Threats and fears of the regime

The regime is trying to make the opposition on different sides of the barricades, playing on value differences

Teenagers beat a gay activist. In the fascist of society, the liberal part of the opposition sees one of the main threats

A key problem for opposition in an authoritarian regime is coordination. Despite the evidence of this thesis, it can take many years to solve this problem.

I think that the topic of homosexuality has no time became one of the main in this political season. The fact is that the agenda, felt by the street opposition (and reflected in the aphoristic formula of Alexei Navalny “Do not lie and not steal”), contains the platform of extremely wide consensus. This formula links the problems of the dishonesty of the rules, the violation of the law and the unfair distribution of material goods in the conditions of corrupt capitalism. And as a result, it turns out to be close to both the advanced city class, which has become the main engine of protests, and the layman who is indifferent to abstract political goals. This potential consensus threatened the political regime with an inevitable defeat.

The regime counter -strategy aims to undermine this consensus, emphasizing and making valuable differences between different fractions of the opposition front. The first experience of such actualization was the Pussy Riot case: the punk group’s trick could not cause the sympathy of the layman, just like the criminal persecution of girls could not but cause a violent indignation among advanced townspeople.

However, the mobilization potential of this case was limited. The traditionalism of the layman turned out to be very moderate: the dictatorship of the church is alien to him. In addition, the tricks of the girls, although it was condemned, was not perceived in the terms of threats, no matter how the possessed television propagandists tried.

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The presence of contradictions in the society that look insoluble to him is the main resource of the existence of dictatorships

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The topic of homosexuality has much more potential. On the one hand, minority protection and the idea of ​​tolerance are the main value baggage of an advanced class. For him, the escalation of hatred of a minority is one of the main threats, the quintessence of fascism. On the other hand, the theme of “propaganda of homosexuality” falls into the epicenter of traditional fear of the layman, which thinks the problem of non -traditional sexual relations in terms of seduction. At the level of state policy, these fears turn out to be good soil to expand the global mythologist "Seduction of Russia to the West."

Participants in the potential anti -mode coalition find themselves on different sides of the barricades. And emotionally - at war, because the problem affected is directly related to their fears. Such a regime strategy, of course, is immoral, but quite rational. The problem facing the opposition is well known in political science. This is the problem of coordination. What is its essence?

The division of the opposition into value and ideological fractions is completely normal. It reflects the fractionality that is inherent in any society. But the opposition and regime confrontation line lies in a completely different place: the authoritarian regime limits the possibilities of political representation for all fractions. This unites them and is the soil for consolidation. At the same time, for the mobilization of supporters, each faction should actualize the values ​​and ideals it promoted. Concentrating on them the attention of their supporters, the leaders of the fractions weaken the foundations of a wide coalition. But pushing these ideals and values ​​to the side, they risk being accused of supporters of opportunism, dishonesty and the struggle for power.

The feelings and arguments of those who say that there is nothing more important than to withstand the fascist of society. But it is worth remembering that the inhabitants are not fascists. And historical experience suggests: democracy brings up tolerance, but this is a long and gradual process. Overcoming racial segregation in the United States is 1950-1970. In 1955, the bus driver shot a black passenger who did not give way to white. The struggle for the rights of sex minorities is the history of the last decades. On the other hand, the education of tolerance in the conditions of a undemocratic society is an incredible project. For the presence in the society of contradictions that look insoluble to him, and is the main resource of the existence of dictatorships.

Photo: Reuters