Tomorrow, we can expect to see not only the obvious faces—civil-society activists, liberally inclined journalists—but investment bankers and even bureaucrats. The spirit of the last week has been surprising and moving in a way that an objective reporter should not admit to being moved by. But even without rooting for either side, and with the full understanding that these protests may easily come to naught, one can’t help but marvel at the spontaneous, utterly organic outburst of civic feeling, and the fact that, for lack of a better term, a point of no return has very clearly been passed.
… All the government’s resources have kicked into panic mode, it seems. The police have leaked reports saying that the protests will be scoured for those dodging Russia’s military draft. Those arrested will also be drafted. Suddenly, Saturday has been made into a mandatory, full day of school for Moscow high schoolers. To ensure attendance, students will be given an important Russian test. (This after reports that students were forced to populate pro-United Russia protests on Tuesday instead of going to school.) Most bizarrely, the health minister has warned people to stay home lest they go to the demonstration and catch the flu.
- Julia Ioffe reporting from Moscow for newyorker.com
I can’t be sure that my pulse actually spiked as I read Ioffe’s latest dispatch, but I did catch myself breathing far faster than makes sense for a person at rest.
One way or another, this is history happening. Ioffe is @ioffeinmoscow on Twitter. I also recommend “The Decembrists,” a piece she wrote for Foreign Policy this week. My 3/29/11 post on Ioffe — and, among other things, the eccentricities of her Twitter feed — is here.
