The First Step Toward Victory

You and I understand quite clearly what

we want, and it's a perfectly normal desire.

We want to live in a developed, prosperous

high-tech country where people can

work in peace and earn a decent

salary. We want ourselves and our children

to have prospects in life.

We want Russia's national wealth to benefit

everyone, not just half a percent of the population,

as it does now.

We want to be able to go to court and obtain

justice there. So what is so unusual about these

demands?

A billion people around the world live like this,

and we can too. But the problem is that this

desire of ours runs counter to the interests

of a tiny group of people who sacrifice the common

good for their own personal

enrichment, and they do it successfully.

By the age of 18,

they have already turned into multimillionaires and

billionaires.

Why do they manage to do this while we,

despite being so numerous,

keep losing? The answer is simple:

we are not putting in enough

effort.

We are divided. We do not act as

effectively as we could. Look at

any wealthy country:

after every published case of

corruption, hundreds of thousands take to the streets in protest,

and that is why corruption declines there.

People go out into the streets with political

demands, and that creates political

competition, as a result of which

politicians change and

governments change, and each of them tries

to improve something, because otherwise you simply

lose the election. But unfortunately, you and I

do not exert on the Kremlin

constant

systemic pressure. That is why corruption

is so blatant, and why the government

does nothing. You see, any official,

not just a Russian one, is wired

in such a way that they only act if they

feel pressure from

criticism and the risk of losing their position. This

is neither good nor bad; it's a fact of life. And

until you and I learn

to put pressure on the state

system, we will achieve nothing. Over the

past year, we have not merely run an

election campaign; we have in fact

been creating a mechanism of influence,

a nationwide structure through which

we will be able to unite and together

demand our right to be

involved in the fate of our own

country. And we did it: we carried out successful

work across the country and opened 84 campaign offices.

We held many of the largest regional

rallies and traveled across the entire country, from

Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. There are

a great many of us: the campaign alone had

around 200,000 volunteers, and in one way or another

more than 700,000 people supported us. And

we are ready to act

now far more effectively than

we did before. They stole the election from us,

but we will not give up, and we will keep improving

and using our shared mechanism of influence

going forward. This is our political weapon. You and I

know perfectly well that on March 18, Putin

will stage his own reappointment and announce

that power belongs to him for another six

years. We know that.

But we cannot and must not resign ourselves to

another six years of poverty, corruption, backwardness,

and decline. The very thought of it is simply

horrifying.

So let us act: let us not

recognize these elections, let us actively

boycott them, take part in a voters' strike,

and most importantly, take to the

streets. At all times and in

all countries, peaceful street protests

have been the main and most powerful

mechanism for putting pressure on those in power. Either you and I

learn to go out into the streets and express

our demands, or they will keep

robbing us endlessly.

On January 28, we are holding

a nationwide protest, because

tens of millions of people simply had their

election stolen from them and were pushed out of the political

system altogether. They were told directly and clearly:

you are nobody here; no one cares about your opinion.

And each of us now faces

a simple choice: stay home and

accept it, or go out into the streets

of your city and remind them that you

exist. More than 90

cities across Russia are taking part in this protest, and at this protest

we need you—yes, you specifically, the viewer

of this video. Without you and without your

personal participation in the protest, in the strike, in

the campaigning,

we will achieve nothing. But as soon as

you join us,

the long-awaited thing will happen:

unity.

And then we will be able to defend our rights,

defeat corruption, hold normal

competitive elections, and make Russia

a developed and prosperous country. We still have

many steps ahead of us,

but the first of them is January 28.

Dress warmly and join

those who are true patriots of Russia.

Help me spread this

video, and I'll see you on the 28th.

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