Dissidents Fear Soviet Comeback
By Galina Stolyarova
Staff Writer
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Grigory Dukor / Reuters
Opposition leader Garry Kasparov (r) is applauded by fellow activists following his release from jail in Moscow on Thursday.
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There was talk of gulags, hunting down dissidents and the Stalinist junta at an opposition meeting on Pionerskaya Square on Wednesday as liberal politicians, veteran dissidents and human rights advocates spoke out against what they see as a tragic return to authoritarian rule and even a Soviet-style police state. The event, organized by the Union of Right Forces, a liberal party, drew more than 1,000 participants. One speaker at the meeting, a Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, who plans to run against pro-Kremlin candidates in the presidential election in March next year, drew a parallel with resistance in the days of the U.S.S.R. He addressed the apathy of some of his potential supporters who he said might stay at home on polling day on the grounds that they felt that “the authorities are too strong and the opposition too weak and fragmented, and hence there is no sense fighting for a cause that has already been lost.” Bukovsky, who now lives in the U.K., asked such people to take a more optimistic view. “Back in the Soviet years, the state was much stronger and the dissident movement much smaller,” Bukovsky said. “But now the U.S.S.R. does not exist and dissidents are still alive and well. There is no reason for a hands-off attitude.” Bukovsky stressed that it is a matter of self-respect. “If you conform to a regime you deeply disagree with and which you find oppressive, and if you betray what you stand for, you will not be able to look your children in the eye, such will be the shame such a compromising attitude will inflict on you.” Leonid Gozman, one of the leaders of the Union of the Right Forces, also warned against political apathy and stressed that widespread public inertia creates a breeding ground for corruption. “If ordinary Russians do not show resistance to what has become a suffocating reminder of Soviet-style ‘absolute content,’ then the situation will soon become impossible to reverse,” he said. “Political life is rapidly turning into a humiliating and never-ending round of applause for whatever the head of state does, and that is extremely dangerous.” Yury Vdovin, deputy chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of the human rights group Citizens’ Watch alleged that the “brainwashing” of TV viewers in the Putin era has outdone Soviet propaganda in both scale and quality. “Television presenters tell people that life is becoming better every day, but the truth is that life is getting depressing,” Vdovin said. “What has been increasing is the wealth gap, rather than ordinary people’s income. Affordable housing is still nothing more than a myth. All Russia can boast of is the Bulava missile, and even that does not even have a specific target.” The meeting was held under heavy police surveillance, with many officers of the special police task force (OMON) present, plus Interior Ministry troops and riot police. All participants were required to pass through metal detectors and had their belongings searched by the police. The area was sealed off by metal barriers. Former political prisoners who attended the meeting said that the environment at the meeting was reminiscent of the camps where they had once served their sentences. Participants at the meeting condemned police actions against unarmed peaceful protesters during last weekend’s Dissenters’ Marches in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which resulted in hundreds of people being detained and beaten. Among those arrested was the former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, head of the United Civil Front and one of the leaders of the opposition alliance, The Other Russia. He was charged with resisting arrest and organizing an unauthorised public protest after Saturday’s rally in Moscow. Kasparov was sentenced to five days in prison. A crowd at Wednesday’s meeting chanted “Freedom for Garry Kasparov!” Olga Kurnosova, St. Petersburg coordinator of Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front, said she counted thirty armor-plated riot police vehicles in the immediate vicinity of the meeting place. “When ordinary people hear about the police beating protesters they become scared and think they would be safer if they stay at home and do not join,” she said. “But the paradox is that the authorities are much more scared of the citizens, and this is the main reason why they deploy such massive force against small groups of harmless protesters.” The meeting lasted just under an hour and broke up peacefully.
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