The Conference Dinner

In December 1997, around a crowded table in the Presidential Palace in Tatarstan, Russia, a group of senior Russian and Chechen officials and their guests were in the middle of dinner. Things had been tense earlier in the day. Chechnya had recently asserted its independence through guerrilla warfare and attacks on the Russians. They had shocked the world by forcing the Russian military to withdraw and accede to their demands for recognition as an independent state. The Chechens were deeply suspicious of the academics and western politicians who had gathered everyone into that room; the Chechens feared they were Russian pawns intent on derailing Chechen independence. The Russians, for their part, were fearful of adding further legitimacy to what they considered a deeply troubling situation.

And yet, despite all this suspicion, after a few hours people began to relax. At the first toast of the evening the negotiator/facilitator of the session stood up and said, “Up until a few days ago, I was with my mother in New Mexico in the States. She is dying of cancer. I debated whether to come here at all to participate in this gathering. But, when I told her that I was due to help facilitate a dialogue among all of you, in this important place on earth, she ordered me to come. There was no debate. So here I am. I raise my glass to mothers.”

There followed a long moment of profound silence in that room.

 

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