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Problems of everyday life
Tim Wall - Moscow News - themoscownews.com - 1.30.12 - JRL 2012-17

As Moscow gears up for another mass "fair elections" protest this Saturday, it's clear that Russian society is in a very agitated mood. And it's not just about fair elections, although that sums up what many protesters are most agitated about right now.

For many millions of ordinary Russians, it's what that means in everyday life that's important.

Who governs the country for the next six (or 12) years, and how they govern it, will determine whether Russians continue to live in a society sick with corruption ­ one where bribery and extortion start at the maternity hospital and never end, even when it comes to getting a spot in a cemetery.

They're also about bureaucratic, inhuman regulations ­ such as the discredited Tsarist/Stalinist "propiska" system. It still treats Russians (and non-Russians alike) as little better than serfs, only allowed to reside or work in a particular town or city on the whim of corrupt officials.

Then there's the situation that millions of ordinary people find themselves in every day at work. Although the Constitution formally guarantees workers' right to form independent trade unions, in reality employers can act with impunity, wielding the infamous "trudovaya knizhka" (work book) as a weapon, sure in the knowledge that corrupt courts can easily be bribed to back unscrupulous hiring and firing practices. And spineless leaders of "official" trade unions are just as easily bullied or bought off, while workers who organize independently to defend their living standards are often dubbed troublemakers or "extremists."

Meanwhile, for millions of young people, the elections are a stark reminder about growing up in a country where their chances of a decent education and job depend so heavily on connections and bribes.

In reality, people are far more likely to join a protest if it links the issue of democratic rights to improving everyday conditions of life, such as jobs, housing, education, health and corruption.

The liberal, nationalist and social democratic leaders of the current protests, however, have mostly sought to restrict their agenda to purely "democratic" issues. But as the world economic crisis pushes the next incumbent of the Kremlin to cut social spending and ordinary people's living standards, the "problems of everyday life" will almost certainly lead to even bigger, more powerful protests.

Keywords: Russia, Government, Politics - Russia News - Russia

 

As Moscow gears up for another mass "fair elections" protest this Saturday, it's clear that Russian society is in a very agitated mood.

And it's not just about fair elections, although that sums up what many protesters are most agitated about right now.

For many millions of ordinary Russians, it's what that means in everyday life that's important.

Who governs the country for the next six (or 12) years, and how they govern it, will determine whether Russians continue to live in a society sick with corruption ­ one where bribery and extortion start at the maternity hospital and never end, even when it comes to getting a spot in a cemetery.

They're also about bureaucratic, inhuman regulations ­ such as the discredited Tsarist/Stalinist "propiska" system. It still treats Russians (and non-Russians alike) as little better than serfs, only allowed to reside or work in a particular town or city on the whim of corrupt officials.

Then there's the situation that millions of ordinary people find themselves in every day at work. Although the Constitution formally guarantees workers' right to form independent trade unions, in reality employers can act with impunity, wielding the infamous "trudovaya knizhka" (work book) as a weapon, sure in the knowledge that corrupt courts can easily be bribed to back unscrupulous hiring and firing practices. And spineless leaders of "official" trade unions are just as easily bullied or bought off, while workers who organize independently to defend their living standards are often dubbed troublemakers or "extremists."

Meanwhile, for millions of young people, the elections are a stark reminder about growing up in a country where their chances of a decent education and job depend so heavily on connections and bribes.

In reality, people are far more likely to join a protest if it links the issue of democratic rights to improving everyday conditions of life, such as jobs, housing, education, health and corruption.

The liberal, nationalist and social democratic leaders of the current protests, however, have mostly sought to restrict their agenda to purely "democratic" issues. But as the world economic crisis pushes the next incumbent of the Kremlin to cut social spending and ordinary people's living standards, the "problems of everyday life" will almost certainly lead to even bigger, more powerful protests.