Short Fuse: Russian Dissident Garry Kasparov — Going to Jail
for Pussy Riot
Unlike the rock star supporters of Pussy Riot, Garry
Kasparov lives in Moscow, which means, given how the Putin regime has dealt
with critics, he has a lot more to fear than, say, Madonna, who nevertheless
should be applauded for speaking out at her Moscow concert.
By Harvey Blume.
Russian Chessmaster Garry Kasparov — sees Pussy Riot as
Putin’s first true political prisoners.
Garry Kasparov’s arrest in Moscow on August 18 for
protesting the sentencing of the three members of Pussy Riot to two years in
jail was hardly the first time he has been jailed and beaten for tangling with
authorities. His opposition to autocracy goes back to his days as a budding
chess champion, when the chess scene was stage managed by Soviet bosses who
felt preeminence in the game was essential to the prestige of Communist rule.
Nor is Kasparov the only luminary to oppose the farcical trial—The New Times
described the court as “complete with barking dogs [and] a judge who feigned
deafness”—and harsh sentencing of Pussy Riot. He was joined in this by Madonna,
Paul McCartney, and Sting, to name a few. But unlike these rock stars, Kasparov
lives in Moscow, which means, given how the Putin regime has dealt with
critics, he has a lot more to fear than, say, Madonna, who nevertheless should
be applauded for speaking out at her Moscow concert.
When released from jail, Kasparov wrote in the Wall Street
Journal, ”But now the masks are off. Unlikely as it may be, the
three members of Pussy Riot have become our first true political prisoners.” As
for Kasparov himself, since retiring from professional chess competition, he
has transformed himself into an unrelenting critic of Russia’s post-Communist autocracy,
aligning himself with the great tradition of Russian dissidents.
In 2007, I had
a chance to talk with Kasparov about his new role and the dangers to which it
exposed him. I though it was a good time post his words, which originally appeared
in The Boston Globe.
The 1985 Championship chess match between Garry Kasparov and
Anatoly Karpov captured the world’s attention not just for the gripping chess,
but because Kasparov, at 22, embodied an outspoken, anti-authoritarian spirit
that seemed a rebuke to the Soviet status quo. Kasparov won the match, becoming
the youngest world chess champion in history and a heroic figure to many who
would welcome the collapse of Communism.
In 2005, Kasparov quit professional chess to launch a second
career as a political activist in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, bringing his
celebrity—and elements of his risk-taking, aggressive chess style—with him.
Based in Moscow, Kasparov tours the country, campaigning for democracy and free
elections. He also makes his case in the Western press. In an editorial for The
Wall Street Journal, he argued forcefully that the Putin regime is a Russian Mafia
on a massive scale, buoyed by petrodollars, resorting to force, and relying on
the Western pipe dream that the New Russia is a fledgling democracy rather than
a dangerous stage in the evolution of tyranny.
Kasparov’s group, the Other Russia, aims to unite all anti-Putin
factions, from skinheads to neo-Bolsheviks. [The site's suggestions for helping
free Pussy Riot are here.)
In a country tightly controlled by a former KGB agent, this can seem a quixotic
goal at best. But Kasparov hopes to draw on the qualities that propelled him to
a record-breaking 15 years as chess champion, including the ability to be
self-critical, to adjust rapidly to different challenges, and to last. And it
can't be denied that for now Kasparov enjoys a formidable advantage over
several other prominent critics of Putin: Kasparov is still very much alive.
Reached last week after midnight Moscow time, Kasparov
talked about his new book—How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from
the Board to the Boardroom—and what he hopes to achieve in Russia's
presidential elections.
Arts Fuse: Why are you awake at this hour?
Kasparov: I'm working. I use early morning hours for discussions
with Americans. I have several more calls to make and don't normally go to bed
before 2 a.m.
AF: You're running for president in Russia's March elections
on the Other Russia ticket, aren't you?
Kasparov: Be very cautious in using the words "running"
or "elections." "Running" is the wrong word because when
Americans say it, they think of Giuliani or Obama or McCain. In Russia we are
not fighting to win elections. We are fighting to have them.
Most likely I will be nominated by the Other Russia. But that
means very little in Putin's Russia, because everybody understands there's zero
chance of my being registered, due to the technical obstacles on the way. The
simplest one is needing 2 million signatures—no more than 40,000 from any one
region, whether Moscow or a small town. Next, they investigate the signatures
and if they reject 10 percent, you're out. There are many other obstacles but
this is the barrier you can't cross unless the Kremlin wants you want to
participate.
AF: Will the Kremlin let you participate?
Kasparov: No. Participation would mean that I could be on
television, and that's sacred territory.
AF: Given what has happened to other critics of the Putin
regime—the author Alexander Litvinenko, for example, poisoned by polonium-210
in London, and the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, gunned down in a Moscow
elevator—don't you fear for your safety? Or do you think that your fame as a
chess player protects you?
Kasparov: It offers me some sort of protection. It doesn't
offer guarantees. I have bodyguards. My family is protected here as much as
possible. I do not fly airplanes long distance, do not consume food or liquids
in places I do not know. I try to minimize the risks, and still I'm in danger.
AF: Couldn't you continue to act against Putin from the
West?
Kasparov: Who cares if I argue from the West? It's
absolutely immoral to talk about Russian problems, and tell people to be on the
street in protest against the regime, while I'm sitting in New York.
When I played chess, I always used to evaluate my chances.
In politics, too, you evaluate your chances, but it's more of a fight for
values. And when you fight for values, unless you stand firm on the ground
you've chosen, you lose.
AF: But isn’t it important that you survive to go on making
your case?
Kasparov: I travel across the country extensively and talk
to the people. They believe me because they know I make enough money to be
independent. I never stole from them. I’m not part of the government. I played
chess for my country for 25 years. I have world fame and could be comfortable
anywhere in the world.
The only argument state propaganda makes against me is I’m
an agent of American or Western influence. When I’m in Moscow and on the
streets with people, everybody sees it’s nonsense.
AF: I’m sorry to insist, but aren’t you entitled to fear?
Kasparov: It’s all right. It’s a painful discussion. And
you’re not the only one who raises these questions. If I understand the threat
is absolutely real, I will probably not push my luck.
AF: Do you identify with the dissidents against the Soviet
Union? Do they inspire you?
Kasparov: They do inspire me and I have good relations with
many of them. We are doing something similar. We’re trying to create the
concept of opposition in the country. Even under Yeltsin that was frustrated,
and never amounted to a genuine democratic opposition.
AF: Is the Other Russia laying the groundwork for long-term
opposition?
Kasparov: No, it’s not long term. We were successful in
creating an opposition and at first thought we might be in a powerful position
before the presidential election of 2008. That was too optimistic. The collapse
of the regime will not occur in March 2008. It will have to take longer. But
it’s not long term. I’m absolutely confident the regime will not survive, and
my analysis is that it will not survive beyond 2012.
AF: In 1985, the Soviet Chess Federation interrupted your
match with Anatoly Karpov, which you were about to win. The Soviet chess world
was still recovering from Bobby Fischer’s defeat of Boris Spassky in 1972.
Karpov was their reliable new champion. They didn’t want problems from an
upstart like you. That’s where your battle with Russian authorities begins,
isn’t it?
Kasparov: Yes. I started by fighting the chess federation
and wound up fighting the Soviet regime. In 1990 and 1991, I thought the game
was over for Communism and Soviet-style dictatorship. I didn’t plan to become a
leader of opposition to the new regime. But when I recognized dictatorship was
coming back I gradually came to the conclusion that I had no choice. I had to
be part of this fight, which is very important not only for my country but for
the rest of the world.
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