The “10 YEARS OF FREEDOM” concert took place in Moscow on the square next to the House of the Government of the Russian Federation on August 19, 2001. This event was dedicated to the historical event of ten years prior – the defense of the “White House” during the confrontation between the forces of the GKChP (State Emergency Commission) and the legally elected authorities, with the support of people fighting for democracy in the country.
It was the so-called “August Coup 1991” when the old communist and military nomenklatura and the KGB leadership acted against the first president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, and his policy of Perestroika and Glasnost.
Active Muscovites and citizens of the country who came from other cities and regions gathered around the building of the Government of the RSFSR to resist the armed seizure of power to support the resistance. Barricades were erected, and the defenders behaved in an orderly manner. The confrontation lasted three days and two nights. These were events of significant societal changes, after which the Soviet Union collapsed, and the power of the communist regime of CPSU in Russia and neighboring republics (future independent countries) finally ended.
The event was started by the Union of Right Forces (SPS) party led by Boris Nemtsov. T.C.I organized the concert and technical part. (Eduard Ratnikov). JSA became the main contractor for the stage installation, guest grandstand (tribune) with roof, crowd barriers, and other infrastructure. Officials and popular artists performed on the stage, including those who took part in the famous concert “Rock on the Barricades”, which took place in the difficult days of August 1991 near the White House. In the pictures above: the participants of both concerts – the rockabilly band MISTER TWISTER during soundcheck on the JSA stage.
Five years after the events of August 1991, thanks to the ensuing positive changes in the life of the country and the transition from the communist era to a market economy, JSA was founded (September 17, 1996). The founder, owner, and managing director of the company, Alexander Strizhak, was a participant in those revolutionary events in Moscow. He was on the barricades zone near the White House on the side of the defenders, representatives of a democratic society. The equipment for the concert “Rock on the Barricades” was partially brought from the technical base located in the House of Culture “Severnoye Chertanovo”, where Alexander Strizhak was the executive director at that time. Therefore, it was prestigious for JSA to participate in this project and to install a stage from elements of the Layher Allround system in the place where a grandiose historical event took place.
Addendum dated August 19, 2021 / on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the events of 1991 and the 20th anniversary of the concert “10 YEARS OF FREEDOM!” in 2001:
Unfortunately, the subsequent changes in the political life of Russia led it to a new authoritarian regime. Real Freedom, taken in August 1991, did not last long. Over the next 10 years, independent media outlets were dispersed, seized, or closed for one reason or another by pressure from the Kremlin. The SPS party had to cease its existence due to the undermining of liberal values in society by the ruling circles. In February 2015, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was killed near the Red Square in the center of Moscow. The business community was subjected to severe pressure, starting with the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In 2014, the annexation of Crimea and military aggression against Ukraine took place by Russia. The consequence was the closure of the JSA company in Russia, the subsequent immigration of Alexander Strizhak from the country, and the transfer of the company’s activities to Ukraine and the Baltic States.
Версия на русском языке: КОНЦЕРТ “10 ЛЕТ СВОБОДЫ В РОССИИ”. МОСКВА, БЕЛЫЙ ДОМ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВА
© All photos are the copyright of JSA Stage Company.