Monday, February 6, 2012

A Note About the Protests

Note: This is a re-posting of this entry. However, I thought this reflection on the December, 2011 protests was still relevant coming on the heels of the most recent demonstrations this past Saturday, February 4.

My immediate reaction to Time’s choice of “The Protestor” as person of the year was that it sounded a bit gimmicky. A late attempt to be on the right band wagon at the right time. But the article really paid a well thought-out tribute to what has been the catalyst for huge change this year.
And it’s not even late. Although it first seemed to me that momentum here in Russia was slowing after the December 10th meeting, there have since been two more rallies, the largest occurring on December 24th.
I have not myself attended any of the protest gatherings. It’s a complicated situation. Some of my Russian friends have asked me why I don’t go to show my support for their hopes for real democracy. I’ve had to point out that the Russian government has already accused my country of provoking the unrest. The last thing I’d want is for my presence in support of the protestors be used to diminish the legitimacy of their cause.
The situation was actually very confusing right after the parliamentary elections. Even Russians working with the opposition were divided on the causes for the protests. There were ideas flying around that the protests had been rigged by people paid off by oligarchs, who were looking to upset the gains that Yabloko had made in St. Petersburg. According to some, that party had won 20% in the local race.
At first, it looked like the Yabloko representitive who’d been elected in Petersburg, Boris Lazarevich Vishnevski, would be kicked out, but it didn’t happen. Everyone was blaming everyone. Yabloko sought charges against the Central Election Commission. The CEC then turned around and tried to accuse Yabloko of unfair practices.
Things settled a bit, and the elections were considered official by the government. That set off the bigger backlash. And as was brought up in the Time article, it’s young people who are frustrated. And with good reason. A heard one particular voting story about someone, who wound up having to go to a second voting site because the woman running the first one had been instructed to get votes for United Russia.
It’s a good tactic, one poor old woman being used to appeal to other poor old women to get their votes. What’s more important for women like them, a far-removed government and election system or day-to-day survival? She’d been told she’d lose her job if she didn’t get votes for United Russia, so she went around to all the old women she knew in that area and asked them to vote for United Russia so that she could keep her job.
And that woman, running the voting site, told the voter, “If you are not going to vote for United Russia, please go vote at another voting site so that I don’t lose my job.”
This is why people have been gathering. Everyone I’ve been around has said that the one thing people do not want is a revolution that will bring chaos, but they are tired of the corruption. However, on the other side of that, there are many who are afraid of losing their jobs if word gets out that they participated in a protest. The fear of instability brought by sudden change is still very fresh.
It’s really hard to say what the next months will bring. Will the movement gain momentum or lose its drive and support? How much worse will the situation have to get before people get really fed up? And then what? Will the government listen and change to fit the will of the people? So much could happen in the little time left until the March presidential elections. But whatever happens, I feel lucky to get to witness it. This is history.

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