May 5. Let’s discuss it from Putin’s point of view

Hi, let's look at everything through the eyes

of Putin. After all, we keep saying all the time:

we, as citizens, have rights. But he too is a

citizen, and he also has his own position.

But he is against our May 5 protests, which

will take place across the country, and he says:

don't rally against me. Everyone who

demonstrates against me is a very bad person,

a very nasty person. I've never seen

such a person before. And I, Putin, am a very, very

good person. I am very, very pleased

with Putin; he is a very good president.

I forbid these rallies because there is

no reason for you to be running around the streets, and all of you

who are watching this now have other

ways to defend your rights. And then come

the usual set of arguments: go to

court, go to elections, go to local

elections, contact newspapers, and so on

and so forth. So let's honestly try

to assess these arguments and try

to understand whether it is really so necessary for us

to go out into the streets of our cities on May 5,

or whether there are some other options

for interacting with the authorities for those who

did not vote for Putin and do not like the United Russia

party. Go to court.

You often hear that. You start

arguing with the state. Let's suppose that in

your case there won't even be any

politics involved. So what are your chances of winning

your case? Extremely small.

Fresh statistics from the Judicial Department

tell us that in 2017 Russia

set a new record, and now the percentage

of acquittals stands at

0.2 percent. That is,

if the state dislikes you so much right now

that it opens a case against you,

then with a probability of ninety-nine

point eight percent

it will put you in prison. Today's Russian courts

simply do not acquit anyone, ever.

Under Stalin (the Soviet dictator), there were more acquittals

than there are now. The authorities actually

like to explain this by saying that our

prosecutors, investigators, and police work

simply perfectly, and that's why there are no acquittals.

Well, if you believe that, then the road to

the courts is closed to us.

All right then, what about not

protesting, but going to elections instead,

winning them, and changing the situation?

No one doubts the efficiency and

objectivity of the work of the election

commissions. But here everything is very simple: I

tried, and they didn't let me run, even though

I won all the European courts. We tried to register our

Progress Party five times

and were refused.

Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Yekaterinburg, would easily have

won the election for governor of Sverdlovsk

Region,

but he too was barred from the ballot.

And in general, mayoral elections have now been

abolished almost everywhere.

For gubernatorial elections, United Russia

has set up a filter that no one except

it can overcome. But even if by some

miracle you do end up on the ballot,

people will run to the ballot boxes carrying stacks

of identical ballots, and what comes out of it

will later be called the fairest election, as

many have already said. It was the most

transparent, the cleanest air in the history

of our country. Well, maybe then we shouldn't

go into high-level elections, but instead

try to get elected as heads of small

towns. Take Volokolamsk as an example,

which became famous across the country because of

its protests against the garbage dump there.

A good mayor, a great mayor, supported

the residents and even approved their rallies, and

what happens in that case?

Does the mayor get rewarded? No. In his

apartment and in his office they carry out

searches,

as if hinting: buddy, you've forgotten that mayors in

Russia are not supposed to defend the interests

of residents. They exist in order to

protect the interests of officials, and the officials

want to make money from the garbage

dump.

Well, okay, that doesn't work either. Let's

go to the newspapers then. Maybe there

they'll help us.

All more or less major media outlets in Russia,

even on the internet, directly serve

the authorities. Total censorship has been established there.

My friends, what is to be done? Well, maybe

then we'll write on social media.

For example, VKontakte has a large

audience, a very large one. But here we should remember that

in Russia, every week a court hands down

a real prison sentence to someone

simply for writing something on social

media, and such cases are becoming more

and more common every day. Well okay, maybe

we shouldn't post on social media, but write in

messengers or chats. But what is happening now

with Telegram, you know perfectly

well even without me. And over in

Magadan, in a local chat,

someone wrote that the city's mayor was a crook, so

the police started running around and

seizing the phones of those who were in that

chat in order to find out who had dared

to insult this servant of the people. In this

situation, we simply... well, our

powers here are exhausted, that's it.

Well, maybe then we shouldn't write anything anywhere at all,

but simply discuss among ourselves

something important, for example cases of corruption.

Then Putin will hear us and take

some measures. After all, it would seem to be in his

interest to reduce public

discontent.

Over the past year and a half, only our

The foundation has told you about outrageous cases

of corruption involving Medvedev, Usmanov, Shuvalov

Deripaska, Prikhodko, and Peskov

Progorov? Prigozhin, Khloponin

Slutsky, Skrynnik, and so on, and so on.

Tell me,

has even one of these people

suffered any consequences? Not even jailed, but

was any one of them at least made

to explain themselves to us? No. The only

comment we supposedly deserve is: nonsense,

garbage, absurdity. That is how everything is done

according to the principle of throwing everything into one mess

with no trace of reason.

So then I don't know,

maybe we should just give up on all of it

and focus on personal growth, on education,

on education so that later you can build your own

great future career.

You can do that, of course. But the answer to the question

of whether there are such opportunities in modern Russia

is given to us by the director of the Ukhta

Industrial Institute: there will be none.

Because you use it only

for playing around.

They are very silent.

Anyone who is dissatisfied today, we

will go into every room, there will be more

and no one will open anything except when

you are eating.

Choked.

That's all.

And this kind of person is becoming more and more

the typical image of a Russian

university rector. These days it is almost always

some official, some former minister,

definitely a member of United Russia, and dumb

as a post.

He has absolutely nothing to do with education,

and it is no surprise that in the

international university rankings, in the entire

top 100, in the whole top 100, there is

only one Russian university, and it is in

95th place. So where are we supposed to go?

Those of us who do not agree with Putin,

there are tens of millions of us.

We are citizens, citizens. So how can we

cleverly manage things so that we do not have to go to a rally,

but still have our voices

heard and taken into account?

The answer is: no way. And the best proof

that people understand the authorities do not want

to listen to the people is that

every year, people leave Russia;

150,000 people emigrate. That is an entire

city.

Just think what enormous damage

the country suffers because these people

have left. They no longer earn money here,

they will never pay taxes here,

they will produce nothing here; they are

helping the economies of other countries instead.

And you and I are wasting away here, and before

each of us there is a basic fork in the road: if

you have made a principled choice

to leave Russia, then I

will no longer be able to convince you of anything. But

if you are staying here to live, if we are all staying

here together, then think: what part

of your life are you prepared to spend

silently waiting for things to

get better? And do you believe they can

get better while Putin is in power? Haven't the

last few years convinced you?

For four years in a row, people's incomes have been falling.

You have become poorer, and at the same

time, in this same declining economy,

the number of oligarchs grows every year,

their combined wealth grows every year,

and the total incomes of top officials

keep rising. The salary of a government

official increased over the last year by

128 percent. Is it really not clear

that you are becoming poorer

because they are becoming richer?

Is it really not clear that this will not

stop, but will only keep getting worse?

Putin has only just been elected yet again,

and already the talk has started: we will raise

the retirement age, introduce new taxes.

Is it really not clear that all of this

is happening precisely because we stay silent

and do not take to the streets? For this government, and for

Putin personally, there is only one criterion: whether people

come out into the streets. And they watch this carefully.

If people stay at home, that means they are ready

to endure it.

Let's introduce a new tax. They stay at home again.

Excellent, then let's raise the price of gasoline, and

they still stay silent and sit at home.

Wonderful people, a golden nation. Well then,

let the deputy speaker of the State Duma come and tell

them all that medicine imports will be restricted, and

let them treat themselves with oak bark.

I'll brew up some hawthorn for you, you know.

And I work... [inaudible]

Fine, hawthorn then.

And again they stay silent, and they are not ready to go

out into the streets.

But it is simple, it is easy, it does not even

take much time. But if people do not

come out, then they should continue to be ruled

like voiceless slaves.

If propaganda has not fooled you and you

understand what is happening, then there are two

possibilities: either you are afraid, and

it is not even clear of what,

and are ready to sacrifice your future for

that fear—then stay home.

But if you are an honest person and a citizen,

then on May 5, come in your city to the

rally against everything this government is doing,

against the fact that it despises us

and does not want to hear us. Come out to the

rally if you have human

dignity.

Those who agree with me, I ask you to help

spread this video. Write in

on social media that you’re coming and bring your friends along

See you on May 5