In the regions

Melt the snow

December 28, 2011 Elena Makeenko

Before talking about what is happening with civil society in Novosibirsk, it is worth recalling how the elections have passed here. Observers did not record significant violations (and on the area where they recorded, the results were canceled), and the next day the newspapers were full of headlines about “return to“ Red Belt ””. In Novosibirsk itself, a protest vote did its job: United Russia received 27.59 %, and the Communist Party of the Communist Party - 34.17 %. In the United Russia, which was holding somewhat by the Sovetsky District (Akademgorodok), did not even enter the three leaders, including, among other things, the intellectual “Yabloko”. In the field of "EDRO", bypassed the closest neighbors by three percent.

Nevertheless, the Siberians who followed the all -Russian elections all night were not alien to the protest moods. The first picket was tried to spend on December 6, for some reason, at the chapel of Nikolai the Wonderworker (apparently, “magic” and “miracles” were doomed to become a leitmotif in civilian claims from the very beginning). The unauthorized picket turned out to be small, and its organizers spent two days in the insulator. Since at that time the International Christmas Festival of Arts was held in the city, a fair part of the “creative class” sublimated a civil position on theatrical performances. By the coincidence of the circumstances on December 5 and 6, the festival showed the “scumbags” of the Moscow Art Theater School under the leadership of Kirill Serebrennikov-a performance by Roman Zakhar Prilepin Sankya. At a time when thousands of people reached pure ponds in Moscow, the Novosibirsk eagerly followed the clashes of riot police and young revolutionaries on the stage. At especially acute moments, the hall exploded with applause, and picked up the final song “After the Red-Great Days” after the actors, standing.

Try to sing with me

Two days before December 10, the coordination group of the local rally “For honest elections” all the same magically disappeared from the VKontakte social network. On the eve of the rally, the accounts of the twelve organizers were hacked; From them, potential participants began to come reports that the rally is either tolerated or canceled. Despite the sabotage, the organizing committee managed to quickly mobilize, and the rally took place simultaneously with the all -Russian action. In the fifteen-degree frost, about four thousand people came to the square in front of the scientific and technical library; This is the first in number the result after Moscow and St. Petersburg. “As soon as people in Novosibirsk gather in the square - monstration begins,” the displeased grumbled: while pensioners habitually froze with flags, the “hipsters” played badminton. However, judging by the last slogans, the experience of monstings was also useful to Muscovites.

They decided to prepare the next rally as carefully as possible. Money was gathered for sound -integrating equipment and tea, applications for a musical background and speakers were collected. This time they authorized a demonstration and a rally, rightly assuming that during the procession people would be warmer and more fun. With the choice of speakers, it came out funny and sad. At first, for some reason, the laureates of the “Man of the Year” prize were offered as a list for voting, but the audience refused to vote for restaurateurs and designers. As a result, the list mainly consisted of young scientists, journalists and university teachers. But, already almost closing the tracklist of the rally, the organizers could not stand it and asked if the people wanted to hear representatives of political parties. For the most part, the people did not mind, and this became the main mistake.

The fact that on December 24 only one and a half thousand people went to the square, although the weather was better than the tenth was not so surprising. The inhabitants of Siberia are not inclined to nourish illusions about their influence on Russian politics. Yes, in the wake of euphoria came out for the first time. Yes, they went out to the second, because they are in solidarity. But whether our output will matter - it depends on you there, in the capital. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, separatist sentiments in the region are the reality of recent years. Just a few days before the elections in Novosibirsk, shows “Oil in exchange for nothing” Artyom Loskutov and Dmitry Margolina took place. In the film, the authors tried to reveal the problem of the dishonest distribution of resources between the capital and Siberia, which caused a lot of discussions, although for some reason their severity was smoothed out by the crew itself. So the Siberians are ready to unite with Moscow against the authorities, but only in the calculation that other power will build other relations of Moscow-Siberia. In the meantime, here Olga Romanova noted the activity of the local residents in the transfer of funds for a rally on Sakharova Avenue.

Those who are against those who are against us

It is safe to say that the problem of the Novosibirsk campaign was not in a quantitative decline, but in the behavior of representatives of the system opposition. Coming with flags, who received a microphone, they began to squeeze the organizers, demand a word in the second circle, in the end, almost fought and rolled up to anti -Semitic chants. In the first half of the rally, among the speakers, the young biochemist was Vladislav Mileiko, activist Stas Zakharkin, who turned to the audience of the Dr. House series, Director of the State Foreign Affairs Anna Tereshkova, who launched a bunch of inflated condoms with a toy gangster-vogue and a note “They come to you!” And other pleasant people. The impression was that, despite the bouquet of the “Empers” in the forefront and “LDPROV” in camouflage, the rally was still organized on behalf of and for independent and conscious citizens, the bearers of those very “swamp” values ​​that first of all require honesty and respect. The posters with the slogans “Russia is remarkable without Putin” and “only honesty and no revolution” quite demonstrated the essence of the protest and some optimism of its participants.

The opposition is not only used to dividing these conscious citizens, but also elementary does not know how to wait for the right moment. For example, the Communist Party in the wake of predictable self-love conducted a separate rally a day before the united (about a hundred people came), although the 24th was not without red flags. At the beginning of the procession of the 24th, the representative of the “right-hand business” attacked the only LGBT activist with the flag in the crowd, and the nationalists helped to immobilize the “provocateur” before the police appeared. Independent protesters acted more like a collective moderator: they shouted “hand over” to representatives of parliamentary parties and “fascism will not pass” to Santa Claus with ultra -right slogans. Unfortunately, this civic society, unfortunately, was not capable of being forming and driving force.

Summing up the results of the promotion, mainly about two trends: a logical emotional decline in "simple" citizens and the growth of activity in citizens "systemic". The former, they say, are not ready to maintain an active position, and the latter are used to pulling the blanket over themselves. In general, nothing new of these conclusions is extracted. Only one question arises: why in some cities there were two times fewer people on the street, and in others - twice as many? Why are Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg quickly tired, and Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Moscow-are they only increasing the momentum? In our city, in the near future, it is planned to do something like a “round table” on this matter with the participation of journalists and political strategists. Activists, in turn, shared those who decided to get drunk after the rally, and those who formulated reasonable rules for the next rally, including the ban on the scene flags and cordoning the scene in order to confront “raiding”.

The following shares of “white ribbons” are approximately planned for February and, we can assume, will be more small, but tougher. On December 30, a notification of the picket in support of Sergey Udaltsov and other political prisoners was filed.

The author is the editor of the magazine Siburbia . Ru , Novosibirsk

Photos of Dmitry Margolina / Blog.visart.biz