AMERICAN RUSSIAN-SPEAKING ASSOCIATION FOR CIVIL & HUMAN RIGHTS
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Russian-Americans and Ukranian-Americans Hold Joint Antiwar Rallies in Four US Cities and Second Antiwar Roundtable in New York City, In Memory of Boris Nemtsov
* * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * *
Press Contact: Natalya Petroff
Phone: 917 288 0722, E-mail: communications@rccmb.org
March 1, 2015, New York City – San Francisco – Los Angeles – Seattle
On March 1, 2015, American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights (ARA), a national organization of Americans who immigrated from Russia and other former Soviet Union countries, organized or co-organized antiwar rallies and vigils in memory of Russia’s democratic leader Boris Nemtsov, assassinated in Moscow on February 27, 2015. These events took place in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and were held in solidarity with the participants of analogous events in major cities of Russia. These rallies followed upon the Russian-Ukrainian Peace Rallies that were held by or with participation of our Association in six US cities on September 21, 2014.
ARA banner (top right) at the San Francisco Rally
In New York City, speakers at the rally included Co-Chair of ARA Board Dmitri Glinski, President of General Petro Grigorenko Foundation Andrew Grigorenko, President of The Pushkin Society of America Victoriya Kurchenko, as well as Russian-American poets Rita Balmina and Alexey Tsvetkov.
Upon conclusion of the NYC rally, Russian-Americans and Ukrainian-Americans held a roundtable dialogue to discuss possible collaborative projects. This was the second such roundtable organized by the Association since August 2014, and it also included representatives of the following NYC-based organizations and groups: Arts Against Aggression; Digitalmaidan; Pushkin Society in America / Lodyjensky Immigration Archive Center of Russian and Ukrainian Culture; Razom for Ukraine; Russian Americans in Support of Ukraine; and Russian-Speaking American LGBT Association (RUSA LGBT). The roundtable was also dedicated to the memory of Boris Nemtsov, in view of his role in Russia’s antiwar movement.
The roundtable participants have agreed to continue collaboration on specific projects based on the interests of individual members and groups, and created three task forces for each set of these projects.
