Good health to you and those close to you, and again, thank you.
The need for dialogue between the government and society
What is likely to be the result of the current course of the state authorities if the president does not adjust it? I have no doubt that maintaining the status quo is to Russia’s detriment. I spoke on this subject in a public lecture for young people that I gave in March 2013 at the Novosti news agency. It is a day I remember well. My talk and the question and answer session after it lasted almost two hours.
Here are the main points I made to the young people who filled the halclass="underline"
Politics is increasingly becoming a simulation of democracy. All the power is concentrated in the hands of the executive branch, the president. Parliament merely rubber-stamps his decisions.
We lack an autonomous judiciary.
The economy has been monopolized and is like a junky addicted to oil and gas exports. The initiative of entrepreneurs is fettered, and small and medium-sized businesses face enormous hurdles.
There is an unacceptably large gap between the incomes and living standards of the most well-off stratum of the population and everybody else. Corruption has reached extraordinary levels.
Such areas as education, health and science give grounds for very great concern.
Since 2004–5, I have been speaking constantly about these problems. They are issues that have been raised very audibly by others besides myself, but the government has not responded meaningfully to the signals coming from society. Ultimately, that behaviour has caused society to react.
Society woke up. It claimed its rights. People again demanded change, but instead of initiating a dialogue, the government resorted to subterfuge with the sole aim of keeping itself in power at all costs. It has succeeded for a time in resisting the tide of protest, but Russia’s problems have not gone away, and if nothing changes, they can only get worse.
That means that Russia is again facing the historic task of breaking through to genuine democracy.
People can influence the course of history only by participating in politics. The reality is that they have almost no opportunity to influence decision-making through genuinely effective party and social organizations that represent their interests. They are obliged to look for other ways, through the Internet, through spontaneous or organized protest demonstrations, or angry calls to radio programmes.
What is needed, however, is authentic political participation. That, however, is funnelled off, as if into a sinkhole, by United Russia and other official or quasi-official organizations.
If anybody falls out of the officially approved establishment, he is subjected to a rapid process of marginalization and banned from the political stage. I could name dozens of people who were active in politics five to ten years ago and who today have simply disappeared from view. However one may have related to them, it is bad when people are just turfed out of politics.
Aping the Communist Party, United Russia has become the ‘leading and directing force’ in Russian politics, but the actual problems facing people are not dealt with and break through to the surface, requiring intervention ‘at the highest level’. Before our startled gaze, micromanagement of politics from the top degenerates to the level of directing the traffic and compiling railway timetables.
All this is explained away on the grounds of the need to maintain stability. Yes, of course we need stability, but the stability of democracy, which is achieved through dialogue, through the contending of responsible political forces, by making provision for the formulation and advocacy of competing programmes.
That is something we do not have, although we came part of the way in that direction, halfway, perhaps. Maybe less. If we do not go further, we may slide back and be forced to rediscover the road some time in the future. We will lose momentum, we will lose time, and that, in today’s world, is dangerous. Our neighbours in a globalized world have already made that leap, or are about to do so.
We cannot afford to lag behind. Without political modernization, we will be mired in the past and will drift downwards in the international league table. I believe that both the present government and society face a historic choice. It is vital that both should understand that Russia’s complex problems can be resolved only by means of democratic cooperation. The rift between government and people can no longer be tolerated.
I will say frankly that, right now, it is mainly for the authorities to make the first move. To carry on along the path of tightening the screws, passing laws to restrict people’s rights and freedoms, attacking the media and civil society organizations is destructive and will ultimately lead nowhere.
I am sure that if the government chooses the path of dialogue with the active, concerned part of society, it will meet a positive response. From young people too.
The young have taken an active part in the rise of the civil protest movement. I was heartened by their energy and how they behaved at meetings. The whole experience of my life in politics warns, though, that it will be difficult: major change is not easily gained. Energy and enthusiasm need to be backed by persistence, the ability to organize yourselves, to think clearly, to listen to and take account of the opinions of others. In short, the need is to learn to fight for democracy while practising democracy.
One very important point I want specifically to mention and emphasize: avoid rifts. There should be no gap between the generations or between different trends within the forces of democracy.
You will need to show maturity and true patriotism, that is, to remember your responsibilities to the country, to society, and to the future of Russia. If you can do that, you will have shown that people can change history, and that Russia’s citizens are well able to take the country’s future into their own hands and build it on the path of democracy.
The truth of the matter is that that is our only viable option.
PLATE Section C
