‘Eurasianism gives the possibility of preserving for all peoples, including Jews, their identity; the idea of Eurasianism finds active support in Israeli society' rabbi Shmulevich
"EURASIA" FOR PUTIN. NUMBER OF CENTRISTS HAS GROWN
By Leonid Savchenko
SMI.ru, 21 April 2001
Today at RIA "Novosti" there was a press conference at which it was announced that a new political force soon would appear in Russia. On 21 April the founding congress of the "Eurasia" All-Russian Political Public Movement will open. The agency identified among the leaders of the movement the philosopher and geopolitician Alexander Dugin, the supreme mufti of the Central Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Russia and European CIS Countries, Sheikh-ul-Islam Talgat Tajuddin, secretary of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Fr Vsevolod Chaplin, and Rabbi Avrom Shmulevich. All of these various people are united by their support of the reforms of President Vladimir Putin and the ideology of "neoeurasianism."
On the web site of the "Eurasia" movement that is being created the following information about the leaders and participants of the new political formation is posted:
"The leader of the movement, Alexander Dugin, is the director of the Center of Geopolitical Study of the Expert Consultative Council on Problems of National Security, counselor to the chairman of the State Duma, author of the textbook "Foundations of Geopolitics," founder and developer of the modern Russian geopolitical school and theory of neoeurasianism, scholar, philosopher, author of numerous books published in Russia and abroad.
The founding institutions of the movement are the Center of Geopolitical Study and the "Edinenie" Public Foundation of Joint Action for Peace and Cooperation in the Caucasus.
The following are members of administrative bodies of the movement:
Supreme mufti of Russia, leader of the Central Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims, Sheikh-ul-Islam Talgat Tajuddin;
Chairman of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis of the Russian Orthodox church, rector of the John the Divine Russian Orthodox University, Hegumen Ioann Ekonomtsev;
Did-Khambalama, superior (shereta) of the Aginsk Datsan, Dondukbaev Andrei Lupsandashievich;
Hassidic rabbi, leader of the "Bead Arzeinu" ("For the motherland") public political movement, historian, and well known publicist and public leader, Avrom Shmulevich;
Director of the Public Foundation for Joint Action for Peace and Cooperation in the Caucasus, Petr Evgenievich Suslov; and others.
The movement was established on the principles of eurasianism, interconfessional harmony, eurasian federalism, standards of patriotism and social justice, and the historical and geopolitical continuity among various historic forms of the Russian state, from Kievan Rus through Muscovite Rus and St. Petersburg Russia to soviet Russia and democratic Russia."
As stated at the press conference at RIA "Novosti" by the leader of the new movement, Alexander Dugin, the eurasian world view can aspire to the status of a national idea in modern Russia and therefore the necessity of the creation of the "Eurasia" movement arose. "Eurasia" was created "as a world view organization supported by the religious confessions of Russia." The new movement will function on the ideology of "neoeurasianism."
In the opinion of the movement's leader, "eurasianism is just that national idea which answers to the interests of the ethos, culture, and all peoples of Russia." Dugin labelled equally unacceptable a return to communism and nationalistic slogans. The founders of the movement consider the fathers and founders of eurasianism to be Nikolai Trubetskoy and the philosoher Lev Gumilev. As regards the sympathies of the movement in the area of foreign policy, the leader considers it necessary "to support those forces that are acting against the processes of 'American-style globalization.'"
"We maintain the conception of a multipolar world and we will oppose the unipolar globalism of USA," Alexander Dugin stressed. In his words, "eurasianism is a profoundly patriotic idea that is far from chauvinism and xenophobia." Dugin emphasized that the movement has received spiritual support from hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox church, Muslim clergy, and the Jewish community of Russia. "Muslims and Jews are not simply our partners but our brothers," he declared.
Recalling that "Preseident Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia a eurasian state," Dugin noted that "elements of eurasianism can be found in the programs of "Unity," OVR, KPRF, LDPR, and even SPS." In his opinion "now only 'Yabloko' openly proclaims liberal Atlantic values." The "Eurasia" movement "unquestionably will support the head of state," Dugin stressed. He characterized the political position of "Eurasia" as "radical centrism."
In his turn, Mufti Farid Salman, who was at the press conference representing Mufti Talgat Tajiddin, stressed: "The 'Eurasia' movement is our response to the adherents of satanic wahhabism, which has established roots throughout the country and even in Moscow." In his opinion, "participation of Muslims in the movement is a sacred duty of patriotism and a response to the adherents of wahhabism, which discredits Islam."
Rabbi Avrom Shmulevich, representing at the press conference the leader of the hassidic Jews, Berl Lazar, reported that the participation of the Jewish population of Russia in the "Eurasia" movement is explained by the strengthening of the relations between Russia and Israel and by the fact that the idea of eurasianism finds active support in Israeli society. In Shmulevich's opinion, "eurasianism gives the possibility of preserving for all peoples, including Jews, their identity." "Jews living in Russia want for it to be a strong and free country," he concluded.
In Rabbi Shmulevich's opinion, for whom "western democratic ideology that levels out national distinctives is unacceptable," the principle of eurasianism is the most rational. "It gives the possibility of existing without denying one's own principles," the rabbi noted. "Now the experience of the ancient Mongol empire and the Khazar kaganate should be recalled."
In the words of the president of the "Eurasia" organizing committee, Petr Suslov, 52 departments of the movement are located on the territory of Russia, which already include several thousand activists. In the near future new departments of the "Eurasia" movement will be opened in Chukotka, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok. Dugin suggests that if by 2003 "Eurasia" acquired political strength, then it is possible the organization will take part in parliamentary elections, "but not as a separate organization but in union with centrist pro-presidential forces."
In assessing the prospects of the new movement, one should note that the practical achievement of the goals that the leadership of "Eurasia" has set will depend to a great extent on whether its leaders find a common language with the technologists of the presidential administration, who have just managed to create a strong centrist bloc in the State Duma. For now it is not quite clear just how useful to the presidential administration is the creation outside of the duma's walls of another centrist political movement loyal to Putin. This field is already occupied by Gennady Seleznev with "Russia," Aleksei Podberezkin with "Spiritual Heritage," and many other minor figures.
To be sure, in contrast with the rather nondescript prokremlin Duma "swamp" and other bureaucratic "centrist" formations, the leadership of "Eurasia" includes rather extraordinary people who have an already established ideological program. It seems that the latest circumstances may interest the Kremlin. In the process of strengthening federal authority in the provinces, the "eurasianists" who can find a common language with the national elites of the component elements of RF may be quite pertinent. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 April 2001)
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20200624060747/https://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/0104f.html