Office of International Visitors / Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs / U.S. Department of State

INTERNATINAL VISITOR LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN PROMOTING A TOLERANT SOCIETY

A Project for Russia

These visitors are invited to the United States under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. This program is arranged by the Academy for Educational Development.

Primary Program Contact: Ms. Mara Schlimm, Program Officer, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009; Telephone - (202) 884-8197; Toll-Free - (800) 634-8956; Fax - (202) 884-8477; E-Mail - .

Department of State Program Officer: Ms. Ava Smith, DOS Program Officers, Office of International Visitors; Telephone - (202) 203-5129; Toll-Free - (866) 325-6178; E-Mail .

Accompanied by: Mr. Gregory Burnside, Administrative Officer

Ms. Natalia Feldgun, Seminar Interpreter

Mr. Raymond Krishchyunas, Seminar Interpreter

Monday, February 27 – Friday March 17, 2006

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The U.S. Department of State is sponsoring an International Visitor Leadership project for a group of religious and community leaders, scholars who focus on ethnic relations, journalists, and government officials from the Ural region of Russia. The Academy for Educational Development’s (AED) three-week study tour will focus on how ethnically diverse communities in the United States promote racial and religious tolerance. Participants will explore firsthand how community organizations, governments, religious institutions, media outlets, and private citizens work to employ individual and collaborative strategies for overcoming stereotypes, fostering inter-ethnic collaboration, and achieving just and peaceful communities.

The objectives of the project, as determined by the U.S. Department of State, are to:

·  Provide participants with insights into the history of ethnic tolerance in the United States and the role played by minority groups in the national public dialogue, as well as the current multicultural make-up of American society;

·  Explore the aims and realities of the separation between church and state in the United States;

·  Give participants the opportunity to explore how ethnically diverse communities promote racial and religious tolerance and work to overcome stereotypes;

·  Discuss the role that institutions from different sectors, including media outlets, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions play in promoting harmony in racially diverse communities; and

·  Introduce participants to successful strategies that have promoted cooperation among ethnic and religious groups in the United States, as well as useful lessons from our own failures.


LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Russia Ms. Liya GINTSEL

Department Head

Vecherniy Yekaterinburg Newspaper

Russia Mr. Baryy HAYRULLIN

Mufti, Chairman

Orenburg Region Muslim Spiritual Board

Russia Mr. Aleksey MATVEYEV

Russia Ms. Maya MIKHAYLOVA

Deputy Chairperson

Liason Committee with Public Organizations and Youth Policy

Yekaterinburg City Administration

Russia Mr. Farukh MIRZOYEV

Board Chairman

Regional Public Organization "Somon – Tajik Cultural Community"

Russia Mr. Ayrat MUKHAMETZYANOV

Khazrat (Chairman)

Muslim Community

Verkhnyaya Pyshma

Sverdlovsk Region

Russia Mr. Yevgeniy SIROTKIN

Secretary

Orenburg Eparchy

Russia Mr. Robert YAGAFAROV

Deputy Chairman

InterConfession Charity Fund

"RF Presidential Center for Support of Peacemaking Programs"

Accompanied by: Mr. Gregory BURNSIDE

Administrative Officer

Ms. Natalia FELDGUN

Seminar Interpreter

Mr. Raymond KRISHCHYUNAS

Seminar Interpreter


DRAFT

Russia

Name: /
Ms. Liya GINTSEL
Present Position: / Department Head, Vecherniy Yekaterinburg Newspaper
Education/Training: / Philology School, Ural State University
Memberships: / Member, Russian Journalist Union
Publications: / Reports, interviews, editorials, features
Address: / 182, Lunacharskogo Street, apt. 46
Yekaterinburg
Russia
Telephone: 343-350-9292
E-mail:
Personal Data: / Born October 13, 1952
Languages: / Russian
Other Travel: / Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the former Yugoslavia
Professional Background: / Liya Gintsel heads the newsroom at one of Yekaterinburg's largest newspapers, Vecherniy Yekaterinburg (circ. 35,000). Over the last 10 years, Ms. Ginsel has written numerous articles on tolerance issues, including covering the various ethnic communities living in Yekaterinburg. She is one of the few local reporters who has consistently written on discrimination faced by Chechens, as well as the deportation of Chechens during the second world war to Kazakhstan on Stalin's order. In 2001 Ms. Gintsel started a new feature called "ethnic quarter" for which the newspaper allocated a full page to publish items of interest related to various ethnic groups that live in the Urals, in order to get the newspaper's readers familiar with the history, culture and traditions of their neighbors. Ms. Gintsel is interested in educating readers through her work and in using her feature articles to prevent further dissemination of religious and ethnic ignorance. She would like to see the multicultural reality of the United States and the role played by ethnic groups.


Russia

Name: /
Mr. Baryy HAYRULLIN
Present Position: / Mufti, Chairman, Orenburg Region Muslim Spiritual Board
Previous Positions: / Imam-Khatib, Orenburg Mosque
Education/Training: / Tashkent Islamic Institute
RF Presidential State Academy of Civil Service
Orenburg State University
Publications: / Newspaper articles
Address: / 10a, Tereshkovoy Street
Orenburg 460000
Russia
Telephone: 3532-772-178
Fax: 3532-781-672
E-mail:
Personal Data: / Born February 1, 1955
Languages: / Russian (primary), Arabic
Other Travel: / Burkina-Faso, Egypt, Finland, Iran, Jordan, Mali, Oman, Turkey, Saudi Arabia
Professional Background: / Mr. Hayrullin leads the Spiritual Muslim Board of the Orenburg Oblast, which includes 80 wards. Following his religious education in Kazakhstan, Mr. Hayrullin went on to get degrees in public administration in Moscow and a law degree from Orenburg State University. Mr. Hayrullin oversees the operation of a madrassah attached to the central mosque that trains Imams and provides in-depth education on Islam to men and women. Mr. Hayrullin is interested in the promotion of religious tolerance among the Muslim community and the non-Muslim community. With the development of dialogue with Orthodox clergy, Mr. Hayrullin would like to form joint activities on religious tolerance and acceptance within the Orenburg region.


Russia

Name: /
Ms. Maya MIKHAYLOVA
Present Position: / Deputy Chairperson, Liason Committee with Public Organizations and Youth Policy, Yekaterinburg City Administration
Concurrent Positions: / Deputy Head of public, national, and religious organizations
Education/Training: / Sverdlovsk Law Institute
Publications: / "Section 7: the City of Public Consent," Yekaterinburg Development Strategy
Materials, Russian conference
Address: / 24a, Lenin Avenue, of. 446
Yekaterinburg 620014
Russia
Telephone: (343) 377-5569
Fax: (343) 377-5658
E-mail:
Personal Data: / Born May 1, 1950
Languages: / Russian
Other Travel: / Germany, Poland, United Kingdom
Professional Background: / Maya Mikhaylova works at the Yekaterinburg City Administration and heads a department that is responsible for working with NGOs and religious organizations. Ms. Mikhaylova is responsible for several important laws and regulations passed by the city and regional governments, including a regional law on charities, a city regulation on municipal support of NGOs, and the chapter on social consciousness in the city's strategic development plan. She also helped establish a non-profit non-governmental council on tolerance that brings leaders from different ethnic communities together with local politicians. Ms. Mikhaylova has managed a city grant program since 1998 that has funded several tolerance projects. She is interested in exploring the legal basis of tolerance for ethnic minorities and migration in the United States, and also how NGOs and government powers in the United States work together to solve social problems.


Russia

Name: /
Mr. Farukh MIRZOYEV
Present Position: / Board Chairman, Regional Public Organization "Somon – Tajik Cultural Community"
Education/Training: / Ural State University
Address: / 46, Akademika Bardina Street, apt. 178
Yekaterinburg 620146
Russia
Telephone: 343-240-1788
Fax: m. 912-229-4434
E-mail:
Personal Data: / Born September 6, 1973
Languages: / Tajik (primary), Russian (secondary), Dari, Farsi
Other Travel: / Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Tajikistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan
Professional Background: / Farukh Mirzoyev is a leader in the Tajik community of Yekaterinburg and heads an organization that strives to protect the rights of Tajik migrant laborers through legal services and social assistance. The organization also promotes the preservation of Tajik culture and religious and ethnic tolerance. Mr. Mirzoyev is also a member of an influential NGO association and serves on several governmental bodies. Last year, Mr. Mirzoyev's organization, along with several Jewish groups, launched an independent council on tolerance that has united representatives from different ethnic groups and religions to discuss common problems in a non-governmental setting. He also runs a TV program that profiles different ethnic groups in the region. Mr. Mirzoyev is currently developing plans to build a dormitory for Tajik migrants that will give them temporary housing and provide assistance in legalizing their work status and in obtaining medical assistance. This project is financed by the Sverdlovsk Oblast government and is an example of the partnership he has sought to build with regional authorities. Mr. Mirzoyev is interested in national minority right issues and collaboration with government agencies in fighting ethnic and religious discrimination. Mr. Mirzoyev would like to see how minority communities in the United Statess work with governmental and non-governmental organizations to address issues of tolerance and integration.


Russia

Name: /
Khazrat Ayrat MUKHAMETZYANOV
Present Position: / Khazrat (Chairman), Muslim Community, Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region
Concurrent Positions: / Imam-Khatib, Copper Mosque, Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region
Education/Training: / Kazan Higher Muslim Madrasah
Kazan State University
Institute of History, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences
Publications: / Post-graduate school publications
Address: / 26, Oktyabrskaya Street
Sverdlovsk Region 624090
Russia
Telephone: 343-684-7705
Fax: 343-689-8368
E-mail:
Personal Data: / Born January 1, 1965
Languages: / Russian
Other Travel: / Saudi Arabia, Syria
Professional Background: / Khazrat Ayrat Mukhametzyanov is the Imam that presides over the largest mosque in Sverdlovsk Oblast. He was appointed to this position in 2004, and one of his first actions was to suggest that their Imam should be elected. During his first year, he was able to double the turnout on Eid al-Fitr and the congregation now stands at around 3,000 people. Khazrat Ayrat preaches tolerance towards other religions and cooperation within the Russian Muslim community. He is working to develop his mosque into a community center that now includes a small library with books in Russian, Tatar, and Arabic. The next step will be to provide Internet access and satellite TV to help his congregation interact with the world community. In 1998, Khazrat Ayrat participated in a working group that called for uniting Russia's fractious Muslim community under a common spiritual board and advocated this position at the All-Russia Muslim Congress. He also helped found the first Islamic university in Russia in Kazan before being appointed to the mosque in Yekaterinburg. Khazrat Ayrat is working on a Ph.D. paper devoted to the changes of the legal forms of the Muslim religious institutes in 1920s - 1930s.


Russia

Name: /
Father Yevgeniy SIROTKIN
Present Position: / Secretary, Orenburg Eparchy
Previous Positions: / Priest, Sergiy Radonezhskiy Cathedral, Poselok Rostoshi, Orenburg
Education/Training: / Moscow Spiritual Academy, Candidate of Theology
Address: / 4 Shevchenko Street
Orenburg 460000
Russia
Telephone: 3532-779-718
Fax: 3532-779-718
E-mail:
Personal Data: / Born September 18, 1976
Languages: / Russian
Professional Background: / Father Yevgeniy Sirotkin works as a secretary of the Orenburg Orthodox diocese and manages several departments, including the Department of Religious Education and the Department of Sanctification of Martyrs. He leads the Church's work with youth and collaborates with the Orenburg Oblast Department of Education. Father Sirotkin also coordinates the Diocese's work with the military forces and militia. He represents the Orthodox Church in conferences and interfaith dialogue sessions. As the Diocese' secretary, Father Sirotkin is a public figure who is often interviewed by local journalists. He also leads the Church's work on preventing drug usage and HIV/AIDS among schoolchildren and university students. Father Sirotkin is interested in promoting interconfessional relations and religious tolerance with the youth in the Orthodox community of his region. He would like to use his experience here in the United States to assist the Orthodox Church in his community in developing programs related to religious and ethnic tolerance.


Russia

Name: /
Mr. Robert YAGAFAROV
Present Position: / Deputy Chairman, InterConfession Charity Fund "RF Presidential Center for Support of Peacemaking Programs"
Previous Positions: / Aide, Supreme Mufti of the Central Muslim Spiritual Board of Russia
Education/Training: / Ufa Petroleum Institute
Address: / 48, 60 Let Oktyabrya Street, apt. 135
Nizhnevartovsk Hanty-Mansiysk AO 626440
Russia
Telephone: (3472) 373-382
Fax: m. (917) 493-0152
E-mail:
Personal Data: / Born February 1, 1963
Languages: / Russian
Professional Background: / Robert Yagafarov is a Deputy Mufti of the Central Spiritual Muslim Board (CSMB) of Russia and a leader of the Muslim Society NUR in Ufa. He is one of the leading religious figures in Bashkortostan, which is a predominantly Muslim region of Russia. Mr. Yagafarov is responsible for the CSMB’s contacts with other denominations and he often speaks at conferences and seminars on tolerance and combating extremism. Mr. Yagafarov has started a new initiative to provide spiritual support and education to prisoners, and, through his position on the CSMB, he is also involved in administering the Islamic University in Ufa. Mr. Yagafarov would like to use this program as a tool in preventing the dissemination of extremist ideology and promoting tolerance in a region of Russia, which is predominantly Muslim. He is also interested in the cooperation of religious organizations and the state.