Imagine if this weekend’s Restoring Honor rally wasn’t given permission to rally because the organizer was of an opposing political party then the one in power. Then imagine if DC police broke up the rally with nightsticks and tear gas. There’s no need to imagine this in Russia, because it is going on now.
Tomorrow will be the first March of Dissent protest in New York City. First organized by Russian opposition supporters on the last day of each month with 31 days in defense of their right to freedom of assembly as enshrined in Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, Marches of Dissent have sprung up globally in support of those who value and strive for Democratic values in Russia and elsewhere.
It is a Sisyphean task as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has effectively ended political debate in Russia through control of the media and refusal to grant official permission to rally for the political opposition. In an interview today in the newspaper Kommersant, Putin went on the record to say that those who choose to rally, “will be beaten upside the head with a truncheon. And that’s it.”
Come and watch history as Russian expatriates and Americans support Democratic values of freedom of assembly in front of the former KGB headquarters in Manhattan.
Logistics
Who: Supporters of Freedom of Assembly in Russia
What: First March of Dissent in New York City
Where: Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to UN
136 E 67th Street, New York, NY 10065 (between Lexington & 3rd Aves)
When: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 from 6p to 730p
Why: To protect and advance the human rights and democratic values of Russian citizens and elsewhere in the world
