The law restoring "libel" to the Criminal Code, complete with some insane fines, has been successfully passed. Congratulations to United Russia on doing such an excellent job of protecting itself. More new initiatives are on the way, each better than the last: the law on volunteers. Thousands of volunteers who self-organized to help residents of Krymsk (a town hit by devastating floods) infuriated United Russia. How could this be? Free assistance without special permission? Outrageous. Collecting clothes and money without approval from an authorized body? That is a threat to national security and an obvious attempt to bring Russia down. a volunteer will no longer be able to work just like that, without an organizer (a legal entity on which responsibility can be placed) and without a written (!) contract with that organizer. The contract must specify the rights and duties of both the organizer and the volunteer. Organizers, for example, will have to reimburse the volunteer’s expenses related to carrying out the assignment (travel, accommodation, food, and the purchase of necessary supplies and materials). They will also bear legal responsibility for failure to fulfill contracts with volunteers and with those receiving help. Organizing volunteer work will become a risky business—failure to comply with the conditions set out in the law will be punished administratively. And if reimbursement of expenses is involved, competent bookkeeping will also be required (creating yet another opportunity to punish civic activists for improper accounting). So now, in an emergency, the first priority will be finding a legal entity and signing a written contract with it. Everything else can wait until after that. Even EMERCOM, for which volunteers in Krymsk spent their own money in the first days buying gloves, chainsaws, and rubber boots, can wait too. the law on stripping mandates. Deputies who misbehave will simply be thrown out of parliament by a decision of the United Russia majority. Say from the podium, "the party of crooks and thieves," get condemned by the ethics commission, and goodbye. You’re no longer a deputy, and nobody cares that citizens actually voted for you. Wonderful initiatives. Exactly what the country needs right now. Priority number one. And of course, our task as responsible citizens is to inform our neighbors, colleagues, and random passersby about United Russia’s titanic work for the good of the Motherland. DMP cannot ignore this wonderful initiative involving the "libel" law. Especially since we flatter ourselves with the thought that "libel in the Criminal Code" is United Russia’s answer to our Good Machine of Truth. The most irritating thing is that the slogan "United Russia is the party of crooks and thieves" remains completely legal anyway, because libel is a crime against an individual. You cannot libel a legal entity. Nevertheless, we support United Russia’s effort to eradicate libel and libelers everywhere, and so we ask everyone to take part in an informational and educational campaign in support of the United Russia party. Go here: http://5000000.mashina.org/ Choose your region, enter your street and house number if you want, and print out a leaflet. It will look something like this:
As you can see, the leaflet was prepared by an organization of "United Russia supporters and coordinators," so it cannot be considered fake. United Russia does have supporters and coordinators, after all. The party logo is also used in its original form, so no copyright has been violated. 42% of Russian citizens calling United Russia "the party of crooks and thieves" is a lot. I am sure that distributing such a leaflet will deal a very serious blow to those who saddle United Russia with this offensive nickname, and reduce their numbers (well, most likely). The new law will stand guard over the Party’s interests. The more people read that the slogan branding United Russia as the Party of Crooks and Thieves is libelous, the sooner this disgraceful label will be forgotten. After all, in their everyday lives, citizens encounter absolutely nothing that might lead them to say, "United Russia is the party of crooks and thieves." DMP’s previous leaflet campaign is going very briskly; the leaflet has been downloaded 83,000 times. From everyone who downloads it, we expect the DMP minimum: distributing just 10 leaflets. Though the most advanced among us distribute them by the hundreds. http://5000000.mashina.org/ download it, print it, distribute it. Are they tearing them down? There is only one answer: http://5000000.mashina.org/ download it, print it, distribute it. Even if a leaflet "lives" for only 20 minutes, at least 5 to 10 people will see it. And tomorrow they’ll see it, and the day after tomorrow too. Repetition is the mother of learning. Remember that slogan hanging in school? Exactly. Don’t forget to share the link http://5000000.mashina.org/ and click the social media share buttons. Let’s defeat libel together!