Stanislav Ruzanov

27-12-11

Stanislav Ruzanov is a member of the political council of Trudovaja Rossija party (Labour Russia)

What did TR organize on December 24^th? How did you try to show you discontent about the liberals, who organize the demonstrations and forbid the left representatives to took part in them on the stage?

On this time they invented new ways to avoid disorders and make people not to be distracted from the stage they monopolized. Liberals knew that different left movements would try to create their own alternative space to apply directly to people, express their ideas and attract the attention of the mass, with the hope to take the control of the situation. They prevent us to do this, they forbid people to take megaphones and microphones in the square. So we had to find new ways to communicate with people and to spread our ideas: we distributed our journal and our leaflets, we spoke face to face with people and we distributed red ribbons, against the white ribbons distributed by liberals.

Who organized the demonstration on Vorob’evye Gory? It seemed to be a left organization, they used red ribbons too.

That demonstration was organized by Sergej Kurginjan, who is a member of the statist team. It’s clear that behind his actions there is the Putin hand. He is also allowed to lead a tv program, “the historical duel”, in which he discusses against the liberal Sanidze (Medvedev supporter), supporting the statist putinian line.

The TR activist didn’t took part in it, we prefer be present at the demonstration in Prospekt Sakharova, but I saw some videos and I had the bad sensation (but it’s only a sensation) that the two demonstrations are moved by the two Cremlin clans. The “tandem” is finishing, and how it is going to end we will understand only closer to the presidential elections in march.

I suspect the demonstrations are done not to attack Putin, as superficially it could seem, but to favor his political line against the Medvedev one. Liberals allowed on the stage Ksenija Sobchak, Putin’s nephew, and the former Minister Kudrin, member of the Putin’s entourage.

The next demonstration was set far in the future, on February. What is TR going to do in this period? Are you going to organize not-authorized demonstrations?

No, we don’t want to make careless actions, the situation is really complicated and we want to analyze it well before we do anything. At the moment we are going to use every occasion like the legal demonstration to spread our ideas. It’s not convenient for us to do not-authorized demonstrations, we have to gather strength and organize a day with big left initiative.

Isabelle Magkoeva

25-12-11

Isabelle Magkoeva is a member of the Rossijskoe Socialisticheskoe Dvizhenije (Russian Socialist Movement), RSD, and an activist of the #OccupyMoscow movement

On December 24^th in Moscow took place a new demonstration. As already happened on December 10^th, it seems the representatives of the left political organization were not allowed to speak on the stage. Why do you think liberals excluded them and monopolized the organization of protests?

It’s because of the historical disagreements between left and liberal political groups.

After the horror of the soviet regime, all the interpretations of the Marxism-leninism, also the ones who were repressed by the soviets, experienced together with “official” communism a reproach from the public opinion. The people today look with suspect to all is left-oriented, associating Marxism to totalitarianism and lack of freedom.

After perestrojka raised two main political blocs, the liberal and the communist one, the former represented by El’cin, who proposed the new ideas of free trade and parliamentary democracy, the latter by KPRF, that proposed nothing new but the restoration of USSR.

These two blocs kept a similar consensus until the presidential elections in 1996, when El’cin won (by tricking the results). From that moment the popularity of KPRF (which in that contest represented the left-wing) fell down. Today KPRF is a dying party, as the generation supporting it, that receives relatively a lot of votes only from who wants not to vote for Edinaja Rossija. The role it tooks in the last years particularly favored Putin, who uses the presence of KPRF in the parliament to assert that in Russia we have enough plurality.

As an evidence of their agreement with the system, we can see how Zjuganov defined our demonstration as “the orange infection” (referring to Ukraine). Moreover, KPRF deputies made out they also protest against unfair election, but actually they strongly keep that parliamentary seats they define lawless.

In general the main cause of the left parties’ unpopularity, as in the rest of the world, are the unsuccessful attempts to create socialism and its consequent discredit. Another cause is the impossibility for these political organization to register legally as a party: they have to present 100 thousand supporting signatures, and take so much of them is possible only for persons who have a lot of money like oligarchs. The third cause: the liberal leaders are professional politicians, while left leaders can’t effort to work on politics 24h a day, they have normal lives too. For liberal leaders is simpler to organize and control the situation.

For what concerns the demonstration on December 24^th, on 9 people speaking on the stage only one was a left-oriented one. On the internet was organized a polling to decide who actually should speak. The liberals, who protest against falsifications, tricked the results of this polling, admitting to the second turn only persons they were interested in. To protest against liberals is very difficult, because they are taking a lot of supporters among people while left activist are simply discreditable.

What about the “alternative platform”? Why did you organize it and what goals achieved?

We decided to create this alternative platform because we disagree about what is proposed on the demonstration stage: we don’t want to choose one of that pseudo-politicians are shown and try to send him to the Cremlin to make him forget about us all. We don’t want to listen from the stage actors, politicians, former putinians and nationalists. This is why was born the idea of the alternative platform, supported by various artists, RSD and #OccupyMoscow, to give voice to the one who could not speak on the stage, to the one who came also to express his opinion and not only to listen. We helped people making their own banners, giving them materials, and, more important, we organized the “human microphone” (the human microphone is made by a group of people who repeats loudly all together what is said by the orator. Who organized the demonstration didn’t allow people to take megaphones and microphones in the square, exactly not to let people being distracted by the left activists –editor’s note– ). Actually, we were afraid the human microphone won’t work, the people who speak could communicate unpleasant or repetitive concepts, but it was a success! Many people spoke and we heard many interesting ideas and opinions.

The experiment of the alternative platform was to understand “is it possible direct democracy today?”, the answer we had was “it’s the ONLY possible way”.

Activists of Trudovaja Rossija also disagree with the actions of liberals and they are also looking for different ways to be visible out of the stage. Why left movements have not organized something together still?

I won’t explain all the particulars, the main cause of the lack of cooperation among the different left political organizations is the different interpretation about the past of our nation, and it’s an approach that makes difficult any cooperation.

In these days is raising the need to pass on a new protest level: it’s not enough to fight AGAINST the system, but is needed to fight FOR something different. Which political organizations are more active in creating an alternative? What liberals think about it? For example, Naval’nyj still didn’t make us understand WHAT is he going to do if/when he will have the possibility to decide. When journalists asked him, he simply answered “I still didn’t mind about it”. You think he said so because he has not so much political experience, he has not a specific political ideology, or simply that’s a political game?

I think people is gradually understanding they don’t need any Naval’nyj or any Prokhorov. Nobody who demonstrate has the goal to change some thieves with other ones. On that internet polling to choose who is going to speak on the stage, people voted a lot for not-politic figures (writers or showmen) and this means that the old politicians, however they show themselves, annoyed everyone.

Liberals are scared of the left activists, they now we have the potential, maybe it’s because they agreed with nationalists to make an alliance.

Naval’nyj is playing his game, he knows what he does: he doesn’t say nothing concrete, but his usual slogan “down with the party of thieves and scoundrels”, with which all people agree. Thanks to these populist games and to his charisma, he is making people forget that he is an extreme nationalist who took part in the “Russian marches” and that he also was a politician in the past in the Jabloko party.

Photo (c) Arsenij Zhiljaev

Stanislav Ruzanov

11-12-11

Stanislav Ruzanov is a member of the political council of Trudovaja Rossija party (Labour Russia)

It’s growing the discontent for the de-politicization of the protest, which initially was positively seen as a way to catalyze all the different opposition political organizations. Moreover we can see the unpleasant for you monopolization of the organization in the demonstrations by the liberal leaders. How do you comment this situation?

The main problem is not the de-politicization, but how it’s going to be used by that liberal leaders who in decembre 10^th took the control of the protest. People like Kasjanov and Nemcov, who are still part of this corrupted political system and are now exploiting the people’s anger to come back to have a place in the high politics. These persons don’t want actually fight against Putin, Kasjanov was premier while Putin was the President. On the other hand, Putin is using them to exclude the REAL opposition, i.e. the left parties and Drugaja Rossija (The Other Russia).

We could see this exclusion on December 10^th, when these persons who call themselves “democratic”, forbid our representatives to speak on the stage during the demonstration.

Moreover, is suspicious the agreement between Nemcov and the city authorities about the authorization for the demonstration: normally it takes 15 days to make all documents, but he just had a conversation with the major and in some hours the demonstration was changed from Revolution Square (admitted only 300 participants, few space) to Bolotnaja Square (no limit for participants, huge place).

However, we have to go to demonstration, like all normal people, because the protest is right and has to be done, but we have to keep the eyes opened against these strange games. The left political organizations like Trudovaja Rossija are the only ones who will fight against this ill system. Our problem is that is difficult for us to make propaganda and find new supporters: people associates the left with the KPRF, which can actively participate in the political life of the nation and take some advantages, but which is not a dangerous party for those who have the power.

Aslan Oskanov

8-12-11

Aslan Oskanov is a student of the state administration course, at Moscow University, MGU, and he has been an agent of a counterterrorism department of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies.

Why did you choose a course of studies which will take you to become a state functionary?

 I want to have the possibility to make the people’s life better, working in defending their rights and freedoms. That’s what I learn at the university. In particular, I’m interested in what concerns the fight against corruption.

Those are the same goals of people demonstrating in Moscow in these days. Why are you not supporting them?

Because I think these protest won’t led to nothing positive. The opposition leaders are using the government as a scapegoat, encouraging people’s anger and fear. People are not correctly informed about the real state of our economy and society and believe all the lies said to them. Now our political situation is not positive, it’s true, but it’s due to the worldwide crisis. Before the crisis our GDP ran at enviable growth rates. In all the occidental world crisis bet strong and the peoples attacked their governments, sometimes they were right, sometimes not. I did not go to demonstrations, and I won’t: I could do it if I would see a little sign of utility in doing it, but I can’t see it. I think is more useful to build and take on ourselves responsibilities, rather than destroy and criticize.

So, how do you comment the unfair elections? People don’t have the right to be angry for this?

Each nation has its lacks, this is one of ours. Of course I’m not glad about unfair elections, but the solution, as I said, is not to shout in the streets. If actually there are evidences of abuses, then is more useful to make a regular police report and take the matter to the tribunals. I don’t like when an opposition political program is based on the protest against problems that you could solve in a legal way.

However I’m astonished that despite all Edinaja Rossija (United Russia) took so few votes in respect to the last elections.

And what do you think about the repression of these days?

Putin governs in a severe way because he wants peace. He forbids the protests because he wants to avoid instability. The majority of these thousands people who demonstrate doesn’t know anything of the real situation in our nation and they let the opposition chief to lead them. The only result they will obtain is to damage the nation, repeating what we saw in Ukraine years ago: now in Ukraine they have only chaos and poverty, and people now supports back politicians they protested against during the orange revolution. Ukraine became a nation that in Europe is at the last place in many classifications concerning socioeconomic matters, at least for a 70 parameters. I don’t think it would be positive for Russia to be in a similar situation.

Then you support the Putin government?

Of course! From the moment he is in charge society and economy are developing, there’s no comparison with the precedent period, when El’cin was, when there was only crime and poverty.  During his government were approved several business develop programs, for small either for big business, and were born also ideas which make institutions closer to the citizens, like an internet site in which everyone can participate in discussing the law project that will be shown in the parliament.

Opposition accuses the government functionaries to be corrupt, but where are the evidences? Where are the police reports? The government is also accused to organize any complot, while I think the complots are organized by opposition leaders, who after will make propaganda on it.

But what about the decisions on police and public order? People say it’s repression.

Police did exactly what was right to do. The problem is that if a demonstration is not authorized, the sole participation is a law infringement. Policeman can’t stay and look while somebody infringes the law. Of course, some policemen exaggerates, but it’s not so difficult to make a report against an agent, above all when everything during the demonstrations is shot by cameras.

Ket

7-12-11

Ket is a 29 years old girl, who December 6^th was demonstrating in Moscow against the unfair elections and the repression made by the Putin government. In that occasion she was arrested by the police together with her friends and let free the next day. “Ket” is not her real name, but a nickname she uses in her artists’ group Vojna.

Ket, on December 6^th you were demonstrating on Triumfal’naja Square. Why?

Why? And when are we going to have a better occasion? It’s a long time we are waiting to protest against these people who have the power. The way they tricked the election was the last drop.

I noticed the last three demonstration were organized mainly by two political organizations, Drugaja Rossija (The Other Russia) and Solidarnost’ (Solidarity), but on the square at the end there were people not linked with them, like you, in this case. What do you think about this?

As I said before, the main thing is the possibility to demonstrate. Many people don’t know who organized the demonstration in that square at that time, this is not so important: we are protesting against a concrete matter, the way the elections were tricked. It’s a civil right protest rather than a politic one.

What happened the evening on December 6^th, when you came on Triumfal’naja Square?

When just I arrived I looked for my friends, there was a great confusion: the square was occupied by pro-government activists, to make us not to pass. At the end I could reach my group, we stand in the crowd demonstrating, when we created a human chain in 5-6 persons. To make a human chain is forbidden, you couldn’t make groups of more than 3 persons. Some policemen saw us and catch us. We were taken in a truck.

And where they took you then?

So, now the matter start to be interesting: by the law, police can’t keep you closed more than 3 hours without a formal accusation, but the countdown starts only when you get in a police department.

The machine didn’t leave until it was full of demonstrators, we were about 20 persons. After this, we had to wait another hour in the Moscow traffic before we arrived in the outer court of a police department building. In a moment of distraction of the policemen, two boys opened the back door of the truck and ran away. The policemen switched off the engine of the truck and let us wait inside it another hour. It was very cold so we started to shout and they switched on the engine, but left us inside another hour.

Finally we were taken inside the department and police accused us of “resistance to a police officer”. It was 6am, I spent the rest of the morning in jail and they let us free at 1pm.

After this experience you think you are going to come back to demonstrations?

I think in the next days I will concentrate more in the organization of some action with my group. And about the demonstrations… I don’t want to be arrested again, but I can’t not to go. I’ll be more careful.

What would you like will happen after this period of protest?

It would be very fine if we could repeat the elections, admitting who was excluded. In the end it’s not so much what we are asking for: only fair elections.

Zakhar Prilepin

7-12-11

Zakhar Prilepin is a writer, journalist and member of the party Drugaja Rossija “The Other Russia”

Why The Other Russia was not accepted among the parties that participated at the election?

I don’t know exactly all the bureaucratic methods were used. The basic problem is that The Other Russia cannot be registered either as a party. It’s just impossible, due to the famous law about “extremism”.

As it seems, the protests are raising like to be civil rights ones, rather than political ones. Do you think it’s actually so? If yes, do you think is something positive?

Yes, I think these protest are raising without a manly political character, and I think it’s quite positive for the following reasons: opposition at the end could in this occasion pass on the inner contrasts and could organize something all together. The result that gave more satisfaction is the fact that a lot of people answered our call, not only our supporters, but also people who are not active in any particular political group.

Opposition created an union because of this protest, but what would happen if demonstrators will obtain what they are asking for, new election?

To repeat the election and give all the parties the possibility to take part in it would solve all the problems we have because of this old politicians (the parliamentary opposition ones, too) who never change in 15 years. There’s not change, if Russian would have the possibility to choose and the elections would be fair, I think, they would vote for the parties that until now could not participate. When a party can legally take part in the political life of the nation, it can have access to the mass-media. If we could have the possibilities of a legal party, the Russian parliament would appear very different.

Did you go to protest action in these days? What were you protesting for? What other people were protesting for?

Yes, I took part in protests too. People demonstrate simply because the want their basic rights to be respected. I protest also against what the Putin government did or did not in these years.

Is this kind of protest something new in Russia? If yes, what is new?

Yes, it’s something new especially in respect to the high participation we could see. The situation is new: people reached the point they understood they want this politic situation to end. Nobody now supports the government, especially intellectuals.

Until now demonstrators were quite pacific. What do you think about violence? Could it be used in the future? “should” it be used in some situation?

Violent demonstrators would be nothing new. In 2003 there were some riots against the police and it’s not sure it won’t happen again. I think Putin will always avoid violence, because he doesn’t want violent riots. He is not so aggressive as it could seem, his declarations are made only to show muscles, but he knows that disorders would not help his position.

I think it’s not useful to have violent demonstration: it’s better to make protests day by day, pacific, so people will not be scared and they will come in masses.

Somebody speaks about civil war, but it’s something absurdal, nobody would support so far Edinaja Rossija (United Russia), either the police.

What in these days surprised you more? In a positive as in a negative way.

It’s 15 years I’m negatively surprised every day, I already can’t be surprised worse. What surprised me positively is that, despite of the exclusion of the opposition from any mass-media, people found a way to take information and organize themselves in the internet and it’s working quite well.

An ordinary mad day

Moscow, december 4th, I get out of my accommodation to go to the city center: I’m going to look what will happen in this election day, here in Russia.

I knew at 2 pm was organized a not-authorized demonstration of the left organization “Levyj Front” (Left Front), the meeting point is on the Red Square. I arrive at the metro station Okhotnyj Rjad and walking in to the underpasses of the station I notice several exits were closed by the police. I find a free exit, get on the surface and all around me I see a big group of people, surrounded by photographers and policemen, who try to show leaflets and banners. 

Policemen rip off the leaflets from the demonstrators’ hands and stand in line, walking ahead to push off people far from the Red Square.

Journalists try to interview the demonstrators, they talk to young and elderly people, but it’s impossible to stand, police pushes off all the crowd. In half an hour everyone is “gently” pushed away in another metro station: a policeman repeats at the megaphone “Dear citizens, please, keep the passage free, don’t stop in the middle of the street. Access to the Red Square is denied.” A Left Front activist is being interviewed: “That’s incredible! Red Square is always open, why they closed it just today? It’s only a way to deny us the right to manifest our disagreement!”

Police pushes off me too, and I decide to continue my “trip” on the Tverskaja street, directed to the polling station situated next to the old telegraph. I ask permission to take photos and get in. The polling station is crowded, especially at the information desk, there’s so much confusion that a couple, getting out with difficulty from the crowd, decides that it’s not worth voting.

I finally can reach the center of the polling station and I find the theater of the absurd: polling cabs are not cabs! They are simply shelves, voting on which everyone can see what party people are putting the cross on. An elderly man asks an employee how has he to vote, the employee shows a point on the voting paper and says “So, look: you have to put a cross right here”. A girls votes, then she looks back, shows her vote to her boyfriend, who takes a photo of it with a phone.

Everything it’s strange for me, the polling boxes too: they are the most futuristic polling boxes I ever seen, they are not simple boxes with a hole, but they look like drink dispensers in which instead of the money you have to put the voting paper, opened. Some people come to the boxes with the voting paper closed, and they have to open it, and sometimes is possible to see who, or who not they voted for.

After my visit at the polling station, I continue my walk on the Tverskaja street, directed to Triumfal’naja Square, where at 6 pm should be a demonstration organized by the party Drugaja Rossija “The Other Russia”. 100 meters from the square I can see a colossal presence of the police: on the whole street, on both sides, were put huge police trucks and on the streets walks more policemen than normal people. 

Inside one of these trucks I can see some people sit, young, without uniforms. After some hours I heard that police arrested “known people” before they could reach the square.

It’s 4pm, two hours before the programmed start of the demonstration, and the square was already full of barriers and policemen. It’s forbidden to stop, everyone has to walk in the thigh passages created by the barriers. I walk around till 5.45 pm, when suddenly all photographs and journalists run in direction of one of the police trucks: a demonstrator was arrested and is put in the truck. He either could shout a slogan, maybe policemen just recognized him. I stand with other photographers near to the truck, and after 5 minutes, policemen decide we are disturbing other people to walk, and they start to push us away, together with some demonstrators (who kept silence still). 

We are pushed so fast, that we are all pushed one on the other and it’s impossible to move ahead. Some girls near to me start to shout “Give us back the choice”. Some policeman jump on the crowd, push, and we all fall on the ground, I fall on a barrier and one of that girls falls on me. A policeman takes her, passes her to another policeman and turns on my direction, I scare he could take me too, but a boy who stand next to me gives me a hand and takes me out.

Police pushes off the demonstrators and agents start to arrest everyone who shout a slogan, but the crowd continues to shout “Shame on you! Shame on you!”, so policemen start to arrest random people from the crowd, the first ones the can catch.

I decide to go far from police and start talking to people. I was talking to a boy, a national-bolshevik while the policemen get closer. I make two steps, turn back and see that police arrested that boy, only because he was not walking as fast as they wanted.

The demonstration so ended: on the square there are only photographers and journalist on one side, policemen on the other side. Demonstrators run out, there’s no one to arrest more. Police let us pass on.