On Dissidents and Madness: From the Soviet Union of Leonid Brezhnev to the Soviet Union of Vladimir Putin

311 Pages·2009·5.192 MB·English

by  Voren, Robert van;Donskis, Leonidas

On Dissidents and Madness
From The Soviet Union of Leonid Brezhnev
to the “Soviet Union” of Vladimir Putin
On the Boundary of Two Worlds:
Identity, Freedom, and Moral Imagination
in the Baltics
17
Editor
Leonidas Donskis, Professor and Dean of Vytautas Magnus University
School of Political Science and Diplomacy, Kaunas, Lithuania
Editorial and Advisory Board
Timo Airaksinen, University of Helsinki, Finland
Egidijus Aleksandravicius, Lithuanian Emigration Institute, Vytautas
Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
Stefano Bianchini, University of Bologna, Forlì Campus, Italy
Endre Bojtar, Institute of Literary Studies, Budapest, Hungary
Kristian Gerner, University of Lund, Sweden
John Hiden, University of Glasgow, UK
Mikko Lagerspetz, Åbo Academy, Finland
Andreas Lawaty, Nordost-Institute, Lüneburg, Germany
Olli Loukola, University of Helsinki, Finland
Hannu Niemi, University of Helsinki, Finland
Alvydas Nikzentaitis, Lithuanian History Institute, Lithuania
Yves Plasseraud, Paris, France
Rein Raud, Rector of Tallinn University, Estonia
Alfred Erich Senn, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
David Smith, University of Glasgow, UK
Saulius Suziedelis, Millersville University, USA
Joachim Tauber, Nordost-Institut, Lüneburg, Germany
Tomas Venclova, Yale University, USA
On Dissidents and Madness
From The Soviet Union of Leonid Brezhnev
to the “Soviet Union” of Vladimir Putin
Robert van Voren
Foreword by Leonidas Donskis
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2009
This book is an extended version of the Dutch edition Levenslang; tussen
dissidenten en waanzin, which was published by Gottmer Uitgeverij,
Haarlem, in April 2009. The original version was extended, translated by
the author and edited by Ellen Mercer, for which the author is immensely
grateful.
The photos in the book are either from the author’s private collection, or
from the photo-archive of the Second World Center/Bukovsky Foundation,
of which the author was director in 1988–1994 and which is now property
of Global Initiative on Psychiatry.
Cover photo: Harrie Timmermans
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of
“ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for
documents - Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN: 978-90-420-2584-4
© Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2009
Printed in the Netherlands
For the kids

Contents
Foreword
By Leonidas Donskis xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 – The Soviet Union on my mind 5
• Run-up 6
Chapter 2 – The Soviet Union in 1980 11
• Control on outside influences 12
• Internal control 13
Chapter 3 – The world of couriers 17
• Split life 20
• Smuggled goods 22
• Big Brother is watching you 26
• End of anonymity 29
• Never alone again 34
• The turn around 36
Chapter 4 – Campaigning for dissidents 41
• Bukovsky Foundation 42
• The struggle against the political abuse of psychiatry intensifies 44
• Moscow as the center of my world 49
Chapter 5 – Demonstrating in Poland 55
• Bigos 55
• Drive on to Berlin 57
Chapter 6 – Playing “musical chairs” with the WPA 61
• World Congress in Vienna 63
Chapter 7 – The Soviet Union in 1985 69
• A new wind blowing? 70
viii On Dissidents and Madness
Chapter 8 – Sleeping behind my desk 73
• Only the Soviet Union 78
• The disappointment 86
Chapter 9 – Intermission, and back to work 91
• In search of my name 91
• The Soviet Union calls 95
• There they are! 98
Chapter 10 – The gorillas of Sakharov 101
• Old friends and acquaintances 104
• Looking for traces of the terror 107
Chapter 11 – The mouse and the elephant 111
• The philosophical approach of Gluzman 112
• On our way to Athens 116
• Traveling with Koryagin 119
Chapter 12 – Playing chess in Athens 123
• The confrontation 127
• Negotiations with Moscow and the climax 130
Chapter 13 – The Soviet Union in 1990 135
• The Soviet Union on sale 136
Chapter 14 – The doors are opened 139
• Ukraine as alternative 141
• A new wind and much of the same 145
• From trucks to Fokkers 147
• From Fokkers to Ilyushins 150
Chapter 15 – Ukraine on the map 157
• The first projects 159
• Where is Ukraine? 161
• From SBU to BVD 163
• End to my “diplomatic status” 165
Robert van Voren ix
Chapter 16 – The Romanian marsh 167
• Convoys with humanitarian aid 168
• Our chairman returns 169
• Toy 174
Chapter 17 – Change of course in Bratislava 177
• Stroganoff with peas 181
• A pessimist becomes an optimist 183
Chapter 18 – From black and white to shades of grey 187
• Black and white 190
• Sliding panels 192
• Shades of grey 198
Chapter 19 – From humanitarian aid to structural aid 201
• On the road with a photo of Gluzman 203
• We are going to print 206
• Murder by blinys 208
• Seminar in a swimming pool 210
Chapter 20 – Romance with the WPA 217
• Putting Eastern Europe on the map 219
Chapter 21 – New style abuse 223
• The woman with the golden hands 224
• Counterfeit dollars 226
• Electroshocks as farewell present 227
• Diagnosis for sale 230
Chapter 22 – A successful failure 231
• The Big Three 232
• From theory to practice 235