By Tatiana Yankelevich

Published: October 10, 2012 (Issue # 1730)

InOctober 2004, I stood next tomy mother, Yelena Bonner, atan elegant dinner atStanford Universitys Hoover Institution andtranslated her keynote remarks addressed tothe participants ofa conference onthe impact ofCold War broadcasting. This three-day conference brought together theveterans ofRadio Free Europe andRadio Liberty andthose, who like my mother andmyself, represented theaudience onthe other side ofthe Iron Curtain. Our lives andthe fates ofthe countries we lived inwere directly affected bythe independent news coverage andanalysis coming fromthese programs.

My mother, inher usual direct manner, was not afraid toutter words that were not exactly insync with thefestive andpleasant atmosphere. I did my best toconvey thesense andstyle ofher remarks, though, as often with translators, it was not easy toovercome thetemptation tosmooth over therough edges. She predicted that should theplans toreorganize Radio Liberty materialize, they would alter its image beyond recognition andput anend toRadio Liberty as we know it.

Two months later, inDecember 2004, Bonner, together with dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, wrote acomment inThe Moscow Times about thedanger ofignoring thereality ofthe times: The Constitution has been demolished. Thetwo-chamber parliament has been destroyed. Elections were violated. Federalism has been annihilated. Independent courts are being liquidated. TheOrthodox church is coalescing with thepolitical authorities andthreatening thesecular nature ofthe state. Public officials atall levels are being replaced byveterans ofagencies like theNKVD, KGB andFSB. All this is taking place while almost all theindependent media, thepress as well as radio andtelevision are being wiped out.

Mothers are usually right, andin theeight years that followed I had many chances toconfirm this. Still I have not felt theneed toget involved directly until now. Today agrave andgross error ofjudgement is taking place with Radio Liberty.

It would not be anoverstatement tosay that Radio Liberty has been asource offree speech andfree thought over theyears, allowing aunique, albeit dangerous, chance tothose behind theIron Curtain toexercise theright toa free flow ofinformation andideas.

Today, when theregime ofPresident Vladimir Putin has initiated anew attack onfreedom ofspeech andthe democracy movement inRussia, human rights organizations have been declared foreign agents, andUSAID has been ousted fromRussia, theU.S. management team ofRadio Liberty has ended its medium-wave broadcasts anddismissed its top journalists, whose broadcasts attracted hundreds ofthousands oflisteners.

These actions go against thespirit andthe mission ofRadio Liberty. These actions dig anearly grave forRadio Liberty as free andindependent radio broadcasting. They put anend tothe collaboration ofpeople ofhigh public repute, essential fora democratic public discourse, andthey completely compromise thestations moral authority.

This is why I am raising my voice against these policies. They are foolhardy atbest andcynical atworst. They will quickly lead toa sad day when, toparaphrase writer Yevgeny Zamyatin, Radio Liberty will have only one future: its past.

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