Why the technologies of "velvet revolutions" do not work in Russia

Exactly thirty years ago, during the dispersal of a youth demonstration in the capital of Czechoslovakia, a Prague student Martin Schmid was brutally murdered. His death was the impetus that turned student unrest into a "velvet revolution" that led to the collapse of the system and the disappearance of Czechoslovakia as such.

This tragedy is more relevant to us today than ever, because:

1) Nobody killed Martin Schmid. In Prague in November 1989, there were two such students, and both were terribly surprised to learn the next morning that they had been dealt with.


2) The role of the murdered student, according to later sensational confessions, was played by a young lieutenant of the Czechoslovak State Security, introduced into the ranks of the protest students and professionally depicting death from a police baton on November 17. Further, the dispersal of rumors of a sacred sacrifice was a matter of technique, with which the performers coped brilliantly.

3) According to the main version, the initial cause of the "Velvet Revolution" was the internal party squabbles in the then Czechoslovak elite. Someone wanted to move someone and provoked a cunning scheme with the help of the special services. But the situation quickly got out of control, and the cunning masters of multi-walkers who fought for power in Czechoslovakia were left without a state at all in which to fight for power.

In a sense, the innocent Martin Schmid was the first and coolest virtual reality in modern history. He did not exist - but he managed to destroy an entire country.

Many years and many revolutions have passed since then. Some of them were "velvet", others not very. Somewhere the collapse of the previous system did not lead to a big trouble (the Czech Republic today is a rather prosperous country), somewhere it did (the former Libya is divided among the field commanders).

Somewhere after a short bloody shooting, peace and tranquility was established again, and the elite that remained in their places simply changed their party affiliation (as in Romania). Somewhere a civil war has begun and does not want to end in any way (as in Ukraine).

But the recipe for success itself is still being reproduced or trying to reproduce - from Hong Kong to Bolivia and from Beirut to Moscow:

- youth unrest on a specific occasion.

- clash with law enforcement forces doing their job.

- innocent (you can - fictional). Or ten or a hundred. Dehumanizing the security forces.

- a sharp increase in the number of protesters and the expansion of demands to a change of formation.

- an instant transition to the side of protest of the creative intelligentsia, especially fed by the previous government (it is the holder of the control package of the artistic expression of emotions, without its participation in any way).

- inaction of special services.

- betrayal of a part of the state elite itself, counting on the benefits of redistribution.

True, as it is easy to see, in Russia so far everything starts to slip already at the first stage. The secret services and the state elite stubbornly refuse to risk the country for the sake of cunning schemes. Professional protest managers are a far more bourgeois, money-hungry and introverted caste than any government official. The potentially revolutionary creative intelligentsia is also not at all like skinny "guys with guitars who have nothing to lose."

But the most tragic thing is the revolutionary masses themselves.

The point is not even that the most "rebellious" part of Russian youth belongs to the most prosperous strata of Russian society. This has never been an obstacle. No matter how much you have, you can always want more - and want it right now.

The point, perhaps, is that the most advanced Russian revolutionaries (which is quite natural) are the carriers of the most advanced Western ideas. So: these advanced ideas, invented and practiced in somewhat different social and climatic conditions, fit into Russian reality very badly.

Modern cutting-edge ideas are a whole way of life. Comprehensive and vibrant. These are sustainability, solar panels, veganism, scooters, walking barefoot and protesting in the form of lying on the road. These are gay prides and MeToo. These are the requirements of an unconditional basic income and the decriminalization of drugs.

All this sounds pretty good in New York or California (in which, however, they are already moaning from the influx of unique self-sufficient individuals with drug addiction).

But Russia is not very climate-friendly for veganism, solar energy, and year-round scooters, let alone barefoot. Russia also had its own era of great and almost uncontrolled drug trafficking - and those who are now forty remember very well how many of their peers simply did not live up to the first season of Game of Thrones. In Russia, radical feminism also does not work well and the movement for the rights of LGBTQ + is not launched in any way. And the most offensive thing is that there are no oppressed racial minorities in Russia.

As a result, those who faithfully reproduce advanced Californian ideas in our freezing cold cities, of course, end up in the Western media as "warriors of the future revolution." But in Russia itself they learn about them from the BBC - and they laugh for a long time.

For instance. One of the hits of social networks at the beginning of November last year was the publication "Petersburg Vegans Preparing a Revolution". Quotes:

"As Russia enters the twentieth year of Vladimir Putin's authoritarian rule, St. Petersburg's vegan anarchist community is growing rapidly ... Eight vegan anarchists have opened a vegan food outlet ... Visitors to the vegan shop are greeted with rainbow flag bags, feminist stickers and vegan condoms ( don't ask how it is. I have no idea) ... Anya and Igor, who opened the store last year, say: "People come here for this feeling of Europe, freedom, to feel like they are in Berlin or somewhere else for a couple of minutes ".

I have a version that this is the main ambush. On the one hand, all these rainbow dots do not grow from Russia, but reproduce a little bit of an imaginary abroad for amateurs. On the other hand, today's Russia is an open country, and it is too easy to leave it for a real abroad. Actually, especially the yearning ones do it. That is, they make their personal "velvet revolution": they get on a plane and leave to walk barefoot and eat soy steaks where the weather and the situation are favorable for it.

And thus tragically weaken the combat potential of any Maidans.

Paradoxically, one of the main obstacles to the “freedom fighters” in Russia filling the squares and showing their might to the state is that there is freedom in Russia anyway.

And this insidious Russian freedom is the most terrible weapon of the state.

Therefore, Russia will never have this:





The topic was written based on an article by my colleague Viktor Marakhovsky

a reply to: RussianTroll

“A man is born gentle and weak; at his death he is hard and stiff. All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life; dry and brittle in death. Stiffness is thus a companion of death; flexibility a companion of life. An army that cannot yield will be defeated. A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. The hard and stiff will be broken; the soft and supple will prevail.”

Lao Tzu

a reply to: oloufo

"For me, judo is not just a sport. Judo fosters in a person willpower, respect for others, endurance, the ability to take a blow and with dignity come out of difficult situations"
Vladimir Putin

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: oloufo

"For me, judo is not just a sport. Judo fosters in a person willpower, respect for others, endurance, the ability to take a blow and with dignity come out of difficult situations"
Vladimir Putin

putin at ice hockey: "don't let anyone stand in my way!"

originally posted by: oloufo

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: oloufo

"For me, judo is not just a sport. Judo fosters in a person willpower, respect for others, endurance, the ability to take a blow and with dignity come out of difficult situations"
Vladimir Putin

putin at ice hockey: "don't let anyone stand in my way!"

I represent in this video Biden, Obama, Trump and Queen Victoria with Merkel

Your writing and your translator are really very good.

originally posted by: 727Sky
Your writing and your translator are really very good.

Sometimes I forget to insert the text into Google translator before publishing. We are all humans)))

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: oloufo

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: oloufo

"For me, judo is not just a sport. Judo fosters in a person willpower, respect for others, endurance, the ability to take a blow and with dignity come out of difficult situations"
Vladimir Putin

putin at ice hockey: "don't let anyone stand in my way!"

I represent in this video Biden, Obama, Trump and Queen Victoria with Merkel

merkel would hit putin on the butt with her stick, biden would sit on the bench, obama would take away putin's puck and push it through his legs, trump would collapse in the ice and the queen would never have played such an uncivilized sport!

a reply to: oloufo
Barry would have "taken a knee" and would have scored the goal for Putin

a reply to: RussianTroll

Russia worries the West because its stabilized and for the life of the average person has been steadily improving, where in the west its been declining. If you look at the average wage it looks bad compered to American dollars, but subsidized housing power health care and education flicks a switch , that is starting to see the average Russian living a comparable lifestyle with any westerner. This state of affairs hardly invokes any cause to go for any type of revolution. IN fact the majority would remember the good old days and say no thanks to much in the way of change, and probably an unsettling anxiety with any change in the status quo, along with a lingering anxiety for the state of things when Putin retires. I doubt whether this state of affairs could have been reached without the oversight of some one who was KGB and thus pragmatic, but also working class, and was almost a taxi driver during the collapse. I genuinely thought Putin was a worry, but he has in fact been a stabilizing force showing restraint in the face of aggression. Simply by telling how it is, that if the west tries it on, it will go nuclear because we cant afford a conventional war. The sanctions are only strengthening the internal Russian economy, which are leading to greater exports.

originally posted by: oloufo

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: oloufo

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: oloufo

"For me, judo is not just a sport. Judo fosters in a person willpower, respect for others, endurance, the ability to take a blow and with dignity come out of difficult situations"
Vladimir Putin

putin at ice hockey: "don't let anyone stand in my way!"

I represent in this video Biden, Obama, Trump and Queen Victoria with Merkel

merkel would hit putin on the butt with her stick, biden would sit on the bench, obama would take away putin's puck and push it through his legs, trump would collapse in the ice and the queen would never have played such an uncivilized sport!

Oh yeah! The Queen prefers civilized boxing))) Judging by the rhetoric and respect of the opponent in a friendly conversation, you are a typical democrat and tolerant)))

a reply to: anonentity

I agree with you, my friend. Believe it or not, most Russians criticize Putin for being little Putin and wanting a lot of Putin.

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: oloufo

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: oloufo

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: oloufo

"For me, judo is not just a sport. Judo fosters in a person willpower, respect for others, endurance, the ability to take a blow and with dignity come out of difficult situations"
Vladimir Putin

putin at ice hockey: "don't let anyone stand in my way!"

I represent in this video Biden, Obama, Trump and Queen Victoria with Merkel

merkel would hit putin on the butt with her stick, biden would sit on the bench, obama would take away putin's puck and push it through his legs, trump would collapse in the ice and the queen would never have played such an uncivilized sport!

Oh yeah! The Queen prefers civilized boxing))) Judging by the rhetoric and respect of the opponent in a friendly conversation, you are a typical democrat and tolerant)))

most of all the queen prefers the civilized hunting and killing of foxes.

With all the crazy stuff going on with Covid, riots and stuff, you do provide some reflection for when things go off the rails. I don't know much about Eastern Europe, long history of war, Things seam kinda better in places at times.

America does have a reputation for riots on matters of police brutality, Rodney King was a big one during the 90's. As for the statues and police stand down orders in some districts?

Some of the communist ideologies mentioned in other threads is a part of the Democrat, Black Lives Matter, ANTiFA movements.

When politicians vote to shut down the police, it makes them look corrupt and don't want to get arrested. Maybe there are some police departments that need a good flushing. As for telling the police to stand down while releasing many of the prison population is standard operating procedure during a civil war.

a reply to: RussianTroll

I represent in this video Biden, Obama, Trump and Queen Victoria with Merkel

Esteemed Russian Colleague, I truly hope this comment does not indicate a romantic attraction to Frau Merkel

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: RussianTroll

I represent in this video Biden, Obama, Trump and Queen Victoria with Merkel

Esteemed Russian Colleague, I truly hope this comment does not indicate a romantic attraction to Frau Merkel

Cheers

You killed me, colleague))
Of course, like any KGB agent, I am ready for a lot. But this is overkill.

a reply to: kwakakev

Unfortunately, all these technologies are transferred to Russia like tracing paper.