Youth and coups: training for revolution

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The CampCamp 2018 seminar was held in the building of the former Yerevan Research Institute after Mergelyan. In Soviet times, this research institute produced computers, and today an exhibition center is located on its premises. During CampCamp 2018, it was possible to get there only by lists. At the entrance, all participants in the event were given badges with laces of two colors: blue - for those who give permission to photograph themselves, red - for those who forbid.

Their revolution: the second part of RT's investigation into how young people are taught to carry out coups with Western money

Oppositional language

The CampCamp 2018 seminar was held in the building of the former Yerevan Research Institute after Mergelyan. In Soviet times, this research institute produced computers, and today an exhibition center is located on its premises. During CampCamp 2018, it was possible to get there only by lists. At the entrance, all participants in the event were given badges with laces of two colors: blue - for those who give permission to photograph themselves, red - for those who forbid.

The advanced nature of the "rally" was immediately indicated - on the walls of the toilet … True, at first the cleaning lady did not understand the "ultra-fashionable" idea of one of the activists "to abolish gender toilets." When she cleaned up the restroom, she threw away campaign stickers and brochures. However, on the second day of the event, she realized that she was acting intolerant.

The organizers began their introductory remarks: “ Sorry, we will speak Russian, not everyone may be pleased . The proposal to speak English did not pass: the vote showed that not everyone understands it.

As a result, 150 people - mostly from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstanas well as the main experts on revolutions, activists from Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine, - were forced to give advice on "how to live in the state when the coup has already taken place", and to tell that "after coming to power, yesterday's revolutionaries begin to place relatives in power", exclusively in Russian.

The main opponents were the parents

At the seminar, Armenian activists shared their revolutionary experience with the audience. Human rights defender Olya Azatyan admitted that the "Armenian spring" was not spontaneous … Preparation of speeches began in 2008 - immediately after the election Serzh Sargsyan President of Armenia.

“We went to this every day, we worked hard and thought over our mistakes,” Azatyan emphasized.

During Sargsyan’s presidency, engaging in political journalism in Armenia “was sad and uninteresting,” complained a deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia from the “My Step” bloc, an expert at the Prague Civic Center. Mikael Zolyan … The triumph of the revolution, he said, gave impetus to the development of the media.

CampCamp speakers have revealed a universal scheme for the spread of protest sentiments. The primary task of the organizers of the coup is to involve teenagers in street performances. This recommendation was given to the audience by the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Gyumri-Asparez" Levon Barseghyan … The secret of a successful revolution, according to the Armenian journalist, is simple: going out on the street eventually involves parents in protest.

“The main opponents of the youth are - who do you think? - parents! And when they realized that the children would not return, they went to them,”Barseghyan recalls the events of the“Velvet Revolution”in Armenia in 2018.

“Help can be expected from abroad as well”: the Armenian diaspora in the United States, according to Barseghyan, offered financial assistance. They transferred funds to bank accounts that were posted on Facebook.

In his opinion, today Belarusians have the most chances to carry out a change of power, taking into account the Armenian experience.

Get ready for power

Ukrainian comrades - participants of the "Maidan" in Kiev in late 2013 - early 2014 also shared their experience of the revolutionary struggle with those present.

“In the first couple of hours, about 203 thousand walked across the area. But only a few remained for the night, I am one of them. At that time we did not think what we were doing and did not hope that such changes would take place in the country. We thought it was such a year that we would try to do something important. But we understood that we needed to do something important,”said Ivan Omelyan … He calls himself one of the first activists of the "Maidan".

"From the height of his experience," he said, "that, since 2005 - from the first revolution" in Ukraine, and "the Russians - Bolotnaya in 2012", "you all had moments when you could get together." … According to Omellian, these movements eventually drowned out because they lacked a leader.

The Maidan activist shared with the participants of the seminar his impressions of the “achievements” of the “revolution of dignity”.

“We now have 80% of the corrupt in parliament, and we go to greet them and ask them to vote this way and that. We have to work with them. I am not in power, but I work with the power,”Omelyan said.

His lecture "Hope Against Apathy" was intended to prepare the audience for the fact that a change of power is a long-distance race. And the stars of the "Maidan" also have to somehow cope with emotional burnout, especially after several years of struggle. This personal experience will be useful for activists from Russia and Kazakhstan, Ivan notes, because in these countries the change of power can take a very long time.

“Burnout after a few years - everything can return to normal, and again you will think about emigration. And people will think, and you yourself. Nobody is ready for a long hallway. Nobody is ready to run long marathons. Everyone wants a short run. Large states - Russia and Kazakhstan - it will be a very long way. And, perhaps, longer than our whole life,”Ivan notes.

From psychological and philosophical passages, he moved on to political rhetoric.

“You are already in politics. If you want change, this is it. The question is how systematically you do it. Here we need to decide,”warned the“Maidan”activist.

And finally, the main thesis of Omellian's lecture is that you need to be ready to become power yourself.

“A very important point. I am very interested in what my Armenian colleagues will say about this. You must be prepared. It may seem fantastic to you, but in 5-10 years you may find yourself in parliament,”says Ivan.

Omellian's theses develops Mikael Zolyan … During his speech, the unofficial slogan of the Yerevan “rally” was recalled - “Kill Serzhik in yourself (meaning the ex-Prime Minister of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. - RT)”.

“Free yourself from the mentality and practices that allow the system to rule you. When this happens, everyone decides for himself what to do … Our leaders of the movement said: “Do what you think is right, we offer this, but you think for yourself. We suggest blocking the streets. Decide for yourself which street you want to block,”Zolyan explained.

- How should activists who want to come into politics initially behave? Do you have any know-how? - asks a clarifying question to the lecturer Nastya from Belarus.

- If you are fighting for freedom of the press, you will receive a lot of compromising evidence. You have to be ready for this - look at yourself, understand that you have no right to get into shit, - Ivan replies.

The representative of Kyrgyzstan, who has already survived two revolutions in his country, also spoke about the movement of activists to power: “They (the government) are dirty, but we (civil society) are all clean - this is wrong. A civil forum was held in Prague, and there the main message was that civil activists should not be afraid to come to power, because they are already in politics when they deal with sensitive issues."

"It's not fashionable against Putin yet"

We also talked about Russia at CampCamp. A lecture on this topic was given by the head of the St. Petersburg movement "Vremya" Nikolay Artyomenko.

He began his speech with recollections of the protests in St. Petersburg against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church.

“For example, here is our activist in a cassock lying on sacks of dollars -“I want even more,”such a parody of our many members of the Russian Orthodox Church. They held such impromptu referendums - they stood on the streets of the city, asking citizens to vote on who should own the cathedral. And in the end, six months later, they came up with the Blue Ring campaign - to stand around the cathedral, to show that there are many of us,”says Artyomenko.

The fact that "the governor agreed to freeze the issue", Artyomenko considers solely the merit of the activists.

“Stories like this should motivate us,” he emphasizes.

The speaker also outlined the problems facing the opposition today: "The authorities began to tighten the screws seriously," "there could be more fines," as a result, "activists began to be afraid."

The way out of this situation, according to Artyomenko, is to conduct "less traumatic campaigns, for example," 18+ "throughout Russia."

"18 years in power, how long can you?" - asks Artyomenko.

He also answered the question about the "feudal fragmentation" of NPOs and the need to unite all opposition organizations.

“I don't see any sense in this, there are a lot of NGOs in Russia, there are very small ones, there are big ones like“ Memorial". I see no reason to unite - the more movements, the better. It is necessary to unite for a specific task: St. Isaac's Cathedral, presidential elections. I was the chief of staff Sobchak Petersburg, and we proposed to unite around Sobchak when Navalny were not allowed, "- explained the leader of the movement" Time ».

A representative of Kazakhstan, a participant in the game "How to overthrow the regime with the help of the regime," asked her question about Russia, which explained that opposition activists should join pro-government youth organizations.

- What should happen in Russia for them to think that this is a monster, that it is not good? - the Kazakhstani activist is interested.

- We also have pro-government movements - you can go to “ Young Guard » « United Russia , - the lecturer advised instead of a direct answer.

After that, Artyomenko himself asked the question: "Why did Navalny succeed?" And he himself answered him: “He made the political process fashionable, surrounded himself with fashionable people who do everything beautifully - it is interesting to watch them, it is interesting to listen to them. It has also become fashionable in Armenia to fight against Sargsyan. It is not yet fashionable to fight Putin in our country, but it is fashionable to think."

Inspired by the flight of his own thoughts, he decided to look into the future: “That there is a system besides Putin is a delusion. There will be no Putin - the system will be different. If Medvedev had come, the system would have been different, better. I will say a seditious thing, do not quote me: even if the communists come to power, positive changes await Russia."

Then Artyomenko made an unexpectedly alarmist conclusion: “Everything is heading towards the fact that in six months the Internet will be banned. We don't have any options. The business can be closed."

Today we are saving the world

The CampCamp seminar is part of the systematic work of the Prague Civic Center to educate a new pool of "activists". The organization provided for a fairly strict system for selecting participants for the event - one could get to the seminar in Yerevan only after passing a kind of loyalty test. "Lucky" received a "grant" in the form of a paid flight. Most of the young people who thus “earned” a ticket to the capital of Armenia are sure that they are “saving the world”.

True, some of the rally participants no longer live in their native country, preferring to fight for the rights of fellow citizens at a distance. For example, Anatoly calls himself an activist of the LGBT community in Kazakhstan. He previously gained fame by posting brochures and stickers in public restrooms about the importance of a restroom for both sexes. Now, judging by the locations on social networks, Tolya and his fellow human rights activists spend most of their time in Prague.

“Today we are saving the world, but we’ll live later,” Anatoly notes in the spirit of Hollywood heroes.

Lace panties, or a little about the organizers of CampCamp

The people who held this event in Yerevan are not new to their business. Opposition to the “regime” and gatherings of “active citizens” have become a real profession for them, bringing in a good income thanks to the Prague Civil Center and the US Congress. Executive director of the center Rostislav Valvoda back in 2009, he tried to carry out something similar on the territory of Russia. Then it was called: the seminar "Methods of conducting a public campaign, successful examples." However, due to violation of the migration legislation, Valvoda was detained and left the territory of our country.

At the Yerevan rally, Rostislav did not interfere in the process and did not approach the microphone himself, but only, as a leader in a pioneer camp, watched how his charges held discussions and what kind of response it found among the audience.

The rest of the "managers" of the seminar was a traditional picture: the majority of activists - immigrants from the CIS countries who are building a career as fighters against the regime on Western grants.

Evgeniya Plakhina - a journalist from Kazakhstan. She realized that protest should be fashionable back in 2014, when she took to the square in Almaty with lace panties instead of a flag. So Evgenia fought against the devaluation of the tenge and a possible ban on the sale of lace underwear in the countries of the Customs Union. True, this "ban" turned out to be a fake. Now, like the aforementioned defender of LGBT rights in Kazakhstan Anatoly, she lives in Prague.

Evgenia Plakhina / Komsomolskaya Pravda