During the most recent march in defense of political prisoners, some guy was walking next to me in the column carrying a sign that said: "Navalny, are you going to the Russian March too?" He was very pleased with himself and kept shouting that he was one of my voters, without understanding how stupid and inappropriate his idiotic sign was. He was shoved out with cries of "provocateur," but I don’t think he was a provocateur in the paid sense — he was just an idiot. That guy is also a perfect example of the strange hysteria and commotion that has recently been building around my participation in the Russian March. I took part in every one of them starting in 2007; I missed the last one because I was laid up with a fever and reading the "comments" of "political analysts" claiming that I wasn’t really sick, of course. This year I am consciously choosing not to go, and I’ll try to explain why — it matters to me, because in a sense this is my political failure. Since 2007 I’ve been explaining why everyone should go, but it hasn’t worked out especially well. Since 2007 I have patiently and consistently told everyone who is outraged that the Russian March is an objective phenomenon, that it has underlying causes: migration, social stratification, the political and legal offshore on the Caucasus, the exclusion of nationalists from politics, and so on. Whether we like it or not, the Russian March will happen. And what it looks like depends precisely on us: a) a gathering of marginal characters and schoolkids throwing Nazi salutes b) a normal march of conservative-minded citizens — men and women who have come out to assert their lawful rights. To be honest, back in 2007 I was sure that by around 2013 the Russian March would, through its natural evolution, come to resemble the second option. Unfortunately, that has not happened, although it must be said that the new nationalist leaders — Krylov, Belov, Tor, and others — have done enormous work to make political Russian nationalism capable of existing in an acceptable European format, while ROD has become an excellent example of a new type of human rights organization. The resistance is enormous: the Kremlin, which refused to register the "National Democratic Party" and "New Force," while financing marginal puppet groups that use violence; the media, which portray nationalists as bogeymen or mock them; and the liberal-democratic public, which does not want to take on any share of responsibility for the civilized development of nationalism. Because of all this, participation in the Russian March is still seen by a broad range of voters, if not as something frightening, then as something exotic. This is not about some so-called "liberals" — they’ll be fine either way. I’m talking about grandmothers, thousands of whom I spoke with all summer at meetings with voters. I still support the Russian March as an idea and as an event, and I am ready to help with information support or in some other way, but in the new situation I cannot take part personally. Some may sneer, but after the Moscow elections I feel a great burden of responsibility and must preserve the political balance that allowed me (allowed us) to achieve a significant result. The process of building unity and working with all groups is now more important than explanatory work of the kind: look, I went to the Russian March and nobody ate me, and I didn’t eat anyone either, and 95% are perfectly normal people. My participation in the Russian March right now would turn into a hellish movie comedy: like Boniface (a popular Soviet cartoon lion) surrounded by children, I would be walking in a crowd of 140 photographers and camera operators all trying to film me against a backdrop of schoolkids throwing Nazi salutes. Naturally, our "friends in the Kremlin" would do everything to make sure there were always plenty of such saluting kids around me. And then "TV host" "Solovyov" and "journalist" "Kiselyov" would spend another three months running that footage on federal television, saying: "See how quickly the liberals united with the fascists once they caught the sweetish scent of pogroms. They trembled impatiently in anticipation of smashed-in doors at wine shops" and so on. I have absolutely no desire to give them that opportunity. And I do not want the efforts of the Kremlin riffraff to discredit me to end up discrediting the Russian March as well. Once again: this is a very difficult decision for me. I understand there will be a lot of criticism, but I hope for understanding. Russian March 2013 will take place on November 4 in Lyublino. Gathering at 12:00 p.m. at the intersection of Pererva and Belorechenskaya Streets. Website: http://rmarsh.info/ Participation in the Russian March matters. Anyone who is still deciding whether to go or not — come.
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