Dear teachers! Don't do this.
Text version
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Dear teachers, this message is addressed specifically to you.
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I am recording this video appeal, and it
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is important not only for you, but for the whole
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country. And of course, after the words “dear
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teachers,” people are used to hearing
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some little poem or song, but today, unfortunately,
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I have come with a more unpleasant subject. We
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all know that elections in our country
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are rigged and falsified, and teachers
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are involved. Of course, they are not the main villains.
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It is clear that the orders to falsify come from
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Putin, his administration, and the Central
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Election Commission.
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And then, further and further down, the whole
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chain of fraud continues, but at the end of that
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chain, it is precisely
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teachers who make up most of the
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election commissions working at
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polling stations,
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which are usually located in schools. And it is
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teachers who stuff ballots, forge results,
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cheat, and loudly demand that
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observers be removed from polling stations.
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The school principal has registered... You
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may remain at the polling station for now.
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Please.
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Please identify yourself...
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Please identify yourself. Who're you?
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Please, dear teachers, we understand very well
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that you did not invent all of this.
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Doing this gives you no
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pleasure whatsoever. Most often, you are
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not even paid extra for it. But the fact
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remains a fact, and I think I can say, on behalf of
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a fairly large number of Russian
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citizens: I want to urge you—do not do
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this. Let’s be honest: no one is
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holding a gun to your head.
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We do not know of any real cases
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where teachers were actually fired simply because
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they refused to falsify
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elections. And a huge number of your
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colleagues refuse to do it—teachers just
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like you—and at their polling stations everything
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is done honestly, and the votes are counted honestly. Why, why
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should you throw away votes? And in these elections
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you will be asked to falsify turnout for the sake of
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the very people who have impoverished you. But
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surely you remember the teacher from the video in my
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campaign platform:
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“The workload I carry is quite heavy—
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one and a half positions, plus a bonus for special
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working conditions of around 25 percent. My
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salary is only 14,800 rubles (about 14.8 thousand rubles).
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Yet on television we often hear
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about the average salary of teachers.
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For example, in our region it is said to be,
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if I remember correctly, around 36
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or 40 thousand rubles. I personally do not know a single
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teacher in our city who earns
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that kind of salary.” You know perfectly well how
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this government manipulates your salary figures,
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the averages,
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and compares teachers’ pay to the average across the economy.
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In the Vladimir region, it is supposedly over thirty thousand.
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You know how they cut positions, how they
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increase workloads, and what an enormous
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amount of pointless paperwork
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they force you to deal with instead of
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teaching children. Teaching is a calling, and
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if your goal were simply to make money, there are
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plenty of excellent places where you could do that
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faster and more effectively—the same
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business world, for example.
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But you did not go into business, as I understand it.
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So stop helping them. If in these elections
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you help Putin
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falsify voter turnout,
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you will be harming both yourselves and all citizens of
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Russia. I understand—it is not always easy to simply
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refuse, to stand up and proudly
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declare to all your colleagues, “I
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refuse to falsify.” I mean,
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of course that would be ideal, but if
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it feels too hard or frightening, you can refuse
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quietly. You can call in sick. You can and should
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say that you are very afraid of the consequences
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and therefore will not risk taking part in it.
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I assure you, nothing will happen to you. Your
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children are watching you, your
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students are watching you, the whole country is watching you, and
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your example will be planted in the minds of
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millions and will shape attitudes toward such
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things for entire generations, for decades
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to come. Its importance cannot be overstated. We all
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believe in you. You can do this.
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Refuse to take part in falsification. Do not
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participate in it. Thank you very much.