Ilya Yashin: It’s easy to hate

Putin has been speaking to the people in hate speech for many years, and I do not think that this has brought Russia at least some benefit. Therefore, it seems to me that the democratic opposition needs a completely different political language.

The rally against the new laws of "United Russia" on the isolation of the Internet was worthy, despite all the difficulties. The police staged several provocations. First, banners were taken away from the organizers, although the text on them was quite correct and relevant to the topic. And later they detained several activists who tried to bring (!) Balloons to the rally.

It all looked ridiculous, but the idea was probably to create a negative stir before the start of the rally: it is dangerous to walk, the police grab everyone in a row without explaining the reasons. Thus, the authorities apparently hoped to scare away the participants and reduce the number of the action.

It's nice that this calculation did not justify itself. It seems that people had a backlash: many were indignant and came to the square, although they did not initially intend to. As a result, almost 20 thousand people gathered, mostly young people. This is cool.

The atmosphere was quite inspiring. Lots of homemade posters, flags in many colors, activists from all walks of life. I enjoyed walking around the square and talking to different political groups. Very interesting: bright guys of different views, but all with burning eyes.

What I didn’t like was the constant shouting from the podium: “Learn to hate!” What is there to learn? It's easy to hate. Putin has been speaking to the people in the language of hate for many years, and I do not think that this has brought Russia at least some benefit. Therefore, it seems to me that the democratic opposition needs a completely different political language.

But in general, I repeat, my impressions are very positive. Separately, I want to note the deputy of our Krasnoselsky district - lawyer Mikhail Biryukov Mikhail Biryukov , who spent several hours in the police department, defending the detainees. Now they are all free.

Thanks to everyone who was on Sakharov Avenue today.

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