Russia: Old habits die hard

Filmmaker Sergei Klado and TV journalist Irina Malikova have won Russia's first-ever human rights film award for "The Lizard Effect", which reveals the harassment of environmentalists in the country

 
Published: Saturday 31 May 2003

The Lizard Effect

Filmmaker Sergei Klado and tv journalist Irina Malikova have won Russia's first-ever human rights film award for "The Lizard Effect", which reveals the harassment of environmentalists in the country. The 52-minute movie states that there is a steady erosion of civil and environmental rights in today's Russia. It also avers that greens are even being viewed as threats to national security.

The film's title refers to a self-preservation trait in lizards: their ability to re-grow their tails after losing them to attacks. Klado hints that communism is displaying its "lizard effect" in Russia. The movie depicts the resurgence of strong-arm, Soviet-style methods under Vladimir Putin, including the emergence of a new kind of kgb. Unsavoury kgb tactics such as encouraging citizens to spy on each other -- are yet to be discontinued, it reveals.

Klado maintains that the Soviet system has suffered only partial destruction. The documentary also informs that the erstwhile Soviet Union's legacy of environmentally-hazardous industries are still awaiting clean-up. Russian tv channels have thus far declined to air the controversial film. Klado says he is ready to dispatch videotapes to anyone willing to watch the documentary.

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