The Other Russia
The St. Petersburg Times
Issue #1615 (76), Tuesday, October 5, 2010
TOP STORIES
Limonov Opens Local Branch of Other Russia Party
By Sergey Chernov
Staff Writer
Author and Kremlin political opponent Eduard Limonov opened the St. Petersburg branch of his newly formed party, The Other Russia, at a conference at the Angleterre hotel on Saturday.
Regional branches of The Other Russia were earlier launched in Ryazan and Krasnoyarsk. Saturday’s conference in Komsomolsk-Na-Amure in the Far East was disrupted by the SOBR (The Special Rapid Response Unit), who detained participants and took them to a police precinct to forcibly fingerprint them.
Although several police cars and an OMON special-task police bus were present on St. Isaac’s Square close to the hotel, the officers did not leave their vehicles or disrupt the proceedings.
The conference, attended by 120 delegates, opened with the party’s unofficial anthem, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich Jr., a pianist and the grandson of the eminent composer. The stage was decorated with a black, yellow and white flag, which was used in Russia in the 19th century and has been adopted by The Other Russia.
“The Other Russia” was originally the title of a Limonov book published in 2003 and later, after 2006, the name of a coalition featuring Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front (OGF) and Mikhail Kasyanov’s Russian Peoples’ Democratic Union, most memorable for the large-scale Dissenters’ Marches. The coalition has been mostly inactive since Kasparov formed the Solidarity Democratic Movement in December 2008.
The Other Russia was established as a party in Moscow on July 10. Limonov’s earlier party, the National Bolshevik Party (NBP) was banned by court as “extremist” under then-President Vladimir Putin’s Law on Countering Extremist Activities in 2007.
“We got back the name, which belongs to us by right,” Limonov said at the conference.
“For some time we lent out our name, and the Other Russia coalition used our brand name with success, and I think that along the way, during those couple of years the Other Russia coalition became liked by people. We have got our brand name back with interest.”
Limonov said that the party’s goal was to break the power monopoly in Russia no later than by the December 2011 parliamentary elections. He dismissed political analysts’ predictions that The Other Russia would not stand a chance because it would not be registered with the state elections committee.
“We have a plan; we’ll go a totally different way. It’s we who will not register them!” he said.
The program of the party, which Limonov described as “centrist,” includes democratization, the restoration of free elections and an independent court system, the abolishment of army conscription and the nationalization of natural resources industries.
“I’m sure that most of the population in Russia shares the ideals stated by us - these are socialism in economics, democracy in [domestic] policy and nationalism in foreign policy,” said Andrei Dmitriyev, leader of the local National Bolsheviks. Dmitriyev was elected chair of The Other Russia’s St. Petersburg branch at Saturday’s congress.
The Other Russia’s local agenda features the direct election of the St. Petersburg Governor, a “real election system of local self-governance,” regional taxation of the use of foreign labor and a moratorium on construction in the historic center of St. Petersburg.
Alexander Skobov, a Soviet-era political prisoner and Solidarity activist, supported the formation of The Other Russia.
“I welcome the establishment of the Other Russia party,” said Skobov, speaking at the conference on Saturday.
“I am not sorry that I was one of the first in the liberal opposition who spoke for cooperation with the Natsbols (National Bolsheviks). I’ve been speaking for such cooperation as a principle since as early as 2004. I think that the Natsbols have won the right to be called ‘democrats, ’ because ‘democrat’ is a broader notion than ‘liberal.’”
Skobov said he supports a broad democratic front featuring the pro-democracy communists, the Natsbols and the liberals who share democratic values.
“Not all the liberals share democratic values - you all know this all too well. There are Pinochet supporters among liberals,” he said.
Late last month, Limonov announced The Other Russia’s long-term “Gandhi-style” campaign of civil disobedience “to break the power monopoly of the Putin/Medvedev group.” The campaign’s first act of disobedience will be nonparticipation in the national general population census due to take place from Oct. 14 to 25.
“Let them first return the status of citizens to us, the opportunity to elect those who we want to see in power, and only after this we will speak to census takers,” Limonov wrote in his address to Russian citizens.
http://sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=32621
Issue #1615 (76), Tuesday, October 5, 2010
TOP STORIES
Limonov Opens Local Branch of Other Russia Party
By Sergey Chernov
Staff Writer
Author and Kremlin political opponent Eduard Limonov opened the St. Petersburg branch of his newly formed party, The Other Russia, at a conference at the Angleterre hotel on Saturday.
Regional branches of The Other Russia were earlier launched in Ryazan and Krasnoyarsk. Saturday’s conference in Komsomolsk-Na-Amure in the Far East was disrupted by the SOBR (The Special Rapid Response Unit), who detained participants and took them to a police precinct to forcibly fingerprint them.
Although several police cars and an OMON special-task police bus were present on St. Isaac’s Square close to the hotel, the officers did not leave their vehicles or disrupt the proceedings.
The conference, attended by 120 delegates, opened with the party’s unofficial anthem, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich Jr., a pianist and the grandson of the eminent composer. The stage was decorated with a black, yellow and white flag, which was used in Russia in the 19th century and has been adopted by The Other Russia.
“The Other Russia” was originally the title of a Limonov book published in 2003 and later, after 2006, the name of a coalition featuring Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front (OGF) and Mikhail Kasyanov’s Russian Peoples’ Democratic Union, most memorable for the large-scale Dissenters’ Marches. The coalition has been mostly inactive since Kasparov formed the Solidarity Democratic Movement in December 2008.
The Other Russia was established as a party in Moscow on July 10. Limonov’s earlier party, the National Bolshevik Party (NBP) was banned by court as “extremist” under then-President Vladimir Putin’s Law on Countering Extremist Activities in 2007.
“We got back the name, which belongs to us by right,” Limonov said at the conference.
“For some time we lent out our name, and the Other Russia coalition used our brand name with success, and I think that along the way, during those couple of years the Other Russia coalition became liked by people. We have got our brand name back with interest.”
Limonov said that the party’s goal was to break the power monopoly in Russia no later than by the December 2011 parliamentary elections. He dismissed political analysts’ predictions that The Other Russia would not stand a chance because it would not be registered with the state elections committee.
“We have a plan; we’ll go a totally different way. It’s we who will not register them!” he said.
The program of the party, which Limonov described as “centrist,” includes democratization, the restoration of free elections and an independent court system, the abolishment of army conscription and the nationalization of natural resources industries.
“I’m sure that most of the population in Russia shares the ideals stated by us - these are socialism in economics, democracy in [domestic] policy and nationalism in foreign policy,” said Andrei Dmitriyev, leader of the local National Bolsheviks. Dmitriyev was elected chair of The Other Russia’s St. Petersburg branch at Saturday’s congress.
The Other Russia’s local agenda features the direct election of the St. Petersburg Governor, a “real election system of local self-governance,” regional taxation of the use of foreign labor and a moratorium on construction in the historic center of St. Petersburg.
Alexander Skobov, a Soviet-era political prisoner and Solidarity activist, supported the formation of The Other Russia.
“I welcome the establishment of the Other Russia party,” said Skobov, speaking at the conference on Saturday.
“I am not sorry that I was one of the first in the liberal opposition who spoke for cooperation with the Natsbols (National Bolsheviks). I’ve been speaking for such cooperation as a principle since as early as 2004. I think that the Natsbols have won the right to be called ‘democrats, ’ because ‘democrat’ is a broader notion than ‘liberal.’”
Skobov said he supports a broad democratic front featuring the pro-democracy communists, the Natsbols and the liberals who share democratic values.
“Not all the liberals share democratic values - you all know this all too well. There are Pinochet supporters among liberals,” he said.
Late last month, Limonov announced The Other Russia’s long-term “Gandhi-style” campaign of civil disobedience “to break the power monopoly of the Putin/Medvedev group.” The campaign’s first act of disobedience will be nonparticipation in the national general population census due to take place from Oct. 14 to 25.
“Let them first return the status of citizens to us, the opportunity to elect those who we want to see in power, and only after this we will speak to census takers,” Limonov wrote in his address to Russian citizens.
http://sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=32621