From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/6/2007 1:30 PM
May 2nd 2007 · Prague Watchdog / Umalt Chadayev     
    
    
Soviet-style May Day returns to Chechnya


By Umalt Chadayev

CHECHNYA - May Day, the former Soviet celebration of “International Workers' Solidarity", later renamed to “Day of Spring and Labour", has been marked in Chechnya on the scale of Soviet times.

To the accompaniment of loud music, festive columns of workers, students, intellectuals, Grozny residents, members of the regional branches of the Unified Russia and Fair Russia parties and many more marched in close formation through the centre of the Chechen capital carrying placards and banners. The republic’s leadership, headed by the Moscow-backed President Ramzan Kadyrov, stood on an improvised podium and welcomed the participants of the rally, who according to law enforcement officials numbered at least 20,000.

Columns of demonstrators carrying placards that bore such slogans as "Peace. Labour. May", Kadyrov is the leader of the Chechen people!", “Let’s rally round Ramzan Kadyrov!”, and so on, waved multi-coloured flags and balloons and marched from Peoples’ Friendship Square to the city’s central district, which has now been renamed Akhmat Kadyrov Prospect. The celebration began in the best traditions of the Soviet era with the placing of flowers at the foot of the Akhmat Kadyrov monument. This was followed by the official opening of the rally by the head of the republic.

"May Day is the Festival of Spring, the celebration of peace and labour. For us, who live in the republic, these words have a special meaning. We have passed through two terrible wars, and have experienced all their horrors. By the will of the Almighty and the efforts of Akhmat Kadyrov, first President of the Republic of Chechnya, peace and calm have returned to our long-suffering land. During the course of this year we have managed to do a great deal, and much still remains to be done by us all," said Ramzan Kadyrov.

“The Chechen Republic is an integral part of Russia. The president and government of the Russian Federation have given us every support and assistance. We must value that. Friendship with Russia, union and cooperation with it, are the legacy left to us by the universally acknowledged leader of the Chechen people, Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov. And we celebrate May Day together with all the peoples of Russia."

Then the President appealed to the Chechen armed resistance to "lay down your arms and return to civilian life," promising that by the time the next May Day is held Grozny will have been transformed beyond recognition. In honour of the May Day holiday Kadyrov was awarded the titles of "Honorary Mayor of Grozny" and "Honorary Chairman of Grozny Representative Council". He received the corresponding attestations from the head of the capital’s administration Muslim Khuchiyev, who did not fail to note that Ramzan Kadyrov’s contribution to Grozny’s revival was a “great” one.

The demonstration and rally in Grozny ended with a concert given by local star performers, with folk dancing and other entertainments. Similar events were held in the other major cities of Chechnya.

One participant in the festivities said that yesterday's events in Grozny were highly reminiscent of the International Workers' Day celebrations during the Soviet era. “This has all become so politicised, organised and heavily ceremonial that it feels as if we’re back in Soviet times," said a Grozny college professor.

"As the columns of demonstrators marched through the centre of Grozny, powerful loudspeakers in the city centre constantly pumped out slogans like ‘Long live May Day!’ ‘Hurrah, comrades!’, ‘Glory to the President of the Republic of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov!’, and again, ‘Hurrah, comrades!’. There was a constant listing of the ministries, departments, enterprises and organizations as their employees filed past the podium where the leadership sat. The whole thing was just as it used to be in the glorious Soviet past. Everyone found the constant ‘Hurrah, comrades!’ particularly jarring. It was just a lot of bullshit,” he said.

Workers at a number of companies say that in essence they were forced to take part in the rally. "We were warned that those who didn’t go would be punished. You could even lose your job, "said Markha, who works for a firm in the city. “As far as I know the same thing happened almost everywhere. And who wants to lose their job, especially as jobs in Chechnya today are practically non-existent. So people ‘celebrated’.”

Grozny residents say that the same sort of thing used to happen here in Soviet times. "However, in those days people who didn’t attend the celebrations were punished differently. They were given a formal reprimand or deprived of their bonuses. Now they are instantly threatened with dismissal," Mayrbek Askhabov, a former employee at the Soviet-era Chechen Ministry of the Oil Industry, told Prague Watchdog’s correspondent.

The Chechen Interior Ministry announced that some 10,000 law enforcement officers were drafted in to provide security for the May Day celebrations. But this did not have the effect of preventing incidents from taking place. On the morning of May 1 a radio-controlled improvised mine blew up an armoured UAZ jeep in the Zavodskoy district of the Chechen capital, killing two Russian police officers who were riding in the vehicle.

http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000004-000001-000202&lang=1