Georgia Today: Georgian gays face upward battle in fight for acceptance

*Georgia Today

“My worst experience was not long ago, 2004, when a straight man made me give him a blow job and then threw me down the stairs, and beat me terribly.

Then he told me that if he ever sees me in this part of the city again he will beat me up the same way,” Babi said.

Babi B is a 50-year-old artist from Azerbaijan who has been attracted to men from a young age. Life at home taught him to keep his sexual orientation secret.

When his parents found out he was gay, his brother said he would purify the family’s name and slay him in an honor killing. The incessant aggression in Azerbaijan made him seek asylum abroad.

Although Georgia has bested its neighbor in many respects, homophobia and xenophobia are still deeply rooted in society.

Fighting a collective, Soviet mentality, Georgians are still lured into radical action fueled by politicians’ slush nationalistic messages.

Many things have changed in the world since Stonewall and Castro street, India decriminalized recently gay sex, but Georgians have veered little from their traditionalism. On Oct. 14, 2007, an incident on the reality show “Bar-4” that aired on Rustavi-2, a private television channel, stirred a controversy that revealed Georgia’s skeletons in the closet. One of the participants, Pako Tabaladze, made the jaw-dropping confession that he is gay and the whole nation was appalled. After his brazen deed, Pako was expelled from the show.

According to some media sources the decision was taken by the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate, which often imposes its views on history, morality and sex on others.

It is no surprise that it does so successfully, when about 84 percent of the population is fervent believers. The Georgian Ombudsman, Sozar Subari, who is the country’s public defender, dismissed outright the case and decided to drop it from his report to parliament. Some politicians have made a career of restless hectoring of “the other.” During last year’s elections Nika Laliashvili, political secretary of the opposition Christian-Democratic Party said, “When I say the word ‘we,’ I mean the dominant culture, the moral majority in Georgia today.”

In 2006, on a mission to empower the community through free counseling and advocacy, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) NGO was registered. The organization offers free medical consulting and work with a psychologist. Though LGBT has received many threats, without breaking stride, the number of people visiting group sessions is three times higher today than in 2007. The NGO helps people overcome prejudices, their own, and those of others.

The organization’s president, Paata Sabelashvili, admits that “almost all have had bad experiences.” Although a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Georgia does not recognize “hate crimes” – a crime committed against someone because of his/her belonging to a certain group. Sabelashvili said that raising awareness in schools is unlikely since the Education Ministry does not show any enthusiasm to co-operate.

According to Sabelashvili, because of the patriarchal nature of society aggression against men is more tangible, while women are victimized mostly at work or at home. He added that the strong influence of the church, which often derides homosexuality, contributes to society’s intolerance of gays. While the LGBT president avowed that the level of homophobia in the country is “very strong,” he admitted that having a dialogue with young people is possible. This was proved after a lecture on “LGBT Rights” at Ilia Chavchavadze University received a positive response. However, the community is not ready to embrace gays yet, said Sabelashvili in a slightly regretful tone.

The Georgian Constitution says that “Everyone has the right to free development of his/her personality,” but a poll by the Caucasus Research Resource Center on, “What is your attitude towards different people?” begs to differ.

To the question whether you would be on friendly terms with gays, 81.4 percent replied “No.” The question, “Would you work with a homosexual?” received a 71.4 percent negative response. Interestingly, though, statistics about the distribution of HIV/AIDS cases, according to transmission route, show that 59.5 percent of Georgians are infected through intravenous drug use, 33.4 percent through heterosexual contact, and 2.7 percent through homosexual contact.

Nino Gvedashvili, a development officer with the Human Rights Center, said laughing that Georgian society is “very, very homophobic.” She said little has been done to raise awareness of the issue and conceded that some civil society organizations are also homophobic.

A recent media campaign for equality fell apart after the journalists who were supposed to participate and discuss minority issues did not show up or were silenced by their editors.　 Gvedashvili said that their organization has received threatening calls from the government in the past. Although she has gay friends, she said she does not support this lifestyle and prefers the union between a man and a woman.

On the streets opinions vary.

A philosophy student, Levan Shatberashvili, thinks that Georgian society is as homophobic as any other. He does not think that this problem is widespread, but said he does not agree with the idea of gay marriage. On the other hand, 78-year-old Georgian Professor Inesa Kiknadze said “Georgian society is not ready.” Gesticulating passionately, she said gays cannot be accepted because of strong traditions strengthened by religion. She personally does not care because she thinks that people are free. However, she admitted that reproduction is important and the gay lifestyle does not allow it.

Living in the shadow of a seemingly omnipotent church may not bode well for Georgians. Unable to escape from a traditionalist, communist mentality, society fails to recognize people’s right to live their own lifestyle. If Georgia is to integrate into Europe and become a fully-fledged democracy, fingers need to be wagged and wrists slapped.

Martin Tsekov
10.07.2009

*photo - via Georgia Today

Gay Azeri artist Babi B now seeks asylum in France

I wrote extensively about the case of gay Azeri artist Babi B. He fled his native Azerbaijan due to homophobia, seeking for asylum in the UK. Despite an international campaign in support of his pledge, Babi's asylum bid in the UK has failed, and he got deported back to Baku. He was then moved to St. Petersburg. However, growing nationalism and intolerance in Russia made his stay there unsafe too.

Recent reports indicate that "Babi is now in France and has tried once again a request for asylum, supported by some close relations and associations."

Below is Babi's latest interview (from France) where he details his story and how it is to be gay in Azerbaijan.

Gay Azeri artist Babi B: “Artist on the run” (life post-deportation and before…)

I covered gay Azeri artist Babi B’s story (asylum seeker in the UK with the subsequent deportation) in a number of posts. However, there has been no much news after Babi’s deportation back to Azerbaijan. I knew that he then almost immediately flew to St Petersburg being supported by his artist friends in Russia and elsewhere and started working on personal exhibition. That was pretty much all.

Recent article in The St Petersburg Times provides extensive update on Babi B’s post-deportation life, as well as more intimate insight into his life story. Sadly, growing nationalism in Russia forced Babi to seek safer place somewhere else. However, good to know that he is coping relatively well, and moving forward with his life, with successful new exhibit and other plans on the horizon. Hopefully, Babi will settle down soon and be able to enjoy his life and art work in full.

Below are selected extracts from The St Petersburg Times:

Artist and poet Babi Badalov feels that his life is threatened both in his home country Azerbaijan and in Russia because of his politically conscious art and because he is openly gay. Growing nationalism and increasing attacks on people from the former Soviet republics also means that Russia is not entirely safe for someone from Azerbaijan. Badalov thought he had found a new home in Cardiff, Wales, where he had been based since December 2006, but earlier this year the U.K.’s interior ministry denied his application for political asylum.
“[In Britain] I mixed with many people who applied for asylum — Afghans, Iranians, Somalis, people from all over the world. We went to the Refugee Council together, lived at the hotel together. There is such a word used there — ‘chance,’” Badalov said during a recent phone interview.
“You never know what will happen, everybody says it’s all up to ‘chance,’ that it’s a ‘lottery.’ You can have a solid case and still be denied asylum. Some other person can come [to the U.K.] just for the hell of it and receive [asylum].”
Badalov, who was one of the best-known artists in the St. Petersburg independent art scene centered at the Pushkinskaya 10 art squat in the 1990s, recently spent several weeks in the city, en route to Western Europe from Baku, Azerbaijan. While in town, he opened an exhibition of his work called “The Persian Ambassador,” which runs through December 28.
Deported to Azerbaijan from the U.K. on Sept. 20, despite a massive campaign in his defense launched by friends and supporters both in the U.K. and abroad, Badalov had to live covertly in Baku for two days, hiding from brothers who are angered by his homosexuality. His sister had warned him over the phone never to come to the country again.
“It’s not just my relatives. My whole small town is aghast that such a ‘faggot’ comes from our village,” he said.
“I can’t tell you how horrible it is. If I die and there’s a funeral, nobody will come: the mullah won’t come, nobody will read the Koran. [The body of a gay man] is a dirty, foul body. It cannot be touched; it cannot be washed. It must be thrown into a pit, because it’s so shameful. This attitude still exists there.” […]
Sending Badalov to Azerbaijan was also a danger to him as he is known for works criticizing the country’s authoritarian rulers.
“Azerbaijan is one of many countries that wants to be a member of the European Parliament. It wants to be an imitation of Europe, like Russia does, but in reality everything is rotting there, worse than it was in the Soviet Union,” he said.
“I tried to exhibit my work called ‘Mister Musor’ [Mr. Garbage] a few times, where I am standing on a heap of garbage in Lenin’s pose.
“When the Azeri President died, they put his monuments everywhere — on every central street, on every central square — giant, hi-tech posters are everywhere, posters of Heydar Aliyev. The main street in every village is named after Heydar Aliyev, while all the rest are rotting. You walk ten meters [away from the main street] and it’s all sores. People live in shit, eat bones, die of hunger. But when [current President Ilham Aliyev] visits, there’s a monument to his father, and everything is fine. Lenin has been resurrected.”
After two days in hiding in Baku, where he slept in an art gallery, Badalov flew to St. Petersburg on a plane ticket bought over the Internet by a friend in London.
Born in 1959 in Lerik, an Azeri village near the Iranian border, Badalov came to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1980, after serving two years in the Soviet Army.
“As we all knew in Soviet times, St. Petersburg was the cultural capital. So, as a person interested in everything that is new, I decided to go to Petersburg, as many did, to be closer to the modern, progressive world,” he said.
“There I met nonconformist artists and went to their gatherings. But it was scary: I worked as a night guard, as a concrete worker; I had a limitnaya propiska (a limited residence permit) and lived in a creepy workers’ hostel.”
But Badalov recalls the early ‘90s in Petersburg with affection.
“When Russia opened up and the Soviet Union broke down, we became interesting,” he said.
“It was a golden time. There was a need for contemporary art. Western artists started to come, and it became easier to hold exhibitions. That is why my works began to sell, and it became much easier for me as an artist; I had money, a studio, contacts.”
This soon changed, as St. Petersburg became Russia’s “criminal capital.”
“These ‘New Russians’ emerged; it became scary to go out on the street. I got scared and ran from Russia,” said Badalov.
Badalov first moved to Turkey, but could not put down roots there. He then moved back to Azerbaijan, where his life soon became intolerable.
“I was forced to get married and live behind the mask required by my parents and relatives,” he said.
“It was a creepy time. I acted like an actor, always playing some role, controlling myself.”
In 2006, he was invited to do a workshop as part of an international art program for two weeks in Oxford. With a British visa already in hand, he later decided to move to the U.K. for good.
While he is fond of his Russian friends and the Russian language, the country is not mutually welcoming to Badalov. He said he received threats from unknown men in the street, who told him that he should leave.
“I criticized the Russian authorities in some of my poems,” said Badalov, who wrote a poem about Anna Politkovskaya, the Novaya Gazeta journalist and persistent critic of the Kremlin’s politics who was shot to death in Moscow in 2006.
“I read it in Italy; it mentioned Putin and Anna Politkovskaya. I have some other provocative poems, so I am simply afraid to stay in Russia. It’s scary there. Even though I love Russian culture and my best friends live there.
“I was visiting a friend [in Petersburg], and I was horrified when I walked back home. In the West, it is just the opposite; I like to walk at nights there, rather than in the daytime.” […]
Thomas Campbell, the exhibition’s curator, described Babi as an “iconic figure” for the St. Petersburg alternative art scene for his vision, incredible productivity, and willingness to join other artists’ projects. […]
*Babi B’s blog is at http://babibadalov.wordpress.com/
**photo - by Sergey Chernov / The St. Petersburg Times

Shut Down BMI Airlines Day - 20th October

Via No Borders South Wales, this call "for a sustained campaign against BMI. We call on BMI to no longer take part in the forced deportation of migrants." (one of the latest examples - Azeri gay artist Babi B's deportation via BMI)

Contact BMI and register your disapproval at their role in deporting people back to places they do not wish to go back to, for whatever the reason this may be. Urge BMI to follow the other airlines who have taken an ethical stance and who refuse to carry out any more deportations.

On the 20th October let’s hit BMI with everything we’ve got! Then let’s do this on the 20th of every month until BMI see sense.

In the meantime, The Independent reports that "an important part of the Government's immigration policy has suffered a serious blow after a leading airline announced it would no longer carry failed asylum-seekers who were being forcibly removed from the United Kingdom."

XL Airways, which has a fleet of 24 aircraft, said it was opposed to the policy because it had "sympathy for all dispossessed people in the world".

Last week, The Independent revealed that hundreds of failed asylum-seekers have claimed they have suffered physical and racial abuse during the removal process at the hands of private security guards. [...]

"Our chief executive [Phillip Wyatt] had made it quite clear to all concerned that we will not be operating any further flights of this nature ... We are not neutral on the issue and have sympathy for all dispossessed persons in the world, hence our stance."

A spokesman for the airline told The Independent the Government had been informed of its decision. Other airlines are now expected to make their own objections public.

It is not known how many airlines have contracted to carry failed asylum-seekers but it is estimated that the Government pays out several million pounds each year. Emma Ginn, of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, said last night: "It's time airlines rethink what they are doing. Shareholders and customers will be horrified by the reality of what happens to deportees taken for these flights."

The Borders and Immigration Agency, the government body that has responsibility for forced removals, has refused to disclose details, requested under the Freedom of Information Act, about deportation flights. The agency said: "If we were to disclose the information you have requested, this would prejudice the number of airlines willing to contract with the agency on charter operations and could drive up the cost of such operations. In addition, the release of information could damage commercially those airlines who offer this service."

British Airways and Virgin, who were contacted by The Independent, said their aircraft had been used for the purposes of escorted deportations as they were under a legal obligation to return failed asylum-seekers. A Virgin spokesperson said: "That is a matter for the Home Office, who makes immigration policy. We are simply not qualified to make those decisions."

British Airways refused to say how many removals it carried out each year, but said it adopted a policy of permitting one escorted or two unescorted removals per flight : "It is UK law and we comply with it – it's like asking whether we are happy paying income tax."

But a Home Office spokesman said the Borders and Immigration Agency only contracted with airlines willing to operate removal flights. He added: "The agency uses agents/brokers to arrange both charter and scheduled removals. Airline captains have the right to refuse carriage of a passenger and will do so if they feel appropriate for security or commercial reasons."

Gay Azeri artist Babi B has been deported from the UK to Azerbaijan via BMI flight

Breaking news:

Sorry, Babi! We failed to keep you in the UK and potentially safeguard your life.

If anything happens to Babi in Azerbaijan, British government and the BMI airline will bear the ultimate responsibility for that.

Below is a message which I just received via Keep Babi Safe in Cardiff Facebook group:

"As far as we know, Babi left the country on BMI flight BD929 to Baku at 3.15 pm today (Saturday 20th Sept).

BMI received loads of calls about Babi, urging them not to carry him on their flight given his mental condition and the traumas he faces in Azerbaijan. Callers also reminded BMI of the possible boycotts and negative press that would occur if they went ahead and carried Babi to his very precarious future.

Depite all this, BMI decided to comply with the HO decision.

Please write to BMI stating that you will ensure none of your friends and family travel with them in the future, that you will campaign ceaselessly against them, for they have acted selfishly, with no regard to an individual's health and mental well-being.

Let's make sure they experience a backlash. In particular, everyone should contact Rob Coveney: 01332854687 extension 2. This is a man who had the chance to keep Babi safe but instead chose to turn his mobile off in the hours prior to the plane's departure in order to ignore all protest - and probably sit in a beer garden somewhere, soaking up some rays (conjecture, of course, but he certainly wasn't doing his job and manning the phones!)."

P.S. I can't even properly boycott BMI, as it's the only direct airline from the UK to Armenia... But I will refrain from buying any other flights via BMI.

URGENT! Babi’s removal directions have changed

*source: No Borders South Wales

Babakhan (Babi) B was supposed to be deported back to Azerbaijan on Azerbaijan Airlines on the J2800 flight today 20th Sept at 20:00. The airline told campaigners yesterday that they would not be taking Babi on their flight due to harassment.

Babi has also had a medical examination yesterday and the report strongly recommended that Babi should be given time to access the mental health assessment he needs. Babi’s solicitor has lined up an appointment to see a neurologist as it is clear that Babi’s mental health is very fragile. Based on the medical review Jenny Willotts has made strong representations for Babi urging the Home Office not to deport this man.

Babi phoned a friend/campaigner early this morning almost hysterical after he had been told that they were taking him to the airport at 09:00 today. In a move that appears to go against their own rules the UK Border Agency have changed the details of Babi’s forced removal, at the last minute and on a saturday Babi has been given new removal directions, he will now be deported from Heathrow Airport at 15:15 today on flight BD929 British Midlands Airways (BMI) to Baku.

HELP BABI

Please contact BMI and let them know in no uncertain terms of the huge level of damage this deportation will do to their company.
Telephone: 0870 6070 555 or 08712240224 or +44 (0)1332 64 8181 (callers outside UK)
Also you can call the BMI switchboard (ask for a senior manager): 01332854000
Fax: 01709 314993

It appears the most effective number to call is 01332854687 extension 2 and speak to press officer Rob Coveney.

Customer Relations: 01332854321 extension 2

Please say:
- Babi is medically unfit to travel, and is under threat in Azerbaijan.
- That Azerbaijan Airlines were orginally meant to deport later on today, but they refused for ethical reasons.
- Threaten a boycott of the company and serious finacial consquences that that will cause.
- Highlight the damage it will cause the BMI brand from the large amount of press coverage this will get (point out that there has been a large amount of press coverage of Babi’s case alredy)

PLEASE ACT QUICKLY! Call as many times as you can.

Report: Babi to be deported on Saturday

More bad news following gay Azerbaijani artist Babi B's detention (he is seeking an asylum in the UK).

No Borders South Wales reports:

Babi was moved from Rumney Police station to Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre at 4am this morning (thursday) from where some of Babi’s friends have been talking to him on the phone and receiving texts from him.

Babi has been able to find fellow prisoner and No Borders supporter Jean Pierre Gueutchue, who is also in Campsfield and has been able to offer some advice on coping with life in a detention prison, as well as some much-needed solidarity and friendship.

Babi was able to tell us of his removal directions:

“J28 8pm 20th September My deportation flight to Hellbaijan, Pliz all stop me here”

Babi is very distressed, and is fears the worst:

“PlizPLIZpliz i wontWONTwont GO back. i WANT die HERE THAN AZERBAIJAN. HELL O FAKING 21st Century! Can I stay in UK? Can I live 5 year happy here? FAK THE LAW MAKER! humanity”

It seems that the proposed deportation of Babi will take place on Azerbaijan Airlines flight J20008 at 8pm on Saturday 20th September from Heathrow.

What you can do to help

Please contact Azerbaijan Airlines to register your disapproval at their willingness to deport Babi.

[Unzipped: Gay Armenia - To be honest, I think they won't give a damn]

The UK address is: Rooms 842-843, Norfolk House, South Terminal, London Gatwick Airport, West Sussex RH6 ONN
Tel.: (44-8707) 605 757 & (44-1293) 568 000Fax.: (44-1293) 568 222Email: london@azal.co.uk

A model letter can be found here: babi-flight-model-letter

Gay Azeri asylum seeker Babi B detained in the UK! Demonstrate!

Here is the message I got from the Keep Babi Safe in Cardiff Facebook group in support to gay Azeri artist Babi B's asylum campaign:

"Unfortunately, Babi was detained this morning during his weekly signing. He is being held at Rhymney Police Station, but could be moved to Campsfield detention centre at any point (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401100.html).

NoBorders Wales is organising a protest outside the UKBA offices on Newport Road, Wednesday 12-1pm. More info at http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=25378079270"

Demonstration

Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Location: UK Border Agency offices

Street: 31 -31 Newport Road

City/Town: Cardiff, United Kingdom

For background info into this case, read:
Gay Azeri artist seeks asylum in the UK
Gay Azeri artist's asylum campaign update

Gay Azeri artist's asylum campaign update

No Borders South Wales reports that "Babi B has been campaigning to stay in the UK since his claim for asylum was rejected. He has been informed that he is now liable to be detained and has to sign in every week at the Border and Immigration Agency offices in Cardiff. His first signing was last Tuesday (24th June) and supporters from the campaign accompanied Babi to the BIA offices. Concern is high that he may be snatched at one of these signings so everyone was relieved to see him come out of the building, not least Babi himself."

Apparently, local Azeri newspaper run a story on Babi B, disputing his "internationally renown artist" credentials. Effectively, this article outed Babi to the whole family, and he received threatening phone calls.

However, "this article has raised Babi’s profile even further in Azerbaijan, resulting in letters being written to the press in his defence."

Babi will speak about his experiences on Thursday 3 July 2008, 7.30 pm during a public meeting at Butetown History and Arts Centre in Cardiff, Wales.

*photo via No Borders South Wales

Russian pride?

Prominent Russian gay rights campaigner Nikolai  Alekseev comments in Guardian:

Tomorrow, Russia will mark the anniversary of its 1945 victory over fascism. Meanwhile skinheads and neo-Nazis roam the streets

May 9, 1945, is a great day not only for Russia but for the whole of mankind. We defeated fascism, which threatened the destruction and humiliation of mankind, but the day was both joyful and bitter. Many people lost their beloved to this war. Every year, my grandmother would be invited to official celebrations of our victory but she never went. For her, in the words of a famous Soviet song, it was always a victory "with tears in the eyes". She lost her husband and could not save her little son's life.

My grandpa perished in April 1943, at the age of 31. He has no grave that can be visited by his relatives and I've only seen him in photos. It is hard to believe that he was just months older than I am now. I was named Nikolai in his honour.

Not so long ago, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree for the establishment of a unified computer database containing information about the soldiers who died or went missing in the "great patriotic war". Several days ago I found the name of my grandpa in this very database which is available on the internet. More importantly, I also found one of his last letters home dated February 10, 1943. He was an artist by profession and he saw beauty in everything. In this letter to my grandma he wrote: "Katya, how good it is in Ukraine! You cannot even imagine these small thatched houses, painted in white and surrounded by little orchards, one could only desire to live here in summer." [...]

Luzhkov is not just a mayor serving his people. He is basically the owner of Moscow. He is the husband of the richest woman in Russia who, according to his own words, became rich not because of the high-ranking position of her husband but thanks to her unique business talents.

During his stay at the helm of Moscow, Luzhkov has not lost a single court case. He is allowed to build whatever and wherever suits him. He has the right to move people from their houses and flats according to his will. The system of kindergartens has been dismantled during his stay in office and parents can now only get a place for their child for huge money. He is allowed to ban any public demonstrations in Moscow. For the third year in a row this man has deprived me and my fellow activists of the right to go on the streets with human rights slogans in support of sexual minorities, openly branding us as satanists and weapons of mass destruction.

Two years ago, as part of the first Moscow Gay Pride, I tried to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier next to the Kremlin wall as a sign of our fight against fascism. I was allowed to go no further than the closed doors of Alexandrovskiy Garden where fascist extremists of contemporary Russia pulled the flowers out of my hands and crushed them while I was arrested by militia as a criminal. The next day Mayor Luzhkov said that gays wanted to be irreverent about our sacred place and "they were justly beaten".

My grandpa wrote in his letter home: "A few days and hours are left to receive an order from General Headquarters to get into battle with this gang of fascists. One can hear the shots of our heavy weapons which hit the fascists and drive them from our native land. The end will be soon, and we will live again a happy life."

If only he had known 65 years ago, when he wrote those lines, that Russia would eventually cultivate its own fascism. Hundreds of people are killed in contemporary Russia every year at the hands of skinheads and neo-Nazis. Only because they are different - of a different skin color, of a different nationality, of different religious beliefs or different sexual orientation. The Russian authorities do not consider it necessary to fight this kind of fascism. Is it a healthy country in which foreigners are scared to walk on the streets for fear of becoming a victim of young thugs, who will later get a suspended sentences from court for hooliganism? Mayor Luzhkov bans the human rights marches of sexual minorities but at the same time allows the marches of nationalists who are calling to destroy all non-Russians. The latest example was a nationalist demonstration during the May 1 holiday.

Tomorrow, May 9, a "victory parade" will proceed to Red Square in Moscow. There has not been an event of this scale in the history of contemporary Russia - even for the 50th anniversary of the great victory in 1995.

I am often asked during our Gay Pride parades what we have to be proud of. Today I have a similar question about this military parade. What is Russia going to be proud of when its tanks and troops parade on the streets of Moscow? Controlled courts? The dismantling of democratic freedoms that were won with blood and sweat? The highest levels of corruption in the history of our country? Millions of homeless kids on the streets of Russian cities? The sale of babies from orphanages?

Or maybe thousands of soldiers who are dying in the army in peaceful times? Maybe the uncontrolled sale of the country's mineral resources? Or shameless ignorance towards the rise of xenophobia and nationalism in our country?

It looks as if this military parade is needed by the political elite in order to raise the very low feelings of its people. Alas! The necessity to demonstrate strength usually comes to the mind of the one who feels his weakness. [...]

The most terrible thing is that the anger towards German fascists, who killed my grandpa, melted in time. The ideology of fascism was fully defeated. Germany admitted the crimes that were committed and apologised to its victims. Today, there is much more anger against the authorities of Russia and Moscow who have led their own nation into lawlessness and hopelessness. It is horrifying that none of the representatives of these authorities will answer for these crimes nor even find the strength to apologise.

*photo - via Guardian

Gay Azeri artist seeks asylum in the UK

*based on No Borders South Wales and International Campaign Against Honour Killings

Babakhan B, (Babi) is an openly gay, internationally renowned radical artist and poet from Azerbaijan. His art and poetry have been explicitly critical of the government and present/past presidents. These factors have led Babi to become a target of repression and persecution over many years.  These factors have led Babi to become a target of repression and persecution over many years. He has recently been described by the government and prominent public figures as being a traitor to Azerbaijan.
Because of his sexuality and the radical nature of his creative activities, he has endured government-led suppression together with physical and mental abuse from other sectors of society. All this has taken place in a Muslim country, where homosexuality remains an extremely taboo subject. This led one of Babi’s brothers to threaten to kill him because of the shame which he has brought on the family.
As a result of beatings and bullying over the years Babi has only eight teeth remaining and suffers from a number of mental health problems - such as anxiety and panic-attacks, suicidal tendencies, together with insomnia and a general feeling of depression.
Since arriving in Cardiff in December 2006, Babi has engaged fully with various parts of the local community and has made many friends in his new home. Babi's current art practice involves making dolls from discarded items (mainly clothes and plastic bags), which he collects from the streets of Cardiff. In so doing he provides both a public service and makes us think about our relationship with our environment and how we look after it. These dolls have been exhibited internationally, most recently in Thessaloniki Museum of Contemporary Art in 2007, one of four exhibitions of his own work, which he could not attend due to the restrictions placed upon him by the asylum process.
He is still producing poetry, is writing a book about his art/gay life experiences and is also working on a film addressing the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. This latter work, as well as many other aspects of his art, would of course be impossible in his country of origin.
For the first time in his life, Babi felt happy and safe in Cardiff. He felt able to openly express himself artistically, politically and with regard to his sexuality, without associated feelings of fear, shame and imminent repression.
Babi’s claim for asylum has recently been dismissed by the home office. If he is forced to return to Azerbaijan he faces an uncertain and unhappy future. He will undoubtedly face severe persecution, from the state, community and family.
Model letters and addresses available at No Borders Wales