I’m on my way to the city of Vladimir to meet with campaign volunteers. And as I travel, I’m reading a wonderful story about how students in Vladimir were not only herded into watching a film about “Navalny = Hitler”, but were also forced to go listen to a talking police officer.
Officially, they were all rounded up to listen to Lieutenant Colonel Fomin of the city police, who was supposedly there to talk about terrorist attacks. But what terrorist attacks could possibly matter when the country’s main threat is “the provocateur Navalny” and those who attend anti-corruption rallies?
You can listen to the recording of the conversation, made by the students themselves (good for them!), here:
It’s an amusing story, and it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. The region’s governor is there too—a lady who champions “spiritual values” and stability—and she is constantly criticizing me.
There’s just one detail I’d like to add, because it complements the situation nicely.
Our meeting with volunteers is at 11 a.m., and last night the campaign office (a building right in the city center, possibly even a protected architectural landmark) was covered in drawings of penises, while the door was, as tradition would have it, filled with expanding foam.
And as I understand it, judging by the police’s deliberate refusal to notice any of this, they were the ones doing the drawing too—the defenders of spirituality and stability. Governor Orlova drew one penis, Lieutenant Colonel Fomin the other. And the administration of Vladimir State University foamed the door shut.
For stability! We will not let anyone threaten our impoverished standard of living and the well-being of corrupt officials! We will not allow students to have thoughts of their own!
I look at all this and realize: yes, films need to be made. They really do.
Places