In response to news of his cancelled California speaking tour, Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev published a statement yesterday to address controversial, seemingly anti-semetic blog posts published in response to recent revolutionary events in Egypt.
Alekseev began his statement by emphasizing his strong belief in human rights and equality for everyone, “irrespective of any personal characteristics, whether it is sexual orientation, race, gender, national or ethnic origin, religion or any other basis.”
He then went on to explain that he published blog posts expressing his anger at the Israeli Prime Minister’s support of Mubarak in the recent Egyptian popular uprising – posts that had subsequently been interpreted as blaming the Jewish people for the actions of the Israeli government and its supporters.
“The accusations of me distributing anti-Semitic statements on blogs were initiated by notorious human rights campaigner Scott Long,” Alekseev said, explaining that Long waited for over a month after the initial publication of the controversial blog posts before publicizing their anti-semetic interpretation.
“Mr. Long was intentionally waiting for my trip to the US to start this campaign against me, which he started the day I arrived in Chicago,” Alekseev stated, adding that he apologized for any injury this “personal vendetta” between Scott Long and himself might have caused.
Alekseev continued by elaborating his history of support and affection for the international Jewish community. He maintained, “I am a great believer in justice and a great opponent of all injustice. I am always very direct in what I say and sometimes people interpret it the way they want to use it against me.”
In conclusion, Alekseev expressed his regret at being forced to cancel California tour dates due to pressure from his US tour organizers, and promised to come to California in the near future.
