Editor-in-chief Massimo Introvigne, director-in-charge Marco Respinti, and all the “Bitter Winter” team wish a happy and joyful New Year and holiday seasons to everybody.
We have decided to illustrate our wishes with an image that is not festive. It represents Archpriest Alexander Novopashin from Novosibirsk, a fanatical supporter of both the repression of religious minorities in China and Russia and Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, lecturing a few weeks ago the elite troop cadets of the Russian Airborne Forces in Ryazan about the danger represented by “Bitter Winter” support of the “Nazi Ukrainian resistance” and of religious groups persecuted in China and Russia. Another leading Russian enemy of religious liberty, Alexander Dvorkin, was also present at the event.
Although paradoxical and sometimes even comical, the increased attacks against “Bitter Winter” in Russia and China demonstrate that our articles do damage the criminal totalitarian regimes oppressing these countries and threatening the world.
As we told you on Christmas, and repeat today, “Bitter Winter” reports on religious liberty and human rights violations in China, Russia, and other countries every day (except on Sunday and at Christmas and New Year’s Day). Our articles are quoted by hundreds of media and governmental and international organizations official reports. Many serious violations of religious liberty would remain unknown if they were not disclosed by “Bitter Winter.”
Our articles on China, Pakistan, and Russia have been quoted in official reports in the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as our coverage of threats to religious liberty under the pretext of fighting “radicalization” or “cultic deviances,” or imposing ill-founded tax bills to spiritual movements, in democratic countries including France, Germany, Japan, Argentina, and even Taiwan.
We have also supported religion-based asylum seekers who escape China and are arrested or worse if, against international law, democratic countries deport them back there. Although we have not always been able to prevent this from happening, the successes we have achieved demonstrate that “Bitter Winter” and its readers may in some cases even save human lives.
The New Year festivities are a time when we all receive many solicitations for giving. There are many worthy charities, but please also consider that “Bitter Winter” is a small organization based on the volunteer work of those who write articles (and, if they live in China, constantly risk being jailed for this). Donating to “Bitter Winter” only takes a few minutes of your time and will allow us to continue offering to you exclusive news about religious persecution and human rights in 2024. These articles not only enlighten their readers but also benefit those who suffer persecution. We wish them a better 2024 and promise we will continue to help them as much as we will be able to.
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
