Text version
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Alexei Navalny
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And
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if you want to know how it feels
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to be a rock star, first of all it's very
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scary. I
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they talk about being fired up, but I just can't
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jump high enough. At this rally
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of tired people, all these people here have
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for the past two days been asking us
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were observers, and most likely
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didn't sleep last night. But I am happy
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to be here at this rally of tired
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people, and there are far more of them than those
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28,000 fake people with whose help
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Sobyanin and United Russia are trying to steal
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our victory.
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Thank you for coming here. When I
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speak, everyone says that when I myself
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say it's fine, it's just
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a small part of this campaign. Navalny himself
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there—me as a person—that's what I
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felt just now at the rally.
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These people said all my words—no, they even
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shouted all my chants.
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Well, I am glad to be a part of it, even if only
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a small part of something very
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big, very powerful. Thank you once again
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to you, my friends, thank you all so much.
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Thank you to the entire team that worked on
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the campaign, that is working at the elections,
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and that will keep working further in
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the second round, which I am sure we will achieve.
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This is the second time I have spoken at a rally
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devoted to election fraud.
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The first time was on December 5, 2011.
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Back then it was a rally of desperate
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observers. It was truly
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a rally of despair. You understood that we
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would achieve nothing, they simply didn't care,
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and yet we rallied. Now I was trying to understand:
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is this more a rally of victory or of defeat?
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In your opinion, victory or defeat?
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For a long time, we all wanted to speak at a rally
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of victory. We are very tired
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of the fact that for the last 13 to 15 years we have
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been losing all the time. I am glad today, together with
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you, to speak at a rally of victory. Thank you.
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I would like to apologize to you because
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every time I was asked,
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"Do you believe in victory?" I said, "I believe in victory,
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I believe we can win this election,"
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but somewhere deep down there was still
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the thought: well, it's impossible—they have
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television,
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enormous amounts of money, they can crush us
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in every TV segment, while we are only
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shown as having a 3 percent
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official rating. But today, when I know that
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thanks to you, thanks to your work,
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thanks to these people, every third
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voter in Moscow cast their vote for
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us, I say unequivocally: this is a victory.
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Please forgive me for not believing
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all the way to the end.
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How many of you were at our concert a few
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days ago? Thank you very much. I am
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glad you didn't get sick. You all remember what
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we talked about there. I came and asked
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you to help me, to trust me,
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to unite with me, and to help me
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including helping me find my name. I think that
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of course now our common name, and our
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check mark, is ours. And back then, with
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faith and hope, we spoke about
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wanting to change the political
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space in the country. We want to build
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something new. We want to have a real
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opposition. I believe this is precisely the kind of rally
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where we can simply state: in Russia, there has emerged
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a major opposition. In Russia, there has emerged
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a real, major political movement
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that represents the interests
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of the majority,
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that can go into elections
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with a constructive program and is ready
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to win these elections. And we are that
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political movement.
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We will work with other
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political movements that we
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respect and to which we are grateful for participating in
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this election campaign. But along the way, I
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ask: how much did those same 15
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percent in Moscow go to the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia)?
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How much went to A Just Russia?
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How much to the Communists? We
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will work together with them, but we call on
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them to work with us, to follow us, and we
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will be the leading political force in
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Russia that will fight United
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Russia. You know that not only must I
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win this election—politics has given birth to
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an opposition. You may not yet know exactly what to do, but
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we do know exactly how to do it. You just heard
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Leonid Volkov's announcement that
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they are ready to push for a recount of the votes.
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At the very least, they are now
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forced to respond, so formally our rally
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has probably achieved its goal. On the other hand, we
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understand that they will try to deceive us.
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Of course they will try to deceive us. We
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know it, we understand it. Of course they
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will do everything—they will give me a real or
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a suspended sentence and try to push me
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out of political struggle. They will
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use every possible tactic; all our parties, they will
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string us along over rallies, they
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will string us along through the courts. We
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understand that. But now we know exactly
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how to fight it.
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At last, we have found the right formats
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for our work.
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At last, we know what to do. If you
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were at the rally, at one of the rallies on
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Sakharov Avenue (in Moscow),
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I said that we must go to
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work on it methodically, and treat our
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opposition activity
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as work—serious, organized work.
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Some correct words, but not very often.
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People asked, all right, but what exactly does
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this work consist of? Let me explain, and
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now, together with you, I can say that
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we know what the job is. We
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did that job in this election, and we
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won.
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Every third Muscovite appreciated our
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work, and each one, in effect, said: these
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guys are doing an excellent job, I support them.
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I know that some of you are probably
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waiting for me to call on you to stay here
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in the square, perhaps.
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Great chant—yes, someone shouted that.
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But I would still like to remain with you
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honest to the end. If we write on our
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banners “don’t lie and don’t steal,” then I am not
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going to do that either.
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I am not going to mislead you, and I am not going to
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set you up or put you in danger, and so
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on. And if I called you to Bolotnaya (Bolotnaya Square in Moscow, a major protest site) in order
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to discuss the election results and
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asked you to support our ultimatum,
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that is exactly what today—what all of us—have
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achieved. I would not want to drag you somewhere
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you did not come intentionally. When
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the time comes—maybe it will come—
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when I call on you to take part in
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unauthorized protests, to overturn
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cars, set things on fire, or something else,
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maybe such a time will come. Then I will tell you
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plainly, in so many words:
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friends, come—and those who are ready
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to set fires and lie down on the asphalt, I will be
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there with you on the asphalt. But first I
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wanted to warn you about it. I ask
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you to believe me, because I
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know what to do next.
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Once, at one of the rallies, I shouted
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that I was a “network hamster” and I would tear out the throats
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of these bastards. You have to admit, I have
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gnawed at those throats a little. With your help, I definitely
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know what to do next. I know that the toad
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on the pipeline is afraid and starts jumping because
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its little feet are getting hot.
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We did that, and we will keep doing it
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going forward. We know
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how. We know how to turn our
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political machine, which we created
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in this election, into a steamroller
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that will crush United Russia (the ruling political party) and all
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the crooks and thieves.
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whom United Russia has scattered through all
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the plush offices. Our headquarters is not stopping
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its work. We will keep working in Moscow
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tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, until the runoff,
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in a year, in two years, in Moscow and
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St. Petersburg, in Yekaterinburg, and in cities all across
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the country. These formats of information work,
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organizational work, and network-based work
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we will bring everywhere. We will find
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like-minded people everywhere, like-minded people
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and bring them into our work.
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Those of you who helped create “Navalny in Every Home”
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—36,000 people in Moscow alone—
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we will scale such a project to all of
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Russia. We will show that the main
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leading organizational and political
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force in the country is us. And it is. Look
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at any party: fat-faced men sit in
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offices, receive hundreds of millions in budget
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funds, and can do absolutely nothing. Here,
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people came together who simply came
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in off the street. They read an announcement:
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come to Lyalin Lane, work on
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an election campaign. And they came.
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Look at yourselves: you do not
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know each other. You simply read: come
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fight for freedom.
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And you came, and you fought. You came, and you fought.
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That is why we won.
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We won. Every third vote—we
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received more votes than any
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opposition figure in Moscow has in
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the last 20 years.
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Thank you very much. This is a real victory.
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Ah.
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Ah.
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Ah.
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In Moscow and Yekaterinburg, these
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in Novosibirsk,
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Volgograd, and Samara—everywhere—
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there will be people like this standing there. I do not know
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what surnames will be on the signs,
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but I know for certain that these people will be
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of the same blood as us, and these people will be part
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of our successful political campaign,
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which will crush this urban власть (city power structure) across
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the whole country. We will do it. We know how
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to do it. We did it in Moscow.
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We will do it across all of Russia. My friends, I
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thank you for coming here. I
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thank you for supporting this
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ultimatum. This ultimatum, it seems to me,
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has achieved its goal. And even if tomorrow we
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find out that it turns out it was
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an accident, that we were deceived, that they
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changed their minds, I believe this will not be
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your only surge of spirit, that we
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came so that together with us
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you would stay and do the hard
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political work. We worked our guts out on this
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campaign for three months. It was a good
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time. It was a happy time, which
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we will remember exactly like that.
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And we will work hard for another year, and keep working until
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the moment we win. Maybe it will take
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years for us to win, but we believe in our victory.
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We believe in each other. Believe in me. Thank you
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very much. We will all win. I thank you for
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coming here. I love you all very much. I
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value you deeply. I am grateful to fate that I
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am standing on this stage, receiving your
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support. And I am grateful to all the people
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who are standing behind me. I am
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grateful to the hundreds of others who could not
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fit on this stage. Thank you very much.
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We will definitely win. Let the toad on the
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through the pipe
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They hear us and are afraid. We are coming for those buildings. Thank you.
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Navalny has nothing to do with this here—tell me, who does?
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The power is here.
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We are the power here, we are the power here.
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We are the power here, we are the power here.
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Uh,
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Thank you very much. I look at these faces and
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I understand that success is inevitable, simply
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because it is historically obvious that we will win.
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Our cause is just. We will win. Truth
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always wins. Thank you very much.
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Uh,
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I completely agree with the slogan, 'Second round.'
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My friends, thank you very much. When I was there,
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when I was just beginning, as I was arriving, someone came up to me
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from the police here—one of the generals,
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colonels asked cautiously, 'Is it true, is it dangerous—'
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'Please tell us, is it true
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that you are planning to put up tents today?' My
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answer is simple: why would I need tents? Let
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us live—we live in this city, we are not going anywhere.
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We are not going anywhere. I have neither any other reason
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nor another side, nor another family, no
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matter what—I am here anyway.
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Sooner or later, we will end up there. Let us do
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everything so that we find ourselves on the other side
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of the river, in that building where decisions are made,
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and then we will serve for the
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good of our country and our people.
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Thank you very much.