In Opposing Tyrannical Governments, Knowing That You're Not Alone Is Very Important. Amd Your Presence Gives Others The Freedom To Show Up And Resist...
"People will see all their neighbors from their building, from the area. They’ll realize that they’re not alone, they’re not in the minority, but in the majority."- D Gudkov. Ex-Russian Duma Deputy
Excerpts from a story in Meduza.io/en (at https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/03/11/the-important-thing-is-what-people-believe) by a group of people who oppose Putin’s tyranny in Russia - and it turns out that there are many of them, including elderly people who grew up under Soviet rule - see the video at the end:
Yekaterina Duntsova
journalist, founder of the Dawn party, denied registry in the 2024 Russian presidential elections by the Central Election Commission — (spoke with Bereg)
This demonstration is about the feeling that we aren’t alone. That at noon on the last day of [voting], people like us, who want peace and a better future, will come to the polling stations. They’ll meet, get to know each other in line, talk, and see that there are many us.
For now, this is the only peaceful way to express one’s attitude toward the lack of change in power. A way to show officials that they need to pay attention to society’s demands and to make some concessions, even if they’re small. I’m dreaming that after the election, they’ll decide to make some concessions, or even release some political prisoners. Pardon, amnesty, anything.
You can’t just ignore society’s demands indefinitely. First, there were lines for Boris Nadezhdin, then there was a huge line at Navalny’s funeral. It won’t be possible to ignore this forever. Especially at noon, when lines start forming at many polling stations. They’ll have to respond.
Of course, people are worried about what will happen to them after [the protest], but they can’t stay silent anymore either. In rural areas, people over 60, who grew up on stories about repressions and “kitchen talks” [private conversations where dissenting opinions could be expressed] come up to me. For them, today’s reality is déjà vu: it’s once again become dangerous to bring attention to yourself, even just by leaving a signature in support of a candidate as part of an election campaign.
When you’re with people who are close to you in spirit, it helps you cope with despair and apathy. It’s like a psychological support group. Civil society begins with these small communities. Someday the darkness will end — many are holding on to this feeling.
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Dmitry Gudkov
Former Russian State Duma deputy
Maxim Reznik, who came up with the initiative, and I have been thinking about it since fall, and we came to the conclusion that it’s the only noticeable thing that can be done. Back then, I assumed that 99 percent of candidates who were worth voting for wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the election. The lines at this kind of rally will show that opposition-minded people exist in Russia. At the same time, it’s completely safe.
The crucial thing is that there’s no basis for contradictions within the opposition itself or among supporters of different strategies. The general message is to come to the polling station at noon. You can vote for any candidate except Putin, spoil your ballot if you want to boycott, or simply stand in line. Usually, voter turnout is low at noon, and if a line forms then, it’ll be clear who came — there’s no need for some kind of extra identification.
People will see all their neighbors from their building, from the area. They’ll realize that they’re not alone, they’re not in the minority, but in the majority. The elites, who maybe think that the majority supports Putin, will see opposition-minded individuals. Security forces, who disperse protests in the name of the majority, and election committee members will see them. They’ll see that the king isn’t real, and this will truly be a new reality.
There will definitely be consequences, but it’s too early to talk about them. The West will see opposition-minded Russians, and it will be much easier for us to counteract sanctions that don’t affect Putin’s inner circle but hit ordinary people.
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Maxim Katz
Politician, blogger
Anything that allows people to see like-minded individuals within the constrains of a dictatorship is good. These types of rallies help you understand and feel that you’re not alone. If people realize that, then the moment when they’ll come out onto the square and won’t leave isn’t far off .
This is a good initiative, I like it. It’s a small brick in a large protest wall, and the time to place this brick hasn’t yet come. It needs to be placed at the very top of the wall, and we’re still building the middle. To convince people to vote against Putin, we need to talk to them not about when to come to the elections, what to bring, how to dress, but about what to do there.
So, for now, I’ve called for voting for [Vladislav] Davankov. I want the public discussion to focus on this now. Right now, we need people to decide to come out and vote for Davankov. Or against everyone, if they don’t like him. Most importantly — against Putin.
This is what I plan to talk about with my audience all next week. And then, after this discussion, somewhere around the Thursday or Friday before the election, I’ll call for everyone to come to the polling stations at noon.
Right now, opposition-minded people believe that they’re in the minority, and therefore all we can do is just look at each other. Just try asking any oppositionist now what they think about there being a second round [of voting]. Try having a serious discussion about who would make it to the runoff: Davankov or Kharitonov. They’ll tell you that you’re out of your mind! That it won’t happen, that Putin will get 75 percent. Any oppositionist will tell you that now because people don’t believe in themselves. This is very bad.
But in reality, there are a lot of us. And at some point, those who disagree with Putin will realize that they’re the majority. And that support for Putin is an illusion, not reality. Then, there will be significant changes in the country.
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Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Politician, member of the “Russian Anti-War Committee”
When we agreed during an Anti-War Committee meeting to endorse this initiative, our standpoint was that it was crucial for people to realize there’s a greater number of individuals opposed to Putin than they might believe. One of the main techniques of authoritarian regimes is to convince their subjects that each of them individually might be “against” the regime, but everyone else is “for” it. And you need a visual image to fight against this.
It doesn’t matter how the votes are counted later; the important thing is what people believe. If they believe Putin didn’t get the majority, then that’s what will stay in the public’s consciousness. It worked with signatures for Nadezhdin: before the lines, Putin said he’d collected three million signatures, and people believed him. “Well, he probably could.” But after everyone saw the lines that formed when Nadezhdin only collected 200,000 signatures, they knew that those three million Putin signatures don’t exist. That it’s pure bullshit.
The most important thing [in "Noon Against Putin"] is for people to see each other. Like in the lines to Alexey Navalny’s grave, like in the lines to leave signatures for Nadezhdin. Now, we hope they’ll see each other at the “Noon Against Putin” initiative.
Authoritarian regimes’ main vulnerability is that they don’t hold fair elections. And as long as people believe that the majority supports the regime, it holds on [to power]. When this belief disappears, everything turns in a day. There’s the example of [the Socialist Republic of] Romania: [its president, leader of the national-communist dictatorship, Nicolae] Ceaușescu was eventually shot at a rally he convened in his own support.
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Leonid Volkov
Oppositionist, former chairman of Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation
Everything that works toward consolidation is good. We’ve seen people lining up for [Boris] Nadezhdin, we’ve seen people at cemeteries, we’ve seen eight million people watching the broadcast of [Navalny’s] funeral. These people exist, but all these years, propaganda keeps insisting that they don’t. According to surveys, we know that anti-war Russians are not just a majority but an overwhelming majority. But they’re absent in the media landscape, and it’s as if everyone in Russia supports the war.
The idea behind ['Noon Against Putin’] and other similar protests that we [the opposition] will definitely organize [in the future] is for the majority to see themselves and realize that they are the majority. It’s a very simple and unifying thing. The political instrument and the symbolic meaning are inseparable here. There’s no need to come up with other meanings; nobody plans to defeat Putin with this kind of voting. The prison walls won’t crumble because of it — but they will once the overwhelming majority, which has already formed, realizes itself as such. We’re taking an important step in that direction.
Of course, this protest will have the greatest effect where more people come. Purely mathematically, the largest number of voters is currently in Moscow; there are many people there who support change. I think the protest will be effective in all major cities. And if two or three people meet in some village or small town, and each one sees that they aren’t the only liberal, then maybe this will be even more valuable than in the large cities with crowds.
This protest could influence the political atmosphere in Russia, the political feelings of people who oppose Putin. Right now, they feel marginalized, hunted — like a dying breed. But they’ll see that they exist in Russia and that there are many of them. The main goal of the protest is to change the narrative.
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It’s interesting seeing grandmotherly old ladies dumping dye on ballots and setting fires at polling stations - and then waiting quietly to be arrested… it’s the revolution of the babushkas.
And from a younger perspective:
.More: