1. The so-called elections ---- In mid-March, the so-called presidential
elections will be held in Russia. There was a time when Russiananarchists argued whether they should spoil the ballot, vote against
everyone, or not go to the polls at all. Now this discussion is no
longer relevant: the ability to vote against everyone, as well as the
turnout threshold at which the vote is considered valid, were abolished
back in 2006. ---- Putin's system is so far structured in such a way
that it needs a pseudo-election procedure: it legitimizes the tsar's
right to do whatever he wants in Russia for six years. And propagandists
can claim that the people trust Putin.
These Putin re-elections are even more dismal than usual. The other
three "candidates" allowed for predictable defeat are sitting quietly,
below the grass. Putin has no agenda for exiting the war - neither
through negotiations, nor even through the seizure of all of Ukraine -
in the elections.
As ironically noted on the decentralized social network Mastodon:
Elections are a holiday, but a holiday that has deep mystical
foundations. All archaic societies (that is, societies that have not
lost touch with the Primordial Tradition) need festive rituals, with the
help of which they seem to "play out" negative scenarios for the
development of the world. Therefore, it is fair to say that the ancient
Roman Saturnalia, the medieval "Feasts of Fools" and Russian elections
have a common semantic meaning and aesthetic similarity. Their task is
to preserve the sacredness of Power.
"Candidates" for the presidency, symbolizing the seven deadly sins,
specifically carry out public desecration of the President, as if
encroaching on the sacredness of the Authority. Such desecration is
permissible, because in a metaphysical game it has an important symbolic
character. The President's opponents, a kind of apocalyptic false
prophets, appear before the people as his "dark doubles", demonstrating
the duality of the world, which contains not only good, but also evil.
The only thing that can really change after Putin's reappointment is
that there are forecasts that the dollar exchange rate will no longer be
restrained, which will result in higher prices and a reduction in the
product range in Russia.
It is impossible not to admit that when a more or less sane person is
elected, he can make decisions that are useful for people for quite a
long time, until he is bent by nomenklatura obligations. But within the
framework of representative democracy (which in Russia also exists in
the most perverted form), voters do not have effective mechanisms for
quickly changing presumptuous elected officials: therefore, anarchists
themselves do not participate in practically any elections.
The liberal and much less numerous left-wing "non-systemic opposition"
are still trying to participate in the elections. Since the 2010s, their
maximum electoral successes have been individual deputies in the
parliaments of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Now the "non-systemic opposition" is calling for spoiling ballots and
for everyone to come to the polling stations at the same time. Maxim
Katz even saw anti-war notes in the program of the candidate from "New
People" and suggested voting for him...
The above will most likely do neither harm nor benefit. It is
appropriate to quote Alexei Navalny: the late leader of this very
"non-systemic opposition" said at the very beginning of the 2010s that
power in Russia would not change as a result of elections.
The recent funeral of Alexei Navalny showed that despite many years of
state terror against dissidents, in Moscow alone there are tens of
thousands of people who were not afraid to come to such an event,
although arrests, beatings, whatever, could not be ruled out. But when
the cops saw tens of thousands of people gathered, they did not dare
disperse people for anti-war slogans.
And when and if an exponentially larger crowd gathers and marches on the
Kremlin, it is quite possible that the cops will not dare to hinder the
people's anger, and in the corridors of power there will be those who
themselves have long wanted to push Putin down.
2. International Women's Day
Last week was March 8, which, of course, is the day of the struggle for
women's rights, and not a holiday of spring, love and beauty.
Shortly before the stage of open war among the Russian opposition, and
not only the liberal ones, the most popular topic was to scare
feminists. They say they are worse than Stalin, and their terrible
"fembo committee" wants to create a totalitarian society, and in general
they are worse than even the fascists. And then, how suddenly, it turned
out that only fascists can be worse than fascists, there is no "fembo
committee", and feminists are the most active participants in the
anti-war Resistance.
Discrimination on the basis of gender has existed as long as patriarchy
has existed. He can take on different guises, even those that may seem
progressive; how can one recognize these guises? In fact, it would seem
very simple - if you see misogyny, it means this is the evil face of
patriarchy, isn't that what feminists are fighting against? But many,
unfortunately, prefer not to see such an obvious thing. And they begin
to either check privileges, who can be raped and who can no longer be
raped, or look for reasons why, as they say, "it's her own fault."
Although feminists would have to answer that it is impossible to kill
and rape women. Neither poor nor rich, neither dark skinned nor light
skinned. Just? Very. But here's a recent example: how many Western
feminist organizations are outraged by the murders, kidnappings and
rapes of Israeli women? In any conflict and war, hatred and the desire
for revenge are first of all taken out on women, does it really matter
what nationality they are and what color their passport is in order to
condemn this?
All the problems of society hit women the hardest; the conservative turn
in many countries of the world, which occurs regardless of whether they
are poor or rich, is aimed primarily at controlling women. Femicide,
femicide, is an issue that affects both the poor and the rich. And
although anarcho-feminism approaches the fight for women's rights from a
social perspective, it is important to remember that patriarchal
misogyny is aimed at all women without exception.
We see the same in Putin's Russia: the Kremlin, where it is now
considered normal to be friends with the Taliban, increasingly
insistently demands that women not engage in self-realization, but be
meek machines that give birth to new soldiers. Machines without freedom,
education and their own opinion. The North Caucasus is the vanguard
here: investigations of "honor killings" in this region are regularly
stalled, and from all over Russia, rebellious girls who fled violence
are returned to the Caucasus to relatives for new torment.
What can we, as anarchists and feminists, offer women? There is nothing
more natural for the ideal in the feminist idea of society than ideas in
which dominance, competition, hierarchy and other favorite toys of
patriarchy are excluded, and mutual assistance, self-government, an
ecological path of development and equality are proposed.
Of course, to achieve such a harmonious society, a lot of work will need
to be put in. Especially in a situation where any word of truth can land
you in jail. This means that the path of Resistance to the state and
patriarchy, of which it is a part, is also the path of resistance to war
and Putin's dictatorship. As "the most dangerous woman in America,"
anarchist Emma Goldman, said: "Resistance to tyranny is the greatest
ideal of man. As long as tyranny exists in any form, man must naturally
resist it, just as naturally he must breathe."
Well that's all for today! We remind you that in Trends in Order and
Chaos, members of Autonomous Action and other authors give anarchist
assessments of current events. Listen to us on YouTube, SoundCloud and
other platforms, visit our website avtonom.org, subscribe to our e-mail
newsletter!
The issue was prepared by Listyev and NinaT
https://avtonom.org/news/novyy-staryy-car-i-zhenonenavistnichestvo-trendy-poryadka-i-haosa-epizod-148
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