Fear and resistance to fear

The fact that the more freedom we will give, the more they will take away

Illustration: Frankie Gamuart

The director of the Institute of Regional Press, 73-year-old Anna Sharogradskaya, was detained last Thursday, June 5, at Pulkovo Airport: they did not let the USB flash drives and iPads, they didn’t let the lawyer for a long time and even refused to explain what the problem is*. This news from the Northern capital came only two days after law enforcement officers discovered a new accused in the “swamp case”: Oleg Melnikov was detained, questioned and released under a recognizance not to leave. A week before, another “swamp”, Dmitry Ishevsky, went to the camera. The day before the arrest of Ishevsky in Moscow was detained and interrogated in St. Petersburg - in the same case “On Massion Riots on May 6, 2012” - Pauline Strongin: she was released on a recognizance not to leave.

Detention and interrogations have become a familiar part of the news picture of the day. And if someone on the eve of the new 2014 seemed that the amnesty of famous political prisoners was the beginning of the thaw, now they probably already realized that they were very mistaken.

Together with a sense of helplessness and vulnerability, fear came to society, and those who did not remember the scoop with his political collections, indicative repentance and perennial camp terms - people born at sunset or after the collapse of the USSR became victims.

On a new round

Last week, I asked the readers of my Facebook page: are they personally afraid of them and/or people from their inner circle to express an opinion or spread a stranger different from the official? Here are some answers:

“My nephew is 11 years old, and somehow he heard“ The same conversations in the kitchen ”between me and my mother. We immediately ordered him to keep silent about it at school. In all seriousness. "

“Yesterday, when we met Polina (Polina Stronggin) from the EE center, we realized that there was an unpleasant inner fear - fear to admit that you were on Bolotnaya. And I catch myself thinking: thank God, on May 6, 2012 I was in Cyprus and there is all visas in the passport. "

“On the eve of one of the rallies, a friend wrote to me in a personal, with whom we have not communicated for a very long time. About the inevitability of revolution and so on. I caught myself that I am afraid to discuss it with him, because I have no confidence that his account was not hacked or that he himself writes all this to me. ”

“I was afraid to tell my son -in -law that I was going to leave the country. It seems to me that he is capable of such a thing-to declare somewhere. I spoke to the rest of the relatives honestly and openly - I'm leaving. I bought a ticket on March 6 - on the day when Crimea asked for Russia. ”

“In February, he helped a friend to transport furniture ... I talked with the mistress of the apartment, a woman of 60 years. They have a TV, there is an Olympics, and a conversation went about politics, but I expressed my opinion on many issues, and she shows me “quietly!” And with the eyes of the grandson, a boy of 10-12 years old. Like, with him it is not necessary, you never know in the yard. ”

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The victims of fear were people who did not remember the scoop born at sunset or after the collapse of the USSR

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“My sister is afraid to discuss Ukraine with me on Skype, because I am sure that they are listening to us. She also said that her friend received a warning call from the organs. What exactly was warned about - I don’t know, since she is afraid to talk. ”

“After the threats that forced me to leave Russia, I became much more cautious in the fact that I am singing and reassuring. And when I return to Russia, I will generally remove Facebook away from sin. For it is scary. "

True, no less than my respondents claimed that they had never encountered anything like that, they were not afraid of anything and did not see the reasons for fear, and comparison with 1937 - and it sounded in several answers - they considered it completely incorrect.

"Can you say everything you think today, at least in social networks?" - I asked a person from an academic environment who last year made a certain offer on his Facebook page on the then lively issue and was awarded a sharp renewal at the highest level. As a result, this man lost one of his public works, and then almost became a defendant in a criminal case. “Honestly, for some time I looked into the mailbox each time with interest-suddenly there is a summons,” he said in a telephone interview to the author of these lines. - I allowed such a development of events and was ready for it. Now, probably, I have relaxed. There is a selectivity of repression, this is not to be discounted in any way, it’s just a question for us: to build your life strategy based on fear or not to twist your soul and do what you consider properly. I have chosen a second strategy for myself so far. But if they knocked on me tomorrow, maybe I’ll talk differently. ”

And now - attention: in the original version there were the name and surname of the “man from the academic environment”, as well as a detailed and concrete presentation of his history, including stupid accusations, which could be (but not!) Fire a criminal case. However, the day before this issue of the magazine went into the printing house, the name called and asked to remove his last name.

Combolations

Fear of pressing the “Share” button seems at first glance some kind of madness. Until you come across a link about the detention in Chuvashia of the opposition and blogger Dmitry Semenov for giving VKontakte a photograph of the “People’s Governor” Donetsk Pavel Gubarev in the form of RNE prohibited in Russia. As a result, not Gubarev, who once dressed this form, but Semenov, who published his photograph in the form, was accused of "public demonstration of attributes or symbols of extremist organizations", which under Art. 20.3 Administrative Code involves up to 15 days of administrative arrest.

Or another case, already in Chelyabinsk: three weeks ago, Konstantin Zharinov, an activist of the Demboy party, was awarded a decree on the initiation of a criminal case under Art. 280 h. 1 (“Public calls for extremist activity”) for the repost of the Ukrainian Right Sector.

“I reposted the text of the Right Sector exclusively out of interest in this organization,” Zharinov explains. “After all, calling to go to partisan detachments would be a rather extravagant act, and on behalf of the“ Right Sector ” - generally on the verge of absurdity.” The employees of the EE center were the first to react, they connected the prosecutor’s office, and that FSB. The car spun: repost is aimed at examination, the results of which are still unknown.

Now, says Konstantin, he “also prefers to be careful”: “Fear is a normal feeling, it helps to avoid rash steps. But, of course, you should not be silent - otherwise you will not even get any help from anyone. ”

Democents and scammers

The newspaper Vedomosti Urals blames the employees of the Nizhny Tagil administration that among the periodicals issued by officials of the second largest in the city of the Sverdlovsk region, “the media was also discovered, which was long known for its criticism of the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the United Russia party. We are talking about The New Times, which “has entered the list of 20 anti -Russian media”*.

A denunciation through a local newspaper is a technique that is well acquainted for those who are forty, and it seems to have successfully passed the test of time. So more recently, in the Oryol region against the teacher of high school from the village of Kromy Alexander formerly, a criminal case was opened under Art. 282 (“The excitement of hatred or enmity”) for poems published on the social network in support of a single Ukraine. It is after the appearance of a devastating article in the local newspaper Zarya under the heading “such“ patriots ”there is no place in Russia!” The prosecutor became interested in the teacher.

We are dealing with a series of the same type and disgusting persecution of disagreements, which often begin with ordinary denunciation, and may end in prison

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Demos are written not only by people, but also by whole institutions. A typical example is a joint report of the Russian Institute for Strategic Research in March 2014 and the Center for Actual Policy on the topic "Methods and technology of the activities of foreign and Russian research centers, as well as universities that receive financing from foreign sources."

A list of organizations, in fact, “foreign agents” are attached to the report-among them “Levada-Center” and the Russian Economic School-which, according to the authors of the report, “hiding behind scientific activity <...>, use significant possibilities for access to the media and influence Russian politics.”

It is difficult to get rid of the impression that there is a direct connection between this report and the detention at the airport of Anna Sharogradskaya - on her flash drives they will look for “traces of influence on Russian politics”.

Each of these stories separately looks like a typical case of “curriculum”, as an excess of the contractor, an obvious misunderstanding. Well, do not seriously discuss the article in the district with such a passage: “In a restless time, when the external enemies bared their teeth and hid in deadly jump, there are people who undermine Russia from the inside.”

The trouble is that there are more and more such isolated cases. We are dealing with a series of the same type and disgusting persecution of disagreements, which often begin with ordinary denunciation and may well end in prison for someone.

The problem is that the victim’s crats always excite the persecutor, and the more freedom we will give, the more they will take away

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These repressions are selective, their victims are largely accidental (although many are still related to politics or civil activity). But the reaction of society to these persecution, more precisely, the absence of the only correct reaction, suggests that there will be more of them. Because, instead of ridicule the Ural “Vedomosti” and publicly write several more opposition publications, the Nizhny Tagil administration will most likely remain silent, and possibly adjust the lists of the delivered periodicals.

Because the inhabitants of the village of Kroma, who support the annexation of Crimea, will not fight for the right of their fellow countryman to express a point of view excellent from them and not fall for this. Because tens of thousands of people will not be protesting against the appearance of new defendants in the “swamp business”. Instead, some will hide, having received an extra confirmation of the validity of their fears, others will find a rational explanation like “there is no smoke without fire” or “the court will understand”.

Because instead of the news that the appeal of Alexander Sokurov to Putin to release the political prisoners supported another 100 participants in the Kinotavra, a completely different news was released on information tapes - that Sokurov apologized to the organizers for his statement, explaining it simply: "So that there were no problems at the festival."

“So that there are no problems” and “as if not worse” - expressions pronounced recently too often. The desire of people to avoid a stressful situation and not to expose themselves to the risks is understandable and natural. The problem is that the victim’s crats always excites the persecutor, and the more freedom we will give, the more they will take away.