"Changes" of the Russian opposition

The opposition applied to the "Marsh of Changes". His prospects against the backdrop of a growing force of truckers

Representatives of the Committee for the Russian Opposition’s protest actions on the morning of December 1 submitted an application to the Moscow City Hall to hold an action called "Marsh of Changes" . On December 12, activists plan to hold a procession and a rally in the center of Moscow. According to the organizers of the action, the ruling regime of Russia leads the country to disaster, therefore, changes are needed. This time, among the applicants of the event, there are no leaders of opposition parties. Parnassus, Yabloko and the Party of Progress are still thinking whether to join the action. What are the prospects for the political protest of Russian oppositionists against the background of several weeks of social protest of truckers?

"We do not demand changes - we have no one to demand them. We will fight for the changes!" - This is one of the slogans of the action that Russian civil activists plan to hold on the Constitution Day on December 12. Explaining the agenda of the event on the page on the social network Facebook , its organizers write: "Today, getting rid of this regime is no longer a task that is facing individual parties or politicians. This is a condition for the survival of the nation. Therefore, every responsible citizen must clearly realize: I will not go out today, tomorrow I will remain without a country in which it was born."

The committee of protest actions emphasizes that they are going to hold a share of 30 thousand people in the center of Moscow: the capital's city hall proposed a march route from Pushkinskaya Square to Academician Sakharov Avenue, where a rally is planned. The action will not take place if the city hall offers the sleeping areas protesters, the organizers say. Among them, this time is publicist Alexander Ryklin, political analyst Andrei Piontkovsky, human rights activist Lev Ponomarev, lawyer Elena Lukyanova and others. Read more about the impending event Radio Liberty was told by one of the applicants of the action by a civil activist and member of the "Committee of May 6" Sergey Sharov-Delon :

- We all believe that the country is just rolling into the abyss, stands in front of the national disaster. We believe that we need cardinal changes in all directions: internal, foreign policy, economic, social policy, in relation to civil society, etc. This is the situation with the war in Ukraine and Syria, and never resolved, these are issues related to the economy that is in a state of diving, this is the situation related to civil society: NPOs, political assaulted. Here the conversation is not only about changing power, changing the sign, but also about the radical change in the entire policy of the country. The march will be devoted to this.

- At the same time, the announcement of the action says that the action will be held without political parties. How is that? Who do you expect to see among those who came to the "march"?

The conversation is not only about changing power, changing the sign, but also about the radical change in the entire policy of the country

- The organizer, like almost all previous marches, is the committee of protest actions. The parties are now busy in the main election and do not want to officially support the march. They do not say that they do not want to be among the officially supportive ones. There will be no parties, but the slogans will be purely political - we advocate a change in the country's policy. Will the absence of parties affect the number of people who have come? I think not, because people go for some ideas, and not for party banners. Whether it will affect agreement - I do not know. No one knows. As the city hall agrees, this is a mystery every time.

- How fundamental will the issue of the site of the city be for you - the city center?

- Our condition: the center of Moscow. We just won’t go to the outskirts.

- That is, either the center or the march will not take place?

- Yes.

- As I understand it, you chose the date of December 12?

- This is the Day of the Constitution, yes. But in the event that the city hall offers to transfer to the 13th, Sunday, as a more convenient option for the city hall, we will not rest. Of course, we chose the 12th as the Constitution Day, but we are ready to move. It’s not so scary if the action moves to the day, ”says Sergey Sharov-Delon.

Representatives of the opposition political parties, although they do not appear among the organizers of the action, do not exclude that they will join the "march of change". The press service of the Yabloko Party Radio Liberty said that this issue is now being discussed with the organizers of the action. If the parties agree, then the Yabloko will take part in the march, if not, it will hold a separate action on December 12.

The Secretary of the Federal Political Council of Parnas, Konstantin Merzlikin, explained that the party is not among the organizers, since this event does not quite fit into the logic of the party: Parnassus planned protest activities taking into account the elections in the State Duma of Russia outlined for September 2016. However, according to Konstantin Merzlikin, the party will take part in the "march of change" if the organizers manage to agree on the action:

- We are not the organizers of this event, since it does not quite fit into our logic, but if the organizers can achieve approval, then we will participate in this event. We believe that preliminary big work is needed with our supporters to mobilize them. We will begin this preliminary work in mid -December the month, bearing in mind that by spring we will make such a “homework”, and then it will be possible to count on holding an action that will be built into the logic of the electoral process.

In the unregistered part of the progress of Alexei Navalny, which, along with Parnassus, was one of the organizers of previous protest actions, so far there is also no uniform idea of what to do on December 12. One of the party members Nikolai Lyaskin draws attention to the fact that without sufficient preparation, holding a mass action in Moscow is now quite difficult, but he also does not exclude that he will visit the "March of Change":

- Any large action should be well prepared. I know the organizers well, and maybe everything will be fine, it will turn out to be actively, if not, this will be another evidence that we need to prepare for large promotions. I’m not sure that on New Year's Eve this will hurt people, although maybe at the end of the year people will get even more tired of what is happening in the country.

- But you yourself, if the action is agreed, will you go? Do you share her requirements, a summons?

- I share her agenda, and I will probably go in personal quality.

- But now the protest from another corner is still ripening - truckers . This protest, from your point of view, can merge with Moscow political protest?

We always said that there is no specific one problem, there are many, many problems that directly lead up

-Truckers do not yet really understand that they are ready to coordinate someone. The help that they currently ask us is legal. We provide her if they ask us some organizational assistance, we will certainly provide her. But we have such a time that both a political protest and social finally gaining forms. As a social protest was always arranged before: each group fought specifically for its problems. We always said that there is no specific one problem, there are many, many problems that directly lead up. The problem is upstairs, the problem is in politics, the problem in high key people is the government, the president, and the heads of the regions. And that it is not the Minister of Health or the Minister of Transport to be to blame (although they are also to blame), but the problem is that everything is mired in corruption and kumov, and that all these social problems have an absolute political basis. Therefore, both the political and social protest will ultimately gain a single whole, ”Nikolai Lyaskin believes.

Moscow political scientist Nikolai Petrov is more careful in forecasts: in his opinion, it is too early to say that the social protest of the truckers will accept the political coloring:

- On the one hand, the protest of truckers is an interesting and important case, because although we are dealing with a relatively small social group, this social group is well organized, very noticeable, and can be considered as such a real root middle class. In this sense, probably, we see the beginning of what can continue when other social groups enter the protest movement due to the fact that the government increases the fiscal pressure on them. And this is the protest that will probably expand further. As for the political component, in case of protest of truckers and political opposition, the combination is completely unobvious, and it is no coincidence that some activists from the truckers took part in the Anti -Maidan movement. A political protest is a slightly separate story and, although it is very important to support it, regardless of the mass of protesters, until I see a situation when a political protest can be considered as a real serious force that pushes in one direction or another.

- You said that these protests are of various kinds. From your point of view, why is there a little prerequisites for the fact that they can unite?

Is this protest associated with the deficiencies from the government, or is it just the beginning of a series of protests and others will connect to truckers?

-In a situation of a developing socio-economic crisis and increasing pressure on an ordinary citizen, there is a possibility of expanding socio-economic protests. But so far we do not see the growing shaft of such protests, and in this sense, truckers are the first large noticeable protest. The question is whether this protest is related to the deficiencies from the government, or is it just the beginning of a series of protests and others will connect to truckers. This is still important for the government, because it occurs on the eve of the beginning of the election campaign for elections to the State Duma, affects the majority of the regions of the country, and in this sense has a clear political dimension.

It is important to see how this protest will end. While the government tried to stop it, going to small temporary concessions. But we see that this does not relieve stress. We are again faced with a situation when the fear and inability to make a serious decision at the very beginning of the protest phase, leads to the fact that the protest does not weaken, but, on the contrary, intensifies. And as a result, the government will have to pay much more and make much greater concessions. So far I do not see any real possibility of combining this protest and political protests, because what the political protesters act with is fundamentally diverging with the slogans, under which the truckers participate in the protest, ”says political scientist Nikolai Petrov.

The latter to date, the opposition action took place in Moscow on September 20, 2015 in the metropolitan area of Maryino. According to the White Meter organization, about 8 thousand people participated in the event. The metropolitan police reported that there were about 4 thousand protesters on the shares.