Fwd: Tragic news from MoscowFolks.

Please join me to extend our condelences to Dr. Girenko's family for their lost.

May the Almighty bless his soul and grant him Jannah Ameen.

Fye.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ami 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 8:50 PM
Subject: [Network Africa Sweden] Fwd: Tragic news from Moscow


Fw, for your information
/Ami


  Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 10:16:19 +0200
  Reply-To: Mai Palmberg <mai.palmberg-NAI.UU.SE>
  Subject: Tragic news from Moscow
  To: NAI-IMAGES-LISTSERV.UU.SE


  An Africanist and human rights advocate killed in Moscow


  It is with sorrow in my heart to announce the tragic news: Our colleague and friend Doctor Nikolai Mikhailovich Girenko, senior researcher at the Peter the Great Museum) of Anthropology and Ethnology (KUNSTKAMERA) of the Russian Academy of Sciences was murdered on Saturday 19 June 2004. According to the news released on numerous websites yesterday, Dr. Girenko was shot dead in his apartment in an attack that his colleagues and human rights advocates believe was carried out by extremists.

  Girenko was a prominent scholar in the Faculty of the Oriental and African Studies and its Centre of African Studies. He defended his dissertation on the traditional social organization of the Nyamwezi in 1975 and he wrote numerous articles concerning the dynamics of cultures of East Africa. His book Soziologia plemeni (=>the sociology of tribe) concentrated primarily on the analysis of "the system of human interaction S and those of collectives, formed through their activity" (p.3.) was published in 1991.

  Nikolai Girenko was a man of true civil courage: he combined his academic career with extensive public activities and he worked as a scientific expert on ethnic issues in criminal cases. Girenko assisted the City Prosecutor's Office in several high-profile court cases.
   
  Nikolai M. Girenko was head of the Minorities Rights Group, St. Petersburg Association of Scientists and Scholars (SPASS). He participated in numerous international and national conferences and seminars on fighting hate crime presenting the disturbing situation of national minorities in Russia where extremely dangerous xenophobic tendencies take place, such as numerous violations of Human Rights mainly targeting people of Caucasian and Central Asian origin.

  L. Borkin, co-founder with N. Girenko of SPASS does not consider the murder a criminal case: "Sit's political" he said. According to the Deputy St. Petersburg Prosecutor A. Zhukov investigators believe Girenko was killed because of his work as a researcher and expert witness in a number of trials involving extremism.

  Nikolai Girenko visited the department of Ethnology, and the IDS, University of Helsinki, in 1987 participating in seminars and lecturing on the relation of culture to society. I was privileged to have him as one of my opponents for my doctoral dissertation in 1997. Dr. Girenko was supposed to visit IDS again next September and he looked forward to the visit in his mail to me a fortnight ago. With his death I, among many other ones, lost a close friend.

  Let me finally quote a passage from Nikolai Girenko's presentation on State racism and totalitarianism in the United Conference EAST-WEST, International Solidarity and Co-operation Against Intolerance in October 2001: "The basic trend toward totalitarianism and racism is among all sectors of society. As a result fighting against racism should be directed towards education about what totalitarianism entails. When we say that slavery is a crime against humanity, we work with a concept that was not relevant at the time of slavery. The idea of 'humanity' in general is quite new. I question whether such a title makes sense. The most important idea for the future would be pluralism and relationships: many conflicts are conflicts between different value systems. So let us not believe in boycotting, but in developing open relationships".

  Helena Jerman
  Institute of Development Studies
  PB 59
  00014 University of Helsinki
  Finland


  [log in to unmask]




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Aminata Merete Grut Conteh
Kinti Productions / Conteh Kunda
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