The principle of the voters’ strike: boycott, but act and observe.
I remain true to it, and so, unfortunately, I have to watch interviews with the so-called “candidates” and keep track of their “work.”
The latter is very easy, because they don’t do a damn thing. The former is what’s irritating, because in every interview these “candidates” claim that a strike means “sitting on the couch and doing nothing.”
That’s what my new video is about.
We have a month and a half left until voting day. Any normal candidate should be working themselves to the bone right now to win your vote. Honestly, do you feel like anyone is fighting for your vote? Do you get the sense that you—the voter—matter in this “election campaign”?
And the honest answer is: of course not.
The best example is the January 28 rally in support of the voters’ strike. I don’t think anyone can deny that our campaign headquarters did more work just to prepare for that event than all the other candidates combined. Real, painstaking work across all of Russia. From filing applications to setting up stages. From online advertising to legal aid for those detained.
The candidates should be doing the same thing—and much more. They’re not even pretending.
How is that even possible? How can a barred candidate and his team be more motivated than an active candidate? After all, his political fate is on the line. Every half a percent matters. Come on: speak out, call on people, persuade them, tear into the other candidates, take votes away from them.
There’s nothing. Emptiness. In that emptiness, a few interviews and appearances in small halls two or three times a week. What a great nationwide election campaign.
The truth is that these “candidates” don’t give a damn about you. That’s not why they were told to take part.
So let’s even set Putin aside for a moment. Going to the polling station means supporting this kind of political standard: one where the candidate and the voter exist in parallel worlds. The voter has no value whatsoever. Or rather, the voter is needed—but only as furniture, as a prop. The predetermined winner needs turnout and the image of people showing up and recognizing his victory.
Don’t go. It’s a sham. Don’t go, and don’t accept being treated like furniture.
Take part in the strike. Here is a new flyer that anyone can print out and distribute wherever possible. Download it here.