Hi everyone. I’ve been released from detention, and I know you’ve been discussing this and still are, but I still want to say a few words myself.
Right now, nothing is more important than securing the registration of independent candidates for the elections.
They’re being barred everywhere: in Irkutsk, Ufa, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Of course, Moscow and St. Petersburg matter most right now (forgive me, regions, but those are where the biggest elections are).
This is more important than a rally over Golunov (Ivan Golunov, the journalist). It is more important than pickets for the wrongly convicted and the sick.
Because there will be an endless stream of Golunovs with drugs planted on them, sick people left without medicine, and “extremist” students facing fabricated charges, because at every level of government there is absolutely no one who can protect them or fight to prevent cases like these from happening.
Professor Sonin writes quite rightly: the Moscow authorities may be making a mistake of historic proportions.
But one thing should be added: if we stay silent and fail to defend our candidates, then for us too it will be a mistake of historic proportions.
We need PEOPLE IN POWER who will publicly and actively defend our rights.
By law, by conscience, and by justice, we are ready to put forward and elect such representatives.
We have excellent candidates. A positive agenda. Real grassroots work. A clear understanding of the problems.
These candidates have broad public support. They will win even in an unfair fight stacked with the use of administrative resources.
These candidates made it through the monstrous, nearly impassable signature-collection filter. More than that, one can say with complete confidence that they are the only ones who actually collected signatures. EVERYONE ELSE simply fabricated them.
You saw it yourselves: across all of Moscow, only 12 to 15 people were practically killing themselves collecting those damn signatures, while the rest, like magicians pulling rabbits out of a hat, smilingly produced neat little stacks.
We all want to see that so-called “expression of the people’s will,” and we are ready to accept it.
And they tell us: hell no. Since your candidates are strong and have public support, we won’t let them onto the ballot. We’ll leave on it Deputy Metelsky, with his Austrian houses and fabricated voter signatures (fun fact: Deputy Metelsky spent 32,000 rubles on collecting signatures).
After all, this is exactly the desired and optimal path of “change for the better without upheaval.” People’s attitudes have changed, opposition deputies have emerged. The authorities must also change something in response.
If the independents are not registered now—the ones who obviously collected their signatures themselves: Yashin, Sobol, Zhdanov, Jankauskas, Rusakova, Galyamina, Gudkov, Tsukasov, and others—then everything will get much worse.
Therefore:
Each of us must publicly demand that the candidates be registered. Write it on your own Facebook, VK, or Twitter if nothing else: “I publicly demand it.” Let your friends see it.
We need to support every public action the candidates call for. Authorized or unauthorized—it doesn’t matter. Any of them. Go out as many times as necessary. Stand there as long as necessary. Don’t be afraid of the police or of arrests. They can’t arrest everyone.
Our future is at stake, and we must not miss this small chance to defend our own voice amid the trash, chaos, and darkness that now reign in Russia.
P.S. Don’t forget about “Smart Voting”; we can see how its relevance is growing. Sign up now.
P.P.S.
Many people are asking whether I’ll be live today. Yes, I will—tune in at 8:00 p.m. on the Navalny LIVE channel.