6/12: Opposition Protests and Farewell Dinner

Today was a very special day. June 12th in Russia is known as Independence Day to celebrate Russian independence from the Soviet Union. Putin recently changed the name to Russia Day, but people still call it by its former name. Saturday is a working day so that Russians can take the Monday before Independence Day off for a three day weekend. All Russians get off of work on June 12th, making it a perfect opportunity for protests. And protests there were. Since mid-May, opposition leaders have organized a protest on Independence Day to vent out their anger regarding a corrupt electoral system and Putin's encroaching totalitarianism. History was in the making on June 12th and we got to be a part of it. Dr. Goeckel went with us to Pushkin Square, where the so-called "March of Millions" began. We saw a ton of people handing out flyers and Dr. Goeckel told us to collect as many as we could. And that we did, taking everything from law firm advertisements to surveys that we were probably supposed to return to the distributer if we could understand what the piece of paper was saying. Dr. Goeckel met a German person who was interested in the protests. The man warned us about being in the vicinity of the protests, saying that Putin was angry today. Being the political science nerds that we were, we chose to ignore the warning and leave if any of us felt unsafe. We went through the security check, passed under a metal detector, forfeited our bags to be checked for dangerous objects, and arrived in a park filled with tourists following the march that took place on the street alongside the park. 

Protestors on Tverskaya Street

Protestors were marching in groups. Each group represented a particular faction of the opposition. Ideological groups ranged from radical nationalists to fascists to anarchists to communists. Although they all had very different ideas of where the country should be headed, they all came together in opposition of corruption and Putin's centralization of power. People shouted slogans such as "Russia without Putin" and "Goodbye Putin." Everywhere there were people handing out political cartoons that portrayed either Putin or someone in his administration as a greedy dinosaur who only cares about himself. When we got to a very wide and low-level road, we could see a stretch of protestors reaching miles ahead. Later counts said that 50,000 people attended the protest and rally. The crowd was huge and all so politically engaged. It was wonderful to see democracy in action inside a country that is touching the edge of authoritarianism. 

While I thought that I would feel unsafe at the protests, fear wasn't present at all. Although the protestors were angry, they were peaceful. The security checkpoint made me feel safer, ensuring that no one within five square kilometers was holding a weapon. And the heightened police presence of 10,000 men actually quelled my fears as well, knowing that they were there to settle disputes if anything got out of hand. The rally began at 3:00 and all of us except for Dr. Goeckel were too beaten by the heat to stay for the speeches (which most of us couldn't understand anyways). Nonetheless, it felt great to witness Russian history in the making. 

Our farewell dinner took place at a Georgian restaurant that was recommended to us by Jason (the Baker and Botts guy). I was very much excited, given my previous endeavor with a Georgian dinner. Several of the Russian friends we met on the trip were invited to the dinner, as were some of the professors who taught us all that we needed to know about this amazing country. Like at the previous Georgian restaurant, I was full before I had even finished the appetizers. I forced myself to eat the rest of the meal, reminding myself that I will probably not have authentic Eurasian food again for a long time. Dr. Asatiani, who was born in Georgia, told us it was typical for a Georgian dinner to have several toasts. And that there were, as various professors and students toasted to the good times in Moscow. We gave Dr. Goeckel a present from us, which I found in the tourist market. It was a Cold War chess set with Soviet and Russian leaders on one side and American leaders on the other. We distributed the gifts we got for each other and said our goodbyes. It was sad to see our friends go, probably never to see them again. Thank God (or Mark Zuckerberg rather) for social media!