Instagram is a great way to reconstruct the events of the past year from Instagram. If you keep one, chances are you’ve marked every important moment with a photo and a caption.
I opened mine, scrolled through it, and immediately understood why 2018 feels so short to me. I spent 3 out of 12 months under arrest.
But, as they say: You only do two days. The day you come and the day you get out. So, all things considered, my year really lasted only 9 months.
See, it’s almost like *Interstellar*, just without the quantum physics. Highly recommended for anyone who feels time is moving too slowly.
But even in those nine months, so much happened that it would have been enough for two years.
Some of it was very joyful. Oleg was released:
Some of it was deeply bitter. Petya Ofitserov died:
I worked a lot, and the people around me worked even harder.
Our amazing ACF team (Anti-Corruption Foundation) became even more amazing and grew with the addition of the campaign headquarters team. We fully established and learned how to support a nationwide network of 42 regional headquarters across the country. And those headquarters now know how to work in post-election conditions and have become an important political force in their regions. They conduct local investigations, make videos, and so on.
This year, we organized the largest election monitoring campaign in the country’s history.
We held three major waves of protest actions.
We stayed connected with hundreds of thousands of amazing volunteers who helped during the 2017–2018 election campaign.
A few of our projects didn’t work out, or haven’t worked out yet. But far more did.
Our investigations continued to shake up the public conversation and open people’s eyes.
We won several important cases at the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights), and their consequences will matter for a great many people.
The year’s personal result: I managed to spend some time with my family.
I never managed to jump on a balance board.
And my main overall conclusion remains the same: people. I met far more good people than bad ones. More often, I wanted to hug someone than send them away.
My new friends turned out to be wonderful, and my old friends never let me down.
A huge thank you to everyone. To our viewers and donors, staff and volunteers, and everyone who helped in some way or found a kind word. There were many of you in 2018, and I hope there will be even more in 2019.
Happy New Year, everyone! Be healthy and happy!