Pamiat's Tocsin Sounds, But Do the Russian People Answer?
Life on the Russian Extreme
"Letter from Moscow"
By Charles R. Sauer

"The rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated." With this statement Dmitrii Vasiliev opened the most recent public assembly of NPF-Pamiat (National Patriotic Front-Memory) on 5 December. Under low gray skies the NPF-Pamiat platform nestled beneath the arches at the entrance to Gorky Park. Complete with a stylish podium emblazoned with the group's seal (a bell with the name "Pamiat" projected over it), black, yellow, and white flags, and two youths in military uniform mounted on half-starved horses, Vasiliev and his entourage of clergymen and assistants pressed onto the platform to bring once again their nationalistic, xenophobic message to the Russian people. "The people," in this case, consisted of a quiet crowd numbering around 500.

Having captured press attention several years ago, NPF-Pamiat is one of many groups that form the extraparliamentary opposition to the government in Russia today. The vileness and violence of their attacks on Jews and other groups has repeatedly drawn Western attention to this organization. The atmosphere of near-anarchy in Russia has allowed informal groups such as NPF-Pamiat and several other so-called "political parties" to step out of the shadows to express the most irrational and dark sentiments of an unstable society. NPF-Pamiat most recently captured Western and Russian attention by occupying the offices of one of Moscow's most popular and widely-read newspapers....

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