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Wednesday 22 August
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Moscow Diary - Book Launch
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Moscow Diary by Marjorie Farquharson. Matador, 2018.
A diary posthumously published on behalf of the author, an extraordinary westerner who set up the first Amnesty International’s Information Office in Moscow in 1991. Secretary General of Amnesty International at that time was Ian Martin who visited Marjorie in Moscow and knew her well. He will talk about Marjorie and Amnesty’s work in Russia. 6-8pm Amnesty Bookshop, 12 Roseneath St, Marchmont, Edinburgh EH9 1JH Booking essential - tel. 0131 560 1486 or email info@scotlandrussiaforum.org. No charge but donations to Amnesty International welcome. Copies of Moscow Diary will be on sale. Organised by the Scotland-Russia Forum and the Edinburgh Amnesty Bookshop |
Moscow Diary is the diary kept by Marjorie Farquharson during the period in which she established Amnesty International’s Information Office in Moscow, a unique venture during a fascinating period of change. In 1991, Marjorie was the first westerner working on human rights with a permanent base. It was particularly important because for years the USSR had considered Amnesty an anti-Soviet organisation - “a nest of spies” so to speak.
Marjorie’s role together with her penetrating perceptions and her entertaining style of writing make this a very interesting account which combines insights into the politics of human rights and into the unusually wide range of people Marjorie encountered. Most westerners in Moscow lived a life apart with access to foreign currency shops and good-quality food. Marjorie chose instead to live as an ordinary Muscovite, in one room with a small kitchen, even when, in 1992, the inflation rate in Russia soared to more than 2000%.
Marjorie Farquharson worked in the field of human rights and the USSR and post-Soviet States for over 30 years. She was Amnesty International’s first representative in the Soviet bloc, worked as the Director of the EU TACIS project, worked in 44 of Russia’s federal regions as a Council of Europe Officer, and helped establish a regional ombudsman institution there. She was a freelance researcher, writer and translator since 2001 and worked in all 5 Central Asian States. She died in Edinburgh in 2016.
Marjorie’s role together with her penetrating perceptions and her entertaining style of writing make this a very interesting account which combines insights into the politics of human rights and into the unusually wide range of people Marjorie encountered. Most westerners in Moscow lived a life apart with access to foreign currency shops and good-quality food. Marjorie chose instead to live as an ordinary Muscovite, in one room with a small kitchen, even when, in 1992, the inflation rate in Russia soared to more than 2000%.
Marjorie Farquharson worked in the field of human rights and the USSR and post-Soviet States for over 30 years. She was Amnesty International’s first representative in the Soviet bloc, worked as the Director of the EU TACIS project, worked in 44 of Russia’s federal regions as a Council of Europe Officer, and helped establish a regional ombudsman institution there. She was a freelance researcher, writer and translator since 2001 and worked in all 5 Central Asian States. She died in Edinburgh in 2016.