[Nettime-bold] we're alive and kicking here in moscow. missing haider? join our show!

["Ivan Zassoursky" <iiz@cnt.ru>]

=========warning! this is a long message=========
==========still, probably worth reading===========

Russia is gloomy these days. it's a small man's return.
goimg to be long and gray as winter twilight.

to combat our fears and the cheet-the-sheep elections
we've started the campaign of two TV channels boycott
(state-controlled ORT and RTR) as well as elections
boycott.

the rationalization of this tactic goes like this. both channels
sold their advertisement time en gross to one advertising
agency, VIDEO INTERNATIONAL, owned by michael lesin,
russian information minister. the way these two channels
handled chechen war would make goebbels eat his heart
out. in fact the war-electorate campaign of mr putin, otherwise
a gray ordinary careerist with kgb background, would be
impossible without fear, hysteria and new enemies, skillfully
beamed by these networks onto 99% of this virgin country.

what is even more interesting, both networks and their
propaganda pathos are fed by transnational advertisers,
primarily happy-soup proctor&gamble and dummy-consumer
nescafe-nestle. wrigleys, pepsi and coka follow suit on our
black list of war-mongering-mind-dumbing advertisement.
it is quite unfortunate that chechens are such a small market.
we count on active people abroad to show these companies
that russian market is also not that grand. please, pass this
note on to anyone who might get interested.

by the way - i tried to make it an internet vs the TV campaign,
but the internet press didn't pick up the coverage. it was a
surprise, but a well-timed hint to remaind me the real state
of affairs in this branch of .ru mainstream human activities.

the Exile suports us and follows this campaign closely,
but their internet site is updated usually three weeks after
so probably you will be able to read it after it's all over.
anyway, they're still at their best at www.exile.ru
To give you some idea about what it's like i submit
you the report i wrote for exile (it didn't appear yet and
probably never will) about the action that let us achieve
stardom at once, although at a price of becoming public
enemies number 2 (after the chechens)

we're having the next action today at 14:00 at Tverskaya
ploshad', near Dolgoruky monument. please, join.

------------------------------report follows-------------------------------

We got a permission from city authorities and reserved a place near the Marx
monument across Ohotny Ryad from Bolshoy. We bought two dead TVs (6 channels
max, almost antique, $10 a piece). I wrote the press-release, promising to
bust two TVs live and featuring Salman Raduev and four other prominent
terrorists as our speakers. We faxed it all over the media. Than we xeroxed
three thousand invitation leaflets for $35. We planned to gather a hundred
people or so, presuming the weather would get better and invitations would
work. But the guys who promised to distribute the leaflets vanished and
winter returned. It was snowing again. The door lock in my car got frozen.

At 15:50 there was nobody. At 16:00 the journalists started to appear. There
were so many cameras - more than protesters. ORT, RTR, NTV, TV6, VKT and
ABC.

At 16:30 two TVs got delivered. The cameramen insisted that we should break
them immediately - everybody was rushing on deadlines. We had a hard time
distracting their attention for another 15 minutes with our arguments that
war in Chechnya developed into the electorate campaign only because Kremlin
had total control over the media. Suddenly I understood I forgot the most
important instrument of TV-busting - lom. I got depressed, because I didn't
know how to brake the TVs without it. I tried to search around the square
and found nothing. So I decided we should brake the TVs by throwing them on
Marx.

I approached the TVs and tried to lift one, but these were heavy ancient
models. Everybody was busy holding slogans, so I asked Matt for help. When
the TV cameramen got nervous and threatened to leave I gave in. We took the
first TV and smashed it over the statue. Than we picked another one and,
racing between the cameras, threw it against the gray concrete of Marx.
Punks finished the job.

At the end there were only cameramen, zooming on the remains of the TVs.
Kagarlitsky came up to me and said we're gonna get arrested. He was very
exited. They took his passport and waited for us to finish the action before
turning us in. Everybody was gone except for the punks, who were playing
their guitars. They even had our loudspeaker now, so they also started to
sing. I had a couple of meetings scheduled, so I decided not to go to jail.
Kagarlitsky didn't object. He spent 13 months in the Soviet jail before for
being a devoted marxist.

They drove him to the police station and started to interrogate.

- Was there any damage done to Marx? -They asked.

- No, - he said, - he's still standing.

- Ok. What kind of TVs got destroyed? Give us the names.

- "Temp" and "Rubin", as far as I remember, - he said.

- A-ha, - they said. – Ok. You can go.

I missed the 6 pm news on ORT, but I asked someone to watch it for me and
the guy said they showed nothing. I got to the TV just in time to watch NTV
news at 10 pm. There the burial of Borovik, a couple of stories about the
war in Chechnya, including several gloomy burials and so much patriotic
pathos that I got scared. Our plot just didn't fit the agenda. Or, rather,
it did quite well in case we were the new enemies of the people. When the
news block was over I was grateful enough to stay in oblivion. After all,
we're just mortal humans, right? There was something in the RTR, they made
fun of us in a way, but that was Ok. I thought it was over and relaxed. I
was wrong. We were top news on Sunday, in the weekly news shows on NTV and
ORT. By Monday morning we were on TV6.



EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

ORT coverage was the strongest and what's important - they have the largest
audience in Russian. It went like this. First - TV-busting (Matt and I carry
the TV and smash it against Marx). Enter anchorman: WHO TRIES TO DESTABILIZE
THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA? WHO WANTS THE CIVIL WAR? BANKERS AND BUSINESSMEN?

Enter Zhirinovsky (interview by the ORT reporter): YAVLINSKY AND NTV!

The anchorman: SO THESE BANKERS, EAGER TO MAKE SOME EASY MONEY ON THE
SUFFERINGS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE, HIRED THESE YOUNG PEOPLE, WHO DON'T EVEN
SUSPECT A THING. LIKE THIS GIRL (girl with the sign saying "ągainst
everybody"). BUT SOME OF THEM DO KNOW (a person looking like a Jew is shown
with loudspeaker). AND MAYBE IT WAS HIM WHO INVENTED AND THEN SOLD TO
BANKERS THE IDEA: IF PEOPLE DON'T VOTE, RUSSIA WOULD BE IN RUINS!

Another meeting is shown. The anchorman: HOW ARE THEY ATTRACKTING PEOPLE?
WITH VOBLA! (someone interviewed by the correspondent admits that he
received a free vobla for attending the meeting). The anchorman (with
disgust): WHO ARE THEIR ALLIES? (A leader of obscure party "Subtropical
Russia" is interviewed by the ORT reporter. By the way, this guy frankly
admits on the first page of his site that "Subtropical Russia" is a joke.)
The guy says something like "YOU KNOW, RUSSIA HAS A POOR CLIMATE. IT'S
COLD..."

The anchorman: SEE? AND THERE ARE MORE. (A group of prostitutes is shown,
marching with signs like "VOTE FOR SKURATOV" – NB. This former general
prosecutor was dismissed after a videotape was shown, where he was depicted
with two naked sexual workers in the sauna pool). BUT ARE THEIR ACTIONS
LEGAL?

Enter Veshnyakov, head of central electorate commission, interviewed by ORT
reporter: THEIR ACTIONS ARE ILLEGAL. ONLY OFFICIALLY REGISTERED CANDIDATES
CAN CAMPAIGN, AND ONLY ON THE MONEY FROM THEIR OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS. THOSE, WHO
ARE CAMPAIGNING "ĄGAINST EVERYBODY" WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR IT AND MAY
FACE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

End of story.

Advertisement - GEE, DANDRUFF! HEAD AND SHOULDERS – HAVE BEAUTIFUL HAIR. TRY
ALSO NESCAFE, WRIGLEY’S, SAFEGUARD...



our campaign site is only in russian now, but you might like the pictures
anyway. if you're a cyrillitsa-reader, here is a hint - opt for the
Shantazh-montazh and Feelings sections for arty stuff.



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