Democracy is not scary

What to do if you do not plan to emigrate

In social networks, where those few percentages of citizens who consciously did not vote for Vladimir Putin live, Yaroslavna is crying. Someone complains about the people, someone complains about the regime, someone complains about their colleagues in the opposition. The most honest talk about their own responsibility.

At the same time, it is obvious that the responsibility, perhaps in different proportions, lies with everyone. And for those who nevertheless came and voted for the continuation of the current Kremlin policy, and for those who organized "work with state employees", and for those who could not agree on anything - in general, for each of us. Actually, Hannah Arendt wrote about such a situation when she introduced the concept of collective responsibility.

After the great philosopher, discussing this topic as a whole does not make much sense. It is much more important for us today to think about what to do next. What should the opposition do, what should liberal-minded people do, what should each of us do.

If we exclude the issue of migration - it is regrettable to admit that such a solution after Sunday's events seems to many more and more attractive - the question can be reformulated in a simpler way: how do we live in our country. I will try to give my answer to this question.

• 1. Learn to dream

Dreaming is a rather difficult task. I will tell you as a person who tries to do this every day. The question is not where we are leaving, but where we should go. How exactly should your specific life and the life of the country in your Dreamland look like? To dream means to have very specific images before our eyes that light us up, make us happy! And when there is such a dream, it is very easy to share it and you really want to go to it.

What is this "beautiful Russia of the future"? Is it really the one in which the minimum wage will be 25 thousand rubles? Or can we see something more valuable and more exciting? For myself, I see a very clear picture: Russia is a country where the majority is involved in managing the present and the future, where everyone has a real opportunity to influence the decision. And where public administration is as close as possible to the person, at arm's length, and not concentrated in the Kremlin.

• 2. First strategy, then tactics

The dream must be reformulated into specific long-term goals. For March 18, the 19th came. And so many were at a loss: what to do? The problem is that the opposition often thinks tactically, without setting long-term goals and not realizing the criteria for achieving them. And in terms of personal political careers and in terms of the goals of movements, society.

For me personally, the 18th has become just a number on the calendar, because it is completely clear to me how and what needs to be done, where to start, where to go: first develop civil society, grass roots, local self-government, change people's attitude to politics and their civic responsibility, to develop distributed political leadership. And most importantly - to expand the circles of trust in the opposition, in specific people, and through them - interest in and trust in democratic ideas. Start massively winning local elections (albeit with a very disenfranchised system of local self-government for the time being), in order to move on later.

• 3. Adequately assess the situation and learn to change

And those who set such goals for themselves often cannot adequately assess the situation. Is a celebratory political concert and fireworks appropriate in a country that is preparing to flog itself in a couple of days? Shouldn't you reconsider something in your strategy and tactics after your party fails miserably first in the Duma and then in the presidential elections? Is it not worth realizing that the issue is not only and not so much in falsifications and administrative resources, but in the fact that we, the opposition, have not yet managed to win trust at the level of the whole country and that we do not have the resources to win it right away like that ?

And having answered these questions, take practical steps: review your own branding, update the leadership of the party and its top candidates, develop local politics, learn how to win in small constituencies, and only then move on.

• 4. Implement values ​​in practice, earn people's trust, learn to negotiate

Yes, it is people's trust that is the very treasure that any politician should strive for. Trust can be manipulative, fake, it can be imposed with the help of TV. But for those who do not want to be “like Putin”, this path is unacceptable. And not because we do not have such resources, but because when killing a dragon, it is important not to turn into it yourself.

The main principle that I personally put as the basis of my political activity is that you must put your declared values ​​into practice. If we are talking about respect for a person, we should not despise the notorious 86 percent. If we are talking about the participation of citizens in governance, it is necessary to provide maximum opportunities in the management of parties and movements to the participants in these movements, to introduce distributed leadership. If we are talking about the change of power, we must learn to leave in time.

Be able to look for allies and show respect for someone else's position. Look for what unites, not what separates. These are such simple and understandable things. In theory. In practice, the opposition all the time steps on the same rake. No partnerships, just the king of the hill game. All this creates a completely bad image of the opposition as a whole - as talkers who say one thing and do another.

I am sure that political honesty is a prerequisite in order to gain people's trust, real, not fake.

• 5. Involve people in politics, prove that democracy is useful

The most important thing to understand now, in my opinion, is that Russia cannot be changed from above. This cannot be done as a result of a democratic process, because if Russia chooses a real democratic president for itself, this will mean that it has already changed. If some kind of coup or even a capital revolution takes place, then a little time will pass, and everything will return to normal - we have repeatedly observed this in our tragic history. Slavery returned to Russia again and again, in different guises, but essentially the same.

Changing public consciousness, involving people in communication and self-government, and, ultimately, establishing new social values ​​and practices is not a task for one year or even one decade. But we know successful examples in history, and we can follow them.

Citizens can and should be explained that democracy is not scary, that democracy is not a fetish, that democracy is just convenient.

It helps to protect the park, improve education and medicine, improve the quality of overhaul and landscaping, and develop small businesses. This can only be proved in practice, only by introducing democratic practices into life, into one that truly affects everyone. And this is not at all a threat from the West or a war in Syria.