Very soon, the “national leader” will once again drive through the empty streets of Moscow and begin yet another term in power. For another 6 years.
Even a simple roundup of the past couple of weeks’ news shows that, in Putin’s view, the recent sham “election” has vested him with virtually tsar-like powers. He intends to rule Russia as his personal property, in the interests of himself, his family, and the narrow ruling group that has seized all power in the country.
Everyone who disagrees with what he does is dismissed as the “non-systemic opposition,” people who “have nothing to offer” and no “constructive agenda.” He repeats this word for word, by rote, in response to any question about those who oppose him.
The Kremlin is trying to convince us that it has the support of an absolute majority, and is working hard to erase one simple fact from our minds: even in these completely rigged “elections,” where people were herded to the polls by force, the official figures say that 56 million voters cast their ballots for him.
And 53 million did not vote for him. Of course, they are very different people with very different motives, ranging from apathy to outright disagreement. But they exist. They have exactly the same civil rights as those who did vote. And if they did not rush to put a check mark next to “Putin,” that means they do not agree with him on everything. They certainly did not give him the right to do whatever he wants. They did not give him the right to become a monarch.
Putin is not their tsar.
Our shared task, one that goes beyond the ordinary party-political system with its meager electoral procedures, is to make sure that the voice of these people—our voice—is heard and taken into account.
The first step is this: on May 5, let us take to the streets of our cities in marches for the right to be citizens of our own country. If we are invisible, then we need to stand up, step outside, and wave our hand.
We did not consent to blocking Telegram. In our view, that does not serve the national interest.
We demand a fight against corruption. We demand answers to our questions from officials. The South Korean protests against their corrupt president took place almost at the same time as the release of the film “He Is Not Dimon to You” (a reference to Dmitry Medvedev’s nickname). A year has passed. South Korea’s former president was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Medvedev, meanwhile, has become even richer and remains at the head of the country’s government.
We want a fight against poverty and inequality. That is a highly constructive proposal—what kind of development can a country have when more than 20% of its population lives in destitution?
Putin and his head of government tell us that the last 6 years have been just great. Their real concern is for oligarchs hit by sanctions—for them, special schemes are instantly devised and government directives are issued.
We have a positive agenda: leave the internet alone, abolish Roskomnadzor (Russia’s federal media and communications watchdog), stop jailing people for likes and reposts. Then the IT sector will bring a great deal of money into the economy and into citizens’ pockets. And if Putin intends to keep destroying the internet—and he does intend to—then he should see that he is doing so against the will of millions. We need to take to the streets on May 5 and say so.
There is no strength left to tolerate the censorship and obscurantism of what, for some reason, is still called the “mass media,” but is in fact propaganda machinery. We need to take to the streets and say that millions do not want to keep feeding this propaganda.
May 5 is a day off. We will file applications in many cities, and we hope there will be people ready to do the same without us in places where we do not have campaign offices.
These are entirely lawful applications for peaceful demonstrations—most often for the very same places where the authorities themselves will be holding events on May 1.
We are the same people with the same rights. There can be no such thing as an “unauthorized protest” for us. I urge everyone to stop even talking in those terms. We file our applications in advance. We pay taxes so that officials will ensure our ability to hold these events and assist us in doing so.
If there are unlawful bans, relocations, and so on, we will continue to act in accordance with the law and the Constitution—we will hold everything at the time and in the places for which we submitted our applications.
If we stay at home, we will gradually turn ourselves into serfs. And the symbol of Russia in 2018 will become the now-famous Russian Post drone: lots of money, lots of hype, and then it took off and crashed into a wall.
We are full-fledged and equal citizens. There are many of us. We will not allow ourselves, or our right to be heard, to be ignored.
On May 5, take to the streets.