First of all, here’s that very photo we took on the MKAD (Moscow Ring Road) at 5 a.m.
An example of how solemnly thoughtful the face of a person can look when, at that very moment, he is balancing on two wooden crates to get properly into the shot. As you know, an active election campaign is underway across Moscow to elect S. S. Sobyanin mayor of our city. All of us can see how, at hundreds of signature-collection points across the city, thousands of jubilant Muscovites are signing in support of the United Russia candidate.
(Krasnoselskaya)
(Kutuzovsky) Don’t let the photos fool you. Every day Sobyanin, dispelling analysts’ doubts, reports a new record in signature collection. The headquarters of the United Russia candidate has already decided exactly whom it plans to defeat in its election: Sergei Sobyanin’s campaign manager, Lyudmila Shvetsova, believes that the acting mayor’s main competitors will be Nikolai Levichev (A Just Russia) and Ivan Melnikov (Communist Party). "Among those seeking this post, there are politicians of serious stature. For example, Ivan Melnikov or Nikolai Levichev. They are State Duma deputies. They are educated people, professional politicians," Shvetsova said in an interview with the radio station City FM. I find all of this pretty disgusting to watch. I’m a Muscovite too, after all. And I live in Moscow, unlike Sobyanin. You can talk all you want about how much “popular support” my team and I have, but we are confident that it is enough to give us the right to take part in a fair election, tell city residents about our program, and win their support. I do not understand why the list of those allowed to participate in the election is being determined by a bunch of temporary con artists in the Kremlin and at 13 Tverskaya (Moscow City Hall). We are firmly determined to break up this Sobyanin–United Russia idyll. Everyone asks: how are you going to run a campaign? They won’t let you on TV, they won’t let you onto billboards, they won’t let you into district newspapers. Well, okay—was I ever allowed there before? Somehow our Anti-Corruption Foundation has done and continues to do its work without television. We have something even better. Question: Wt kind of help can a candidate for mayor of Moscow count on if he is an ordinary person, living with his family in a prefabricated apartment block in Maryino, spending three hours a day in traffic, going to the local clinic, with children attending the local school and kindergarten? ** Answer: He can count on the help of ordinary Muscovites, living with their families in ordinary homes, spending three hours a day in traffic, going to the local clinic, whose children go to the local school and kindergarten. ** That is better and stronger than any propaganda box. I’m like you, I represent your interests, and I am counting on your help. As I wrote earlier, we are creating a volunteer headquarters. Some of you have already received an email about this. This will be the largest experiment in Russia in working with volunteers. Together with you, we will try to organize the work of thousands of people who do not agree that power in the city and the country should appoint and reappoint itself for one purpose only—to steal. We have something to say to people, and we will get our message across even without television. Through you. It will be a very difficult and very labor-intensive process, but it will also definitely be very fun, interesting, and worthwhile. As of now, about 3,000 people in total have already signed up for our volunteer groups. To manage this team, we have created groups on social media: VKontakte http://vk.com/teamnavalny Facebook https://www.facebook.com/teamnavalny Instagram http://instagram.com/teamnavalny Odnoklassniki http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/group/52873526575342 Twitter https://twitter.com/teamnavalny Join us if you want to drive out the occupying United Russia machine and stop it from stealing power in our city. If you don’t use social media but want to join, we also have a special email signup form; you can fill it out, and we’ll get to know you better. Let me repeat: no one has ever organized the work of this many volunteers before. We will be the first, and we will learn how to do it together with you. There are lots of good ideas—let’s see which ones work. We have rented a space for the volunteer headquarters. There’s a huge mirror there:
And an old piano:
There’s nothing else there yet, but there will be soon. If you (a) are spending the summer in Moscow, (b) do not like crooks, thieves, Sobyanin, and United Russia, (c) are used to standing up for your political views and your right to choose, then we are simply made for each other. The Constitution supposedly says that the source of power in Russia is the people. We are that people, so let’s unite in order to change the government in everyone’s interests. http://vk.com/teamnavalny https://www.facebook.com/teamnavalny http://instagram.com/teamnavalny http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/group/52873526575342 https://twitter.com/teamnavalny http://email.navalny.ru/h/i/610F2DC5FF1DA7E9 PS Sharing this post is, of course, encouraged.