I had all these tidbits saved up to write to both you and Oleg, but everything seems so pointless under the circumstances... At the moment I am jobless. My CAC grant is finished, so I can’t offer Yan a job as an artist in residence. I’m working at The Paper, in the darkroom, it is paying my rent. I did get a small grant to work in the state of Montana but that’s only if schools call for me. There are 11 other literary artists on the roster.
Oleg will be pleased to hear that I got the grant—because he wrote me the letter of reference for it!!! Tell Yan I took his paintings to a gallery in Sonoma, El Presidio, (31 E. Napa St. Sonoma CA 95476) where a Kiev artist, Poul Yatovenko has his work for sale. (Too traditional). The owner, Stan Gohl said Chicago would be interested in Yan’s work, but send slides.
Meanwhile Chaela has given the paintings to someone in Sacramento to sell at an auction in Oct. *Chaela wants to tel Dmitri Valeski in Kiev 220-89-49 “ I love you, muy brot, muy drug. If you need anything, let me know.” I wrote a small grant to the Kanev Sister city (enough for airfare) to get a computer hooked up at Kanev. What I want to do is to get Cherkassy & Kanev linked up with Glasnet in Moscow, and Santa Rosa & Sonoma hooked up here.
Of course, the events during the past 24 hours probably have destroyed all those plans. At this point, the letter of invitation for me seems like a useless thing to do. I was born Nov. 24, 1952 in San Francisco. My permanent residence/address, you already have. My employer for the past 8 years is Mark West School, 5187 Old Redwood Hwy., Santa Rosa, CA 95403. My passport expires May 17, 1994. Right now, there’s an advisory bulletin for us NOT to go to the USSR.
God, today, a magazine arrived, and I was so involved with watching the Soviet news, I barely realized that I was a featured poet in the magazine! It hardly had the impact it might normally would have.
I write this letter, not knowing if it will reach you. I will send it via a friend going to Czechoslovakia on Thurs. (and a copy from Greece). Unfortunately today is the 23rd anniversary of the Warsaw Pact Forces, and Czech tanks are aligned at the border (+6000 troops). Czechl. Poland & Hungary are joining forces in response to the coup. God, we’re all worried sick about what’s happened.
Yesterday I got through to Kiev and placed a tel. call to you, (and to Vera S.) but you weren’t home. So frustrating that all the lines are busy. An AT&T overseas operator actually placed the call for me—after I gave up yesterday morning—it took 12 hours for him to get through—I had no idea he was calling for me. Perestroika works in funny ways.
Please send me your girlfriend’s address & tel. in Germany. Send more envelopes, if possible; I’m recycling all the ones you sent me. American envelopes draw too much attention.
We are worried about all the people we’ve had contact with through Sister City—our fear is that anyone having contact with the West might be penalized. Please tell everyone that we’re all “standing by.” (We ‘re having a special meeting on Sat., but by then, this letter will be in Europe.) There’s not a whole lot we can do at the moment.
We are worried about all the people we’ve had contact with through Sister City—our fear is that anyone having contact with the West might be penalized. Please tell everyone that we’re all “standing by.” (We ‘re having a special meeting on Sat., but by then, this letter will be in Europe.) There’s not a whole lot we can do at the moment.
I have a whole list of messages from people for you and Oleg to deliver. He has most of the tel. numbers. I’m sending the same list to you both because I don’t know if these letters will get through.
Messages to deliver:
*Tell Vera S. the kids are not coming in Oct. as planned. Dave Berto, City Council member will make an official visit in Spring.
Sonia Bedford says she sent a telegram about the kids coming in Spring instead. “We love you. We are with you during this uncertain time.”
Tell Vera from me to hook that damned modem up now—before it becomes an issue of life and death. I am trying to find out if we can hook up via Peacenet—Inter Global Communications. It is imperative we have communication! If the modem was in place, I wouldn’t have to send this letter.
Barbara Leger (her photo was in the Press Democrat paper today—re: fax link) is checking out the Estonia fax number 0143-09-09-71.
*Contact Yuri Horashansky (STROH 64-00-04, dom. 64-53-00) tell him about the fax for Barbara. He also has the fax number. We want to make sure there’s an open link of communication. Can you dial Estonia privately? Barbara was able to send a fax last night, and if she gets a reply, we’ll know if the link works.
I’m trying to get a fax/modem number also in Moscow, but since that’s currently the hot spot, it’s unlikely that it will be useful. The group is called Golupka (?) (Dove in Russian). SOVAM, via Peacenet will also get messages through. They just sent messages from Troitsk to SF.
If anyone in Cherkassy has a fax they can leave on all the time, we can also send a fax direct, provided we can get through to the Kiev operator—not an easy thing, as the phone lines are jammed with callers. This lack of ability to communicate is so frustrating, especially when I realize how close I was to setting up the modem connection with the computer.
*Also have Oleg call Vasili Tanana (Kanev) tel. 2-42-18. He’s supposed to come here in Sept. to Sonoma. Tell him Linda Ransom is worried. She wants to know if he’s coming in Sept. Give him the Estonia number—just in case. Linda R’s mother died two weeks ago, then her brother-in-law’s father died.
*Also have Oleg call Vasili Tanana (Kanev) tel. 2-42-18. He’s supposed to come here in Sept. to Sonoma. Tell him Linda Ransom is worried. She wants to know if he’s coming in Sept. Give him the Estonia number—just in case. Linda R’s mother died two weeks ago, then her brother-in-law’s father died.
*Tell Oleg to call Svieta’s T.’s parents in Moscow. Her father said Oleg missed California after only one week in Moscow, and that Oleg got through customs OK. Tell him she gets her job permit (Green Card!) tomorrow from immigration in SF.; Vadim’s inheritance is coming along.
*Danielle Parrish’s “sister” Tanya Moros from Cherkassy arrived safe and sound. Contact her via Zoya Romets.
*From Leah Mundel to Julia Kovalenko 10-49-51. “I received your letters. Hope your family’s well.”
*To Vladimir & Liudmilla Naumenko 45-85-62. From Erv & Rita Gaetens “We’re concerned about you, and the whole country. We just watch the news. We love you.”
*Rick Duvall’s Luda is OK, but is missing her kids. She can’t return to Cherkassy, then come back to the US without a lot of paperwork. They’re working on it.
Tell Oleg to call Misha in Moscow—Dottie and Jacques are still trying to come to Moscow in Oct. with imagewriter, depending on the situation. We all got Oleg’s cards too. I talked with his Aunt Inna last week. No matter that I don’t speak Russian, or that she doesn’t speak English; we managed to have a decent conversation.
Vlad and Natasha send their love; everyone’s OK.
In case Oleg hasn’t heard, Intermicro of Moscow & Kiev is selling Mac Classics with Cyrillic system for $999, Russian keyboard is $92. They may need people to show how the Mac works. He should contact them in Kiev. Perhaps there’s a job for him–provided this current crisis blows over. Now, the US is banning the export of large hard disk drives and certain microchips because of the coup.
In case Oleg hasn’t heard, Intermicro of Moscow & Kiev is selling Mac Classics with Cyrillic system for $999, Russian keyboard is $92. They may need people to show how the Mac works. He should contact them in Kiev. Perhaps there’s a job for him–provided this current crisis blows over. Now, the US is banning the export of large hard disk drives and certain microchips because of the coup.
One project was to upgrade the telephone lines so computer networking could be improved. Among other things, $1.5 billion dollars in grain shipments to the USSR have been cancelled. Stock markets around the world are plummeting.
Not having any way to contact Oleg is driving me crazy. I’m sending a similar letter to his home. Are his parents still in Cherkassy? Do they have a phone? Is he back from the Kavkas yet? I don’t know whether to send him another letter of invitation, or to wait. I miss him so much, and am now worried.
Marsha Connell sends her love and support too. No one knows what to expect. If he can write about what’s happening, tell him to send the info to me. I’ll get it to Panorama, etc. The Progressive returned his stories, and The National Reporter has moved—no new address.
I have articles about Bush’s visit to Kiev, etc. and don’t know whether or not to send them—too conspicuous. If you can tell us what’s happening in Ukraine...
There’s no news on the republics at all, other than a small clip of protesters in Kiev shouting Ukrainya, holding three fingers aloft. At first they didn’t know where the clip was from, but I recognized the flag, and figured it out—Ukraine’s with Yeltsin. Tell Oleg it’s like when the Gulf War started, lots of the same news recycled over and over, day in, day out—we all sit in front of the TV.
We did get to see some clips from Vremya, and independent Moscow TV reporters were working with CNN. Someone shot in the Baltics and at Yeltsin’s HQs. We fear bloodshed. Yeltsin’s call for a general strike and civil disobedience is warming our hearts.
We did get to see some clips from Vremya, and independent Moscow TV reporters were working with CNN. Someone shot in the Baltics and at Yeltsin’s HQs. We fear bloodshed. Yeltsin’s call for a general strike and civil disobedience is warming our hearts.
It seems like the ball is really in the courts of the Soviet people to make sure you get freedom of the press back, etc. Hundreds of soldiers are defecting from the autocracy to join Yeltsin. One great shot of a soldier carrying a puppy, the animal licking his gun barrel as he joined others surrounding Yeltsin; the crowd applauding their decision. Defectors will not be punished, said Yeltsin.
A Russian woman leans inside an army convoy truck, scolds the driver, saying “What’s the matter with you? We used to feed you boys. Go back. What are you doing here?”
They’re tearing up the cobblestone streets in order to make a barricade. Rows and rows of armed men waiting for the night and the upcoming curfew. Human barricades protect the RFP. A human cross forms at the bridge over the Moscow River on Kutzofsky Prospect. Staccato of automatic weapons; small blue stars of ambulance lights. More than three reported dead by midnight.
We see the demonstrators carry one of their fallen out of the way; too late. The crowd said, look at him, look... Yeltsin made a brilliant broadcast shown here on TV, but not to the soldiers to whom it was addressed: “Soldiers, at this tragic moment, I call on you. Think about your loved ones. Don’t allow yourselves be misled... Don’t let adventurers use you as blind weapons... Remember you have taken an oath and your weapons cannot be turned against the people... The days of the conspirators are numbered. Clouds of terror are gathering over Russia. The night is not eternal, and our long-suffering people will find their freedom once again, this time, for good. Soldiers, I trust you’ll make the right decision. The honor of Russian arms will not be covered with the blood of the people.” Snipers were on the rooftops. Yeltsin is considered to be the last, best hope of Russia.
Former KGB agent, defector Stanislav Levchenko, said many officials knew a Stalinist coup was coming on Friday. He is afraid KGB will cause trouble in the Republics. Some refugees were able to get out Sun. night, just landed at SF airport—because someone here was able to send a computer message to Moscow.
The road to the airport is closed. The American Embassy in Moscow is mobbed with people wanting to leave. The four Soviet ships enroute from Seattle to Fort Ross may not stop here because too many sailors want to jump ship. If all goes well with the ship “Shirshov,” we’ll have a party at Fort Ross on Sat. —one sailor jumped ship.
Vitali Korotich, editor for Ogonyuk said only nine publications are allowed under the new regime. Ogonyuk is not among them. Said Korotich, “many of my staff, fearing arrest, are sleeping each night in a different flat.” Vitali believes the soldiers are with the people. It is reported that there are now 100,000 photocopiers, 200,000 faxes and 1 million personal computers in the SU since Perestroika began; a repeat of Tiananmen Square is feared, but this time it will be documented and the whole world is watching. There is fear of both a civil and a Cold war.
Yelena Bonner said plans for a resistance govt. is being set up in Leningrad. Patriarchs are burning candles and praying for the cause. An estimated 300,000 protestors are in Palace Square in Leningrad, 400,000 in Moldavia, 150,000 strong in Moscow, and growing. Coal miners in Siberia went on strike. No one followed the curfew; streets were blocked by trolley busses.
Radical difference between Vremya’s coverage and the independent TV reportage. Vremya shows everyone smiling, kids on the tanks, flowers—as if it were a festival, while others show angry mobs, guns, fires, etc. A German film shows demonstrators attacking tanks with Molotov cocktails, a tank running over the body of a man. It’s rumored many Soviet leaders are struck with a mysterious malady, the coup flu. Pavlov, Yazov, Krychkov... and Gorbachev, Bessemirtykh. Where are all of Gorbachev’s aides, saving their hides?
Radical difference between Vremya’s coverage and the independent TV reportage. Vremya shows everyone smiling, kids on the tanks, flowers—as if it were a festival, while others show angry mobs, guns, fires, etc. A German film shows demonstrators attacking tanks with Molotov cocktails, a tank running over the body of a man. It’s rumored many Soviet leaders are struck with a mysterious malady, the coup flu. Pavlov, Yazov, Krychkov... and Gorbachev, Bessemirtykh. Where are all of Gorbachev’s aides, saving their hides?
The crowd cheered when Pavlov was said to have suffered a heart attack. Rumors of Gorby in Sevastopol, or Moscow, of his arrest, and possible death. No one knows where he is. World leaders are condemning the provisional govt. and demanding the return of Gorbachev. In spite of blocked radio and TV channels, some have managed to broadcast again, using homemade transmitters broadcast from someone’s flat.
The computers and faxes are continuing to send vital information to the West. Yeltsin was in communication with almost all the republics via fax. Today, Estonia is drafting a proclamation of independence. It looks as if troops will overthrow the Lithuanian govt. TV, radio and telephone stations were taken over. Who is in control of an estimated 27,000 nuclear warheads, we ask in the West.
21/8 Wed.—my God, is it really over? I received an early morning call from a friend to turn on the news. The Emergency Council Eight have fled to Kirghizia; they have been arrested, one allegedly committed suicide...rumors. Yeltsin emerges as a hero.
21/8 Wed.—my God, is it really over? I received an early morning call from a friend to turn on the news. The Emergency Council Eight have fled to Kirghizia; they have been arrested, one allegedly committed suicide...rumors. Yeltsin emerges as a hero.
Speculation on Gorbachev’s collaboration of having planned the coup, as suggested by the Pres. of Georgia, Z. Gamschkhurdia, seems highly unlikely—precisely because Georgia seeks independence.
Sub-text. Gorbachev is a victim of the coup. Too many things could’ve gone wrong. The Soviet superstructure has fallen apart, thank God, because otherwise, the coup would’ve been successful. However because it has fallen apart, it also means a restructuring will also have to occur within the Soviet psyche itself.
Free enterprise has its risks too. It will require concerted restructuring, and hard work. The power shift has occurred. “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” says a friend.
I realize that within the SSSR, Gorbachev isn’t popular; however in the West, we watch with different eyes, because we can see the whole picture more clearly. In six years, the extent of reform has been tremendous. The overthrow of this coup is implicit testimony to the fact.
Even if this becomes the Yeltsin Era, none of this would’ve been possible without the groundwork laid down by Gorbachev.
Latvia declared its independence. I imagine the republics will continue to seek independence. 50,000 Soviets a year (40,000 Jews; 10,000 other refugees) are allowed to immigrate to the US; I suspect we’ll have a higher number of asylum seekers—like in the ‘70s.
They are placing flowers at the sites of the fallen. Tanks still in Kiev. Six defectors from the Akademik Shirshov will probably be granted asylum. When the other boats dock in SF on Thurs., more are expected to jump ship. You can’t restore order with tanks. Is the coup de etat really over; or will it rise again?
Since anything could happen again within the next 24 hours, I send this letter to you anyway. My friend leaves tomorrow. I imagine she will arrive in Prague Fri. or Sat. Please note how long it takes to reach you.
Since anything could happen again within the next 24 hours, I send this letter to you anyway. My friend leaves tomorrow. I imagine she will arrive in Prague Fri. or Sat. Please note how long it takes to reach you.
Of course, we had no way of knowing if the mail was still working in the Ukraine—a major flaw in this form of communication. I understand the computer is again in Vera S’s office. I hope it is still accessible to others; otherwise it violates the spirit in which the computer was given.
Again, I urge everyone within Sister City, and our various exchange programs, as a group, to put pressure on those who are inhibiting the fax/modem hook-up, and demand that it be done.
I can say that personally, I am upset by this omission of the modem hook-up from our line of communication. We have repeatedly expressed our exasperation, both as a group, and individually, and it seems this event, more than anything else, should point to the dire necessity of an open line of communication— provided phone lines are working. There is no acceptable reason or explanation why that modem system isn’t in place—other than fear.
The technology from the West was largely responsible for the broadcasting of news; this is the first time the entire world watched a coup unfold. They might have been successful (like at Tianenmen Square); many might have died if this technology wasn’t in place.
We watch the latest Vremya reports saying Gorbachev has been reinstated. Boy does he have his work cut out for him now. Good late breaking news: Peacenet has a sister operation in Moscow, Glasnet (of course). Their address is Yl. Yaroslavskaya 8, Corpus 3, room 111, Moscow 129164. Contact Anatoli Voronov, Alexsandr Zaytsed, Sergei Boukhonin at 217-6182 or 6173. Ask for info on how to come on-line for E-mail.. Right now I’m listening to Radio Moscow! how strange the world is. I just noticed the sun is shining for the first time in three days.
Love to you!
Maureen
8/21//91
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