While I’m sitting in a special detention center, I read a wonderful interview with Parfyonov in The New Times. You should read it too — it explains very simply and clearly what the “Spring” march is demanding and why we must keep doing what we’re doing.
Parfyonov’s reflections on “why Russia is not Finland” also feel very close to me personally. Once, in an interview with that same Parfyonov, I said that Russia could be a “metaphysical Canada.”
A lot of people were puzzled at the time by the oddness of the image, but it really is true — why should Russia live worse than Canada? Both are cold, both have low population density, people like to drink, and most of the territory is unfit for habitation.
And yet in Canada, the average salary is $4,000, and it ranks 10th in terms of corruption, unlike Russia, which is 136th.
Parfyonov is also interesting on the subject of the not-quite-finished-off Komsomol types (former members of the Soviet Communist youth organization) who taught us to love Grandpa Lenin and campaigned hard for socialism, but have now reinvented themselves as Orthodox imperialists — Leonid reminds readers that Bastrykin, the head of the Investigative Committee, was the secretary of the Komsomol committee at Leningrad State University when he studied there.
In short, read Parfyonov — he’s right about everything, and come to the “Spring” march (you can also help us with the march by signing up as a volunteer here).