[Onthebarricades] RUSSIA: Gazprom Tower sparks protests

[Andy]

There have been mass protests in St Petersburg, Russia, over plans to build 
a massive corporate skyscraper which would alter the city's skyline and 
jeopardise its historic feel, UNESCO rating and tourist appeal.  The local 
council is spending a fortune subsidising the development, by a corporate 
giant linked to the elite, prompting concerns that money is being spent on 
corporate schemes instead of the poor.  There are fears the project could be 
the beginning of the replacement of historic St Petersburg with a neoliberal 
skyscraper city.  The protest was supported by liberal and leftist parties 
as well as local residents.

The critique of urban "modernisation" has a long history in anarchist 
theory, being particularly associated with the Situationists and the 
anarchist sociologist Colin Ward.  One of the slogans on the demonstration, 
"stop the corporate vandalism", echoes the title of one of Ward's articles.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/09/60371CB7-4BA6-4EC9-945C-9026B4CA6052.html

Activists Protest Gazprom Tower In St. Petersburg
September 8, 2007 -- About 3,000 people have protested in St. Petersburg 
against plans by the state-owned gas giant Gazprom to build a skyscraper in 
the Russian city.
The Gazprom complex, scheduled to be completed by 2016, includes a nearly 
300-meter-tall building and a hotel in the Neva estuary, near the city's 
historical center.
The project would change the city's skyline, and has prompted the United 
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to express 
concern.
(AFP)

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jF_GxbcqX17mqV9uatAFM_dB9X_g

Saint Petersburg protests Gazprom tower plans
Sep 8, 2007
SAINT PETERSBURG (AFP) - About 3,000 people demonstrated Saturday in Saint 
Petersburg against plans by state gas behemoth Gazprom to build a skyscraper 
in the historic and picturesque Russian city.
"Stop the construction vandalism," read one placard at the demonstration. 
""Gazprom: enemy of the people," read another.
The crowd marched through the centre of Saint Petersburg, founded three 
centuries ago by Tsar Peter the Great as the new imperial capital.
Large numbers of police watched the protest, which was organised by small 
opposition parties, but did not intervene.
The Gazprom complex due to be completed by 2016, includes a nearly 300-meter 
(1,000-foot) skyscraper and a five-star hotel on a 70-hectare (175-acre) 
area in the Neva estuary, near Saint Petersburg's historical center.
The project would change the city's elegant skyline of palaces and churches, 
and has been prompted UNESCO to express concern.
Anatoly Petrov, 55, an engineer, said at the protest: "I don't understand 
why the authorities are so indifferent to the fact that our city is dying."

http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=22944

Anti-Tower Marchers Take to Streets
By Galina Stolyarova
Staff Writer

Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
Opposition leader and chess champion Garry Gasparov (c) marches with 
protestors on Saturday. The march was held in protest against new 
construction in the city.
The plan to build a skyscraper to house the headquarters of energy giant 
Gazprom is driven by an inferiority complex, the tower resembles Godzilla, 
its completion would be like spitting in the face of Peter the Great and the 
whole project stinks, angered residents who joined a protest march on 
Saturday said.
The focus of the March for the Preservation of St. Petersburg, which 
attracted about 5,000 people according to media reports, was the 
construction of the 396-meter, $2.3 billion Okhta Center tower for Gazprom. 
City Hall has pledged to cover half of the construction costs that it has 
said it will recoup from taxes to be paid by the Gazprom subsidiary company 
that will relocate to the city.
Protestors carried posters with slogans that included "Authorities, You 
Stink," "Gazprom's Paunch Won Over Its Spirit," and chanted "City For the 
Residents," and "Gazprom, Go Home!" as well as calling for the resignation 
of Golvernor Valentina Matviyenko.
The marchers were joined by Moscow politicians and human rights advocates 
and the rally was organized was by liberal party Yabloko with support from a 
number of non-governmental organizations. The protesters marched from 
Oktyabrsky Concert Hall to Chernyshevsky Gardens, where a meeting was held.
"There is hardly any Russian citizen who can say that the fate of St. 
Petersburg leaves them indifferent," Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky said 
at the meeting. "I still remember my first visit here when I was a little 
boy when my parents brought me to St. Petersburg to show a city of 
extraordinary beauty and grace. And of course I was bewildered to learn that 
a titanic monster, advertised as a modern symbol, is being forced on this 
beautiful city."
Yavlinsky called the Gazprom tower a monument to an authoritarian regime.
"There are so many people in need in your city that are sick, feeble or poor 
that it is a disgrace to spend millions on the tower, and it is cynical and 
hypocritical to talk about 'the interests of the city' in this context," 
Yavlinsky said. "The major beneficiary of this scheme is certainly not your 
average local citizen."
The rally was held on the anniversary of the beginning of the Nazi Siege of 
Leningrad on Sept. 8 1941, and references to various forms of siege were 
prominent in the speeches.
Garry Kasparov, one of the leaders of opposition coalition The Other Russia, 
accused state-run television channels of creating an "information shield" 
against the opposition that leaves the Kremlin's critics under a siege of 
silence.
"Russia's corrupt authorities tend to regard all the country's resources - 
its lakes, rivers, woods, palaces, architectural treasures - as their own 
property," Kasparov said.
"Russia's governors privatize the profits and nationalize the expenses, and 
regard the country as a bottomless source for state officials to 
get-rich-quick from. And of course they do not want a word of truth about 
their corrupt manipulations to sneak out to the masses. They invest a lot of 
their time and money into silencing the critics."
Historian Yelena Malysheva, head of the Okhtinskaya Duga movement, the 
demonstration's co-organizer, said St. Petersburg is "besieged by 
construction vandals." Protesters accused the city of violating citizens' 
rights in order to placate deep-pocketed investors.
"Governor Matviyenko seems to believe that the city that she governs is just 
one big bank account that must grow at any cost," Malysheva said. "But any 
city is first and foremost its people. It is a living organism, and it is 
being ruined. The governor just creates an unfriendly environment for those 
who live here: in-fill construction is rampant, and instead of restoring 
architectural treasures, the authorities give way to new concrete and glass 
monsters."
The protesters argued that the Gazprom headquarters should be moved away 
from near St. Petersburg's historic center.
Rewnowned actor Oleg Basilashvili, a member of the march's organizing 
committee, was on tour in Yekaterinburg on Saturday and could not join the 
march. But he contributed a recorded speech that was played at the meeting. 
The actor spoke with outrage about the Gazprom tower.
"Our ancestors who built this city - Russians, Italians, French - left this 
marvel, this gorgeous pearl for us to cherish and preserve for future 
generations; the angel on top of the Peter and Paul Fortress or the golden 
ship that crowns the Admiralty are the precious symbols of the city that 
protect and inspire us," Basilashvili said. "And when I hear that they have 
become obsolete and our city needs new symbols, and it should be, of all 
things, the gigantic, monstrous 300-meter Gazprom tower that looks set to 
suppress the grace of the historical ensemble, it turns me upside down."
Basilishvili said the ambitious project is driven by an acute inferiority 
complex.
"The person behind it nurtures a desire to conquer a gorgeous city and bring 
it to the feet of this giant, despicable corn-on-the-cob," he said, 
referring derisively to the tower's design as it has appeared in 
architectural drawings. "We won't let it happen."

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2007/gb20070925_345436.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+page_top+stories

Will New Gazprom Tower Wreck St. Pete?
Opponents say the Russian energy giant's proposed 1,300-foot skyscraper 
threatens St. Petersburg's architectural heritage
by Galina Stolyarova

In an Internet game that has caught on quickly here, players throw apples at 
a monster with a striking similarity to the mythical Japanese beast 
Godzilla.
This Russian monster, Gazzilla, creates havoc behind the silhouettes of St. 
Isaac's Cathedral and other famous landmarks of Russia's former capital. The 
winner is the player who kills Gazzilla with a direct hit on the head. But 
this beast, despite its great size, is agile, and landing a fatal blow is 
not easy.
And so it may turn out in a real-life struggle. For Gazzilla represents a 
vast skyscraper, which the Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom plans to build 
by the Neva River. And objectors want to kill off what they see as its 
monstrous intrusion into their historic landscape before the plans leave the 
drawing board.
The new Gazprom building, as designed, will be a twisting 396-meter tower, 
no less than eight times as high as the current official limit for new 
buildings in the city's beautifully proportioned historic center. It will 
stand near where the Okhta River flows into the Neva across from the famous 
white-and-blue Smolny Cathedral on the opposite bank.
The tower is to be the new headquarters for Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of 
the national energy monopoly, in St. Petersburg. And those who oppose it are 
now pitched against a corporate enemy of truly Herculean strength. The main 
headquarters of Gazprom would remain in Moscow.
GOVERNMENT ENDROSEMENT
The structure is expected to cost $2.3 billion, to be funded jointly by 
Gazprom and St. Petersburg. City officials say that St. Petersburg's 
contribution would be compensated for by the taxes that will be generated by 
the move to the city of such a large chunk of business and all the staff 
involved.
Governor Valentina Matviyenko supports the project.
"St. Petersburg should be happy that the No. 1 company in Russia is coming 
to the city," she said. And Gazprom's chief executive, Alexei Miller, said 
the tower will be "a new economic symbol for St. Petersburg."
But the new symbol is not to everyone's taste. Indeed the grandiose project 
prompted a public protest on 8 September, when 5,000 people took to the 
streets in a "March for the Preservation of St. Petersburg."
The marchers claimed the tower would wreck a historic skyline. As planned it 
would be well over twice as high as the Peter and Paul Fortress, now the 
city's tallest building, and more than three times taller than both the 
city's historic cathedrals, Smolny and St. Isaac's. The planned height of 
nearly 400 meters would put the tower among the 10 tallest buildings in the 
world.
"There is hardly any Russian citizen who can say that the fate of St. 
Petersburg leaves them indifferent," said Grigory Yavlinsky, a leader of the 
opposition party Yabloko who attended the demonstration.
"I still remember my first visit here as a little boy, when my parents 
showed me a city of extraordinary grace. And of course I was bewildered to 
learn that a titanic monster, advertised as a symbol of modernity, is being 
forced on this beautiful city."
Earlier this year Yabloko called for a citywide referendum on the project 
but this move was defeated on a technicality in the city legislative body. 
Yabloko also asked the General Prosecutor's Office to investigate the 
legality of the funding agreement between Gazprom and the city government.
St. Petersburg residents attending the protest march were blunt in their 
condemnation of the planned Gazprom tower. Renowned actor Oleg Basilashvili 
said its construction would be "spitting in the face" of Peter the Great, 
the tsarist founder.
Among opponents of the plan nicknames for the structure have proliferated, 
including Gazochlen (hinting at its phallic shape), Gazoscryob 
(Gas-scraper), and "Matviyenko's Cucumber" after its chief advocate, the 
city governor.
THREAT TO UNESCO STATUS
But, while the protesters have made their point forcefully, Gazprom may have 
a more dangerous opponent in the shape of the UN's cultural body, UNESCO. 
The tower could even cause St. Petersburg to lose its prized place on the 
list of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. St. Petersburg is one of only three 
Russian cities on the list
Marcio Barbosa, UNESCO's deputy head, told reporters in Moscow this month 
that Russia has been asked to halt all development work on the project until 
the organization has investigated its possible risks to St. Petersburg's 
architectural legacy.
"To use soccer terminology, we have issued a yellow card to the city," 
Barbosa said. "If the situation does not improve, the next logical step is a 
red card. This means we will have to move St. Petersburg onto the list of 
endangered sites."
He said a final vote to decide the city's fate would take place during 
UNESCO's 32nd session in Quebec in 2008.
It was in May that the director of UNESCO's World Heritage Center, Francesco 
Bandarin, sounded the first warning to Russia. He called the plan "the most 
visible problem in St. Petersburg" and called its controversial design 
unacceptable.
But St. Petersburg city officials appear unmoved. Vice Governor Mikhail 
Oseyevsky argued that UNESCO "does not have any official position on the 
project because its experts have not yet seen the final version."
And the British architectural company that won the contest to design the 
tower, RMJM, is also defiant. The head of its St. Petersburg office, Philip 
Nikandrov, said UNESCO "does not have any authority over our company and 
cannot dictate to us what to do."
This does not placate St. Petersburg architect Dmitry Butyrin, who heads the 
Council for the Protection of the Architectural Legacy of St. Petersburg. He 
believes the planned Gazprom building is a critical test of the city's 
ability to protect its architectural integrity.
FEARS OF A TOWER CITY
"Height regulations are being violated blatantly, and it is happening more 
and more often," Butyrin said. "If we swallow the Gazprom plan, more towers 
will quickly follow. We have nothing against Gazprom but we strongly suggest 
that an alternative location should be found."
Other opponents argue that other jarring new buildings are already going up 
in the historic center and that if this continues, future generations will 
have to rely on old photographs to recapture the city's beauty.
Historian Yelena Malysheva, who chairs a residents' group, Okhtinskaya Duga, 
said people's rights are being shamelessly violated.
"If a wealthy investor points to a plot of land, the authorities will 
happily demolish all residential buildings -- even ones with historic 
significance -- if they get in the way of a plum project," she said. "The 
whole process is lawless!"
Earlier this year, the U.K.-based World Monuments Fund, a leading heritage 
protection body, placed St. Petersburg on its list of the world's 100 most 
endangered historic sites, alongside war-torn Iraq, sinking Venice, and 
hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.
Mikhail Amosov, who used to chair the town planning committee of the St. 
Petersburg Legislative Assembly, said the lack of an effective planning code 
is at the root of the problem. He said he and other legislators drafted such 
a code in December but that it has yet to be discussed.
"For cities like St. Petersburg, with a stunning historic landscape, it's 
essential to have detailed protective legislation and construction 
policies," Amosov said. "There must be rules that ensure that the city's 
economic development doesn't happen at the cost of its unique appearance."
Amosov complains that some companies are being allowed to break existing 
height limits and that it's far from clear how this is done. He implies that 
the lack of a town planning code may facilitate corruption.
"City Hall is not interested in passing a clear code because it would put an 
end to certain murky construction practices, which apparently benefit some 
officials," he said.
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL0837242720070908

Marchers protest Gazprom's St Petersburg skyscraper
Sat Sep 8, 2007 6:36pm BST

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Former world chess champion Garry 
Kasparov was among some 4,000 demonstrators who marched on Saturday to 
protest against state-run gas firm Gazprom's planned skyscraper in St 
Petersburg.
Yabloko opposition party leader Grigory Yavlinsky also joined the peaceful 
protest through the centre of the city, in which demonstrators shouted "Down 
with Gazprom".
Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) wants to build the tower, dubbed 
"Gazoskryob" or Gasscraper and nearly as tall as France's Eiffel Tower, near 
the centre of the city which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
"This skyscraper is ugly. It is absolutely clear it is an absurd, shameless 
and a disgraceful idea," Yavlinsky said.
The campaign to stop the tower is one of the biggest protests during 
Vladimir Putin's seven years as president and may give liberal opponents a 
chance to win back some public support.
Russia's divided liberal opposition has so far failed to create a unified 
party capable of overcoming the seven-percent barrier required to win seats 
in a parliamentary election in December.
City authorities refused permission for the protest to take place on 
St.Petersburg's main thoroughfare but allowed it to march on narrow side 
streets.
In the past, police cracked down on marches led by Kasparov and his 
supporters from The Other Russia movement in various Russian cities but 
there were no violent incidents during Saturday's demonstration.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/225597/Protests_against_the_destruction_of_St_Petersburg_s_heritage

Protests against the destruction of St Petersburg's heritage
Posted Sep 8, 2007 by

Over 2,000 people protested Saturday in the Russian city of St Petersburg 
against the destruction of the neo- classical, baroque architecture in the 
city centre, which is listed as a UNESCO world cultural heritage site.

Inhabitants of the city and opposition activists from the camp of former 
world chess champion Garry Kasparov signed a petition Saturday against plans 
to build a 300-metre-high skyscraper for the Russian energy group Gazprom, 
Russian radio Echo Moskvy reported.

Opponents of the project fear that the construction of "Gazprom- City" on 
the River Neva will change the character of the city which is a tourist 
magnet and has been dubbed the Venice of the North.

In February, UNESCO criticized the plans for the building of the glass and 
steel oil tower along with other new buildings which would far exceed the 
city's 48-metre height limit.

City authorities hoped to gain tax income to the tune of millions through 
the transfer of the Gazprom headquarters from Moscow to St Petersburg

St Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvijenko has described the planned 
building as a masterpiece.

Critics accuse the Kremlin-controlled energy monopoly Gazprom of delusions 
of grandeur.