Posted on 05/19/2005 8:16:38 AM PDT by Lukasz
Former world chess champion and chairman of the Committee 2008 Free Choice Garry Kasparov, speaking at a public meeting on Wednesday in Novosibirsk, announced the formation of the United Civil Front, which will be able to “dismantle the Putin regime.” According to Kasparov, the main task of the Front will be to “establish a free political arena in which normal elections can be held in 2008.” Marina Litvinovich told Kommersant that “in six months or a year, it will be clear whether that is a united democratic party.”
As soon as he arrived in Novosibirsk, Kasparov held a press conference at the local Interfax office. Speaking of the perspectives for a liberal opposition in Russia, he stated that he does not see the sense in the models of opposition that currently exist. “All the Russian democratic opposition grew up under the shadow of the regime. It was the opposition of his highness,” he said to emphasize that cooperation with the authorities requires “completely different methods.” The methods he suggested did not seem so new, however. He said there should be mass demonstrations.
Kasparov is convinced that it is necessary for “people who think that the regime threatens the bases of Russian statehood and our future” to unite to dismantle the Putin regime, regardless of ideology. “This dismantling is not a revolution, velvet, colored or of any other type. It is our answer to the fact that the regime intends to stay in power as long as we allow it to.” Both the right and the left, Kasparov says, can rally around the United Civil Front he has established around Committee 2008. Its main purpose will be to “establish a free political arena in which normal elections can be held in 2008.” Without it, the former chess champion says, there will not be normal elections. “I strongly suspect that Vladimir Putin sees his successor every day in the mirror. That is the mechanism of transfer of power of the Kremlin's dreams. My confederates and I founded the civil front not because we like the word front,' but because we should react if the authorities declare war on us.”
Kasparov's advisor Marina Litvinovich told Kommersant that the unity conception will be unveiled within Moscow in the next week or two. “The civil front is to embrace a wide coalition. It will exist as a movement and will not take part in the elections,” she said. “Whether or not it will grow into a united democratic party [the foundation of which Kasparov announced in April] will be seen in six months or a year.”
Members of the local opposition were skeptical about the project. First Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian federation Viktor Kuznetsov said that Committee 2008 is “an organization that stands for capital and big business.” He suggested that “there would be more controversy than constructiveness” if they were to unite. Local Yabloko Party leader Alexey Mazur noted that “first you have to know the front's ideological and organizational principles.”
Kasparov was only barely able to meet with Novosibirsk State technical University on Wednesday. Organizers of the meeting said that, an hour before it was to begin, the schools' leaders unexpectedly and without explanation decided to deny them permission to meet. “It was easier to get in when I was a chess player,” Kasparov noted. He met with students on the steps of the university. There, the former chess champion made an apt comparison. “I just want to play the game with the same rules as the authorities. Now, it's as if I'm playing chess and they're playing [hero of the Russian Revolution] Chapaev.” Police watched the meeting but did not try to break it up. The meeting lasted for about an hour. It broke up as an elderly man shouted to them, “Kasparov is a smart man. I tell you that as a member of the generation of the 1930s.”
At least Kasparov isn't like Boris Spassky...who is an anti-semitic kook.
Garry is cruising for a "tragic auto accident"...but I hope he can prevail.
Their language and lack of moderation reminds me of the Bush-bashers, so I'm skeptical. However if he's serious, a truly democratic election in Russia would certainly be a positive development. He should understand that Putin isn't the biggest problem however. The biggest problem is that there aren't really major parties of different ideologies... it's basically the Communists vs. Whoever is in power.
Err... Best of luck with that whole, "toppling the Russian Regime" thing Gary.
As far as I know Kasparov is half-Jewish.
The fact that Mr. Kasparov is a marginal politician in Russia is obvious to anyone, except for him.
At least he has a guts!
In Russia every anti-Putin politician is marginal. Guess why?
I don't know, please explain to me.
Because they are marginalized by Kremlin’s controlled media. In their parliament “Duma”, Putin hasn’t have real opposition. Communist and nationalist only pretend that are.
You might be confusing Spassky with Bobby Fischer.
You are right to be skeptical.
Communist working for Putin, their job is to pretend that they are some kind of opposition. They are in fact form the same family, they know each other very well.
Actually I'm not. Spassky signed a petition along with several Russian luminaries asking the Goverment to ban Judaism. There was a thread about it somewhere. Fischer has expressed his continuing fondness for Spassky.
Well Putin isn't very much of a socialist.
Spassky isn't the nutcase about it that Fischer is, but he has made anti-Semitic statements in the past.
I'd like to know what Gary thinks of the U.S.
Isnt' it our very own Bobby Fischer that is the anti-semitic kook?
Whole Russian system is socialist, comparing to the other post-communist countries in Central Europe, Russians made very little reforms.
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