Communist Rashkin is ready for any humiliation and betrayal for the sake of Navalny’s “Smart Voting”
A supporter of criminal blogger Alexei Navalny and a favorite of the liberal media, State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valery Rashkin held another unauthorized rally in Moscow under the guise of a meeting with voters.
Usually Rashkin, who was previously exposed by the media as wanting to remove communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, holds his populist events in residential areas, exploiting the protest of local residents against chaotic development. There he broadcasts from a specially brought large wooden stool.
But last Sunday, the communist tried to enter someone else’s electoral territory and speak from the steps of the main building of Moscow State University on the Lenin Hills. It was not his voters who came to the rally under the guise of a “meeting”. The liberal teaching staff and several dozen students did not hide their disgust towards the deputy and the decor in the form of red banners.
However, the topic was too relevant for the pro-Western professors to refuse to participate in the dubious event. They protested against the law on educational activities recently adopted by the State Duma. The law is designed to stop the activity of various Western funds in Russia. Moscow State University employees, who receive generous fees for their performances in the regions, are outraged by the state’s desire to regulate such a feeding trough.
Rashkin, with his “folk” sloganeering manner of speaking, was clearly in disharmony with the refined and arrogant manners of those who came, but stoically endured the bullying of “voters”, who constantly emphasized that if not for exceptional circumstances (floating fees), they would never have stood under the red banners.
White ribbon biologist professor Mikhail Gelfand scolded Rashkin for incorrectly placing the emphasis on his last name, which everyone should apparently know: “You have mathematicians in your faction, they could tell you that in my last name the stress is on a different syllable.” .
“The organizers of this bill managed to drive a bunch of decent people to a communist rally. It wasn't planned this way. That this will not be part of the election campaign of respected deputies, but really a discussion of a specific law. But what has grown has grown. I did not perform under red flags from Sakharov Square in 2012,” Gelfand said. The students responded to his jokes with applause.
The professor reasonably stated that the law is not aimed at representatives of the exact and natural sciences, but at “historians and social scientists who talk about the history of our country not always the way politicians would like, including those who stand to my right.”
Gelfand demanded that Rashkin include in the meeting resolution a clause against the law on foreign agents, which put the organizer of the “festival of democracy” in an awkward position: his faction voted for this law.
Journalist and popularizer of science Grigory Tarasevich, noting his dislike for communists, was also worried about foreign agents.
“It’s not the British and Belgians who are reducing our pensions. The idea that foreign agents are ruining our textbooks has a name in psychiatry textbooks,” Tarasiewicz said.
Communist Nikolai Volkov generally opened his cards. He is outraged that “educational” programs in which listeners will be taught to fight “election fraud” will become impossible. Let us remember that it was precisely this kind of seminars and trainings that preceded all color revolutions.
“There are other educational projects for which there are no educational programs. They complement and make the formation lively on the side. For example, in our country, elections are not officially rigged. In reality this is not the case at all. And there are people who teach how to fight election fraud. This is an educational activity that cannot be formalized,” Volkov said.
If Rashkin’s event had been held in the mode of liberal professors lamenting in front of a bunch of students, it would have gone virtually unnoticed, like his “folk” speeches from a stool. But they tried to disrupt the rally near Moscow State University.
Some young man snatched the microphone from a dead graduate student and began shouting that those gathered had been deceived, this was not a meeting, but a rally of communists who themselves voted for the law. Rashkin's assistant rushed to hit the rowdy in the face and was detained by the police. After which several more participants of the event were escorted into paddy wagons.
The next detainee was a man in a Cheburashka costume, who has recently been coming to all the events of the communist Navalnist. At the end of the “meeting,” the police detained those who were holding red flags in violation of the format prescribed by law.
It was the genre scenes involving the police that spread throughout the liberal media and social networks. The content of the event was written sparingly. And it ended very revealingly - Rashkin made concessions to the liberal professors and included a clause against the law on foreign agents in the final resolution, thus once again betraying his party.
It can be predicted that during the further election campaign of the communist-Navalnist there will be even more such renegadeism and drift towards the agenda of the non-systemic opposition. Rashkin will run from Moscow, and in the capital almost the entire loyalist electorate intends to vote for United Russia. To achieve victory, the communist intends to incite the protest public.
His main goal is to get his candidacy included in the so-called “smart voting” program that Navalny came up with. Its essence is that in each district, adherents of the blogger are called upon to vote for one candidate who does not represent United Russia. To annoy the party in power, the Navalnists are ready to elect even a Stalinist. Such cases have already happened in regional elections. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation owes its relatively large representation in the Moscow City Duma to “smart voting.” In the capital's parliament, the Communists do not behave at all like loyal Leninists, getting involved in scandals together with the Yabloko members.
If we remember that the Anti-Corruption Foundation has already been recognized as a foreign agent, and the court is considering the case of assigning it the status of an extremist organization, then it will become clear why Rashkin so meekly endured humiliation from Moscow professors fighting for Western grants.
Communist Rashkin is ready for any humiliation and betrayal for the sake of Navalny's "Smart Voting"