ALDA is glad to share this captivating interview to Mr. Andrey Pivovarov, representative of the organization “Open St. Petersburg”, ALDA’s first member in Russian Federation.
1. What is the mission of Open Russia (Open St. Petersburg), and why did you decide to join ALDA?
Our mission is to support local civic activism and provide political education all over Russia. There are thousands of active Russians who, in a normal political system, could get elected to local councils and parliaments. But nowadays there is no such opportunity in our country, and these people usually do not participate in political life. The Kremlin and our ruling party United Russia are controlling over issues at all levels. Instead of politicians, the system has brought up obedient bureaucrats. In such a system, after Putin is gone, there is a high probability of a new slip into authoritarianism with another president, even if he comes with democratic messages. Imagine: a country spanning 11 time zones, 10,000 km, ruled by a small group of people in the Kremlin, suddenly changes overnight. And the Kremlin says to the regions: now we stop interfering, now it’s up to you, it’s a democracy. Officials who got used to being soldiers of the system will have nobody to rely on and no idea how to manage the economy without a centralized power. In such a situation the region rulers will certainly prefer to return to the same old centralized model, inefficient but familiar, because they have no independence skills. Our work is to strengthen young leaders of civil society. Currently this work is not so visible, because it is not aimed at federal policies and instead focuses on local governance and activism. And we are very pleased to join ALDA and to be part of this large family. It will encourage us and our activists and give us the opportunity to share our experiences. We need to demonstrate the importance of local activism and it’s significance for our growing democracy. Very few people in Russia realize that. The results of our work will appear when there is both a need for politicians ready to take responsibility for decision-making and an opportunity for them to get into power.
2. In your view, how do hopes and fears of Russian and EU citizens differ, nowadays?
Europeans have an awareness of their influence on politics. Average Europeans decide much more about their life than average Russians. In Russia we still have the legacy of the Soviet period, when the state decided everything for the people: it attributed housing, distributed people to workplaces after the university, people had to ask permission to travel abroad and were expected to report on any communication with foreigners. There was no local goverance at all, entrepreneurship was a criminal issue, elections were a simple formality. Education, science, culture were all under the control of The Party. Therefore, we often hope for “a good tsar” who would come and solve all the problems. As for the opposition, it is often perceived as strange people who are always unhappy with the state. All these Soviet perceptions are changing slowly but it we take time and hard work. We live in a difficult time. Our society was the hostage of communists for 70 years and we need time to recover. Communication with colleagues from other countries is very helpful in understanding how democratic institutions should work correctly. 3. What is the hardest part of your work – and what keeps you doing it, day after day? Any public civic activity in Russia is risky, and although for most activists the real risks are low, any individual repressions cause fear. And the hardest part of our work is to convince active and talented people to join our projects. Next year we have elections to local councils in St. Petersburg. More than a thousand people will become deputies. We have already started recruiting candidates and got more than 500 applications. There could be much more of them, because basically people do not even know what local councils are. And independent politics is still perceived as something dangerous by most. But the success of the Moscow elections, when more than 200 democrats became deputies, inspires many. Russia is a large field for civic activism. It’s very interesting to work here, despite all the difficulties. We have more than 1200 activists, more than 100,000 supporters and 33 local organizations. Together we are “Open Russia” – a movement fighting for parliamentary democracy, for local governance and for the alternation of power.
3. What is the hardest part of your work – and what keeps you doing it, day after day?
Any public civic activity in Russia is risky, and although for most activists the real risks are low, any individual repressions cause fear. And the hardest part of our work is to convince active and talented people to join our projects. Next year we have elections to local councils in St. Petersburg. More than a thousand people will become deputies. We have already started recruiting candidates and got more than 500 applications. There could be much more of them, because basically people do not even know what local councils are. And independent politics is still perceived as something dangerous by most. But the success of the Moscow elections, when more than 200 democrats became deputies, inspires many. Russia is a large field for civic activism. It’s very interesting to work here, despite all the difficulties. We have more than 1200 activists, more than 100,000 supporters and 33 local organizations. Together we are “Open Russia” – a movement fighting for parliamentary democracy, for local governance and for the alternation of power.
ALDA is glad to share this captivating interview to Mr. Andrey Pivovarov, representative of the organization “Open St. Petersburg”, ALDA’s first member in Russian Federation.
1. What is the mission of Open Russia (Open St. Petersburg), and why did you decide to join ALDA?
Our mission is to support local civic activism and provide political education all over Russia. There are thousands of active Russians who, in a normal political system, could get elected to local councils and parliaments. But nowadays there is no such opportunity in our country, and these people usually do not participate in political life. The Kremlin and our ruling party United Russia are controlling over issues at all levels. Instead of politicians, the system has brought up obedient bureaucrats. In such a system, after Putin is gone, there is a high probability of a new slip into authoritarianism with another president, even if he comes with democratic messages. Imagine: a country spanning 11 time zones, 10,000 km, ruled by a small group of people in the Kremlin, suddenly changes overnight. And the Kremlin says to the regions: now we stop interfering, now it’s up to you, it’s a democracy. Officials who got used to being soldiers of the system will have nobody to rely on and no idea how to manage the economy without a centralized power. In such a situation the region rulers will certainly prefer to return to the same old centralized model, inefficient but familiar, because they have no independence skills. Our work is to strengthen young leaders of civil society. Currently this work is not so visible, because it is not aimed at federal policies and instead focuses on local governance and activism. And we are very pleased to join ALDA and to be part of this large family. It will encourage us and our activists and give us the opportunity to share our experiences. We need to demonstrate the importance of local activism and it’s significance for our growing democracy. Very few people in Russia realize that. The results of our work will appear when there is both a need for politicians ready to take responsibility for decision-making and an opportunity for them to get into power.
2. In your view, how do hopes and fears of Russian and EU citizens differ, nowadays?
Europeans have an awareness of their influence on politics. Average Europeans decide much more about their life than average Russians. In Russia we still have the legacy of the Soviet period, when the state decided everything for the people: it attributed housing, distributed people to workplaces after the university, people had to ask permission to travel abroad and were expected to report on any communication with foreigners. There was no local goverance at all, entrepreneurship was a criminal issue, elections were a simple formality. Education, science, culture were all under the control of The Party. Therefore, we often hope for “a good tsar” who would come and solve all the problems. As for the opposition, it is often perceived as strange people who are always unhappy with the state. All these Soviet perceptions are changing slowly but it we take time and hard work. We live in a difficult time. Our society was the hostage of communists for 70 years and we need time to recover. Communication with colleagues from other countries is very helpful in understanding how democratic institutions should work correctly. 3. What is the hardest part of your work – and what keeps you doing it, day after day? Any public civic activity in Russia is risky, and although for most activists the real risks are low, any individual repressions cause fear. And the hardest part of our work is to convince active and talented people to join our projects. Next year we have elections to local councils in St. Petersburg. More than a thousand people will become deputies. We have already started recruiting candidates and got more than 500 applications. There could be much more of them, because basically people do not even know what local councils are. And independent politics is still perceived as something dangerous by most. But the success of the Moscow elections, when more than 200 democrats became deputies, inspires many. Russia is a large field for civic activism. It’s very interesting to work here, despite all the difficulties. We have more than 1200 activists, more than 100,000 supporters and 33 local organizations. Together we are “Open Russia” – a movement fighting for parliamentary democracy, for local governance and for the alternation of power.
3. What is the hardest part of your work – and what keeps you doing it, day after day?
Any public civic activity in Russia is risky, and although for most activists the real risks are low, any individual repressions cause fear. And the hardest part of our work is to convince active and talented people to join our projects. Next year we have elections to local councils in St. Petersburg. More than a thousand people will become deputies. We have already started recruiting candidates and got more than 500 applications. There could be much more of them, because basically people do not even know what local councils are. And independent politics is still perceived as something dangerous by most. But the success of the Moscow elections, when more than 200 democrats became deputies, inspires many. Russia is a large field for civic activism. It’s very interesting to work here, despite all the difficulties. We have more than 1200 activists, more than 100,000 supporters and 33 local organizations. Together we are “Open Russia” – a movement fighting for parliamentary democracy, for local governance and for the alternation of power.