The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1983 (6. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1983-05-01 / 3. szám

12 Party 'Worried' by Islam's Spread A recent article in A1 Jazirah, a Saudi Arabian newspaper, said that the spread of Islam among young people in the “southern part” of the atheist-ruled USSR had begun to make Communist Party officials “worry greatly”. The article added that unauthorised Soviet Muslim organisations had become more skil­ful than the Communist Party and were attracting young people towards Islam with increasing success. The communist authorities’ worries reflected in a speech by Academician E. M. Primakov, Director of the USSR Academy of Sciences’ Oriental Institute, at the opening on May 25 of an All-Union Conference of Orientalists, held in Baku, capital of Soviet Azerbaijan. Primakov said: “One must note that on the whole an underestimation of the impor­tance of studying the problems of religious tradition has been observed... the ’Islamic boom’ in the early 1980s to some extent caught orientalists unawares”. “Orientalists” in this context are official atheist propagandists, such as Primakov him­self, who specialise in trying to undermine Islam in Soviet Central Asia and other tradi­tionally Muslim areas of the USSR. Later in his speech Primakov acknowledged the existence of “a number of important problems” facing “orientalists”. Concerning the political views of some non-Soviet Mus­lims, he derided the “dead-end nature of the Muslim version of ’a third way of develop­ment’ (neither capitalist nor communist), in­cluding theories of a Muslim socialism”. Lack of enthusiasm for “atheist education” was condemned in a recent issue of Turkmen­­skaya Iskra, the Russian-language organ of the Communist Party of Turkmenia, in Soviet Central Asia. After recalling that “the development of atheist convictions is an integral part of com­munist education”, this daily newspaper warned that “the influence of ministers of religion on the people’s hearts and minds is still very much present...” CATTLE DISEASE REPORTED A large-scale outbreak of foot and mouth disease has occurred among the more than three million cattle in Latvia and Lithuania, according to Estonian agricultural officials quoted in the Ger­man Press. The formerly independent Baltic republics, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, are the most advanced cattle­­breeding area of the USSR. Newly-weds 'Parted for Years' Housing in Cholwon, North Korea, is so scarce that newly married couples have to live separately in dormitories for up to three years before being allocated living accom­modation of their own, according to Chong Pom-ho, a refugee who recently arrived in South Korea. Chong, a 45-year-old wood-cutter, mention­ed this at a Press conference when describing the social scene in Cholwon, his former home town. He also said that about half its inhab­itants had only one room for each household. Concerning the general situation in North Korea, Chong claimed that although meat and other foods were readily available to cadre members of the ruling Korean Workers’ (communist) Party, ordinary citizens could obtain meat and fish only on traditional holidays. Cadre members, he added, were also given preference in the allocation of clothing, medi­cines and consumer goods. Ordinary citizens could obtain scarce items like these only on the black market at high prices. FIFTH TIME IN PSYCHO-PRISON Anatoli Runov, a Baptist, has begun his fifth period of involuntary detention in Soviet psychiatric hospitals. He had been released only last July after spend­ing nearly two years in the KGB-super­­vised Leningrad Special Psychiatric Hospital and ten months in a hospital near his home in Gorki region. The communist authorities’ action against Runov is believed to be in retaliation against his public expression of his faith, including his having distri­buted handwritten leaflets giving in­formation about religious radio pro­grammes broadcast from abroad. SENTENCED TO BE SHOT Three people in Cabinda, the Ango­lan enclave on the West African coast, had been sentenced to death by firing squad for engaging in economic sabo­tage, it was officially announced in Luanda on May 14. They had been found guilty at recent trials of causing explosions that, among other things, sank a vessel near the Cabinda Gulf Oil terminal and de­stroyed the Malongo oil pipeline. THE GUARDIAN OF LI BERTY (NEMZETŐR) «Kd» Indian. WM»»» I,» Edited by the Editorial Board Verleger, Herausgeber und Inhaber TIBOR KECSKÊSI TOLLAS Journalist, Schriftsteller, München Ferchenbachstraße 88, D-8000 München 50 GERMAN FEDERAL REPUBLIC Verantwortlicher Redak'enr (Editor): MIKLÓS VARY Ferchenbachstraße 88, D-8000 München 50 Drück (print): DANUBIA DRUCKEREI GMBH Ferchenbachstraße 88, D-8000 München 50 AFRICA REPRESENTATIVES ft SALE CAMEROON: L. T. JOHNSON, Divisional Inspectorate of Education, NKAMBE, North West Province, United Rép. of CAMEROON. EAST AFRICA: <2— Sh, by air) (Kenya, Urand a, Tansania): General-Representative : International African Literary Agents. PO. Box 48055 NAIROBI, Kenya; NIGERIA (2.— Sh): Yemi OYENEYE, P. M. B. 101, Agege, Lagos. SIERA LEONE: (10 Le. c.; annual: 60) 1. Alusine B. Kargbo, c/o 2 Alusine St., Newsite Kissy, Freetown; SOMALIA: (2.— Sh., by air) Haji Jama Ali, P.O.B. 248, Hargeisa. MAURITIUS NALANDA Co. Ltd., 30, Bourbon Str., Port-Louis. GREAT BRITAIN “NEMZETŐR“, B. C. M., London S.W. 7. U. S. A. Béla H. BÁCSKÁI, P.O. Box 102, Audubon/Pa. 19407. AUSTRALIA István SERFÖZÖ, 67 Winston Drv. Doncaster, Vic. 3108. PRICES: Surface mail: 1 copy AFRICA 1.80 Sh (100 CFA), Britain 60 P, Australia, USA, Canada: $ 2.— Germany: DM 4.— Annual subscription: AFRICA Sh 10 (500 CFA), Britain 3.—£, Germany/Europe : DM 20.- (or equivalent) Australia USA, Canada: $ 10.— For air mail add 25 •/• For students 50 °/o discount Our BANK ACCOUNT: No. 2605756 Commerzbank AG. Munich, German Federal Republic. KGB SEIZE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS A bus-load of musical instruments belonging to young members of the Pentecostal Church in Moscow were con­fiscated by the KGB in a raid on the home of Semyon Gorbunov on February 17, according to a recent samizdat report. The instruments, including an electric organ, were stored in his home. Eight other homes of Pentecostals in Moscow and the outer suburb of Shcher­­binka were searched on the same day. All nine searches began at 7 a.m. Other property confiscated included Baptist and Russian Orthodox books, tape-recorders, cassettes, cameras, savings books and cash. Later, police questioned the Pentecostals about the activities of their church and about their pastors and deacons. The interrogators particularly wished to know whether the musical instruments had been supplied by foreigners. In Leningrad, a Baptist musician, Valeri Barinov, who wants to stage public per­formances of his Christian rock opera, was notified in mid-February that he would be required to do two months’ reservist training in the army. A psychiatrist who examined him told Barinov that he would be sent to a mental hospital if he „preached" in the army. MAY-JUNE, 1983

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