Saturday, March 6, 2010
MOSCOW (AFP) - – Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Friday accused the current Russian authorities of backsliding on democracy and rolling back the process of reform he began in the 1980s with perestroika.
The current government "wants to carry out its programme of modernisation practically without the people," Gorbachev said during the presentation of a report dedicated to the upcoming 25th anniversary of perestroika.
He criticised the ruling United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as being "like the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, only worse".
The authorities "have returned to the monopoly of the party of power and are even proud of this," Gorbachev said.
President Dmitry Medvedev in recent months has repeatedly called for "modernisation" in Russia, calling for a more diversified and hi-tech economy and for more genuine political competition between parties.
"We have the institutions: we have a parliament, though I don't know whether you can call it a parliament, we have courts. We seem to have everything, but we don't. It's like decorations," Gorbachev said.
Now a fit-looking, white-haired 79-year-old, Gorbachev continues to head the Gorbachev Foundation, a think tank that he founded in 1991, soon after signing an agreement that gave independence to the republics of the Soviet Union.
A report presented by the foundation Monday called the perestroika reforms "topical" in today's Russia.
"Perestroika showed that democratisation is impossible without glasnost, freedom of speech and information," the report said. "Today they are being cut down and restricted in various devious ways."
It argued for a return to democratic practices such as elections for regional governors and criticized restrictions on media, which it said were under the "full control of the authorities".
Nevertheless, Gorbachev acknowledged making many mistakes during the perestroika era, saying that he regretted the fact that he failed to carry out reforms within the deeply divided Communist Party he headed.
"There was a lot that we overlooked, didn't understand or were too scared to do," he said.
He also spoke out against nostalgia for the Soviet period, criticizing those who want to "return to the regime of Brezhnev and even Stalin".
Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party, the most powerful position in the Soviet Union, in March 1985.
In the years afterwards he unveiled his groundbreaking perestroika reforms aimed at liberalizing the Soviet Union's command economy and democratising its authoritarian political system.
Among the reforms were the first opportunities for Russians to run legal "cooperative" businesses, which launched the careers of many future oligarchs.
Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his efforts to bring about a peaceful end to the Cold War, and he continues to be admired in the West.
He passionately defended his reforms Friday, saying they brought people a new sense of self respect.
"Perestroika should never become a cheap byword. Its intention was to come out of the totalitarian system to freedom and democracy," he said.
"People began to see that they meant something, that they weren't simply a herd that is controlled by a shepherd."
Nevertheless, Gorbachev remains widely disliked in Russia today for his role in bringing about the fall of the Soviet Union and for reforms such as his notorious anti-alcohol campaign.
In January, a survey by the Levada polling agency found that 34 percent of Russians said they had a negative attitude to Gorbachev, rising to almost 50 percent among those aged over 55.
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