Navalny. An Address on the Day of Silence

"We are the power here, we are the power here"—that’s what people

often chant at rallies, and I chant it too.

And they are absolutely right: according to the

Constitution, the source of power is the people, and the people gathered here

have the right to claim a share of that power. And what

is power, really? It is the real

ability to decide and control things. When

we talk about politics and elections, power

is the ability to determine what laws are written,

who becomes a deputy (legislator) and who does not,

to choose the president,

to punish people and put them on trial. For example, we

believe that

Medvedev, the leader of United Russia, should be punished. He stole

billions, using charitable

foundations.

But those sitting in the Kremlin say: no,

we will not put Medvedev on trial. Instead, let’s

punish the person who did

this—and so they sentenced someone to three years in prison

for essentially nothing at all.

Because they have the power. Or take this: I am

recording this video not in the studio, but here,

because on Thursday our studio was simply

raided, and the police removed absolutely

everything from it, including the cables and lighting

equipment.

Because they have the power. So why can’t we

exercise ours? After all,

every poll shows that Putin’s United

Russia is supported by a minority

of the population. And yet, year after year,

it takes 90 percent of the seats everywhere.

That is because political power can

be gained only through collective effort. In

normal countries, this works through

the party-based political system. You know:

here are the Republicans, here are the Democrats,

the right, the left—people unite around

shared interests, campaign, persuade, go to

elections, and in the end receive their share of

power: seats in parliament, ministerial

posts, the presidency. But in Russia,

the main thing those

who have usurped

power fight against and fear is precisely collective

action. We have no party, we are not allowed onto the ballot,

rallies are banned—in other words, they do

everything to make sure that you and I cannot

act together. And yes, there are a great many of us.

We run around, shout, rush in different

directions, write, argue—but we cannot do anything

together. Tomorrow we have our first

attempt to organize a real

collective action: Smart Voting.

It is simply an agreement, an organized

stand against the monopoly of United

Russia. In each of our hands there will be

a small piece of power. And Putin,

Sobyanin, Beglov, and all the rest—they

are sitting there right now hoping for only two

things: first, that you will not come for your little

piece of power, and second,

that we will simply scatter in different directions and

once again everything will dissolve into nothing. They, the

villains,

have collective action well organized. Here in

Moscow there are 45 seats.

But their 45 people vote only for

their own, and the villains look at us and say:

we did not allow your candidates onto the ballot,

so now, one way or another, you will elect

ours. And tomorrow, September 8, in the election,

either we accept what is being offered, or

we answer no. Maybe you removed our candidates,

but yours will not become deputies either. We will not

stay home, and we will not vote pointlessly in

a scattered way. We will use Smart

Voting and strike in a concentrated way so

that you lose. And only if

this works will you and I gain at least

some measure of power.

We will turn this little slip of paper

into a truly powerful weapon of the people. We

will decide that not Kolya but Petya will be the deputy,

or at least that Kolya definitely will not

be. If we succeed, then ahead of us

there will still be a very long road, but

that phrase from the rallies—"We are the power here"—

will finally begin to take on real

shape. I call on all of you

not to give up your power,

to take part in Smart Voting,

to unite with everyone else on

the last day before the election,

to make one final push and bring to the

polling stations your friends and acquaintances, and strengthen our

position with their votes.

Come to the polls tomorrow with the names of the

Smart Voting candidates. You are the power

here.