Of course I’m going. I won’t spend long talking about the lying, brazen position of the scoundrels and crooks at Moscow City Hall who banned the “March of Freedom” on December 15. It’s described here in sufficient detail. Their fear after last December has completely passed, and the bureaucratic snout is now telling all of us quite openly:
Who are these people, anyway, telling us, “you are nobody”? Who elected them? Who appointed them? Who are they, not even trying to hide their irritation that we are distracting them from looting budget money on some pointless paving project, road construction, or the purchase of a yellow-and-green fence costing 100 million rubles. We are not claiming to represent 100% of the population. But I’d like to see even one rally of 15 people in support of Sobyanin and his gang that wasn’t staged by bussing in Tajik janitors. At least for Putin, besides state employees forced to attend, Kurginyan still comes out with his foam-party spectacles. And what exactly are these people trying to pull? The Coordination Council did everything it could to get this event officially approved. A huge amount of time was spent in negotiations with that idiotic city administration. They came up with a special finale involving voting and postcards. Lazareva persuaded various artists, and they drew those postcards. They prepared ballot-box-like containers of some kind. Posters with the faces of political prisoners, and so on. Damn it, they even invited a brass band to lead our festive but determined columns. And by the way, that’s not easy: finding a band willing to play in -15°C (5°F). They practically freeze to their trombones. Ridiculous as it sounds: they even GOT THE REPERTOIRE APPROVED for the orchestra (and that was especially difficult). And then some guy comes out and tells us all: you are nobody, you have no right to walk through the city center and demand anything. You can swallow it when they tweak the route a little here, alter the outcome a little there, inflate the budget a little somewhere else. But tomorrow they’ll put a muzzle on you, just a little. Not for long. Ten or fifteen minutes to start with. So you get used to it. In accordance with current legislation. The muzzle is hypoallergenic, approved by the Health Ministry and Onishchenko (Russia’s former chief public health official). The Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation will protest: it will not approve the use of the muzzle and will urge citizens to wear it no more than twice a day and to use foam rubber so it doesn’t chafe. In his annual address, the president will say that the muzzle is a temporary but necessary measure to prevent the country from falling apart. Or we can remember our human dignity and come to Lubyanka Square on December 15 at 3 p.m. There is no need to take part in any rally, picket, or march. The goal is not to break through to the center of the square and throw yourself to the ground chest-first in order to turn into a Siberian crane (a jab at Putin’s staged crane flight). There is no aim of touching a riot policeman’s helmet with your index finger or shaking the iron barricade. This is purely a symbolic appearance. As a matter of principle.
Come by whatever route is available, get as far as you can freely go. Stand there for a while. Breathe the freezing Moscow air, then go home. No arguments with the police, no scuffles. No detentions. No fuss. It will all look terribly unclear and disorganized. It won’t be clear who is where, and people will be coming from all directions. That’s always how it is; It won’t be clear what to do. And in fact, there is nothing to do. Nothing matters except physical presence and the inner conviction that this presence is necessary. Not for anyone and not on anyone’s behalf. For yourself. And for your children too. http://marsh-svobody.ru/ It is important to go to this website. Click the “I’m going” button and share that in your social networks. Click on the poster, print it out, and hang it in your apartment building entrance or office. Moscow City Hall and the Kremlin believe they have banned the “March of Freedom.” Fine. But they cannot ban walking. Streets, sidewalks, and legs are not banned yet. Everyone goes on their own. You leave home and at 3 p.m. you find yourself at Lubyanka Square.
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