So, what is going on in the glorious city of St. Petersburg? In St. Petersburg, extremism is thriving. And in two forms at that: real and fake. First, the fake kind: The lawless but obedient St. Petersburg cops are currently "fabricating" (I simply cannot call it anything else) an "organization of an extremist community" case against my old friend Andrei Dmitriev and his colleagues. Dmitriev used to head the St. Petersburg Natsbols (members of the National Bolshevik Party). The NBP has been banned. Now Dmitriev is being prosecuted for his activities within "The Other Russia." It should be understood that "being prosecuted" here is not a figure of speech at all — he has already been formally charged and faces up to three years in prison. In other words, they want to jail a man for three years for perfectly legal — and indeed quite useful — political activity. Anyone who knows Andrei understands perfectly well that this whole "extremism" case is completely made up. The goal of this operation is obvious: Dmitriev and his colleagues make up one of the most effective parts of the St. Petersburg opposition, and neutralizing them is the cherished dream of the crooks running the city. Dmitriev's video address:
Petition in support of the accused. Comments from various people on the case. Let's help the good people of St. Petersburg spread this information. And now, smoothly, on to real extremism. I have a strong feeling that real extremism — extremism that is truly dangerous for the country, the people, and society — is when a greedy, vicious auntie from a district Komsomol committee (the local branch of the Soviet Communist youth organization)
together with her dear little son
has latched so tightly onto the money and opportunities of the city of St. Petersburg that her dear little son has officially become a multimillionaire in U.S. dollars (and unofficially, a billionaire). And yet not so long ago, the dear little son, without any unnecessary swagger, was simply and plainly burglarizing apartments. To my mind, all the signs of an extremist group are there. What is "extremism"? **- propaganda of exclusivity, superiority, or inferiority of a person on the basis of his or her ... affiliation ...; ** *Here we clearly see propaganda — and real actions — aimed at establishing the dear little son's exclusive and superior position, on the grounds that he is mommy's own dear little boy and earns nice little sums for mommy. Everyone except the dear little son is treated as cattle and suckers. ***- obstructing citizens in the exercise of their electoral rights ... ; ***To shield the mommy-and-son business from criticism, elections in St. Petersburg are constantly rigged, and opposition parties are barred from participating. ***- propaganda and public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols, or paraphernalia or symbols resembling Nazi ones to the point of confusion; ***Absolutely. The hellish bouffant of greedy Aunt Valya and the son's hairdo (I wonder, do they go to the same hairdresser every morning?) offend us all worse than a swastika! *and so on. Funny how that works, isn't it? Real, dangerous extremists are using the "extremism" statute to persecute normal people. I am convinced that both the people of St. Petersburg and all of us should respond to the governor's sweet, wealthy family by stepping up efforts to bring both her and her dear little son to criminal responsibility. The situation is just as transparent and obvious as in the Luzhkov-Baturina case. But where are the reports titled "Matvienko. Results"? Where are the criminal complaints? All of this needs to be pursued. It is now clear that everything of this kind that was done regarding Luzhkov was not in vain. And sooner or later it will work in Matvienko's case as well.