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Update opstand Rusland

Sinds een paar maanden protesteren vooral oudere bewoners van Rusland hevig tegen het beleid van de regering om hun laatste stukje bijstand te schrappen. Een overzicht.

11 min leestijd
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Een eerste, eveneens Engelstalig relaas van ‘spontane’ opstanden is hier op globalinfo te vinden. Hieronder een nieuw overzicht.

Some recent anarchist actions in Russia

1) After protests, regional administration partially gives up neoliberal
reform in Omsk

2) Kaliningrad 28th of January – anarchists and pensioners attempt to raid
mayor’s office

3) 28th of January – solidarity action for Israeli anarchists in Moscow

4) 29th of January – anarchists harrassed in the Moscow suburb of Zhukovsky

5) Other actions against monetarization of benefits and repression in
Murmansk

6) 12th of February – old joke in a new city

1) After protests, regional administration partially gives up neoliberal
reform in Omsk

Omsk is among many cities where protests against neoliberal reforms have taken place during last month. Protests gained quick success, Omsk was among first Siberian cities where administration announced continuation of free transport benefits for the whole year 2005.

This was however only a partial success, because costs of municipial housing services (water, electricity etc.) raised 50%. Where pensioners often received around 200 roubles of additional fiscal compensations, they had to pay extra 300-500 roubles(10-15$) for housing services.

27th of January there were 4 simultaneous actions in various part of the city, two of which included blockade of traffic. It was a warm day for a Siberian winter, a heatwave of -22 celsius degrees (-8 F).

Around 10 AM KPRF had a meeting at legistlative assembly of Omsk region, there were also red and black flags of Siberian Confederation of Labour, alltogether some 500 people. SKT had banner “No to social terror!”, and satirical
leaflets.

Police had raised fences to protect traffic, but pensioners broke through fences and police cordons. After a scuffle of 5 minutes, pensioners managed to block traffic in the main road of the city. Leaders of KPRF made appeals to pensioners to return to sidewalk, in vain. Police had to reroute traffic by another road.

In the same day, there were also actions at city mayor’s office and city council. In a spontaneous action in the South-Western suburb of Moskovka pensioners blocked traffic as well.

2) Kaliningrad 28th of January – anarchists and pensioners attempt to raid mayor’s office

In 28th of January there was a non-legalised demonstration in Kaliningrad against cancellation of free benefits. Some days before, a previously unheard organisation “No to law” had plastered city with leaflets, inviting to action. Some 200 people appeared in the crossing of Chernyahovsky and Leninskiy streets, mostly pensioners.

In beginning of the meeting, a group of young anarcho-communists from Autonomous Action unrolled banner “There will always be a revolution!”, and invited elderly to form brigades of self-defence in order to struggle with the power. After 15 minutes, crowd began shouting “Let us storm mayor’s office!” and “Everybody to Savchenko!” (he is city mayor). Police tried to block crowd and seize banner from anarchists, but they were pushed aside by elderly people. Majority of the demonstration moved towards city mayor’s office, blocking traffic on the Lenin street. When people arrived to mayor’s office, they founded it blocked by some 20 police.

People began shouting “Savchenko, get out!” and “Give us back our benefits!”. Chief of administration of mayor’s affairs came out, and announced that he will call OMON special forces, since meeting was not legalised.

Elderly people kept pushing cops, shouting to them “you have fathers and mothers, how may you tolerate this power!”. A busload of OMON arrived, and began to arrest younger participators of the meeting, and brutalize everybody without age discrimination. Police managed to arrest 4 activists of Autonomous Action, but we do not have information about charges.

Some pictures from the action:
op website avtonom.org

3) 28th of January – solidarity action for Israeli anarchists in Moscow

Anarchists gathered at Israeli embassy to protest against court processes against Israeli Anarchists Against Wall, and eviction of the squat in Tel Aviv. This was a synchronous action with one in Tel Aviv, also banners were the similar to those used in Tel Aviv.

Some 25 anarchists formed a happy company in heavy snowing, which was going on another day in Moscow. Drumming and shouts “No war between Jews and Arabs!” and “Down with repression of anarchists in Israel!” got police scared – first they were 3, then 5, then 15. In Tel Aviv, problem was not weather but police who beat up some of the demonstrators. In hostile Moscow weather, 40 minutes was considered to be a picket long enough, appeal was left to embassy staff and picket was finished.

As a curiosity, it may be mentioned that nazi boneheads sent a scout to this action. For some reason, nazis imagine that anarchists have something to do with the fact that they have had their asses kicked pretty much lately, and they are getting interested about open activities of the movement. In Sankt-Petersburg, recently 10 nazis from Russian Nationalist Unity came to harrass Food Not Bombs, but without much of a success.

4) 29th of January – anarchists harrassed in the Moscow suburb of Zhukovsky

Protest action against monetarization of free benefits have been organised in at least two dozen Moscow suburbs. One of them is Zhukovsky, which is located 15 kilometres Southeast from Moscow border, and has a small but stable core of anarchist activists. Around 10 Moscow anarchists took a local train to support them in the morning of 29th of January, when snowing was already bit less than during previous two days.

No matter proximity of the capital, Zhukovsky had authentical provincial repressive atmosphere. Plain clothes FSB sticked to anarchists right when they showed up. They did not succeeded to arrest anybody, but during the whole meeting they surrounded anarchists, trying to tear down banners and get them provoked. All in all, meeting was little inspiring – some 300 elderly people were passively listening speeches of speakers of “patriotic communist” orientation, who were verbally bashing jews and other “traitors of the motherland”. Anarchist leaflets however gained some interest among the people.

When anarchists were leaving, plain clothes FSB made another arresting attempt. However everybody managed to stick together, and appeal to solidarity was addressed to rest of the demonstrators. Since a crowd gathered around anarchists, police got scared and FSB gave up soon. But few hours later anarchists learned, that one local activists who had left meeting alone had been snitched, and he had to spend 4 hours in a police station, without following charges. .

Originally trouble was not expected from side of FSB but from the RNE (Russian National Unity) fascists, who are also busy doing outreach in the wave of a social movement. Unlike anarchists, who managed to stand up for themselves, these big grown-up macho men were neutralized by plain clothes very quickly, and they spent rest of the day in a police station.

5) Other actions against monetarization of benefits and repression in Murmansk

Anarchists participated to general demonstrations against monetarization also 28th of January in Rostov-na-Donu and Irkutsk, 2th and 5th of February in Yaroslavl (latter demonstration gathered 5000 participators) and 12th of February in Kaliningrad. In Irkutsk, anarchists had their own picket against monetarization 5th of February. More information and pictures from some of these actions available at avtonom.org. There has also been plenty of actions in Sankt-Petersburg.

15th of February mainstream media reported, that private corporation “MUP Elektrotransport” wants to open an civil suite against several members of Autonomous Action in Murmansk and one Komsomol member, demanding compensation of 30 000 roubles (1000$, maybe 5 times average local monthly income)for lost profits during demonstration of 23rd of January, when a breakout march from a 2000 strong meeting blocked traffic to corporation. In reality, there is no doubt that this civil suite is initiated by state organs who want to shut down dissent and to “stabilize” situation in the country.

6) 12th of February – old joke in a new city

Shocked because of unexpected wave of unrest, Russian powers decided to use good old Soviet means to show their legitimacy – demonstrations organised from above. 12th of February, ruling “Edinaya Rossiya” party (a pure Kremlin tool without any real membership base) was to organise a huge show off of loyalty to
neoliberal reforms, a demonstration under banners “for stability of the country, for president”. Students of some universities of capital area and even some children from school were forced to demonstration (students were paid 300 roubles), but main core of the some 10 000 (pro-governement media claimed 40 000)
people who gathered to Tverskaya boulevard were pensioners taken by buses as far as from Ryazan, and workers of some bigger enterprises, bosses of whom wanted to show their loyality to powers. There were some people, who really
wanted to show their support to president, but for sure not more than 5% of the total. Much of the message was targeted against communists, one often seen, conveyor produced lollipop was “Communists, enough misleading elderly!”. Other slogans included “Putin, we are with you!” and “We support course of reforms!”.

To big extent, it was usual Russian absurd – one elderly lady passing by the demonstration shouted provocative slogans, such as “long live reforms, take my last piece of bread and clothes!”, to which people responded with enthousiastic “horraah”, laughing. Some drunken yuppies were shouting “Vencerimos!” from a balcony of an elite appartment, to which people also responded enthousiastically. Some were there for money they were promised, for the rest it was just a circus.

I counted 40 buses waiting for demonstrators in Lyubyanka only, and they were also in Teatralnaya square – the budget of the circus of transferring them to place, and paying a majority hundreds of roubles must have costed millions of roubles, perhaps enough money to subside free travelling benefits for everyone in Moscow region during several weeks, if not months.

Anarchists were not only people doing provocation – some liberals came with a banner “We wish your tsardom will last forever, Vladimir Vladimirovich”, and they did not even got harrassed. Anarchists had a banner “For sale”, and distributed the following leaflet:

++++

PRICE LIST

picket: 200 rubles (or a seminar course for students)

meeting: 300 rubles

demonstration (legalized): 400 rubles

demonstration (non-legalized): 600 rubles (or exam for students)

bonus in case of arrest: +50%

street blockade*: 900 rubles

riot*: 3000 rubles (or diploma for students)

coup*: 300 000 rubles.

Payments are to be given individually to each participator of the action, according to deal between orderer of the services and Syndicate of Professional Demonstrators. Minimal number of participators of action is 10 persons, except in cases noted with *, when it is 100 persons. All prices include VAT.

We offer certified services for organisation of demonstration of any level of difficulty. If you get involved with non-professionals, who work without necessary licenses, you risk loose of reputation which cannot be compared with the possible financial gains of such affilation. Syndicate of Professional Demonstrators is a guarantee of quality. We have worked in the Russian market of demonstration services 15 years already, and our achievements are well known.

We think, that qualified work of a professional deserves a decent reward.
Demonstrators!
Do not ever agree to work in exchange of a payment, less than one established by Syndicate of Professional Demonstrators! In case contractor did not fulfilled conditions, set by Syndicate of Professional Demonstrators, contact us immediately!
We will defend your and our rights by any means available in the current legal framework!

Right now, when our services are more in demand than ever before, common
action to defend our professional dignity are necessary. When rating of our president is falling like a meteor, when war in Chechnya goes on for 6th year, and when in every city of Russia brutal reforms for monetarization of free social benefits and hikes of prices of housing services have provoked people to streets, and when only decisive action by governement may save country from rule of free councils without bureaucrats, cops, officers and oligarchs (that means, from anarchy), our work has a huge demand! Who else, if not us, may show that somebody is still loving our president (at least for money).

Do not sell your self for pennies!

Political prostitutes of all countries, unite!

Syndicate of Professional Demonstrators

antijob.nm.ru, russia.indymedia.org

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More of the same topic:

Protests against neo-liberal reforms in Russia and following repression
here on infoshop
“Russia on the brink” by NY Times here on infoshop.

(Dit artikel was oorspronkelijk op GlobalInfo gepubliceerd door onbekend.)