04 Mar 12 | Russia
Election day is here. And, according to all the signals, it will be as interesting as anticipated.
The first exit polls coming from the far Eastern regions of Russia are quite shocking: preferences for Putin’s United Russia are below 50 per cent, reaching as low as 42 per cent according to certain pollsters. If this is confirmed, a second round will be needed for Putin’s victory. On the other hand, Twitter and Facebook feeds are exploding with videos and pictures documenting “Carousels”, buses with voters sent to cast their votes for United Russia, often more than once.
After a few very calm days, perhaps the calm before the storm, there were several worrying episodes of opposition activists attacked and arrested in Moscow in the late hours of yesterday. Several members linked to the all-girl punk band Pussy Riot, who perform anti-Putin songs dressed in bright mini-skirts and coloured balaclavas, were arrested on charges of hooliganism following an impromptu performance at a cathedral on 21 February. At Kropotkinskaya metro station, two Solidarnost activists and one Novaya Gazeta photo reporter were held. A member of the Committee for Fair Elections, Aleksandr Bilov, was attacked in his home’s entrance and arrested after he fought back the attack.
Early this morning, an army of nearly 30,000 election observers marched towards the polling stations assigned to them, gathering there by 7:30am. Most were well equipped with smart phones, video cameras and guides to correct electoral procedures. As announced in December, Putin installed £320m worth of web cameras around polling stations to contribute to the fairness of the elections, but this did not reassure his opponents much. If proof was needed to confirm that a wave of civil activism has hit Moscow, then this army of election watchers is the final one. Tweeting by observers has already gone viral with the Twitter hash-tag #выборы2012.
Putin is expected to win, eventually, but the question is by how much. His ratings are still extremely high in the countryside, where “any desire of living better is outweighed by a persistent fear of living worse”, the NYT reports. Besides that, none of the other candidates pose an actual threat to him. The only real new entry is the liberal businessman Prokhorov, whose campaign was too short to be able to gain a significant amount of followers. Zyuganov and Zhirinovsky are two “professional opposition candidates” at the opposite ends of the political spectrum, who are today little more than caricatures of themselves, while Mironov… who is Mironov? An anonymous long-time Putin backer, hardly taken seriously by anyone. Yavlinsky, Yabloko leader and most serious counter-candidate, was not allowed to run in the elections because of alleged irregularities in the collection of signatures.
The main person to watch in the opposition spectrum remains Aleksey Navalny. The anti-corruption blogger and lawyer has rapidly risen to political stardom over the past few months. He is a controversial figure — concerns are often raised about his nationalistic views and his “prima donna” attitude. He is very popular among the younger generations for his open way of interacting on the web. It will be interesting to observe his public appearances in the next few days: much of his political future may depend from it.
Among the opposition forces nobody dares say it out loud, but many think that Putin’s defeat would not be a good thing right now. The opposition is too young and fragile to be effective. Until only some months ago, there was nobody to listen to it. Suddenly, Moscow is buzzing with political talk and desire for change, but until a couple of years (if not months) ago, the only people you could find speaking about Russian politics were foreigners. A potential new Russian leader needs a basis of consensus which is still in development, and an all-encompassing programme that it is still lacking.
Demonstrations have already been announced for tomorrow, 5 March. Opposition will gather at 7pm in Pushkin square, while the nationalist group Nashi will be in Manezh square at 4pm. The opposition wants to take the protest to the Red Square but authorities have not allowed this action, though it may still go ahead. Rumours say that the action at the Garden Ring last week was been the last peaceful demonstration, but it could be counterproductive for Putin to crack hard on the protesters.
The carrot-and-stick Medvedev-and-Putin political model gone, it is now time for Vladimir Putin to reveal which one of the two methods is he going to choose in his next term as president of the Russian Federation — which might begin later than expected.
27 Feb 12 | Russia
More than 30,000 people encircled Moscow in a human chain along Sadovoe Kolco, a 10-mile long road surrounding the city yesterday.
Protesters were calling for fair elections and for the ousting of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Arguably, the biggest surprise of the protest was its participants. What was once referred to as a “hipster-revolution” has become a broader movement. Yesterday’s human chain united people across social class, age, gender and even political creed. There were hard-core leftists but also liberals and disillusioned former Putinistas. There were mothers and fathers with their children (and dogs, too). There were, of course, youngsters – but also many, many elderly people as well.
Kaya Ivanovna, a 80-year-old former librarian found out about the protests from the radio. “There are many more prohibitions, and all the interesting TV programmes that made us reflect and discuss were shut down. I want real change”.
The unusual protest started at 2pm and continued for a couple of hours under the abundant snow covering the capital. Moscow, a usually grey and unwelcoming city, yesterday displayed a ten-mile-long smile.
The only note of unrest in an otherwise peaceful demonstration was the impromptu action organised by the opposition party Left Front in Revolution Square. The unauthorised protest triggered scuffles with the police and the ultra-nationalist group Nashi.
Index was there and filmed the Left Front’s leader Sergei Udaltsov’s statement before the clashes and arrests started. “We are here to celebrate our own Maslennitsa [the Russian spring feast celebrated yesterday]”, he said. “We want to get rid of the political winter, and we want a new political spring to come to Russia starting from today”.
Meanwhile, thousands of Russians are preparing to serve as election observers for the elections to be held on 4 March. Referring to the huge number of registrations the daily newspaper Vedomosti referenced “A country of observers”.
The next protest action is planned for election day 4 March but many believe that 5 March will be the day when the movement “for fair elections” will see its biggest demonstration yet.
Tena Prelec is a freelance writer and consultant at the ESOP Centre, London.
06 Feb 12 | Russia
On Saturday February 4 protesters calling for fair elections in Russia hit the streets worldwide.
The protests took place exactly one month before the presidential election, which is likely to return prime minister Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin’s highest post. Protest organisers estimated that 120,000 people took part in Moscow, it was the biggest demonstration to date triggered by suspicions of vote-rigging surrounding the December 4 parliamentary elections.
In London around 100 people attended a demonstration organised by the NGO Speak Louder! together with the Committee for Free Elections in Russia. At around 3pm, a letter was handed into No. 10 passed to prime minister David Cameron. The protesters asked the British government to monitor next month’s elections very closely:
On behalf of Russians living in the United Kingdom, and on behalf of all the citizens of this country who cherish freedom and democratic rights, we ask you to pay constant attention to the forthcoming presidential elections in Russia. Unfortunately, these elections will most probably not be democratic and fair, as the trend shows.
“Russia without Putin” proved to be the most popular slogan at the demonstration, and a variety of creative posters were on display. Many joked about Putin’s attitude towards the white ribbons used by protesters to symbolise freedom — Putin compared them to condoms, and posters carried slogans such as “Put-in – preservatives with governmental flavour” and “Grandpa with a condom tattoo”.
Tamara, a Russian businesswoman and mother of two, says: “I think that Russia needs to make its own path to democracy. It is a very specific, very large country, and I don’t know how long will it take. But we need to start from somewhere, and what is finally happening in these months is a very important start”.
Finnish human rights activist Lauri Vuoriluoto came all the way from Cardiff to join the demonstration. “I am here because I believe that what happens in Russia is of big interest for all of us. As a Finnish citizen, these developments touch me deeply because of the proximity of my country to Russia, and because of the deep economic ties between the two countries. I am probably the only one here who does not speak a word of Russian, but I will learn by next time.”
Political artist Kaya Mar took part in the protest as well. He carried his latest work, a painting portraying Putin and Medvedev, naked, as they play on a seesaw.
“The bear in the middle symbolises Russia, with eyes and mouth shut because its fundamental freedoms have been breached,” he explained. “My subjects are always naked because this way you can catch people’s heart better — taking off their clothes you take off their power as well, and they are revealed the way they are – as human beings.”
Organisers announced that the next London protest action will take place on February 26.
Tena Prelec is a freelance writer and consultant at the ESOP Centre, London.
13 Dec 10 | Uncategorized
This morning 350,000 Facebook users vanished into a black hole. Facebook banned Popolo Viola’s page (Purple People), the organisers of the biggest anti-Berlusconi protest, only to reverse its decision this afternoon.
One of the pages administrators expressed his suspicions about the page’s closure, noting it happened “just as the Purple People was organising the protests tomorrow, December 14, during the vote of confidence to [Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi,”
The Purple People movement, born and bred on the web, has attracted hundreds of thousands of keen followers. After the first No Berlusconi Day protest, which took place just over a year ago, its popularity spread. Now the grass-roots organisation has a huge network of local organisations in Italy and abroad (there is even a London branch).
The reasons for the Facebook blackout are still unknown. The page’s administrators say “We are waiting to get to know the motivations of what happened. We will keep you informed about the developments”.
The activists themselves speculated that the outage could be linked to tomorrow’s vote of confidence in the Italian parliament. A vote that could cost Berlusconi his presidency. Last week, leaked Wikileaks cables revealed that Berlusconi was worried about the activists, whom he defined “extremists to be kept under control”. Although others, including a reporter at Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, suggested that internal quarrels within the Purple People caused the temporary suspension.
