the text of Elvira Nikolaevna Goryukhina. This is our elderly reporter, in her 70s. She had a report from Beslan, it was called "One Girl's Street." This is the street on which one girl was left, all friends were killed. I remember Kashin's excellent reports. From books, specifically books, I was very much struck in due time by "Invisible thing" - a collection of articles by Panyushkin. Well, Dovlatov's Compromise is a very impressive reading.
I was really scared to read. There was a heroine Lidochka or Ninochka, whom the inventor knocked out a tooth with some ****** [nonsense]. A journalist who senses the topic and tries to interview an interesting person is such a terrible fate for me. It's also very cool that every story is preceded by a small note - as it happened in the newspaper. This is a very realistic book. Just an exaggeration, or rather, the removal of voids between events.
You talked in your lecture in Word Order that the goal of social journalism is to give everyone a voice. How do you feel about Dostoevsky?
To Dostoevsky it is very positive.
Probably, if I reread it, now my attitude will change a little. Basically, I don't really like the literature of the 19th century, because there messianism creeps out from every corner. The author always puts himself much higher than his heroes. Although Dostoevsky has less of this than the rest. Chekhov has practically none. Oh, can I confess? I have not read War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
Fundamentally?
Very long. I tried when I was preparing for admission, but I could not afford to read one such long book. But I'll read it, I'm sure I'll really like it. Because I love these canvas books. One of my favorite books is One Hundred Years of Solitude. I was told that Tolstoy is like Marquez, but without magic.
Perhaps, perhaps, everyone died in Marquez, but still not in Tolstoy. Going back to the present day: what was the last thing that you read that impressed you?
I am generally an impressionable person, everything makes an impression on me. From what greatly shocked - of course, "Benevolent". I read them about two years ago, but nothing has been stronger since then. Straight, bitch, pushed to the ground. And it was unbearable, because I read it all in Berlin and I couldn't stop reading at all. I just walked the streets with my head on my phone. She sat down in the Tiergarten, where the action takes place. I was amazed when I found out how Littell wrote all this.
At that moment he was working in Chechnya: either as a journalist or with some charitable organizations. From business trips he returned to Moscow. And I talked to a woman who is part of Moscow bohemia. She said that she remembered him very well: there was a guy whom everyone called to parties out of politeness, and people were very unpleasant, because everyone was discussing sublime matters, and he suddenly began to tell what the starving old people in Grozny told him. And ***** [why] should everyone listen to it? We're talking about modern theaters, and he was trying to appeal to our conscience, or something. Not in the sense of going to save everyone, but in the sense that since you are bohemian, write about it, how dare you write about something else if there is a war going on in your country? Then he rented an apartment on Chistye Prudy, locked himself in it for two years and wrote "Benevolent".
Have you read his book about Chechnya?
No, but experts told me that it was not very successful. He understands the context worse than many. I also read "Chomsky Notebooks" with him - notes from Syria.
In the winter I did an interview with a girl who survived the Yazidi genocide in Iraq. She was in slavery, fled. And then I also talked with a doctor of psychology, who opened a program for the export of victims of genocide to Germany. And when I finished everything, I rediscovered The Benefactors. Because I don't really fit all this into my head anyway.
I had a period as a teenager when I read all the scariest books I could find. And without a difference, these were books about the Great Patriotic War or the stories of Stephen King. There was a feeling that I was growing up, going out into adulthood, into the big world - but am I ready for what awaits me there? Maybe he is very scary and you need to find out what happens there. And then you grow up and it turns out that it all helps, of course, to prepare, but not really. Some things do not fit in the head at all. Although I recently read at the dacha of "Lord Golovlevs" Saltykov-Shchedrin - Stephen King is just resting. Really, to me, the person who read ***** [a lot] of Stephen King, is very scared. Night, dacha, mom wakes up, looks, I sit with bulging eyes over the book: "Lena, what's going on there?" - "Mom, do not bother!" Wildly scary, the ending is generally ****** [nightmare]. The middle is generally ****** [nightmare]. Some kind of wild book.
What other books about the war?
The most realistic book about the war, in my opinion, is still Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five. "Pathology" Prilepin, perhaps, too. And also "Ten episodes about the war" by Babchenko - a collection of very short stories. It is also well written. It seems to me that literature and art in general are partly to blame for the wars, although not the books I have listed. I myself went to the war, worked there. This is such an ultra-meaningless, cruel, stupid herota. It doesn't make any sense at all. And literature, painting or cinema put these meanings. A lot of Donbass veterans, for example, like to watch war films. Even those of them who have not watched before - this allows them to put their experience in their heads. It struck me at the time when I was writing a report about the practice in the police station. I thought that the cops would be the first to laugh at the TV shows to themselves. But it turned out that they watch them voraciously, because this allows you to somehow structure reality. And a lot of books allow you to put in your head, make the idea of \u200b\u200bwar acceptable and even desirable. This is such a ****** [nightmare]. I understand that it is not always the case that the author sits and thinks: now I am propagandizing war. It's just that we're all trying to get some ******* [nightmares] into our heads. And maybe sometimes it should be admitted that some things do not fit in my head. In general, it seems to me that the description of the war should sound like this: “On such and such a day, under such and such a settlement, people killed each other. Here are the victims. General list. " This is the most robust description of what is happening and the most realistic.
Is there some kind of reading list that is always guaranteed to help when it's hard, to somehow let go, it becomes easier?
Depends on what is hard. Ukrainian science fiction writers Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, for example. They are also, of course, not easy, but you can get confused with their book, instead of bothering with some real things. There is also a book by Berkovich, "The Non-Terrible World," documentary, by the way. She also deduces somehow. And poetry. Poems are, in fact, the fastest to deduce. When photographer Anya Artemyeva and I left Kushchevka after all these murders, it was necessary to write a text. We sat down in the Krasnodar edition of Novaya. I remember that I was practically hysterical, because I felt that I did not have time to write to the number. I was hysterical not even because I ********** [broke] the deadline, but because I realized that I would have to sit for several days with what was inside me. And I didn't want to sit with it at all. Because when you write a text, it becomes separate from you. You are already beginning to relate to this more detached. And then I realized that I was not in time, and it was terrible. And we listened to Swarovsky on VKontakte, there is a certain amount of audio recordings where he simply reads his poems - “One of us”, “About the robot”, “About Masha”.
I have a list of poems that will rehabilitate me quickly. Sometimes there are difficult situations when you need to let you go, and right now. And I have a list of poems that I can quickly turn inside myself, and the soul will come into place, and I can continue to work. In addition to Swarovsky, this is Brodsky - "When there is so much behind everything, especially grief." Vodennikov - "So let life be blessed: like a freshly washed shirt - in the wind." Goralik - "There is a soul swinging." For Goralik, this still helps:
“He descends, and he just comes out, and they meet by the river, -
a many-legged purse, purses and bales dragging along the muddy waves,
pouring out from the first to Rozhdestvenka, to Voskresenka,
from the latter into dead black dead ends.
It's time for both of them to start - but they are silent
and look over each other's shoulders.
And everything around flows to itself and flows, no one notices them, -
only the escalator on duty smells something,
nervous, claws stroking the lever.
It's Friday, 8 pm, underground heat, exhausted bodies,
and they read in each other's eyes about their shoulders, saying: "I came for you", -
and turn pale, bow the crowned brows, -
and don't turn around.
The ceiling does not collapse.
Lamps do not turn black, do not exude fumes.
And then the escalator on duty steps over with his hooves, presses the lever.
Escalators slow down.
Those coming out fall on the forehead.
Night remains over Moscow, everything is black and black.
These two unseeing eyes look ahead, -
and Christ is silent,
and Orpheus sings:
“No, death has nothing for me.
No, death has nothing for me. "
Generally magical. I can actually scroll it inside myself in ten seconds.
Does it happen that you specifically read something bad?
From time to time I download something from Lukyanenko. I read, spit, then delete, then after a while I want to read something from Lukyanenko, download it again, read, spit ... I read so much all sorts of garbage. I buy good books on paper, and download bad ones to my mobile phone. Therefore, if my mobile is stolen or confiscated during a search, then Life News is enough to publish a list of books that I have downloaded to my iPhone - and that's it, shame, I will emigrate and change my name. Because I only download shit.
From science fiction, the Doomed City by the Strugatskys is very good. I don’t understand at all how it’s done. What's the point? Some dudes find themselves in a place where an experiment is being carried out: either monkeys will attack the city, then the sun will turn off, then something else. You read it all - dialogues, events, and then at some point you realize that they are in hell. It's just that such an awareness comes to you. Then, after fifty pages, for the very stupid, the secondary character in plain text says that they all died and went to hell. But I understood it before, and I talked with my friends - and they also understood everything before, although not different pages... And I still don't know how it's done. Another of Natalie Sarroth's favorite books, Tropisms, she is *********** [very good]. Like Mulholland Drive, just a book, and made sixty years earlier.
A very interesting paper book, by Sophia Kovalevskaya, recently accidentally found in the library. Feminist prose is perfect.
Which library?
Regular, regional. Just do not write in which area, because I do not advertise where I live. She is very good. They opened drawing courses, and I attend them. We made a shelf where you can change books. Internet is free. There is a lot of literature in the languages \u200b\u200bof the CIS countries. There I met a bunch of workers from Tajikistan, we became friends, they go to learn Russian, come and study from textbooks. It has a bulletin board and is the liveliest bulletin board in the area. If you need to give a chair or buy a piano, you write an ad and people start calling you. There you can always find yourself a kitten or a dude to run together in the park. Or successfully sell boots that didn't fit. I really love libraries, actually. I say this all because I owe them a book. I'm just afraid of shame because I have a good reputation there. They will open my form and say: “Lena, did you borrow the book in April? In April? Is it August now? " Very scary.
Sports hall of school №1 in Beslan. Photo: Elena Kostyuchenko / "Novaya Gazeta"
In the first school in Beslan, an attack was made on the correspondents of "Novaya Gazeta" and "Takikh Del" Elena Kostyuchenko and Diana Khachatryan.
The attack took place under the following circumstances. A large number of people in civilian clothes, many of whom are young Ossetians in anti-terror T-shirts, surrounded the mothers of the Voice of Beslan in the gym. They were filmed on camera by Ella Kesaeva (her daughter Zarina was held hostage at school - ed.). They grabbed the camera from her hands and tore Ella's dress.
At that moment, Kostyuchenko took out her phone and began to film what was happening. They also grabbed her phone, twisted her arms and dragged her through the entire gym and school yard outside the metal frames. They dragged further, but the people in civilian clothes were stopped by the police. These policemen told Kostyuchenko that they knew those who attacked her and would return her phone.
Elena was next to the police when a young man, familiar to the police, in a T-shirt "Antiterror" approached her and poured green paint on her. The police made no attempt to apprehend him.
A policeman records the testimony of Novaya Gazeta special correspondent Yelena Kostyuchenko. Photo: "Caucasian Knot" When Diana Khachatryan tried to take pictures of Lena and the traces of brilliant green on her clothes and face, another young man in an "Anti-Terror" T-shirt hit Diana on the head, took away the phone and left without haste. The police made no attempt to detain the person and prevent hooligan actions.
Elena Kostyuchenko is going to give explanations to the police, but the police do not introduce themselves and hide the tokens. On my attempt to talk to them (I introduced myself - I spoke on the phone to Ella Kesaeva, who handed her phone to Lena so that she could contact the editorial office) - the policeman who was conducting official actions with Kostyuchenko swore and hung up.
Also, after the attack, Lena Kostyuchenko and the mothers of the “Voice of Beslan” were approached by the head of the “Mothers of Beslan” Committee, Susanna Dudieva, and said: “You (addressing the mothers from“ Voice ”) can return to the gym of the First School. And you (addressing Kostyuchenko) - sit here. Always, when Novaya Gazeta comes here, something happens. I don't want to see you here again. The phone will be given to you after research (apparently the contents and footage on the phone). "
Federal law enforcement agencies have taken control of the situation.
Novaya Gazeta intends to appeal to the Investigative Committee on the fact of police inaction when attacking journalists.
Updated at 15:13. Journalists from Novaya Gazeta and Takie Dela portal attacked for the second day in a day
Diana Khachatryan ("Such things") reports: "Together with Lena (Kostyuchenko - ed.) We went to the cemetery. A man in civilian clothes with a hat on his head came up to us. As we were told later, this is the caretaker of the cemetery, his child died in a terrorist attack. He came up to us and told us to "get out of here." He took us by the scruff of the neck, dragged us along the ground, then stopped, began to beat Lena, hit her in the face. He decided that we were to blame for everything, he organized the action on September 1. The police were standing seven meters away. They did nothing. "
Elena Kostyuchenko is one of the most scandalous journalists in Russia. She does not hide her non-traditional orientation, which is not typical for famous public people. Courage? Perhaps ... Who is she really? Everyone must decide for himself.
Facts from the childhood of Elena Kostyuchenko
Elena Kostyuchenko was born (her biography is not known to everyone) in the then Soviet city of Yaroslavl on September 25, 1987. In 1993 she went to school. The journalist's youth fell on the turbulent 1990s, when the country's lifestyle and rules of behavior completely changed. It seems that this is not related to the biography of a specific person, but it is in this case that we can say: under the Soviet way of life, Kostyuchenko could not openly express her sexual position, and it is unlikely that she would have formed just such a worldview.
While still at school, Kostyuchenko began her journalistic career. It was then published in the Yaroslavl newspaper "Severny Kray". Even then, in her articles, an atypical thinking of the author, some kind of protest can be traced. Elena herself said that she really liked the articles of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in her own house.
Elena Kostyuchenko. "Novaya Gazeta" opens a new star
Naturally, such an original person as Elena could not settle forever in Yaroslavl. In 2004 she entered the Faculty of Journalism in Moscow. The girl studied for a year and realized that it was worth combining study with work. In 2005, Kostyuchenko got a job as a special correspondent for "Novaya Gazeta". This step was the beginning of her real career. Of course, it was still far from being famous, but ...
Let's see what Kostyuchenko writes about in his articles. The first and perhaps most important thing to note is the frequently raised social issues. They are insignificant at first glance. For example, in one of the articles, Elena focused on the fact that the railway communication with the village in the Pskov region was canceled. She also very often mentions drug addicts, criminals, etc. in her articles and books. As other Russian journalists note, Elena often writes about people who do not want to break out of the social hole and vice versa, make every effort to rise from the bottom of social degradation. Of course, Elena Kostyuchenko does not forget from time to time to write notes about LGBT people, a movement of which she herself is a member. She is convinced that homosexuals and lesbians should have the same rights in society as people of traditional orientation. The girl is in favor of legalizing non-traditional marriages.
Journalism awards
Such an original journalist could not escape the prizes and awards for her work. 2013 was the most fruitful year in terms of awards. Kazakhstan presented her with the Freedom Prize for a series of publications that dealt with protests in one of the Kazakh regions. In the same year, Kostyuchenko received the European Free Press in Eastern Europe award. As you can see, Kostyuchenko's articles have earned the attention of a European reader as well. Well, at the very dawn of her professional career, the Novaya Gazeta journalist was awarded a second degree diploma at the Step to Success competition.