I've been looking around the web and I have hardly seen any coverage of the international convention in Kiev (and satellite conventions throughout the Ukraine) this past weekend. Has anyone in here seen anything?
Brian
Why no JW convention coverage in the Ukraine?
by brianhenke 6 Replies latest jw friends
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izobcenec
No, but i have been looking for coverage of Budapest international conventions...if any1 knows anything, please let me know...
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Joker10
Yes, Brian. There has been coverage. Jehovah's Witnesses from Georgia will be attending.
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Joker10
Ukraine News, August 7, 2003 pNA
UKRAINE-JEHOVAH'S-WITNESSES-CONGRESS
Jehovah's Witnesses International Congress opens at Kyiv's Olimpiysky stadium
Kyiv, August 7 (-Ukraine) - Thousands of delegates from various countries came to attend the opening of the International Congress of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious organization at Kyiv's Olympiysky stadium on Thursday.
The delegates to the congress filled about 30% of 80,000 seats at the stadium, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
4,700 out of 72,000 people invited to participate in the four-day congress have already arrived in Ukraine, the State Border Service said.
They came from Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Poland, the USA and Finland.
Similar congresses will be held in Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Simferopol, simultaneously.
The International Congress in Kyiv is one of the largest in scale, and is believed to be the key event of the year, Alexander Biland, the organization spokesman, stated. A baptizing ceremony is to be held on Thursday, he added.
The organization comprises 6,3 million people in 234 states, Mr. Biland stressed.
Jehovah's Witnesses is a trend in Protestantism established by Charles Taze Russell in 1872 in the USA. In West Ukraine and Belarus its followers appeared in the 1920s. Their activity in the USSR was prohibited. Kyiv already hosted an international congress of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1993. The participants of the event usually make speeches about donations, pray and baptize.
[UA EUROPE REL NEWS] -
Joker10
another article:
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CONGRESS OPENS IN KYIV
KYIV. Aug 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) - An international congress of Jehovah's Witnesses was opened at Kyiv's Olympic Stadium on Thursday.
The stadium, seating 80,000 people, was filled to one-third capacity, an Interfax correspondent reported.
Seventy-two thousand delegates were invited but only 4,700 have arrived from foreign countries, the State Border Service announced.
The congress will last for flour days and will bring together Jehovah's witnesses from Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Poland, the U.S. and Finland.
Parallel events will be held in Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Simferopol.
The organization of Jehovah's Witnesses was established in the U.S. in 1872. In the 1920s members of this religious group appeared in western regions of Ukraine and Belarus. Kyiv hosted an international Jehovah's Witnesses congress in 1993. -
Joker10
Budapest:
Europe Intelligence Wire, July 24, 2003 pNA
Jehovah's Witnesses Hold International Congress in Budapest.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 Financial Times Information Ltd.
(From Hungarian News Agency (MTI))
Budapest, July 24 (MTI) - A four-day international congress of the Jehovah's Witnesses of Hungary began in Budapest on Thursday.
About 40,000 delegates from 18 countries have come to Hungary for the event, Attila Samu, head of the congress media centre, told MTI on Thursday.
The events are being held at Puskas Stadium, a soccer field, and at the indoor Budapest Arena and SYMA Sports Hall. Samu said that participants would be welcomed in 14 languages and that the official programme was being translated into ten.
Overall, there will be some 40 presentations on subjects including the importance of family and children, and the alcohol "trap." A baptism is set for Saturday.
The first Jehovah's Witnesses appeared in Hungary in 1898. The denomination was banned in 1939, and only was restored to legality in 1989.
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Joker10
Like I mentioned before. Witnesses from Georgia will be in Kiev for the assembly. If you are aware, religious fanatics and even authorities have been interrupting thier assemblies in Georgia. But it seems now that they will finally attend a large one for the first time in a long time, if ever, not in Georgia, but in Ukraine. Take a look at this article :
RELIGIOUS RADICALS WANT JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES' CONGRESS BANNED IN UKRAINE
TBILISI. July 31 - Some 100 supporters of former Orthodox priest Vasil Mkalashvili have conducted a protest action near the Ukrainian embassy in Tbilisi.
The rally participants demanded that Ukraine ban the international congress of Jehovah's Witnesses scheduled to take place in Kyiv in early August.
Parliamentarian Guram Sharadzer, who took part in the rally, told reporters that he has passed a letter to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma through the embassy, calling on Ukraine to prevent the congress from being held.
The congress is scheduled to take place at Kyiv's Olympic Stadium. Some 65,000 Jehovah's witnesses and Georgian members of this religious group intend to take part in it.
"Such a large-scale meeting of an aggressive and totalitarian sect poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but also to other Orthodox countries," Sharadze said.
Rallies against Jehovah's witnesses began inGeorgia several years ago. They were headed by Vasil Mkalashvili, a priest who was excommunicated by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Some 1,000 active supporters of Mkalashvili disrupted congresses of Jehovah's witnesses, publicly burned religious literature and physically assaulted those in attendance.
The Tbilisi District Court issued an arrest warrant for Mkalashvili in June.