Technical situation

At the second meeting, the Coordination Council approved its regulations and the date of the new march. Worse with ideology - the software statement was sent for revision

On Saturday, the second meeting of the Constitutional Court was held. It lasted almost six hours and at times in the intensity of passions greatly resembled the previous meetings of the organizing committee of the rallies - the presenter Harry Kasparov had to reassure the audience more than once.

The agenda alone was approved for about an hour. When it came to the upcoming action, the case went faster. Surprisingly unanimously decided to abandon the idea of conducting something on December 8 or 9-they moved to the 15th. There was no dispute with the name of the action: proposed by Udaltsov “let it be, for example, the march of freedom” picked up on the fly. Apparently, even the organizers were tired from the traditional format of the procession with a large rally - therefore, they decided to limit themselves to a march.

It turned out to be more difficult with the slogans. They decided in advance that all previous requirements remain in force, they will be preserved in leaflets and posters. The dispute turned mainly around the first stretch: with what slogan do you need to go at the head of the column? Option "Freedom of choice! Freedom of speech! Freedom political prisoners! ”, Proposed by the most moderate part of the Constitutional Court - a“ group of citizens ”, which includes Ksenia Sobchak, Dmitry Bykov, Sergey Parkhomenko and 7 more people,” the nationalists criticized as too soft. They proposed more uncompromising, from their point of view, the requirements: “Down with the dictatorship!”, “Perennivers”, “Freedom to political prisoners!”. A rare case: more actively all nationalists were supported by the left led by Sergei Udaltsov. Boris Nemtsov long lobby for your version “for your and our freedom”, saying that he is better combined with the name of the action and sets the correct tone. When asked by Lyubov Sobol, what is “your and our freedom”, Nemtsov invited her to read dissident literature.

The compromise was found by general voting - the slogans were recognized as the most popular “Freedom Political Products!”, “Early Elections” and “There is no dictatorship!”. In fact, the meeting supported its more radical members, slightly reformulating their proposal.

The regulations were discussed and approved the longest. Ultimately, he was adopted: this document, divided into five chapters, is designed to regulate the basic principles of the work of the Constitutional Court.

The main principle - the equality of all members of the Council - remained in force. No governing bodies will be created, the chairman is elected for one meeting. Between meetings, the work is coordinated by the responsible secretary - on Saturday, Dmitry Nekrasov was finally approved in this position. Recall: the last time his candidacy caused great disagreements: some of the members accused Nekrasov of excessive proximity with the authorities, recalling him a job in the presidential administration. As a result, Nekrasov took this position temporarily. This time, 28 people supported his candidacy - with 2 votes against and 4 abstained. However, the sphere of activity of the responsible secretary includes for the most part organizational issues: notification of meetings, sending documents, publication of minutes of meetings.

Long discussions were caused by the voting procedure. Part of the decisions will be made in offline mode, key issues will be submitted to meetings. Everything is simple with absentee voting: the decision is considered accepted if more than half of the Constitutional Court voted for it, that is, 23 people. It is more difficult with meetings: collecting COPs in full force is almost impossible. On Saturday, for example, 39 people were present, while some from time to time got in touch by phone or via Skype. How to count the majority: from the number of gathered or from the total number of members of the Council? In the end, we stopped on the second option, but with a reservation: if such a principle does not work and it becomes obvious that 23 votes are too hard, you will have to review the voting system.

Not everyone was satisfied with the performance of the budget group, which includes Boris Nemtsov, Olga Romanova and Vladimir Ashurkov. Most regionals seemed unfair to membership fees - 5 thousand rubles per month.

“We already have to spend money on the road,” complained Anton Dolgikh, the head of the Parnassus department in Kirov. Vladimir Ashurkov hastened to assure him and the rest that contributions are voluntary, no one would forcibly force members of the Constitutional Court to fork out. But the regionals do not encourage this - they fear the oblique views of colleagues. But several members of the Council - Kasparov, Nemtsov, Navalny, Romanova and Ashurkov - took the obligation to hand over another 30 thousand each month: this money should go to the aid of political prisoners.

The left -willed ones also felt offended: most of the KS members refused to include in the budget group their representative Akim Palchaev, the head of the Freedom Organizing Committee. According to Ilya Yashin, a member of the budget group should have a transparent reputation and the ability to understand financial matters.

“Dear Ilya, we did not have business,” Palchaev objected offendedly. And he attacked Nemtsov: - Boris Efimovich, my reputation is better than yours. The whole country knows who you are.

The main stumbling block remains the general statement of the Constitutional Court: the recent disputes of the moderate and radical parts of the Council showed that its members see the essence and tasks of the new body very differently. The option prepared by Andrei Piontkovsky was rejected by a majority vote.

“To call themselves the founding fathers of a new society-but they will simply laugh us,” commented Alexei Navalny.

As a result, it was decided that it would still not be possible to write an ideological program at the fifth hour of the meeting and decided to transfer the discussion to a narrower circle-a new editorial commission, which will include Ashurkov, Nemtsov, Gaskarov, Krylov, Piontkovsky, Parkhomenko and the Sr. Gudkov.

So so far to the main question - what is a coordination council? - The answer is open. Rather, there are too many answers and each has his own. Now the main task is to bring them together. Before the new meeting, which was announced on December 16, there is still time.