So, where are those who are tired of internet battles and ready to step into real life?
And those who want to move forward with a constructive program.
And those who are ready to fight in local elections.
If you want to help the struggle against the power of the Crooks and Thieves (a popular opposition nickname for the ruling party) with action rather than words—though words will be needed too—then the Campaign for Khimki action was created especially for you.
On June 30, the Democratic Choice movement (DMP) successfully carried out the "Campaign for Gagarin!" action, after which United Russia supporters couldn’t calm down for a long time and even commissioned analytical TV reports claiming that DMP activists were handing out pork on the streets of Gagarin.
Let’s use that experience just without the pork and stage a landing in Khimki in support of the people’s candidate for mayor, Chirikova.
The PJiV crowd (from the Russian acronym for “Party of Crooks and Thieves”) ran Khimki for many years. They brought it to the point of transport collapse and turned it into a place barely fit for people to live in. They directly organized murders and beatings of those who spoke out against them. Now United Russia is afraid to openly nominate its own candidate (everyone hates United Russia) and has disguised its candidate, Oleg Shakhov, as an "independent". But this "independent" has already voiced support for the course of former mayor Strelchenko, who also happened to be a thug. The campaign methods haven’t changed either. Paid-for opinion polls in which an outsider candidate nobody had ever heard of had his rating artificially inflated from 7% to 29% in 10 days. Free mass distribution (paid for from the public budget) of the official city newspaper: open any issue of that paper and enjoy its inimitable North Korean style. What can the People’s Candidate, Chirikova, set against the power of administrative resources? That’s right: grassroots campaigning. She is already supported by just about everyone possible: from Boris Nemtsov to Sergei Udaltsov, from Yuri Shevchuk to Eldar Ryazanov. Let’s go to Khimki too and support her with very simple work: spend half a day walking around the city, handing out leaflets, and campaigning in the streets and courtyards. The task is very simple: remind people that the election is on October 14, and that it is very important to show up. Because if you don’t, then the city administration will once again be filled with people who settle local government matters with baseball bats. Chirikova has a high level of support; all she needs to win is mobilization. One day of work for a common cause is worth years of political chatter. On Saturday, September 29, at 11:00 a.m., those who are ready not to talk but to work will gather at the main entrance of Leningradsky Station.
At 11:34, a suburban train leaves from there and arrives at Khimki station at 12:01. Just 27 minutes on the way—not 3 hours like the trip to Gagarin! The round-trip ticket costs 99 rubles. Don’t print any campaign materials—everything, including the leaflets paid for from the people’s candidate’s election fund (which you yourselves helped build!), will be handed out on site. We’ll split into groups of 3–5 people and systematically cover all of Khimki, campaigning politely and persuasively while distributing materials. If you’re ready to take part, be sure to sign up in the group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/khimki2012/ or on VKontakte http://vk.com/khimki2012 Required reading—please read carefully: How many people do we want to gather? About 200; any more than that will already be hard to coordinate. The action is being organized by: Nikolai Lyaskin, Vladislav Naganov, and Zhora Alburov. Direct all questions to them. I’ll definitely take part myself as an ordinary campaign volunteer. Upd: Chirikova is also running for the Coordinating Council To vote for her, you need to register