Doukhobors Celebrate Destruction of Guns in 1895

As 'de-Militarization and de-Natizification' is taking place in Ukraine, as the USA is struggling with gun violence, mass shootings and police brutality, and as Canada is proposing to ‘freeze…handguns’ and other safety measures, Canadian Doukhobors will celebrate the 127th anniversary of their ancestors burning their guns in Russia in 1895.

In Russia 127 years ago, pacifist Doukhobors burned all their guns once and for all. No weapons. No killing. For their protest they were severely punished. Many died. In 1898 they were given sanctuary in Canada and military exemption. About 8,300 came.

For over a century, Canadian Doukhobors have commemorated their 1895 burning of guns as a major annual holiday. This year ‘Peace Day’ will be held on Sunday, June 26th.

1895 Burning of Guns. Painting recreated by Michael M. Voykin, 1974.
On display in the Doukhobor Discovery Centre, Castlegar, British Columbia.

‘Peace Day’ gatherings, also known as 'Peter's Day' will take place in community halls in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at the Community Home, 525 Avenue I South, people will gather Sunday June 26th for a prayer service at 11 am, followed by a program and potluck. The Quakers, Tolstoy, the country they left and the country that saved them will be remembered. Facebook.com/DSSaskatoon, or contact elder Mae Popoff (email: maepopoff@sasktel.net). 

Canadian Doukhobors fully support the long overdue new law to ‘freeze’ guns, but recommend banning all weapons of mass destruction. They continue to promote a nonkilling peace as the way to the future of humankind. For them, war is madness. Money spent on wars should be turned into new institutions for the betterment of humanity. Demilitarization is the way for our future survival.

CBC podcast: '50 years after the Napalm Girl photo, what do you see?

"1973 Photo Contest, World Press Photo of the Year". By Nick Ut, Associated Press, 1972.

The madness of war as a criminal act was brought to my attention by the famous Vietnam war photo "The Terror of War", showing Phan Thi Kim Phuc running down a road near Trảng Bàng, Vietnam, after a napalm bomb was dropped on the village of Trảng Bàng by a plane of the Vietnam Air Force. The village was suspected by United States Army forces of being a Viet Cong stronghold. Kim Phúc survived by tearing off her burning clothes and running with her 2 brothers and cousins.

Kim Phuc Phan Thai, now lives in Ajax, Ontario, near Toronto. On June 22, 2022, she was interviewed on the 'Ontario Today CBC podcast: '50 years after the Napalm Girl photo, what do you see?' For me, it was a moving conversation about the power of this photograph on its 50th anniversary.

Napalm that nearly killed Kim was developed in 1942 in the USA as an 'incendiary weapon' to burn buildings, not people. Tears came to my eyes as I listened to Kim, a victim of war, who deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for revealing this horror of inhumanity. She spent 14 months in the hospital to regain her health from the terrible napalm fire she endured.

This 50-year-old image helps to educate us to work for a peaceful world. Kim says: 'Our responsibility is to make people know how horrible war is.’ The truth of the photo is painful, but important to see her today as mother, as grandmother, and as a survivor.

Posing with Kim on her left are Anne Chursinoff, Castlegar, and Lucy Tarasoff, Crescent Valley (right), who performed in the Friends in Unity and Krestova Ladies Kootenay Doukhobor women’s combined choir. Photo from 'Our Way Home Reunion ... Something's Happening Here', Purple Mountain Poetry blog by Linda Lee Crosfield, 10 July 2006.

BC Doukhobors met Kim in July 2006. She was a keynote speaker with Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, at the Our Way Home Peace Event and Reunion held at the Brilliant Culture Centre, Castlegar, British Columbia.

As we commemorate the 127th anniversary of the arms burning in 1895, let’s not forget the pain of countless wars in human history — and the urgent need to stop this mass murder from continuing and threatening our civilization. Wars must stop once and for all. As concerned citizens, we all need to add our energies to this sacred duty of saving ourselves and succeeding generations from the scourge of wars. NATO should cease, as should NORAD!

More

Historic 1895 Burning of Guns: descriptions, selections and translations, by Koozma J. Tarasoff with Andrei Conovaloff, June 24, 2009. Updated 28 April 2022.

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90 Years of Memories

On February 19, 2022, about 60 people and I celebrated my 90th birthday ONLINE!

My wife and our daughters arranged the event which featured prerecorded video messages, phone calls, and some sent an email or letter. Thank you all.

In early February my daughter Tamara and her husband John, and Kristina with her daughter Milena, decided to arrange a virtual party. They invited many people to submit short video messages at a website, or any way the guests would like. About 60 people participated resulting in a 1.5 hour video and more than a dozen emails, cards and letters.

Kristina wanted to create a photo album of my life, and we selected about 50 photos which became a slide show presentation of my '90 Years of Memories'.

See everything here:

• Videos submitted (1.5 hours) — Link to be added.
• Slide show of my life — Link to be added.
• Emails received

During the planning process, I began to reflect on my 90 years and listed these highlights of my life so far, a short version of my biography and 50 Years of Doukhobor Studies.

1. Born in 1932 in this farm house to parents and grandparents who came from Russian Doukhobor roots. Believed that hospitality, love and nonkilling are the way to a world without wars.
   
   
2. Met Tyrus R. Cobb world famous baseball pioneer. Invited for tryout in 1953 to Pittsburgh Pirates in California. Did not make it, but exercises that I learned from Lloyd Percival of CBC Sports College of the Air persist today 70 years later.
   
   
3. At the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where I took my BA in Arts and Sciences in the 1950s, I produced 50 monthly journals of The Inquirer at my grandparent's attic next door, which led me to become a journalist, photographer, scholar, and peace activist.
   
   
4. After attending the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957 in Moscow, this led me to make 12 additional trips to the Soviet Union and Russia as a bridge-building effort between the East and the West (1957, 1964, 1980, 1991, etc, ). The wisdom of getting to know the stranger persists today as one of key steps to help the people and the planet to survive.
   
   
5. In the early 1960s, at UBC in Vancouver, I was privileged to get my MA in Anthropology and Sociology, with my thesis on 'A Study of Russian Organizations in the Greater Vancouver Area' (PDF, 15 GB). The Cold War, I discovered, was the critical element in what brings people together and what splits them apart.
   
   
6. In 1964, as a Russian and English speaking grad of UBC, I was invited to the International Ethnological Congress in Moscow where I met anthropologists Margaret Mead and Sol Tax.
   
   
7. In 1980, as guest Doukhobor peacemaker and photo journalist, I reported on the Summer Olympics in Moscow as a Slavic representative for North and South America. What an awesome responsibility!
   
   
8. Over the past 60 years I have organized a number of scholarly ethnographic studies and exchanges across North America (including a 1990 3-month North American Ethnographic Expedition with Russian scholar Svetlana Inikova), the Soviet Union and Russia on my ancestors the Doukhobors and East-West understanding. Together with my work in the provincial and federal governments as social scientists, this led me to publish over 25 books and 50 articles; the gifting to the Saskatchewan Archives and BC Archives major collections of textual materials and photographs on Doukhobors, rural development, Native Indians, and ethnography; the creation of a Spirit Wrestlers website and blog with Arizona scholar Andrei Conovaloff.
   
   
9. In November 2007, I presented a paper on 'Tolstoy and the Doukhobors' at the First Leadership Forum in Hawaii where the Center for Global Nonkilling formed; and served as reporter and photographer for 13 Ottawa Peace Festivals.
   
   
10. In 1982 co-organized with Community Doukhobors, the First International Intergroup Symposium of Doukhobors, Molokans, Mennonites and Quakers, held in Castlegar, British Columbia, with many prominent people including the great grandson of Lev N. Tolstoy, a major world writer and proponent of nonkilling. The meeting endorsed a letter to the UN on disarmament and getting rid of wars.
    
    
11. With distinguished Doukhobor lawyer Peter G. Makaroff (the first non-Anglo-Saxon grad in Western Canada with a law degree in 1918), and participating Doukhobor, Quaker and Mennonite reps, in 1964 and 1965, I coordinated and helped organize four major peace manifestations in Western Canada urging the government to cease research and production of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, and work towards the survival of our human species.
    
    
12. Between 1996 and 1998, served as guest co-Curator with Dr. Robert Klymasz on 'The Doukhobors: Spirit Wrestlers' exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, commemorating the centenaries of the  Doukhobor destruction of weapons in 1895 in Russia and the January 1899 arrival of the first Doukhobors to Canada.
    
    
13. We all know that it takes a village to raise members of a family. My grandparents and parents along with my newly acquired families and offspring deserve praise for their support. Son Lev is professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland where he is modeling the last Ice Age and is searching the major parameters of climate change. Daughter Tamara, now retired as a museum professional, recently spent the last three years working in Nunavut as Project Manager, Wrecks HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site. Their spouses, Dorothee Bienzle is an accomplished researcher and doctor, and John Pinkerton is a retired international manager for Parks Canada. Their children Jaspar and Katya along with Tamara and John's offspring (Nicholas and Elena) are outstanding students, athletes and outdoors people like their parents. I always marvel at being so lucky to be part of their family circle. 
    
    
14. As well, I marvel at the challenge of keeping alive my 30-year marriage with Kristina Kristova, a pioneering journalist who once served for 24 years as anchor person with the Bulgarian National Television. Her daughter Milena is a music teacher in Ottawa, while son Orlin is in Sofia, Bulgaria, as a professional keyboard composer / musician. Kristina introduced me to her most fascinating Bulgarian community who have given me the title of 'Honourary Member' although I have not learned much Bulgarian language.
    
    
15. In the 90 years of my life, this family along with all the people that I have met around the world (in person, in books and in the media), I consider all of you remarkable and many are friends and wisdom people. Bolshoe spasibo! Thank you very much! You have taught me so much. I wish all of you to live at least to 90 with good health, joy, peace and happiness.
    
    
16. Personally, I look forward to many more years of productive life. In my work, I never got rich in money, but rich in ideas, in friendship, and in the vision of my ancestors for a peaceful world without wars.

Jim D. Kolesnikoff (1936–2021)

Jim D. Kolesnikoff, a stalwart of the Doukhobor Movement, died in Hamilton, Ontario on June 29, 2021, remarkably on the exact date of the Doukhobor Arms Burning in Russia 126 years ago. 

Three important historical occasions brought Jim and myself together.

1. 1957 — December. At the all-Doukhobor youth conference: ‘Building bridges of understanding’. Jim was one of the hosts. The Saskatoon Doukhobor Students’ Group initiated meetings with Community Doukhobor students in British Columbia to jointly discuss ‘Where do we go from here?’ Jim is seated on the right end in this group photo. (See: ‘Young Adult Tour of Western Canada’, The Inquirer, December 1957, pages 8-12.)
   
   
2. 1982 — June 25-28. During the International Intergroup Symposium that brought together over 1,000 Doukhobors, Mennonites, Quakers, and American Spiritual Christians from Russia, to Castlegar, BC. Jim served as Secretary of the Convening Committee of four (Jim Kolesnikoff, John J. Verigin Sr., Jim E. Popoff, and me Koozma J. Tarasoff as Coordinator) and signed a letter to the United Nations.
   
   
3. 1999 — October 22-24. At the Doukhobor Centenary in Canada conference held at Ottawa University, Jim presented: ‘Understanding violent behaviour: the “Sons of Freedom” case’, published in Doukhobor Centenary in Canada (edited by Andrew Donskov, John Woodsworth and Chad Gaffield), 2000, pages 114-128.

These events brought Canadian Doukhobors together to focus on examining our identity in the new world today.

• ‘Who are we?’
• ‘What contribution can we make to world society?’ 

That’s how I knew Jim.

Jim was born in Watson, Saskatchewan. His family moved to British Columbia where he graduated from high school in 1954. For several years he worked for the Sunshine Valley Co-op and the Grand Forks Credit Union and was an active member of the USCC Union of Youth in a program of singing, the Russian language evening school program and Iskra.  

In the 1960s, Jim attended Moscow State University where he received his MA in Russian language and literature, returned to Canada, and in 1978 obtained his PhD in Slavic Linguistics at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

A big event in Jim’s life was meeting Nina, a Polish student on scholarship in Moscow. They married in 1968 and moved to Canada the same year. They lived in Edmonton, Alberta where Nina completed her PhD studies in the Department of Comparative Literature. The couple moved to Hamiliton, Ontario where Nina became a professor of Slavic Studies at McMaster University. Jim commuted to Toronto where he worked with a company (dissolved in 2002) importing precious and semi-precious metals, and jewelry from Russia to Canada.

In 2002 I published a short biography of Jim and his wife: ‘Slavic Scholars Broaden International Boundaries’, Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers’ Strategies for Living (2002), pages 232-233. (PDF, 1.3 Mb)

Jim was interviewed by Gregory James Cran for his doctoral thesis: 'A Narrative Inquiry into the Discourse of Conflict among the Doukhobors and Between the Doukhobors and Government', University of Victoria, 2003, pages 105, 128, and 200. (PDF, 5 Mb). The thesis was modified into a book published in 2011 titled: Negotiating Buck Naked: Doukhobors, Public Policy, and Conflict Resolution, where Jim is quoted on page 81. (See my book review.)

Published Obituaries for James (Jim) Kolesnikoff

• Iskra, No. 2166, September 2021, pages 35-38. Bilingual Russian and English.
• Grand Forks Gazette, (photo) June 12, 2021. Photo 
• Today in BC, Black Press Media (Surrey, B.C.) June 12, 2021

Joan Kazakoff Parker (1934–2021)

 Joan Parker (née Kazakoff) of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, died June 10, 2021 of stage 4 lung cancer. 

She phoned me a few days earlier saying that she was alive and in good humour. 

Joan was born in the Kamsack area of Saskatchewan to Doukhobor parents.

Her son Jeff was looking after her in the home where he was raised and where her husband George, a professional engineer, died May 5, 2018. 

Surviving are two children Jeff and Wendy, and Wendy’s son Aaron who is а professional chef in London, England.

Her father George Kazakoff miraculously survived the as-yet-unsolved train explosion near Farron, British Columbia in October 1924 which took the lives of Peter V. Verigin and eight others. 

Joan lived in central California where she attended college. She learned of a cousin, Allan Zolnekoff (1953–), adopted by a Dukh-i-zhiznik family near Los Angeles. His mother was her aunt Dunya "Doe" Samoyloff. And, Allan is an adopted cousin of Koozma's webmaster, Andrei Conovaloff, who shared the same step-grandmother. Small world.

In 1984 she toured the Soviet Union with a group that included my mother Anastasia. Smaller world.

Joan was an interesting personality that I have known for many years by email. Though we never met, I interviewed her and published five stories (below). 

Joan did watercolour and acrylic painting, she made jewelry, and became interested in the culinary arts. At the age of 76, Joan Parker published Joan’s Favourites, a cookbook of 350 recipes from around the world including a section from her Russian Doukhobor heritage. The book is liberally embellished with 28 colourful wisdom proverbs I liked so much that I gathered them into a list posted in 2011.

Items I published about Joan:

• 2002 — ‘Digging Into Family History’. Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers’ Strategies for Living, pages 99-100.
• 2010 October 29 — Joan's Favourites, cookbook by Joan Kazakoff Parker.
• 2011 April 3,16, 30 — Book Signing by Joan Kazakoff-Parker in Ontario.  
• 2011 April 19 — Joan Kazakoff Parker Interview —  Father survived 1924 train explosion. Grandmother remarried a Prygun in Los Angeles. 
• 2011 May 5 — Is Kamsack-born woman related to Russian tsar?, Kamsack Times, pages 9, 20.

Doukhobor Arms Burning is Relevant Today

126 years ago tomorrow, June 28, 2021, one-third of the Doukbohors in the Russian Caucasus joined in a daring protest of burning guns — all their killing weapons.

The significance of the Burning of Arms event for the Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors is enormous then and now.  Why?

This concrete act catapulted the Russian group into the international arena. Civilization was presented with a nonkilling alternative strategy of living instead of the use of violence from the gun, the bomb and other weapons of mass destruction.

'Arms Burning by Russian Doukhobors in 1895
by William Perehudoff, 1969. Click picture to enlarge.

This first ever event took place June 28-29 (Old Calendar, New Calendar July 12-13), 1895 in three places of Transcaucasia in southern Russia, with 7,000 people involved. It was inspired by Russian writer and philosopher Lev N. Tolstoy by way of Doukhobor leader Peter V. Verigin. 

Today the precarious international relations with world nations demands the same serious attention that Doukhobors applied to guns 126 years ago.  No more killing! No more wars! It's time for the leaders of the world to make war illegal as a crime. 

More

• List of all my previous Peace Day Messages.
• Russia: The Doukhobor 1895 Arms Burning is Relevant. Posted by Transcend Media Service, June 28, 2021.
• 'Does Canada Contribute to World Peace?' An open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada. Posted in World Beyond War, April 28, 2021.
• 'Historic 1895  Burning of Guns, selections and translations.' June 26, 2020.
• 'Tolstoy and the Doukhobors. Lessons from Nonkilling Leadership Experiences', at the First Global Leadership Forum, Hawaii, November 1-4, 2007. 
• Peter's Day Commemorations, Doukhobor Calendar of Events Throughout Canada, USCC Doukhobors website.
• The Doukhobor Arms Burning of 1895, by Larry Ewashen.

Defunding the Myths and Cults of Cold War Canada, by Richard Sanders

I met Richard Sanders about 40 years ago at a peace rally in Ottawa, and we remained friends. Like me, he opposed war, attended rallies, and studied anthropology. He founded the Coalition Against Arms Trade (COAT) and maintains the website which I read. He aims to educate us how the roots of war are perpetuated today.

Richard Sanders illustrated himself.

I recommend his latest article: ‘Defunding the Myths and Cults of Cold War Canada: Ongoing state support for East European émigré groups with deep fascist roots’, Press for Conversion, Issue #70, 2020.

Richard says: ‘In this 64-page exposé (with 600+ footnotes) I have documented the 70-year history of collaboration of the Canadian government (and the corporate media) with pro-NATO, East European émigré groups that killed millions of innocent people.

I show that the ethno-nationalist cult founders, leaders and heroes include: 

• veterans of various Waffen SS divisions and other fascist military formations that fought our allies,
• perpetrators of the Holocaust and other ethnic-cleansing war crimes, 
• officials from and apologists for various Nazi puppet regimes, 
• postwar CIA propaganda assets, 
• proponents of Cold War terrorist paramilitaries (such as the US-armed Nicaraguan contras and Afghan mujahideen), and 
• other virulently anticommunist 'freedom fighters' and their ideologues.'

Articles detailing Canadian government funding of East European émigré groups with deep fascist roots

Almost half of my report is now available online. 

To receive a free sample copy of Press for Conversion in the mail, send your street address in Canada to: overcoat@rogers.com, or in Facebook. 

When strangers meet….

In Moscow, Soviet Union, in 1988, a Tatar Muslim screenwriter Vakhit Sharipov happened to meet a Russian film journalist Alexei Melnikov. Vakhit described a bridge-building project he wanted to do about the Cold War with any western anthropologist to try to dispel some of the misconceptions of the other. Alexei happened to know me, and introduced us.

Koozma and Vakhit in Kazan TASSR, 1988

I was delighted to do it. We both believed that the Cold War was a foolish and dangerous threat for nuclear war. It was essential to get to know the stranger as a necessity for the human survival of our civilization. We agreed to pay our own expenses.

First, Vakhit invited me to the Soviet Union for one month, then I arranged for him to come to Canada for a month. We hosted each other in our homes. Vakhit lived in Kazan city, the capital of the province of Tatar ASSR, renamed the Republic of Tatarstan. I lived in Ottawa, capital of Canada.

As an anthropologist, in the early 1960s, I studied the Cree and Saulteaux peoples of Saskatchewan and soon discovered that our attitude is an important ingredient for effective communication and human understanding. Becoming friends requires overcoming negative images of the other  and dispelling fear and misunderstanding of the unknown. Rubbing shoulders with our neighbour and stepping into the shoes of the other are useful metaphors in working across cultural boundaries.

Click here to see a large map of all places mentioned.

When strangers become friends, as with Vakhit and I, we were deeply affected. Our lives were changed forever. I experienced this first-hand as we traveled in Russia to Moscow, Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Yelabuga, Nizhnekamsk; and later in Canada to Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, and Saskatoon.

In each country, doors were flung open as photographers, yachtsmen, hikers, teacher, artists, students, professors, public school administrators, religious leaders, union organizers, peace workers, writers, and even millionaires have come forth to meet the international stranger.

In Kazan, I met Misha and Evgeny, who took us on the Volga river in their small yacht, named 'Tempest 04'. We were together for two-days, traveling by boat (50 km, 30 mi.) east on the Volga, camping on a river island overnight, then to their dacha (cabin) with banya (sauna) at the riverside village of Kurochkino. Living together gave us plenty of time for intimate serious discussions on perestroika, glasnost, Stalin, religion, the nationalities question, and more.

I felt like Saint Exupery’s fairy tale figure of Little Prince who travelled the planets and came to Earth, where he learned finally, from nature, the secret of what is truly important to life.

As a traveller, I learned about the beauty of nature that transcends political boundaries and ideologies. Its colours, shapes, and sounds decorate our gaze and rejuvenate our bodies and minds. That beauty is precious, yet vulnerable to destruction if we pollute our waters, air and soil, and if fail to work cooperatively and sensitively as one family on our common planet.

From Vakhit, I learned that cleanliness is a cultural trait of the Tatar people. When you enter their home, you take off your shoes and are offered a pair of slippers. I have used this practice in my Canadian home.

More profoundly, from Murat, Bulat and Alexei, I learned that war is a human tragedy that few of us in the West can relate to. We need to acknowledge the fact that the Soviet peoples lost over 27 million in defending themselves during WWII.

I learned that gift-giving is an old tribal custom that has persisted through the centuries and has transformed strangers into friends. On my departure home, Vakhit and his wife Galiya presented me with a beautiful handcrafted woolen rug.

From strangers and newfound friends I learned that diverting money from the arms race can provide us with all the infrastructure we need, the architecture, clean water, universal education and free health care to make life livable and make peace possible in the world. Our human family aches for that shift in evolutionary thinking.

Opening doors with strangers is a good first step in this thinking by peacefully bridging two or more realities on Planet Earth.

Photo album, 19 images: Canada — Tatariya 1988 Friendship Project. To see photo captions on a hand-held tablet or smart-phone, swipe image up; on a laptop or desktop computer, toggle the upper-right "info" button shown here in the yellow box: 

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This article updated from: Koozma J. Tarasoff. 'When strangers meet….', 150 Canadian Stories of Peace (2017). Compiled by Gordon Breedyk, Mony Dojeiji, Koozma J. Tarasoff, and Evelyn Voigt.

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My Kazan trip was mentioned in: Black, J.L. Canada in the Soviet Mirror: Ideology and Perception in Soviet Foreign Affairs, 1917-1991. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, Apr 15, 1998, page 326. — I met Professor J. L. Black when he was teaching at Carleton University, Ottawa. Some of his students came to my Living Room Discussion in 1984-1985. I met Soviet historian and Ambassador A. Yakovlev who borrowed many of my books on the Doukhobors and published a long essay on the group.

Remembering Micheal Lucas (1926–2020)

Michael Lucas was a charismatic political activist, author, professional graphic designer, accomplished musician, and advocate of peace and socialism.

See 68 photos

He immigrated from Slovenia, and worked in Toronto. He served as chair and editor of Northstar Compass, the publication of the ‘International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People’, Canada.

Michael was a lifetime advocate of East-West understanding, and chaired the USSR-Canada Friendship Society from 1972 to 1991. The organization had branches in 35 cities across Canada, and I served for several years as president of the Ottawa Branch. Doukhobors participated in other branches in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Michael and I both agreed that friendship between the Soviets and the West was critical to prevent war, and organized meetings with Soviets in Canada and tourist groups to the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Cold War in the 1980s was a very scary time. A popular slogan and bumper sticker in Canada and the USA was ‘Better Dead Than Red’. We needed to bring Soviets and Canadians face-to-face to mitigate hate, and approached the Canadian Department of External Affairs (now Global Affairs Canada) and other departments to see if we can use their reception rooms to host Soviet athletes and scientists for public meetings. ‘This was never done’, they said. ‘We can’t set a precedent.’

Living Room Discussion at the Tarasoff house, Ottawa, March 23, 1985, led by
Alexei Melnikov (right), a Soviet journalist in Canada who produced a short
documentary: 'Russian Doukhobors in Canada'. Photo 837-31A, (c) K.J. Tarasoff.

Where to meet? I volunteered using my home which could accommodate up to 60 people. Beginning in 1984 we began Living Room Discussions on Saturday afternoons, and hosted 17 sessions for about a year. In 1985 Michael and his wife Helen led 34 of us on a friendship tour of the Soviet Union.

Today, during this Second Cold War, we need to revitalize exchanges like Michael advocated since the 1940s. Since 1983 the USA Center for Citizen Initiatives has been organizing similar citizen diplomacy with 1000s of person-to-person bridges between Russia and the USA.

Bravo to Michael for helping to lead the way.

More

• Michael Lucas (political activist). Wikipedia, May 20, 2020.
• In Celebration of: Michael Lukac, March 7 1926 May 4 2020. Turner & Porter Funeral Directors.
• Greg Butterfield. On the passing of Michael Lucas, immigrant organizer and friend of Soviet people. Fightback News, July 20, 2020.
• Jed Lehman. ‘Remembering Toronto Peace Activist Michael Lucas’. Global Research, May 25, 2020.
• Koozma J. Tarasoff. Opening Doors for Survival During the Cold War. 150 Canadian Stories of Peace (2017): 101-102.
• Communists globally mourn the passing of Comrade Michael Lucas in Toronto, The Communists (UK), May 23, 2020
• Comrade Michael Lucas from Canada passed away peacefully on 4th May morning. (video, 4 minute) Youth Television, Youtube, May 9, 2020. — 2017 video showing Micheal receiving gifts and a $1000 donation from a representative of the Nepal Workers Peasants Party (NWPP).

Putin Improves Russian Constitution

On January 15th, my wife and I watched the Russian language broadcast of Vladimir Putin’s Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, January 15, and proposed changes to the Russian Constitution. We agree that Putin was genuine and revolutionary, and presented himself as a world statesman.

Note that Russia provides an ‘open’ English translation, but Canada and the US governments do not provide translations for foreign governments.

Putin, now 67, has been in power since 1999 — more than 20 years. In 2024 his current term ends and he will step down, unless an early election is held. The system he has put in place should continue into the future. Russia deserves to maintain its moral authority in which it and the former Soviet Union won World War II and defeated the The Third Reich at a cost of over 27 million citizens.

Our impression is nearly the opposite of most Western news commentators critical of Putin for allegedly seeking to enhance his power, and his behaviour contrasts with most western politicians who appear more focused on getting reelected than serving their constituencies.

Putin introduced his proposals with this introduction:

The Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly is delivered at the very beginning of the year for the first time. We need to address large-scale social, economic and technological tasks facing the country more quickly and without delay. … Our society is clearly calling for change. People want development, and they strive to move forward in their careers and knowledge in achieving prosperity, and they are ready to assume responsibility for specific work. Quite often, they have better knowledge of what, how and when should be changed where they live and work, that is, in cities, districts, villages and all across the nation … And, I repeat, they must be actively involved in this process.

Putin said although the potential of the 1993 Constitution is far from being exhausted, he suggests ‘a number of constitutional amendments for discussion, ... for the further development of Russia as a rule-of-law welfare state where citizens’ freedoms and rights, human dignity and well-being constitute the highest value.’

Here are Putin’s main proposals for a public vote:

• Education National Project — Across the vast country, more day nurseries, teacher training, computers, student lunches, teacher aides and support. More university scholarships for medical specialists and technology.
• Birth rate — Financial support for 2 child couples.
• Internet — Free to all citizens.
• Democracy — Move some powers from the President to the Duma (Parliament).
• Medical — Enhanced free healthcare and medicine.
• Wages, Pensions— Living minimum wage.
• Military — No budget change. Now about 10% of USA budget. No threat of war.
• Residency — Any future President should live in Russia continuously for 25 years.
• Citizenship — Civil servants barred from holding multiple citizenship.
• President term limit — 2 consecutive terms.
• State council — Increased scope and powers.

In compliance with Putin’s proposals, 18 of the 23 members of the Federal Cabinet of Russia stepped down, and 5 remained. Most news focused on Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev who was replaced by Mikhail Mishustin.

Many speculate that Putin will try to manage the more strategic and powerful State Council for the rest of his life. ('The World Is Experiencing a New Form of Autocracy,' The Atlantic, March 2020.)

Russian insider, Abbas Gallyamov, a former government speech writer, reported on his Facebook page (January 21, 2020) that Putin removed 3 people strongly disliked in certain parts of society — the ministers for culture and education, and a deputy prime minister who oversaw sport at the height of a doping scandal. Previously the Kremlin said it would appoint who it wanted and didn’t care if people didn’t like their choice. Now the logic has changed and the authorities do not want to irritate society. It appears that public opinion matters. But, the new cabinet needs more business leaders to improve the economy. In general, there are no major changes to government ideology.

Russia-born writer Dmitry Orlov explained in his blog what Putin is trying to accomplish and ended with '... three elements ... missing ... from the proposed constitutional changes: titular nation status for Russians, their right of return, and right of self-determination for long-term de facto independent regions.'

In general, my wife and I believe that Russia is emerging with a new human face in a changing world, while most ‘Western media ... was aghast. “What is Putin up to?” ’ …’ What’s going on? … ‘’a major shakeup’.

I must repeat: Bashing Putin and Russia is Dangerous (November 4, 2016).

Despite the confusion in Western media, Putin's proposals have received many positive reviews:

• Hal Freeman. Putin's Speech to the Federal Assembly. Changes to Russia's Constitution. Another Point of View. February 25, 2020.
• Sharon Tennison, Shake-up in the Kremlin? Putin Selects a New Leader? Johnson's Russia List, January 24, 2020. 
• Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, and Maria Kiselyova. Russia gets new government in what Putin calls major renewal, Reuters, January 21, 2020.
• Bryan MacDonald. Russian Political Earthquake: Putin Sets out Plans for Kremlin Departure & Medvedev Resigns, RT, 18 January 2020.
• Johanna Ross. Putin Updates Russian Constitution as Western Media Tries to Catch Up, Infobrics. January 17, 2020.
• Natylie Baldwin. Putin Proposes Changes to Constitution at Address to Federal Assembly; Medvedev Resigns, Head of Russia’s Tax Service Named New Prime Minister - What’s Going On? Natylie’s Place (blog), January 17, 2020.
• Dmitry Orlov, Life After Putin, Club Orlov (blog), January 17, 2020.
• Regina Smyth, Russia’s cabinet resigns and it’s all part of Putin’s plan, The Conversation, January 15, 2020.

World Beyond War Global Conference Ottawa May 26-31, 2020 CANCELLED

Update April 2, 2020: Both CANSEC 2020 and the 'No to CANSEC' rally have been postponed to June 2021. People not Bombs! You can't kill a virus with bullets. Only after massive public pressure from our peace coalition, 7,700+ letters sent, and 19 days after a pandemic was declared, the cancellation followed. The World Beyond War conference has been rescheduled and will be held in Ottawa June 2021. The peace movement is now working to shut down CANSEC.

M. Wuerker, POLITICO.

• "The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war", by António Guterres, Secretary-General , United Nations, March 23, 2020.
• 'PBI-Canada welcomes cancellation of CANSEC arms show, seeks peace and health for all'. By Brent Patterson, President of Peace Brigades International, March 31, 2020.
• COVID-19 takes down Canada's Top Arms Trade Show! CANSEC 2020 in Ottawa is Cancelled, of course.... By Richard Sanders, Facebook, Press For Conversion Magazine (COAT), March 31, 2020.
• “Coalition celebrates cancellation of CANSEC; demands permanent ban on weapons shows”, David Swanson, Executive Director, World BEYOND War, April 2, 2020
• “Weapons don't fight pandemics,” Opinion by Miodrag Soric, Deutsche Welle, April 26, 2020.

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See the latest updates on the big event 'Divest, Disarm, Demilitarize' planned for Ottawa, Canada May 26-30, 2020 with major collaboration by dozens of peace groups led by World Beyond War. [With the cancellation of the CANSEC event in 2020, the new venues including the World Beyond War conference can be forwarded to June 2021.]

See the promotional video. Look at the Schedule, About, Speakers, Media Toolkit (5 items on Google Drive), Rides & Lodging Board for messages, and Contact form. Share on Facebook. Help to billet out of town guests.

The 6-day 2020 WBW Conference workshops, training, panel discussions, films, art, music, dance, and nonviolent action will be held at various locations in Ottawa.

Join this international coalition of individuals and organizations which will converge on Ottawa to say 'No to CANSEC', Canada's biggest annual weapons expo. This event promises to be a peace highlight of the year for Ottawa and Canada. Dozens of peace groups will join as endorsers and sponsors, including Quakers and Mennonites; the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace plans to hold its 60th Anniversary in Ottawa at this time.

As citizens of the world, come and join us as passionate builders of peace and goodwill. Our children and grandchild deserve a viable future. We are responsible in preserving life for the new generation and saving our world from destruction.

More from my blog

• Stop wars! Stop the killings! — A Poem for Our Times
• CANSEC Ottawa Reports Since 2009

Stop wars! Stop the killings! — A Poem for Our Times

My ancestors the Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors
in 1895 burnt their guns calling on humanity
to stop wars once and for all —
or face the fate of dying together as fools.

We were inspired by the Russian writer Lev N. Tolstoy
who influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
in the use of nonviolence and love in solving human problems.

Yet wars have continued with hundreds of millions killed
slaughtered on the battlefields of hell.
When will we ever learn?
The stench of mass murders
affects us all — mothers, fathers, young and old.

It robs us of the human potential for
creating peace on earth
with free healthcare, free education,
housing, clean environment, and more.
Our heritage as human beings is at stake,.

Have we not heard of the wisdom of
‘Thou shalt not kill’?
Have we not known that pointing a gun at another person
is not a friendly act?

Why are we making millions
from perpetual wars
through the manufacture of
weapons of mass destruction?
Humanity Wake Up!

Are we deaf to the wisdom of our ancestors to
‘Stop Wars! Stop the killings!’
‘Do we not know that we are our brothers and sisters keepers?’.
How many ears will it take to hear
the cry of children orphaned by war?
When will we ever learn?

At the forthcoming arms show in Ottawa of 12,000 people
gathered to see the latest free market killers,
a few brave souls will gather at the gates with signs
‘Stop the murders’.’Stop the killings’.
‘Stop manufacturing killer weapons’.
Close down CANSEC.

When will we discover
peaceful alternatives to violence and wars?
When will we stop becoming rich from wars?
Or have we been hijacked by the almighty dollar,
killing our competition, grabbing oilfields or whatever?

Statesmen and women of the world
stand up and be counted.
Stop playing chess with our lives.
And media workers, cease being pawns
of the military industrial complex — your job
is to seek the truth and share it with the world.

The sacred choice is in our hands, my dear friends:
Life, love, beauty and humanity;
or the Stone Age of human extinction?
That is the question of the new decade.
Is anyone listening to the current words of wisdom:

NEVER AGAIN. STOP NATO.

DIVEST, DISARM, DEMILITARIZE.

OUTLAW WARS. STOP THE KILLINGS! LET’S BECOME NONKILLING HUMANS— RESPECT LIFE, LOVE and HUMANITY.

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This poem was written for the 5th World Beyond War Conference in Ottawa, May 26-30, 2020.

Peace groups will oppose the 2020 CANSEC weapons show in Ottawa on May 30-31, 2020. Please come out and support the movement to save humanity from the scourge of war.

‘Saskatchewan Doukhobors’ documentary shown in Ottawa

Some 80 people attended the movie ‘We’ve Concluded Our Assembly: The Saskatchewan Doukhobors’ at the historic Mayfair Theatre on November 10, 2019, in Old Ottawa South. The 90-minute documentary was followed by a discussion led by producer-organizer Ryan Androsoff with Spirit Wrestler Productions.

Mayfair Theatre markee.                        Ryan Androsoff.

Available for sale were DVDs of the film (90 minutes), CD recordings of the Saskatchewan Doukhobor Prayer Service (42 minutes, Russian and English); and a booklet 'Song Lyrics and Credits' (Russian, transliterated Russian, English) with a list of financial contributors and acknowledgements of participants. All can be bought online and at the gift shop of the Saskatoon Western Development Museum and the Doukhobor Discovery Centre in Castlegar, BC. Donate; the Project is $20,000 short of breaking even.

In 2016, Ryan Androsoff initiated the ambitious Saskatchewan Doukhobor Living Book Project ‘with the mission of preserving the oral history and spiritual traditions of the Saskatchewan Doukhobor community for future generations’ as a soundscape, and to ‘start a conversation about the future of Doukhoborism for generations to come.’

This Project is specifically about ‘Independent Doukhobors’ in Saskatchewan, who comprise about one-fourth of all Canadian Doukhobors, and are partly organized as the Doukhobor Cultural Society of Saskatchewan (DCSS). Most descendants of Community Doukhobors in British Columbia are not the focus.

This was my third viewing of the entire project. As soon as it was available, Ryan mailed me the DVD, CD and booklet to review.

The documentary film opens with a typical Sunday gathering (called sobranie in Russian) of Independent Doukhobors in Saskatchewan. A traditional prayer service was performed by 8 men and 20 women (28 singers) who recited and sung Doukhobor psalms in Russian (translations provided).

The location was the Blaine Lake Doukhobor Community Home (which in my opinion is erroneously called the Doukhobor Prayer Home) located 80 km (50 miles) north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Blaine Lake is one of the 5 remaining active Independent Doukhobor meeting halls in Saskatchewan.

Inter-weaved throughout the 90 minutes were interviews of 30 men and women from ages 8 to 95, historic images, maps, and video clips of Doukhobor events in Saskatchewan (like the annual Doukhobor Peace Day under a tent with community picnic outdoors).

A total of 42 participated, 12 members of the choir were not interviewed. About a third are closely related family.

William Kanigan spoke with pride about one of his two sons who turned down a lucrative military contract because it would have contradicted with his heritage roots.

I enjoyed the freshness of Jonathan Kalmakoff's daughters, Katie and Emily, who told stories learned from their father, a Doukhobor genealogist and historian. Hundreds of articles, charts and maps are on his Doukhobor Genealogy Website.

The documentary ended at the sobranie with the hymn (in Russian and English): 'We've Concluded Our Assembly'. Credits followed.

Themes covered:

• Origin of the 'Doukhobor' label in Russia in 1786.
• The deep roots of the Movement in nonkilling, love, equality, hospitality, and respect.
• The revolutionary spirit of the God Within.
• What is a Doukhobor: A religion? A way of life? A social movement?
• The 1895 arms burning event and its role in the Movement.
• Settlement in Western Canada.
• The use of oral tradition in passing on the values to future generations.
• The power of a cappella singing in one's life.
• If young people loose their Russian language, when then? Role of ethnicity?
• Cultural survival in the modern North American society.
• Translation and transliteration of psalms and hymns for the younger generation.

After the film, questions were asked about the Doukhobor migration to Canada beginning in 1899, if there was a Doukhobor meeting in Ottawa [No], about singing, and the transliteration of Russian to English.

At the end of the Question period, I thanked the producer and made the following comments:

This is a beautiful contribution to the cultural treasure of Doukhobors in Saskatchewan. The film will be remembered by children and grandchildren for years to come. They will recall that their ancestors believed in the Spirit of God within each person (based on a deep philosophy of love, truth, hospitality, and humanity), that peace is the way to a sustained future on Planet Earth. Nonviolence or nonkilling is central. Also they will remember that the collective style of life gave their ancestors strength to survive. And this attitude will likely prevail and give the new generation strength to carry on their mission into the future.

Ryan Androsoff and his team are to be greatly applauded for their efforts in creating this documentary film. Fundraising was a big challenge met by Doukhobors and others. The team interviewed 30 people who said many good things. The inclusion of several young people in the interviews is an acknowledgement that the new generation expects a voice with new changes. And the intent of the film was correct — ‘to help start a conversation about the future of Doukhoborism for generations to come.'

Topics not covered about the Doukhobor Movement in Saskatchewan

• The real contribution of Doukhobor settlers to Saskatchewan and Canada. See my book: Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living, 2002; and search for major sources on Doukhobor pioneers in the Public Archives of Saskatchewan found on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan. Also check for ‘Saskatchewan’ articles on the Doukhobor Genealogy Website.
• The marvelous Doukhobor bread-baking project at the Saskatoon Exhibition annually since 1955. This is a national and international door-opener on the Doukhobors.
• The inspiring peace manifestations organized by Doukhobors, like attorney Peter G. Makaroff in the 1960s, and others — an inspiration for future generations in helping save our civilization from destruction.
• The unique contributions of Saskatchewan Doukhobor journals of The Inquirer, The Dove, and The Doukhobor Sheaf to alternative media.
• Classes on Doukhobor history and culture are currently taught at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon by Dr. Veronika Makarova. Also Dr. Ashleigh Androsoff teaches history courses which includes Doukhobor pioneers.

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Background

In 2016, I helped Ryan promote this project on Ottawa radio (Independent Doukhobor Project on Radio, July 20, 2016), and continued to help announce the project four more times on my website (1 Aug. 2016, 28 Oct. 2017, 20 May 2019, 27June 2019).

For over two years money was raised (crowdfunding, donors), the choir rehearsed, film and audio crews hired, and hours spent recording the meeting service, psalm singing, and interviews with many people, including me. Today, the project is about $20,000 short of covering all costs.

Donors from around the world and across Canada.

Click here to see world donor map.
Click on map pins (blue markers) to see donors names.

Dr. Ashleigh Androsoff helped with research, scripts and interviews. She is a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan, and Ryan’s 3rd cousin. See her 2011 doctoral dissertation: 'Spirit Wrestling: Identity Conflict and the Canadian “Doukhobor Problem,” 1899-1999'.

The project has cost about $57,000 to produce, of which $27,000 has been paid by grants and donors around the world. $20,000 remains to be paid. Please donate.

Ryan has promoted the project on TV, radio and newspapers, all documented on his website doukhoborlivingbook.ca and Facebook.

Doukhobor soundscape at the Western Development Museum, Saskatoon.
Each singer had a microphone, and 4 video cameras recorded simultaneously.
For the soundscape, each singer is played on a speaker on a pole at that
singer's position in the choir. Walk through this virtual sobranie.
Ryan said it is "... an immersive experience, like you were there."

Over 200 people attended the project launch on June 28, 2019, at the Western Development Museum (WDM) in Saskatoon, with a dazzling walk-through multimedia soundscape and exhibit that continued through October 20, 2019. The WDM has featured local Doukhobor history in the past, but this was the largest exhibit.

On June 29, 2019, the film was shown at the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon, followed by a discussion.

DVD, CD and booklet available online from the gift shop of the Saskatoon Western Development Museum and the Doukhobor Discovery Centre in Castlegar, BC.

More

• Saskatchewan Doukhobor Living Book Project (main website)
• List of participants — choir singers, people interviewed
• Spirit Wrestler Soundscape Choir Positions (diagram, photo)
• Credits: Lists of Project Participants, Partners, Production Crew, Donors. — Need $20,000 more to cover all costs.
• Video Tour of the Spirit Wrestler Soundscape (2:14 min.) by Ryan Androsoff, Spirit Wrestler Productions, September 1, 2019.
• Museum opens exhibit looking at Doukhobor history in Saskatchewan (video 1:45 min.) by Kyle Benning, Global News, July 4, 2019.
• Still time to get your own copy of our documentary film before the holidays!, by Ryan Androsoff
• Saskatchewan Doukhobor Youth Festivals, 1955-1968, by Koozma J Tarasoff, Mich Ozeroff, Elmer Verigin and Andrei Conovaloff. 5 April 2016. — Summary of history, communities, choirs, singers, recorded songs and photos.
• New Doukhobor Song Book, with CDs. Blog, May 28, 2013. — A critique of Traditional Selections compiled by The Calgary Doukhobor Cultural Society with 32 songs and two CDs, 2013. — This critique extends to this project booklet 'Song Lyrics and Credits'. I am embarrassed because this project was so well funded, produced and promoted; and now the public and scholars can see how uneducated the Doukhobors are regarding transliteration (Romanization) of Russian words into English. When I discussed this issue with Ryan, he defended the booklet showing actual transliterations used by SK Doukhobors, which he claims is adequately explained in the booklet introduction. ('All text is derived from the Cyrillic, phonetic transliteration, and translated versions commonly found in Saskatchewan Doukhobor songbooks.') I wish I was asked to proofread the booklet before publication, and have been allowed to contribute a standard transliteration.

Books and Videos about Russia

While writing my Book Review: Romanov, Introduction to Canadian Studies, I wished that such a book existed about Russia that was as interesting and fair as Dr. Romanov had written about Canada. So we began searching for such a book. In the meantime the Oliver Stone documentary about Putin appeared.

My recommendations for books and videos about Russia

‘Russia: A Reading Guide', Center on Global Interests (CGI), August 30, 2016
— 12 experts share the 50 books that shaped their understanding of Russia. Only one book is mentioned by two people.

Richardson, Paul E. & Mikhail Mondasov. The Spine of Russia, July 2016, 200 pages.
— In the Fall of 2015, a Russian and American journalist travelled 6,000 kilometers from Russia’s northwestern corner in the Arctic to Sochi, in the tropical climes of the Black Sea. The group tells the stories of Russians whose life and work is taking the country forward, and what they feel patriotic about, what is important to them.

Stone, Oliver. (book) The Putin Interviews: Oliver Stone Interviews Vladimir Putin, Skyhorse Publishing Inc, June 16, 2017, 288 pages. — Transcripts of all 20 hours from video.

Stone, Oliver. (video) ‘The Putin Interviews’, (4 hours total video) Showtime cable TV, June 12-15, 2017.

• Vimeo.com (1 hour each): Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3 — Part 4
• John Batchelor interviews Stephen F. Cohen and Oliver Stone, (40 min. video) 77-WABC Radio, June 9, 2017.

More books about Russia

To be fair to my list of books above, I include lists below recommended by journalists. I feel that many (not all) of these books are biased, because they seem to be limited in scope, often stuck in a paradigm of one ‘super policeman state’ rather than respecting wider regional players.

Basulto, Dominic. 'The 7 Best Books of Summer 2016 for the Avid Russia Watcher', Medium, June 16, 2016. — Former columnist for The Washington Post’s “Innovations”

Begley, Sarah. '9 Books That Can Help You Understand Russia Right Now', Time magazine, February 15, 2017.

Elkin, Dimitri. 'Top 10 books on Russia in 2016', Russia Direct, December 30, 2016. — The best books of 2016 include those that take a closer look at U.S.-Russia relations during the Cold War and perestroika, enabling readers to better understand the current Putin era.

Honig, Michael. 'Top 10 books on Vladimir Putin's Russia', The Guardian, April 20, 2016.

Lebedev, Sergei. '10 Books That Explain Russia Today', Publishers Weekly, February 19, 2016 — Lebedev, who was born in Moscow in 1981, picks 10 books that explain Russia's complicated past and present.

Weafer, Chris. 'Six ‘must-read’ books on Russia from last 25 years', Johnson's Russia List, September 10, 2015.

'The Top 10 Summer Books for Russia Watchers', The Moscow Times, July 2, 2015.

Readers:  Enter your recommendations in Comments, below.