So.
Here’s what we already have:
More than two million views for the video about the launch of the campaign.
As you can see from the top bar, people are watching it in large numbers.
Positive feedback from top Russian economists with international recognition. No one is criticizing the numbers or the realism of the proposals.
We’ve collected 15% of the planned one million on Change.org.
We’ve collected 7% of the required three million signatures on VKontakte.
The state-run ROI (Russian Public Initiative platform) still refuses to publish the petition. They’re “moderating” it.
Even now, the “5 Steps” campaign is politically impossible to ignore. Peskov says he will “review the proposals.”
When we collect the several million signatures we need, Putin will be talking about it. Have no doubt.
So I’m satisfied with the first 24 hours of the campaign—thank you all very much. But we shouldn’t forget that it will get harder from here. In this initial push, we gathered signatures from the most active and engaged people; now each additional signature will be harder to get than the last. And there is no other way forward except through your work. We need to reach the people I cannot reach myself.
In principle, if the 250,000–300,000 people who have already signed post the link with a call to action on their social media, we’ll collect what we need within a day. Unfortunately, not everyone is that conscientious. As usual, the most responsible people have to do the work of five.
The most frequently asked question is: what the hell do signatures and petitions matter when this is what’s happening in Vladikavkaz?!
But the unrest in Vladikavkaz is happening for exactly the reason described in the first paragraph of the campaign website. People cannot afford to stay home because they have been stripped of their income. In essence, they are demanding exactly what is set out in the “Five Steps.”
It is important to support the protesters in Vladikavkaz, but it is no less important to explain to the rest of the country that there is a way out of this situation, and it has already been laid out. There is enough money in the reserve fund. We can and must secure assistance from our own national reserves.
The general discontent, grumbling, and anger at Putin and the government must be turned into a nationwide campaign with clear, specific demands. It will not be possible to ignore it, and OMON riot police won’t be able to disperse it.