New Document
Russian concert at Palmyra proclaims hope of defeating evil
In the ancient amphitheatre
in the historic Syrian city of Palmyra,
the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
of St. Petersburg, Russia,
gave a beautiful concert on
5 May, titled "With A Prayer for
Palmyra—Music Revives the Ancient
Walls". The event was dedicated
to the memory of those
who have lost their lives to the
terrorists: in particular, to the
memory of Dr Khaled al-Asaad
(1934-2015), the Syrian archaeologist
who was custodian of the
Palmyra antiquities for 40 years,
and was publicly beheaded last
August by ISIS after refusing to
reveal the location of Palmyra
treasures that had been secretly
stored for safekeeping; and to
the memory of young Russian
special forces officer Alexander
Prokhorenko, killed in mid-March after calling in Russian
airstrikes on his own position when he was surrounded
by ISIS during the battle for Palmyra. He has
been posthumously named a Hero of Russia, and his
body was returned home on the day of the concert (see below).
The orchestra's conductor Valery Gergiev, a close associate
of Russian President Vladimir Putin, led the program,
with principal players Pavel Milyukov (violin) and
Sergei Roldugin (cello), the latter the artistic director of
St. Petersburg's House of Music, and Putin's friend (recently
named in the Panama Papers, but who denies
any wrongdoing). The Classical program featured Johann
Sebastian Bach's Chaconne; the First Symphony by
20th-century Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev; and,
by modern Russian composer Rodion Schedrin (widower
of the famed Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya), an
excerpt from his opera, "Not Love Alone". When Gergiev
introduced the pieces in the program, he pointed
out that Prokofiev wrote his symphony "in homage
to the great masters of the pastFrom Australian Alert Service, 11 May 2016
Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven",
whose work expresses "optimism and hope".
Conductor Gergiev spoke in Russian and English.
He declared the music an appeal to the whole world
to join forces in the fight against the evil of terrorism.
"We protest against barbarians who destroyed wonderful
monuments of world culture. We protest against the
execution of people here on this great stage", he said,
referring to the Islamic State's public mass killings in
the amphitheatre last November.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave greetings live
by video from Sochi. He expressed appreciation for the
concert, which he called a "sign of gratitude, remembrance
and hope". The event, he said, "expresses gratitude
to all who fight terrorism at the cost of even their
own lives, memory for all victims of terror, no matter
where or when these crimes against humanity are committed,
and, of course, hopeFrom Australian Alert Service, 11 May 2016
hope not only to restore
Palmyra as part of humanity's heritage, but to free today's
world from this terrible scourge of international
terrorism.
"To do this, each and every one of us must look at
any success in the fight against terrorism as a common
victory, and always, everywhere, must see any victim
of terror as a personal loss and sorrow. Only with this
attitude to this absolute evil will we be able to defeat
it once and for all."
Putin thanked the musicians and supporting participants.
"I know that today's event involves great inconveniences
and dangers for all taking part, the dangers
associated with being in a country at war, and with military
operations still going on not so far away. This demands
great strength and effort on your part and certainly
great courage."
Along with local Syrians, and military personnel from
both Syria and Russia, dignitaries in the audience included
Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky,
who has led the commitment to rescue and restore Palmyra
antiquities and was moved to tears by the event,
and the Director of St. Petersburg's Hermitage museum,
Mikhail Piotrovsky. Representatives from China, Zimbabwe,
and Serbia attended.
The event was broadcast live in Russia and was the
lead news item that day, and the video is fast reaching
the world over. The RT broadcast of the concert can
be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b0hFIf4Zaw
British reaction
The reaction of the British government and some
commentators betrays the effectiveness of the Russian
initiative, to reinforce the hope that international terrorism
can be defeated. UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond
said the concert was "a tasteless attempt to distract
attention from the continued suffering of millions
of Syrians. It shows that there are no depths to which
the regime will not sink. It is time for those with influence
over Assad to say enough is enough."
"It was like Nero fiddling as Rome burned", an unnamed
British diplomat based in the Middle East sneered
to Britain's Telegraph. Bloomberg's Leonid Bershidsky was
more elaborate regarding Putin's "daring Palmyra show".
"Rolling all these messages into a classical music concert
at an ancient site was almost itself a work of art.
Its purpose was to assert Russia's unapologetic might
and disdain for Western opinion. Gergiev, who has often
conducted in unorthodox settings, acquitted himself
admirably. The international press couldn't ignore it. It
was an unqualified success. … In Palmyra, the spectacle
was great and the messaging unmistakable. Putin's Russia
follows its own rules, whether in Syria or at home."
A begrudging article by BBC World Affairs Editor John
Simpson, who was among the international journalists
taken to Palmyra with the convoy of musicians, admits
the success of the master stroke: "There were also about
100 journalists in the convoy, the majority of them Russian
but with a number from foreign countries as well—
Britain, Canada, the United States and China among
them. This was an exceptionally large and unwieldy
party to escort through a country involved in one of the
world's nastiest civil wars. Imagine the reaction if something
had happened to us. It would have been a public
relations disaster for President Putin and the Kremlin;
the perception would have been that Russia had no
real grip on Syria. …
"What better way to demonstrate the new worldreach
of Russian power than to have Russia's best orchestra
playing Prokofiev in the heart of the ancient city
which Russian arms had played a major part in liberating
from the so-called Islamic State? Brilliant, as long as
it worked. And it did work, magnificently."
From Australian Alert Service, 11 May 2016
Western media ignores Hero of Russia: Lt. Alexander Prokhorenko
The classical concert that Russia held in
the ancient amphitheatre at Palmyra on 5 May
was dedicated to murdered Syrian antiquities
expert Dr Khaled al-Asaad, and to the memory
of a young Russian special forces soldier,
Lt Alexander Prokhorenko, who had sacrificed
himself in mid-March to rescue Palmyra from
ISIS.
Writing in Russia Insider on 6 May, American
journalist Phillip Butler was scathing of
the Western media's failure to report Alexander
Prokhorenko's story. "The American media
cannot afford for a Russian to be the hero
of Palmyra", Butler wrote, but neither "Obama
nor the Queen Mother herself can control,
what we know and tell the world."
Butler reported that on the morning of
17 March 2016, during the battle for Palmyra,
the Syrian army was four kilometres
away when the 25-year old Prokhorenko
was completing his mission to scout
ahead and call in Russian air strikes on
the ISIS positions. Finding himself surrounded,
the young husband and father-to-be called in
an airstrike on his own position. The transcript of his final
communication with his superiors reveals the courage
of his act:
Lt Prokhorenko: They are outside, conduct the airstrike
now, please hurry, this is the end, tell my family I love them
and that I died fighting for my motherland.
Commander: Negative, return to the green line.
Lt Prokhorenko: I can't, command, I am surrounded,
they are outside. I don't want them to take me and parade
me, conduct the airstrike. They will make a mockery of
me and this uniform. I want to die with dignity and take
all these bastards with me. Please, my last wish, conduct
the airstrike, they will kill me either way.
Commander: Please confirm your request.
Lt Prokhorenko: They are outside, this is the end commander,
thank you, tell my family and my country I love
them. Tell them I was brave and I fought until I could no
longer. Please take care of my family, avenge my death,
good bye sir, tell my family I love them …
The young soldier was posthumously awarded Russia's
highest medal for valour: ‘Hero of the Russian Federation'.
"Not that you'd know about it from western media",
condemned Butler.
There has also been an outpouring of gratitude in other
countries for Prokhorenko's sacrifice. In France, Jean-
Claude and Micheline Mague gave their family's World
War II medals to the relatives of young Prokhorenko, and
participated in the 9 May Immortal Regiment Victory Day
parade in Moscow, carrying a photo of a family member
who fought during World War II. The Magues' example
was followed by another French national, Daniel Couture,
who sent his father's Legion d'Honneur medal to the
Prokhorenko family as well.
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