Non-systemic Opposition Movement Demoralised - experts speak out on the anniversary of the protests on Bolotnaya Square
Regnum News Agency publication
On the 6th May, Moscow saw yet another non-systemic protest staged on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. The event held great symbolic significance since it occurred exactly one year after the first protest on the same square.
Experts point out that street opposition from the period of 6th May 2012 through to 6th May 2013 has undergone a sea change. In the words of Leonid Polyakov, a member of the Expert Council of the Foundation of Civil Society Development, and head of the Department of General Political Science in Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, the once strong unity of Russian non systemic opposition no longer exists.
'For a start,' he says 'there used to be three separate trends in the protest movement: the non-systemic Liberals, the radical left and Russian nationalists and they were all fairly well coordinated and quite aggressive. However, today, all three are looking for their own particular niche in the political process and the fact that they are managing to act together at all is most probably through inertia rather than through any deliberate plan. This is becoming more and more noticeable - as is evidenced by the small numbers attending meetings - and was particularly apparent at the meeting that was held on 5th May.’
‘A second important point to make is that there has been a deep schism between ordinary protesters and the groups who claim to be protest leaders. These so-called leaders are finding themselves increasingly isolated and the most prominent of them - such as Udaltsov and Navalni - are finding themselves marginalised in one way or another.’
‘If you look at it from this point of view, we can see that radicalism is actually concentrated within the narrow confines of the so called Coordination Committee, while the protesters themselves are acting either from simple inertia or possibly we are seeing a new type of protestor taking to the streets. Therefore, one could say that the original aim of creating a protest as some sort of organised movement with clearly defined leaders at its head, has been lacking this time round.’
Thirdly, according to Polyakov, the reason for holding a street protest in the first place no longer exists because the aim of the opposition a year ago was to protest against the election results to the State Duma and the re-election of the President – both issues which are no longer relevant. ‘Even those who took part in the march could see there was no point to it. It is more logical now to get involved in the official political process.’
Professor Oleg Matveichev, a political scientist who also works at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics is also convinced that the Russian street protest movement is completely demoralised and disunited. It has failed in everything it could possibly fail in. The demoralisation is linked both to public disappointment with the protests themselves and disappointment with the leaders of the protest movement, not to mention organisational incompetence and the failure of the Coordinating Committee to live up to its name. A final nail in the coffin of the protest movement is the opposition’s lack of funding which is a consequence of the new foreign agent law on NGOs. Therefore the protest movement, which is minimal, exists mostly on social network sites.
