18th March, 2018 (election day in Russia) anarchists all over the world have become the main force who expressed the protest against Putin's political machine. It was supporters of direct self-management who stood up most active in russian election day.
A great wave of actions of solidarity with arrested russian comrades who've been tortured by FSB occured throughout many cities around all over the world. The geographical spread is really amazing.
The cause of actions is a wave of repressions against anarchists in Russia. In October and November several members of anarchist and antifasist movement have been arrested in Penza and Saint-Petersburg. FSB has claimed them for creating a “terrorist organization” and has fabricated absurd charges for “preparing the bombings” based on their airsoft and survival trainings.
FSB tortured them with exposed electrical wires and stun guns (it was witnessed by Public Monitoring Committee) and savage beating, thus securiy service obtained confessions from most of arrestees. The ensuing actions of solidarity with comrades have caused new arrests of anarchists and tortures by electricity in Moscow and Chelyabinsk. At the same time several anarchists and left-wing activists have been arrested in Crimea.
In “election day” demonstrations and pickets were held near Russian embassies and consulates in Helsinki, Berlin, Bern, Sydney, Prague, Barcelona, Asheville, Brno, Turku, Hamburg, Greifswald and other cities. The next day there were also an action in Leipzig. In Minsk and Brest (Belarus) anarchists hanged banners in public places. In Stockholm activists put up pages from arrested Viktor Filinkov’s diary on the way to polling station in Russian embassy.
However, there have been some complications. In Hamburg a crowd of Putin supporters tried to attack the picket.
The biggest action of solidarity was the picket near Russian embassy in Helsinki – there were about 50 people. Altogether, hundreds of people took to the streets all over the world.
A letter of solidarity from internationalist figthers from Rojava is standing out. Despite the difficult situation in the region, they took the time to express their solidarity brightly with comrades from Russia.
The “election day” was not something special – it was just a duty event which is not interesting to anyone and which can’t change anything. 18th March became the day of solidarity. The extensive demonstration of unity and support was landmark. So, that day we remember as a day of anarchist resistance. Anarchism is an international movement and comrades from other countries support each other in their common fight.
