I don’t know why it works this way — when you’re under arrest, you’re not really doing anything, just sleeping, lying around, reading, and yet you still end up exhausted. Every time you get out, all you want is to take two or three days off. But you can’t — there’s a campaign going on, and the best motivation to get back to work is, of course, the news.
You read it, and right before your eyes you can see those vile little thieves in the Kremlin, imagining themselves to be monarchs and a new aristocracy, holding their meetings and shrieking in their thin voices at the police and FSB brass: baaaaan it! stoooop it! And jabbing their fingers at photos of volunteers in campaign T-shirts and people at meetings.
And off the generals ran to stop it. Lyaskin was struck on the head with a metal pipe, and then, as part of that same criminal case, they searched our office and seized (stole) T-shirts and stickers worth 1.27 million rubles (about 1.27 million rubles). In Sochi, they opened a case simply over photos on social media. In Perm, they tried to detain our volunteer over a balloon while she was with her one-year-old child.
Overall, in recent months, 22 of our 80 regional coordinators have been hit with fabricated administrative charges, preventing them from doing their work.
What’s clear is this: the campaign is effectively changing the political situation, genuinely persuading people, and influencing them. The Kremlin riffraff can see it too, including from their own “closed” polling, and that’s why they can no longer pretend they don’t care and haven’t noticed anything.
And it’s just as clear what to do: work even harder, since it’s bringing results. So on Sunday morning I’ll be released from custody and head straight to the next rally — a meeting with voters. To Astrakhan — October 22 at 6:00 p.m., in Druzhba Park, formerly the ATRZ Park (the “Zhilgorodok” stop).
If Putin is going this crazy over these meetings, then making him give up another day off will be a nice little gift. All the permits for the rally are in place, so come.
It’s obvious what they’ll do.
before I’m released, there may be another arrest (after all, they gave Volkov 20 days for a retweet);
- urgently haul me in for questioning, and the questioning — what a coincidence! — will end only once it’s clear I’ve missed my flight;
the Astrakhan authorities will suddenly change their minds and revoke the permit, just as happened in Nizhny Novgorod.
In other words, they have a wide range of tools, but we have one answer: work more, work better, no matter what.
Hooray! And this part is clear too.
Send money. Arresting campaign office leaders and confiscating campaign materials is done precisely to bleed the campaign dry. There are no elections without money; the Kremlin understands that perfectly well, so don’t let them drain us.
Bring a couple of people who are ready to sign in support of the nomination and participation in the election. Already did? And not just a couple, but ten? Well, that’s fine — Russia hasn’t run out of people yet. Bring a couple more (or ten).
Sign up to volunteer. Write a post, take part in a picket, plan to attend a rally, send 500 rubles to help pay the fine of someone who got caught in the crackdown (Roman Rubanov’s Yandex.Money wallet number for paying fines: 410011790053534)
If you’re in Astrakhan, come to the meeting and bring people you know. October 22, 6:00 p.m., Druzhba Park, formerly the ATRZ Park (the “Zhilgorodok” stop).
So, forgive me for this very original thought: work, active effort, and resistance are our universal answer. I’m doing my best — now you keep up.