Where in the World is Cat?

The best part about being in Moscow is being able to experience the events you would normally only hear about in the news back home. After the death of Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, a friend and I decided that it would most likely be more beneficial for us to attend the funeral than our last class that day. (Sorry Mom and Dad!) Here, we are waiting outside of the cemetery's hall to pay our respects to Anna's body and her family.

One of the most interesting things about going to Anna's funeral was to learn the difference between what actually happens and what gets reported in the news. During our 3 1/2 hours at the funeral, my friend and I only estimated about 500 people in attendance, perhaps another 300 who had come and left after leaving flowers. A few people even came wearing "I am Georgian" badges to protest the current deportation of any suspect Georgian in Russia. Few Chechnyans came the the funeral, most likely out of fear for their safety. However, the next day in the Moscow newspaper, articles read that "thousands of mourners" attended the funeral, and that funeral did not have as much a political tone to it as it did of one paying respect to a great writer and journalist. Western media reported a little more accurately, saying that about a couple hundred people attended, and that a few were brave enough to make a political statement while they were there.

Part of the Russian Orthodox funeral procession include throwing flowers on the path of the deceased to their grave. There were hundreds of thousands of flowers brought to the funeral by mourners. Here is part of the sad and colorful trail to Anna Politkovskaya's grave.

Part of the funeral procession to Anna's burial site. Amazingly, anyone who came to the funeral was allowed to take part and follow the car. This was a truly amazing experience - watching people, in silence, walk a good quarter mile to Anna's grave, throwing flowers on the ground the whole way there. Some younger students came and stood along the road with large bouqets of flowers and ribbons with political statements such as "Anna's Politkovskaya's Death was one of politics" and"Anna - wrote the truth."