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Gazeta.Ru
April 2, 2004
New law on protest rallies first step to anti-Utopia
By Mikhail Fishman

United Russia gets straight to the root of things: in a country where the mass media is not really a mass media, where political parties are not real parties and elections are fictitious, the ruling party has made sure public demonstrations are no longer genuine either.

Living up to their pre-election promises to build a civilized civic society, United Russia got down to work almost immediately. On Wednesday this week the State Duma gave first-reading approval to a bill outlawing protests near government buildings as well as numerous other public places.

At the same session the lower house also approved extended terms in pre-trial detention for terrorist suspects ­ from 10 days to a month. That bill was approved in its third, and final, reading.

You could call it a legislative package if you like. You hold a rally ­ we send you to prison for a month with the formal approval of the courts, which have agreed that our suspicious are well-founded.

Indeed, the authorities have seen to everything: the election was like a holiday, “media freedom” has been introduced and the multi-party system has been successfully established. The streets are the only factor hitherto neglected by the powers-that-be in the hurly-burly of state-building.

The United Russia party, whose 294 members voted for the severe restrictions on protest rallies and marches, has assumed a complex approach to the problem, in a country where mass media and party politics are now joined by fake protest rallies.

A protest rally or a picket is a vigil at the gates of an organ responsible for the actions that the protesters are demonstrating against. This new law reduces rallies to nothing more than play-acting.

Apart from banning protestors from demonstrating near the targets of their dissatisfaction, United Russia rather slyly demanded that rally organizers notify the authorities no later than 10 days in advance of a gathering and no more than 15 days before.

Protestors now need to calm down and reconsider their methods. A similar readjustment had to be made after the military introduced the alternative civil service in such a way that even though Russian citizens are free to opt for it if they like, the option does not really exist…

The same now goes for protest rallies: henceforth, their organizers will be free to hold them only in the form of a standing vigil in the woods, but, of course, only if they notify the authorities of their intentions two weeks in advance.

Still, there is one way to resist the tightening grip on democracy. Just as the Constitutional Court cancelled recent anti-democratic amendments to the law on mass media, the ban on rallies may also be lifted in response to public protests by the president, the Duma itself or the Constitutional Court. And then, with the current rules for holding rallies successfully reinstated, everyone will rejoice at yet another democratic achievement. Nonetheless, to all intents and purposes, the bill approved this week will be adopted as is.

Civic actions, along with political parties and free elections, are one of the primary democratic institutions inherent to parliamentary rule. Parties and elections are the fuel that ensures the normal operation of the state and defines its policy. Rallies and demonstrations are more than just a form of people’s dialogue with the state.

Eight million Spaniards took to the streets in the wake of the recent terrorist attack in Madrid. Hundreds of thousands of Parisians rallied after the unexpected appearance of the ultra-nationalist Le Pin in France’s presidential runoff. They were actions of unification, self-respect, and self-inspiration.

Just imagine that you are banned from looking in a mirror, and not just you, everyone. All mirrors are to be destroyed. For all those who are used to worrying about their appearance this spells disaster, stress, enough to drive them to insanity.

On the contrary, the people at the bottom ­ those who have got out of the habit of bothering with hygiene and have forgotten how they look ­ will hardly notice the change. In that new world without reflection they alone will retain their composure while the upper classes fall into confusion. And then, in the spirit of an anti-utopia, Orwellian style, they will seize power.

Indeed, by cracking down on the civilized and natural manifestations of civic society, the authorities are doing something similar. An average citizen will not take part in sham rallies. Rallies will be staged either by the authorities themselves or held by radical outsiders, who will sooner or later take over the helm of the suppressed and uncontrolled civic protest.