In fact, it’s all perfectly clear. They really can be beaten in an election. And that would be obvious to anyone who traveled with us around the regions. Frankly, the Kremlin understands this too. They also have eyes and the ability to draw the simplest conclusions.
That notorious 86% approval rating exists in a political vacuum. It’s like asking someone who has been fed rutabaga their whole life: how edible would you say rutabaga is, as a percentage? The rating would be pretty high. Most likely, plenty of famous athletes and singers would also come out in support of rutabaga and be ready to serve as its official campaign surrogates. Why not? Rutabaga is our provider, after all — it gives us stability.
It’s a perfectly fitting analogy: I’m 41, and the last election I saw that didn’t involve Putin was when I was 20. And most people reading this post are probably younger than I am.
And into this political vacuum we bring something obvious, something right out in the open: listen, rutabaga isn’t the only thing that exists. There are better options. And rutabaga procurement is suspiciously expensive. Its yield in centners per hectare is low too. And people look at one another as if waking up and say: seriously, why rutabaga? Let’s at least have a cook-off and compare rutabaga with other foods.
That is exactly why I am under arrest again. I am spending every fifth day of my campaign in a jail cell. My campaign manager has been arrested for the third time already. Yesterday there was a raid on our headquarters in St. Petersburg, and raids like this are happening constantly in every region.
This is all the Kremlin’s rutabaga at work. Fully aware of how dangerous our campaign is to it, it is clearing out those who, for the first time in 20 years, are not merely declaring an alternative, but actively working across the entire country and with every kind of voter.
From this follows the obvious as well:
If we do nothing, they will keep feeding us this damned rutabaga for the rest of our lives. And our children too. That is not an exaggeration, by the way. The rutabaga mafia has children as well; they are growing up and, as you can see, taking more and more government posts. This will not end on its own.
What needs to be done? Support our campaign now. Support me, if I am your candidate. Support the very idea of political competition, even if you disagree with me on some things.
I fully understand that I cannot match the political preferences of every voter 100%, but what I am offering is certainly better than the freezing warehouse of last year’s rutabaga that Russia has now been turned into.
(the police officer guarding me and listening as I dictate this post is clearly already stunned by how many times I’ve said the word “rutabaga”)
Now to specifics.
First. Tell everyone around you that the endless illegal arrests of Putin’s main electoral opponent and the attacks on his campaign headquarters are not how an election campaign is supposed to be conducted. Help shape that public opinion around you. Persuade the people in your circle.
Second. October 7 is the day when we will try to say this together, openly and directly. Let Professor Rutabaga Putin hear it and finally go into the retirement he has earned. He has been in power for 18 years; that is enough.
On October 7, write on any of your social media accounts, tell the media, or simply tell your grandmother over the phone that you personally are putting forward two main political demands:
a) I demand political competition
b) I demand that Navalny and any other candidates capable of collecting the required 300,000 signatures be allowed onto the ballot.
We say this online. And we say it in the streets.
Third. Our campaign offices across the country (there are 80 of them now) are organizing pickets (this is the form of public event we still had time to apply for after my arrest and Volkov’s). Join us.
The main event will be in St. Petersburg at Marsovo Pole (Field of Mars) at 6:00 p.m.. We understand perfectly well that this whole clown show with the “courts” has been staged precisely to prevent it. St. Petersburg officials have decided to drop the masks and speak out so brazenly and so aggressively because of October 7.
Moscow. We applied to hold a rally on Pushkin Square and have already received a completely unlawful refusal with no alternative venue offered. That means that, once again, in full accordance with the ruling of Russia’s Constitutional Court, we will go out onto Tverskaya at 2:00 p.m. for what is an authorized and fully legal public event. Any point on Tverskaya Street from Pushkin Square to Manezhnaya Square. Stand if you want, walk if you want, lie down if you want, sing if you want.
Our symbol is the Russian flag.
Our task is to make October 7 the day when every decent person in Russia says these two demands out loud, or at least to themselves:
political competition and Navalny’s inclusion on the ballot
Fourth. The Kremlin is doing everything it can to block the campaign’s infrastructure and obstruct offline work — which means we need even more effort in the opposite direction. Send us a donation, sign up as a volunteer, persuade one more person to add their signature in support of my nomination.
Many thanks to everyone who is supporting us. Sending support to everyone facing unlawful pressure for refusing to forget their human rights.
Special greetings and support to my campaign manager, Leonid Volkov. A brave man, he has gone on hunger strike in protest against his unlawful arrest. His pregnant wife is about to give birth any day now. I can understand his feelings and his despair.