Translated material
Occupy Chronicles. Part 1
On Saturday, July 8, I had to close the Occupy Arbat mock camp. And, perhaps, it’s time to sum up the results of my protest month that has already passed. I won't talk about how heavy or intense it was, it just was, that's all.
I had no intention of going to Bolotnaya Square on May 6th. I knew that they had plans to stay in the square, but I didn’t want that. But when, 2 days before the rally, participants from other cities began to be harassed, detained and closed, I realized that I had to go! And I chose the most difficult path: going from St. Petersburg to Moscow by bus.
It was a whole epic! I was struck by the complete toothlessness of the organizers. Did they really expect to calmly reach Moscow with songs and flags, when the authorities had already demonstrated how they would treat the protesters?! Wouldn’t it be easier to buy train tickets and get there without incident?!
During the gathering of participants in the square in front of the Okay store, where buses to Moscow were supposed to arrive, drivers began calling and saying that they were being detained by the police. It turns out that the police blocked all the entrances and stopped all the buses in a row. If the driver said that he was going to Moscow, he was forced to either turn back or have his documents taken away. I offered to help out these buses and film everything. But no, it was easier for the organizers to call new ones. As a result: out of 8 called buses, only 2 reached us. There was another one, but it was left unattended and the police managed to intimidate the driver, and he chose to get out.
The nationalists gathered in a separate bus in another place. Only three buses set off for Moscow with a five-hour delay from two places, of which only one, carrying 10 people, arrived. However, there were those who managed to board the train. This is exactly what should have been done from the very beginning, then we would have reached Moscow on time!
It was a matter of principle for me to get there by bus as planned, but this turned out to be late for me. Apparently, I ended up on the square after Navalny and Udaltsov were detained. Then, of course, I did not know about any arrests. I just witnessed a “performance” that filled me with horror... I had never encountered a screwdriver before, although I had heard a lot about it lately. Seeing this cruelty in person, I was really scared: methodically, detachments of riot police were wedging into the crowd, surrounding people, beating them with clubs, kicking them, strangling them, dragging everyone into paddy wagons. In front of me, a woman who looked to be over 60 years old was being strangled by a huge riot policeman. He found himself separated from the other riot police and was clearly visible, as if on a stage, so people yelled at him, and he let the woman go. But it was the wildest picture!
By the way, there was still more than an hour left until the end of the event, when riot police began to disperse people, not allowing the event to take place. It was such impudence! I stood on a pedestal under a pillar. Chains of riot police ran past me and others like me who were clinging to the pole, pushing people out of the square. I saw up close these well-fed faces of the riot police, like butchers, who really, like butchers, kicked people. For them, we are not citizens, not people, but, probably, some kind of enemies, and this is in the center of Moscow.
There is a lot of debate as to why this happened on May 6th. But I know for sure that it couldn’t have been any other way; Putin intended it to be this way from the very beginning! He gave a clear signal to society that he was not going to stand on ceremony with us and would only talk like that! I say this because I was there and saw it! Even later I was not surprised by the information that there were provocateurs in the square; all this fits into Putin’s desire to intimidate us. Even the arrests that are taking place now were planned in advance, otherwise there would be no provocateurs.
In the evening I was at the police station where Navalny and Udaltsov were sitting. There were also arrests there. People were dragged along the asphalt like rags - to the police station. In general, I got so many impressions during the day...
And it became clear to me that this should not end with us simply going home, taking for granted that we live in a terrible country where a person, a citizen, is a nobody. We must definitely stay on the streets and take action!
And the next day, I and my fighting friend, with whom I came from St. Petersburg, were in the center in the morning. The girl, by the way, became a very big problem for me: she turned out to be completely restless and climbed into places where she shouldn’t have climbed at all. And I had to worry pretty much so that, God forbid, her mother wouldn’t knock me on the head! In the evening, after her arrest, I sent her to St. Petersburg, and life became much easier).
When I walked around Moscow on the 7th and actively tweeted my location, people with white ribbons immediately appeared around me. A little time passed and there was already a crowd of us chanting slogans. It was very cool when you realize that you are not alone, you have many supporters and great support, it is very inspiring.
This was my first time at Chistye Prudy. They immediately detained me and, by the way, very rudely, they twisted my hands. The riot policeman slapped me on the nose with all his might, though not with his fist. This was the first detention for me, then there were a lot of them, and I simply lost count.
I was released from the department, I sent the girl to St. Petersburg and went to Kitai-Gorod to the monument to the heroes of Plevna. From this moment, we can consider that the “Occupy” movement began, which, in my deep conviction, ended at the monument to Bulat Okudzhava on Arbat.
I want to immediately make a reservation (which I will have to do often) that I was most likely ready for this, for such a life. Recent difficulties have taught me to be very mobile and be able to cope with the most extreme conditions. My work, or rather business, is very easily transferred to other performers, so I could easily afford it - to begin to actively participate in Occupy. What I mean is that I don’t think I did anything heroic. If circumstances had been different, or if my job had required my constant presence, for example, I don't know if I would have been willing to take part in something like that. Therefore, I have no right to judge people who acted differently or to think that I did anything special. I had the opportunity to do what I did.
Those who gathered at the monument to the hero of Plevna had the task of gathering and not leaving! The appearance of Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov provided a powerful incentive. If it weren’t for them, I am convinced that we would hardly have been able to get together and ultimately hold out for so long.
In Kitay-Gorod, a strategy for our actions was developed: we find a place, gather, if we are kicked out, we go to another place. We immediately tested this strategy successfully. At 3 o'clock in the morning a watering machine arrived, then riot police came and drove us out of the square. We moved along the sidewalks in a friendly crowd towards Chistye Prudy. We then came to the monument to Abai for the first time. And again the riot police quickly arrived and drove us out of there. We headed back to China Town.
The funny thing is that at first there were 200-300 people walking from Kitai-Gorod to Chistye Prudy, but there were already several times more people on the way back! Navalny and Udaltsov walked ahead of this huge crowd. They didn't say where they were going, they just walked and led us along. And when we were already near Kitai-gorod, they sharply turned in the other direction, as I understood, towards the Kremlin. Here, in front of the crowd, the local police chief appeared and simply began to beg us to return back to Plevna, saying that everything there was tidy, washed, make yourself comfortable, just don’t go in that direction, and the guys agreed.
I have no task now to describe in detail this entire month, I am trying to maintain a chronology only in order to note some key points that gave me an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat was happening around, which are important for understanding the current situation.
The next day, I still had to leave for St. Petersburg for 2 days to resolve issues that might arise in the event of my long absence. When I returned, a camp was formed on Chistye Prudy and received its name Occupy.
You will laugh, but I knew nothing about the origin of the word “occupy”. Of course, I heard about the protest movement in New York, that they seized something there. But this fit well into my understanding of the current situation in the world: the economy is in a terrible ass, so protests and speeches are bound to begin. Well, it started fine. I don’t believe that they will greatly influence anything at the moment, therefore, there is no need to be interested in the details. I knew that there was some kind of “Occupy Wall Street” movement, well, to hell with that, I’m not interested, I don’t care, it didn’t affect my work in any way.
Therefore, when I returned to Moscow and found myself in the camp, which was now called Occupy, I was completely indifferent to what the name was. I needed to understand the structure of this camp: what we are, who we are and how we live. The most prominent leaders Navalny and Udaltsov were arrested. Conditionally, they handed over the management of the camp to Ilya Yashin, whose main task, in my opinion, was to give out interviews right and left. It was completely unclear to me who ran the camp and how. There was a kitchen, which for some reason was run by nationalists, and there was a squad of volunteers. Some lectures and Assemblies were taking place around. Ilya Yashin gave interviews. In general, there was complete grace, people came in droves, politicians, writers, and many others... All this, of course, was very cool. But it was completely unclear to me: what is a camp?
I had a clear understanding of why I was in this place. This place gathers people who believe that Putin is illegally in power, which means there should be fair re-elections of the president and parliament. The more people we gather, the greater the chance to reach the Kremlin and achieve the fulfillment of our demands. That's what I'm here for! To this requirement two more were then added:
Release all political prisoners.
Strict execution of laws.
These additional requirements didn’t bother me at all, so okay, let them be.
And yet, what is a camp? I read a lot of articles in which they wrote with emotion what a wonderful place this is, that people’s self-organization, real democracy took place here, how great everything is here. I don’t know what the authors of these opuses were based on, but I was simply amazed when reading this, because it was not democracy, but pure anarchy, a mess, if in Russian!
Of course, I had friends among the camp residents. I have a wonderful relationship with them. And yet, basic things had to be fought out. If you spent the night today in a sleeping bag and on foam, then you had to leave the foam under supervision; in the evening it would no longer be found. Even if you gave it to the household. territory, it is not a fact that they will give it to you in the evening. Therefore, I generally preferred to sit in a cafe near the camp at night than to participate in guarding the sleeping area.
All camp participants could be divided into two categories: those who came, who came for another hour; and permanent residents, for whom it was vitally important to provide normal food and hot tea (it was very cold in the evenings and nights). And for boiling water, which was very rare, you had to stand in a decent queue, and it was not a fact that you would get more. Conflicts constantly arose over money: who collected it and who was responsible for it. Either there is a common cash register, then there are 2 of them, then 3, then again there is one. But I never got involved in money matters at all, and I learned that decent money was collected at Chistye Prudy after the scandal with 250 thousand, which were allegedly stolen by the police.
By the way, this is another point that really embarrassed me - regular lies, or distortion of facts. With these 250 thousand it’s just a completely egregious case. I am convinced that there was nowhere near that amount. God willing, 30 thousand, if not less. And if it weren’t for the idiot who, when the riot police approached, grabbed this box and ran with it, they wouldn’t even have touched it: they didn’t come for money, but for those who were distributing food.
And so, when I was in this camp, I tried to understand the structure at least a little. After all, it was really necessary to do basic things: make lists of those who are constantly in the camp, write down their phone numbers, break into groups with those in charge, and provide for the basic needs of the participants. With the same finances, in our situation, everyone was shouting about checks, about strict reporting. But you can go to any store and collect so many of these receipts that it will be enough to justify any costs. Or even easier, buy forms at a bookstore and fill them out as you please. In such conditions, the key to ensuring that money is spent correctly is that regular camp participants are provided with everything they need.
Now I understand why no one was interested in these lists and in the normal organization of the camp. When I, Dergachev, and someone else was detained on Arbat, two nationalists were with us. And when one of them gave a passport, he turned out to be a Tajik, the most natural, without Russian citizenship! And then it turned out that when the camp settled on the Chistye, a man with money appeared, they recruited several people from more or less decent-looking local tramps, bought them tracksuits and said that they were now nationalists. Thus, this Tajik got in there. This entire crowd was dispersed later. I also saw Tajik a couple of days on Arbat, but then he was expelled from the nationalists.
It was also very unclear to me where the propaganda was coming from. There was a press center created by leftists. They issued leaflets with large logos of some revolutionary party on them, so I was convinced that they had nothing to do with the civilian camp. I thought, well, cunning leftists settled in our mess for free, while there was a box there to collect funds for campaigning and they themselves were selling leaflets and newspapers.
There were still a lot of absurdities, these were just the most egregious ones.
And so, existing in this chaos, indignant at the disorder, I did not show any activity. Still, I’m not a politician: Ilya Yashin is there, who will figure this out. So why should I get ahead of a person who is professionally involved in politics... Moreover, people are coming, there are more and more different celebrities. Maybe I'm wrong in my thoughts. And sooner or later they will definitely sort out this mess. Therefore, I simply fulfilled my civic duty and, to the best of my ability, participated in the life of the camp, but most importantly: I was in it.
Then the camp was dispersed from Chistye Prudy, and we ended up on Barrikadnaya, on Kudrinskaya Square. Now, when I remember all this, I just want to be sarcastic: the show with the artists has moved to another venue! But, in fact, the authorities here have taken us seriously! They set themselves the task of destroying Occupy and did so with great success. Unfortunately, I only understood this in hindsight, having analyzed everything. At the time, it was completely incomprehensible to me; I didn’t even suspect it.