Personal matter

More than 57 thousand signatures had been collected in support of Svetlana Bakhmina as of October 22. Is this a lot? Few? In any case, it is enough for the action to be talked about, to be discussed, for it to become a social phenomenon from some kind of Internet initiative.

I don't like collective letters at all. I always tried to somehow avoid participating in such events, so as not to succumb to the herd instinct, not to disappear into the crowd. Even if the goal seems good. But I preferred to participate in a good cause personally. In your place, with your work, and not hiding behind an endless list of other people's names and surnames. But here the case is special. And here's why.

57 thousand people is the audience of a large stadium. And yet it's not that much. Even the largest stadium in the country, Luzhniki, cannot be filled with us. There are decent people in Russia. But, unfortunately, they are not that active. We are not yet able to “find a foothold and turn the earth over.” We are unable to solve large problems of a “revolutionary scale.” But maybe it’s not the point now to helplessly try to make all of humanity happy? Maybe try to save just one, but a specific person?

Some disappointment is already visible due to the fact that Bakhmina filed a petition for clemency, admitting guilt. It's OK! Everything is correct! She is a mother, and a mother's first and most sacred duty is to save her children. Two little guys are growing up without a mother while Svetlana is in prison. The third baby is about to be born. That’s what she thinks about, and she must use every opportunity to get free. And we must use every opportunity to help her in this matter.

There was such a “theory of small matters.” This is a small matter. But if we, several tens of thousands of people, united and freed at least one person from behind bars, it would be a big deal. Which we all, friends and strangers, will do together! If we save one, it means we can save someone else. This means that over time we will save many. And there will be more of us. After all, there are quite a few who sympathize with Svetlana, but did not sign up because they do not believe in the possibility of changing something in this way. But if we succeed, next time these people will no longer doubt it. And there will be more and more of us every time.

The peculiarity of this promotion is that each person’s signature can be easily found in a huge list. Nobody dissolves in the general mass. There are many of us, but at the same time everyone is visible. For some, this can become a certain manifestation of courage. And someone may feel awkward because his signature is not on this letter.

I believe that this action has a chance to succeed. Because it is easy to ignore the abstract opinion of abstract thousands of abstract people. Like, who are these people, don’t tell us here. And here - here they are, all by name, not made up, but many are very famous in the country and even in the world. It's much harder to ignore them. And the further, the more signatures there are, the more and more awkward this situation will be for Medvedev. The YUKOS case is not his business, and revenge on all Khodorkovsky’s associates is not his revenge. But it is he who is in a stupid position. And every day his blissful face becomes more and more distorted.

The main thing is not to lose hope, not to stop, not to despair, but to continue collecting and putting signatures so that every day the counter shows more and more thousands of names. If we achieve our goal, then we have won. And if we win, then others will definitely come for this small victory.

Photo: Alexander Kotomin / lenta.ru