I WAS born in the Stavropol region of the North Caucasus, one that had witnessed countless invasions and been a crossing point of many and varied cultures and civilisations. My home region schooled me early in tolerance and respect for other nationalities, languages, customs and religions. Village life and that of my peasant family were closely bound up with nature – and thus also unavoidably with having to pull together to survive natural disasters and the effects of social injustices.
As a child I lived in poverty, in a traditional cabin with an earth floor. We slept on top of the…
