Currently, gay and bi men in Chechnya, a semi-autonomous Russian republic, are being persecuted. The article below (the Advocate one) talks about survivors experiences and says survivors are starting to speak out about the horrific treatment they faced/are facing in concentration camps. According to the other article, "the president of Chechnya has issued a chilling warning to gay men in the region." The Chechnya government, however, denies such accusations since they believe they don't have gays in the republic to begin with ("you can’t detain and harass someone who doesn’t exist in the republic”). On the U.S. front, Hilary has demanded the Trump administration address the issue, but nothing has yet been done.
Here are two articles, both are short, so I recommend you read both!
The first article talks about what gay men are facing in Chechnya-
http://www.advocate.com/politics/2017/4/21/chechnya-survivors-tell-their-stories-horror
This article talks about Chechnya response to accusations-
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/04/21/chechnyas-president-i-will-eliminate-the-gay-community-by-the-start-of-ramadan/
Hi Carla, Thanks for sharing this! It was really horrifying to read these articles, especially the first one outlining the experiences of Gay men in Chechnya. It was no less than a horror story and I cannot even imagine what would they be actually feeling like when they are put down for being who they are! What's even scarier is Putin's lack of interest regarding the topic. Hopefully, this article finds you well just as an addition to the issue you shared
ReplyDeletehttp://www.advocate.com/politics/2017/4/20/putin-has-little-interest-investigating-gay-murders-chechnya
In light of the political climate on campus, I think it's important to really understand how privileged we are to invoke "freedom of speech" at any opportunity as a reason for discourse and debate (which can often come at the wellbeing of others). Freedom of speech, in its genesis, protects citizens' ability to speak, criticize, argue, and preach without fear of persecution from the government. In other words, it was a protection of top-down oppression from the governing institutions.
ReplyDeleteIn Chechnya, there is no freedom of speech, as exemplified by Carla's post. For people in countries and regions like China, North Korea, Iran, and Chechnya, the pursuit of freedom of speech is still in its rawest and most original form. As people who are lucky enough to live in the United States, I think it is incredibly important that we keep in mind how privileged we are to be able to claim freedom of speech for discourse, learning, and growth instead of literally proclaiming "I'm gay".
Hope this made sense!