Things like the sudden dissolution of an opposition party once again demonstrate the basic approach Putin and United Russia take toward us—all those committed to a democratic path of development for the country: to pretend that we simply do not exist at all.
Basically, public debate now ranges from whether education should be sacrificed to finance the conquest of Moldova to how important it is to smear one’s beard with tar while producing oilcake.
The Westernizers-2015 are for conquering Moldova and disapprove of education, while the Slavophiles-2015 are for tar and oilcake.
A great deal of attention is also devoted to regulating the trajectory of the backside of a girl dancing on a lawn, in order to determine this: our “traditional spiritual values” can still withstand an O-shaped trajectory, but an figure-eight trajectory should get you 15 days in jail.
Discussion of such trifles as electing mayors and governors, judicial independence, and the fair distribution of national wealth has been pushed out to the marginal periphery of the political agenda.
And yet our everyday practical experience shows that there are quite a lot of normal people around who consider all this idiocy and have no desire to trade education for the conquest of Moldova. They are not lured by the wide-open steppes of Bessarabia (historical region including much of present-day Moldova), or whatever is there; we have plenty of undeveloped land even 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Moscow, never mind Siberia.
Sociological surveys—any of them—also show that the number of supporters of a European path of development, even now in these days of TV hysteria and brainwashing, does not fall below 25% across Russia, and in many cities they make up at least half the population.
And so we return once again to the fact that we—an enormous part of the population—have no political representation and do not participate in the formal political process.
This summer, there is an excellent chance to change that. The following conditions are in place:
What I’m getting at is that we need people to do all this. To win back our space.
To win, we will need to hold open, honest primaries. Collect lots of signatures. Register candidate lists. Run effective campaigns and get our candidates elected.
All of this will be very difficult and very exciting. After all, we are creating something no one has ever done before. You will not only be able to do something useful for the country, but also gain unique experience and spend your time in a way you will remember for the rest of your life.
You can take an ordinary vacation every year. But a summer spent on the first election campaign of a newly created democratic coalition—there will never be another one like it.
We need volunteers in Novosibirsk, Kaluga, and Kostroma regions. We need people from any region who are ready to travel to these areas. We need people in Moscow to handle general infrastructure issues.
Here is the pre-registration form for volunteers. If you want demanding but very interesting work on the side of the Forces of Good as part of a common team, sign up.