Joshua Keating, Slate: Where Can the Russian Opposition Go Now?
Barred from the streets and the ballot, the Navalny movement looks for new ways to oppose Putin.
This week has felt like a turning point for the Russian political opposition movement led by blogger-turned-political activist Alexei Navalny, who has emerged as President Vladimir Putin’s most persistent and influential domestic opponent.
Navalny has been in prison since he returned to Russia in January, after several months in Germany where he received medical treatment following a poisoning attempt widely blamed on Russia’s security services.
Navalny recently ended a 24-day hunger strike to protest what he said was a lack of adequate medical care. A gaunt Navalny appeared in court via video link on Thursday to appeal an earlier conviction for defaming a World War II veteran in one of his web videos, one of a number of charges he is facing.
Navalny used the hearing to launch a broadside against Putin, who he described as a “naked, thieving king.”
Also this week, Russian prosecutors suspended the activities of Navalny’s nationwide political organization ahead of a court ruling which is expected to brand the group as an “extremist” organization, meaning its supporters could face long jail terms.
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Update: “People are scared”: Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on the Russian opposition (New Statesman)
WNU Editor: I get this questioned asked all the time. Where does Russia's opposition movement go from here?
I always say directly confronting the Kremlin does not work. Most Russians are too wrapped up in their daily lives, and at the end of the day their focus is to go home and be with their family and friends. And besides. Most Rusians continue to support Russian President Putin and his policies.
Because of this my advice to my friends who support Russia's opposition political parties has always been the same. Ignore the government. Operate as if they do not exist. And when you have to deal with them, keep it to a minimum.
By ignoring them you are de-legitimizing them. And while you are ignoring them you are also organizing to find like-minded people, running your social media accounts that reveal the corruption and incompetence of the authorities, while at the same time spreading a positive message that some change is necessary and these are the policies to do it.
I learned a long time ago that incremental change is the best way to change Russian society. That small victories will eventually add up to a big victory after a number of years. A big sudden push will be crushed. And crushed quickly.
I should know.
I witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union because this was the approach my generation implemented. It took a long time (about 10 years). But in the end the system collapsed, because the Soviet government was no longer the legitimate government in the eyes of most Soviet citizens.
Unfortunately. Many in Russia's opposition movement today are impatient. Navalny is one of those. And look at what has happened to him and his political movement. It is dead now, and it will only be revived when he is released from prison in a few years. This is not how an opposition movement should be run. It needs to be a group of people. Not just one leader at the top.
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