Yesterday I talked about the June 12 rally, Usmanov, the child detained on Arbat Street, the courts, the festival of colors, and the police—whom, apparently, we are supposed to obey as if it were in our blood.
The timestamps are at the bottom of the post, and you can click through to watch the segment that interests you.
And I want to go into more detail on the results of our survey about the renovation program. We’re publishing it as is—this is honest sociology, even if the findings are likely to please City Hall more than the protesters.
Overall, the renovation issue has not left Muscovites indifferent: two-thirds of those surveyed know the project well, and almost all the rest have at least “heard something” about it.
The answer to the key question—do you support the renovation program or not?—may seem completely discouraging. It turns out that half of the Muscovites we surveyed support it, while most of the rest are not exactly opposed so much as doubtful and undecided. Actively opposed to the renovation program, according to our data, are only about 10% of Muscovites. And yet, as it turns out, even that was enough to — organize and hold the largest rally Moscow has seen in a long time — force City Hall to abandon 90% of its original plans (relocation not to a neighboring district, but only within the same district; an “equivalent-value” apartment instead of a merely “comparable” one, etc.) — significantly narrow the scope of the program and impose a broad public discussion about it and so on. This is exactly what we keep talking about: an active minority, if it is prepared to defend its interests, becomes a powerful and influential political force and can achieve a great deal. Even the Russian authorities will always be forced to reckon with its position.
But the results are depressing when it comes to the form of voting. “Active Citizen” (a Moscow city voting app) is a fraudulent and opaque system. All kinds of experts have written about this many times, and it has been proven many times over. And yet Muscovites are quite prepared to trust this system with deciding an issue of the utmost importance to them. At the same time, the age breakdown is the reverse: young Muscovites, among whom there are the most opponents of the renovation program, are also the most willing to let “Fictitious Citizen” deceive them.
And finally, about the rallies. This is where it gets most interesting. Roughly half of Muscovites had heard about the mass rallies against the “renovation” program. And among those who had heard about them, more than 20% generally agree with the protesters’ demands. Doesn’t sound like much? But as we remember, committed opponents of the renovation program make up only about 10%—half that number. The same holds across age groups: for example, although 15% of young people oppose the renovation program, nearly 30% generally agree with the protesters.
We’re going to keep working on this issue and want to conduct another survey, this time on the street. For that, we’re looking for volunteers. If you’re from Moscow, sign up here. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve helped ACF (the Anti-Corruption Foundation) conduct surveys before or this is your first time. We’ll teach you everything and explain it all.
Timestamps for yesterday’s broadcast of “Navalny at 20:18”:
0:30 Beginning
1:27 “Even more questions came in about the June 12 rallies. I’ll start with that topic, otherwise for the third time I’d have to begin with Usmanov, and it would all turn into the ‘Usmanov Show.’”
2:35 “For the most part, our applications are approved and granted.”
4:25 “We know that right now 46 events have been approved, and 29 have been denied.”
5:00 Meduza: the Nizhny Tagil mayor’s office proposed moving an anti-corruption rally to a village 88 kilometers (55 miles) from the city. More details: https://meduza.io/shapito/2017/06/01/meriya-nizhnego-tagila-predlozhila-perenesti-antikorruptsionnyy-miting-v-derevnyu-v-88-kilometrah-ot-goroda
7:01 “Of course, in cases like these, people need to come out into the city center even more actively, even more fiercely.” 9:00 Officials have a good sense of humor, but the public isn’t laughing.
9:40 About the June 12 rally in Moscow.
14:55 “I proposed raising 500,000 rubles—those funds were collected that same evening. As of now, we’ve raised 877,000 rubles,” Alexei Navalny said about the completion of fundraising for the family of political prisoner Alexander Shpakov, convicted in the March 26 case.
16:28 “Let’s move on to our dear Alisher Burkhanovich.”
18:00 “Of course I won’t delete this video. And ACF won’t delete anything.”
19:59 What do you think about the rating of your investigation on Kinopoisk (a Russian film database)?
20:57 You’re a lawyer, an attorney. How can you just ignore a court ruling?
23:08 “All authoritarian regimes depend to a large extent on the judicial system.”
26:20 RBC: “There is a room in the Moscow City Court building where detainees are tortured by being shackled to the wall.”
30:38 I rewatched “Dimon” on Pornhub today: the irony has never been greater.
31:45 The more of us who come out, the faster this rotten regime will start to wobble.
33:40 “I’ll explain the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in a single picture.”
35:20 “The boy detained on Arbat. I’ll probably be the million-and-first person to comment on this topic.”
37:47 “Is that what concern for the boy looks like? The police officers should, of course, be put on trial.”
44:33 “Now that is a perfect example of idiocy,” about the “attack by children on police officers” at the Holi festival in Chelyabinsk.
45:46 Video clip of the “attack by children on police officers” at the Holi festival in Chelyabinsk.
47:42 “In the beautiful Russia of the future, everyone will be able to throw paint at each other—but not brilliant green.”
47:55 What do you think about people in power starting YouTube channels? For example, Roizman.
49:05 There’s nothing complicated about the boy’s case, and the cops are criminals either way.
50:12 ACF’s sociological service conducted a survey on the “renovation” program.
54:18 Vladimir Putin: “Presidents in the U.S. come and go, but policy does not change.”
56:30 Mediazona: the deputy head of the Interior Ministry called for police actions to be considered “presumptively lawful.” More details: https://zona.media/news/2017/06/01/apriori
1:00:00 Alexei Navalny: “Urge as many people as possible to come out to the June 12 rallies.”