Aleksey Navalny during the court session. Photo: Anna Ustinova/TASS
When Rorschach, the character in Alan Moore's cult graphic novel Watchmen, is sent to a prison cell with rapists and murderers, he says: «You don't seem to understand: it wasn't me who was locked up with you, it was you who were locked up with me.» A year ago, politician Alexei Navalny returned to Russia after being poisoned and evacuated to Germany, in a situation where he was strongly advised to stay in a safe European haven and forget about continuing his activities in his homeland. Despite public opposition and a grand welcome at Sheremetyevo Airport, Navalny was sent to prison. It seems that then we did not understand the meaning of what happened: it was not Navalny who was locked in a cell, it was Russia that ended up behind bars.
During those events, I wrote that only those who are not afraid to go to prison can remain free in the current conditions. Most people, myself included, are justifiably afraid that a Russian prison does not look like an attractive way to spend their only life. Navalny's unparalleled courage kept him free, and now from his cell he looks at the Russian society, which was imprisoned.
A year ago, like ten, and twenty years ago, for example, in the era of monetization of benefits, the opportunity to go out to a peaceful protest was considered by the Russians as their natural right. It is normal to be in opposition to the government and remain citizens and patriots of your country.
During the year that the free man Navalny spent in prison, everything has changed: if you strive for self-preservation, you are required to submit to the authorities completely.
Showing loyalty doesn't guarantee safety, of course, but it at least moves you to the bottom of the repressive list. When they deal with the disloyal, they will come for you, but it will be only tomorrow. Frightened, silent Russia is taught to live according to the old “camp ethic”: when a neighbor is destroyed, turn away, because you have something to lose.
At the beginning of 2022, it is impossible to imagine not only a protest mobilization, but also a public talk about plans for protests: the security forces hunt down those who are dissatisfied with what is happening in the country and declare them “extremists and terrorists.” The political opposition has been crushed, and a caste of «hereditary politicians» is emerging — people who can make official statements on behalf of Russian society both for the outside world and for domestic consumption. Political rights were given up by citizens almost without resistance and replaced by a regime — as you know, it can be general and strict, and for the most successful colonies-settlements are provided. The collapse of political consciousness inevitably leads to the marginalization of independent media, which are drowning in censorship and insane legislation on “foreign agents”. The red line at the end of last year was the destruction (recognized by the Ministry of Justice as a “foreign agent”) of Memorial, an organization that fought for the right of the descendants of the victims of the Russian XX century to know the names of the executioners.
The Kremlin is sparingly reacting to the verdict passed on Russia. In the eyes of officials, what is happening is just a variation of the norm, the search for a special way for a country caught in the ring of imaginary enemies. Did you want political opposition? We have Zhirinovsky and Zyuganov for this (provided that he does not succumb to provocations). Would you like to receive information about what is happening in the country? Watch the transfer of Anton Krasovsky on RT, in which he proposes to conquer Ukraine so that it does not have time to enter NATO. Do you want a social life? Yes, the well-known writer Grishkovets headed the council at the Federal Penitentiary Service. And the famous hunter Nikolai Valuev, who loves to pose with the corpses of dead animals, supervises the experts of the Ministry of Natural Resources — that is, life is everywhere. Inconsistent thoughts and actions of citizens, of course, will be severely suppressed, but you can get your ration of constitutional rights at any nearest propaganda point. They say that everything is going according to plan.
The new normal is flexible and mobile.
Now we are being convinced that it is normal to put people in jail for criticizing the government, tomorrow, as in Kazakhstan, they will probably tell that turning off the Internet allows us to look to the future with confidence.
Management a huge country as a colony (in every sense of the word), of course, is impossible. The failure of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the epidemic of distrust, when people have long been expecting nothing good from the authorities because they know that their interests are not represented by anyone, as well as, for example, the growing desire of young people to seek a better future outside the country, confirm this simple conclusion. But being alone with free people is already too terrible a test for the Russian authorities, it is easier to fence them off with barbed wire.