In the course of the past few weeks many respectable people and organizations have called for a boycott, or cancellation, of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games 2014. Russia’s policy conflicts with the Olympic principles, which claim to stand against any form of discrimination.

Discrimination has been as an official national policy in Russia. Anti-gay laws explicitly and blatantly label a part of the nation as second-class citizens. These principles are openly fascist, humiliating and shameful. We insist that a country where such policies are adopted must not be allowed to host the Olympic Games.

 

The famous actor Stephen Fry has already reminded you in his open letter about an instance when the Olympic rings had been besmirched. The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin ended up supporting and asserting Hitler’s power. The world must not repeat this historical mistake, which cost billions of lives. You do not have the right to keep silent and allow a new European dictator to delude you and to force you to participate in his dirty tricks.

 

Now, like in 1936, your silence will aid and abet actual and potential crimes of Putin’s regime.

 

Laws which abuse basic human rights and freedoms have been passed in Russia. Putin has set a course for the establishment of a dictatorship, destruction of democratic institutions and the extermination of civil society.

 

LGBT discrimination, fueled by the “gay propaganda” law, is the apogee but not the only example of barbarism. In Russia members of the opposition who speak out against government are pursued and imprisoned. Independent courts, press freedom and fair elections have been exterminated, we again have political prisoners here. There is not much left of the democratic freedoms of the 1990s. Under the pretence of “protection of morality”, “protection of children” and “traditional values”, the government is persecuting dissidents, curtailing freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly, imposing censorship, and fostering feelings of hatred in society. Neo-fascists movements that hunt down people, including teenagers, act under the protection of government and are not afraid of responsibility. Hate crimes are not investigated.

 

There are no mass executions in Russia as yet, but the government will go any length. Concentration camps are appearing as we speak, so far limited to the detention of illegal migrants. Political repressions have become a regular and sinister fact of life in Russia.

 

The Governments of Western countries and IOC do not have the right to close their eyes while Putin is leading Russia to a catastrophe. The moral and political values of the western world oblige you to react unequivocally and decisively to the despotism of Putin’s regime.

 

“Don’t be afraid of your friends. At worst, they may betray you. Don’t be afraid of your enemies. The worst they can do is to kill you. Fear those who do not care; they neither kill nor betray, but betrayal and murder exists because of their silent consent” – these are the words of Bruno Jasienski, who was shot on Stalin’s order.

 

We ask you to not be indifferent, like “those who do not care”! Nowadays in Russia thousands of free-minded people are filled with despair while they struggle for their liberty, often risking life and limb. Self-respect does not allow them to give up under the threat of repression.

 

We need your support. Fighters for liberty in Russia always looked out for the West where the basic values of democracy and human rights are beyond any doubt. The governments of the USA and Europe demonstrated time after time their readiness to make a stand for these values in other countries of the world. Please do not forget about it.

 

The Russian government is doing everything to escape criticism and to avert the failure of Putin’s favorite project – the Olympic Games in Sochi. It would give him – like Hitler in 1936 – legitimacy in the face of the international community. Official statements guaranteeing the safety of foreign athletes and sports fans are lies. They repeat this demagogic untruth that Russian laws do not violate the rights of LGBT community and are only supposed to protect children.

 

The real purpose of the “gay propaganda” law is to silence people who protect equality and oppose LGBT discrimination, to threaten people who just want to live their life as free persons without having to hide away “in the closet”. Open harassment of LGBT and their allies is widespread. Pictures of police clearing away LGBT demonstrations and neo-Nazis attacking participants of these demonstrations are famous all over the world.  Moreover, in Russia there has already been a precedent of arresting foreign guests because of the new “propaganda” law. We are referring to the Dutch director Chris Van der Veen and his production team. 

 

All the guarantees given to you are fake. A political conman at the head of a great country is trying to walk over you.

 

A country that regularly humiliates its own citizens is not able to give any guarantees to foreigners. By taking for truth the lies of the Putin's regime, Western governments are entrapping themselves and their citizens. Putin's government has formulated its punitive laws in such a vague way on purpose so that they could target anyone.Countries that send athletes to the Olympic Games in Sochi are putting them at risk of being arrested.Athletes can be persecuted for exercising their basic human rights – freedom of speech and freedom of expression, right to be themselves and protect this right of other people. They can be persecuted for speaking in support of LGBT rights in Russia. LGBT rights are human rights, and human rights are universal: they are trans-national.

 

But even if Putin’s guarantees are true, isn’t it shameful for you to get “favored treatment” from the hands of a dictator on matters of basic human rights which Russian citizens do not have?

 

We are convinced that repeal of the odious and anti-democratic laws is a required condition of hosting the Olympic Games in Russia. The ban on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” must be abolished, as well as other new punitive laws which are used to threaten and persecute people. We are referring to the laws about “protection of feelings of religious believers”, about declaring NGOs “foreign agents”, about the ban on foreign adoption of Russian orphans (also in same-sex families), about censorship of the internet under the pretence of “protecting children from dangerous information”. Political prisoners also must be set free.

 

Failing this, Russia will not have any moral or political right to be a venue for the Olympic Games. The Games must be moved to a more suitable location.

 

We ask you, representatives of the IOC and governments of the USA and European countries, who understand the values of freedom, human rights and equality, to come out for their protection in Russia.

 

Recently we have received unsettling news. According to an IOC representative, for demonstrating the rainbow-colored symbol in support of the Russian LGBT community athletes are liable to be punished not only by the government of the Russian Federation, but also by the IOC, because the IOC charter prohibits political, religious and other kinds of propaganda. But in the case of Russia's homophobic policy, such an objection would not be “political propaganda” but protection of human dignity and expression of solidarity with humiliated and discriminated people. The issue is the protection of IOC principles which prohibit discrimination! By threatening sportsmen with punitive sanctions, and using Putin's style of speech to do so, the IOC is adopting a policy of collusion with inhumane dictatorship and repression of human rights and freedoms. 

 

While it is not too late we ask you to stop playing games with the dictator. It is essential for the civilized world to boycott Putin. The new fascist regime must be stopped and isolated – in the name of protection of freedom and values of civilization.

 

In hopes for your solidarity and historical wisdom,

 

Russian movement

“Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality”