<nettime> russian elections OSVOD campaign update

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

- www.osvod.org/english - or - webcenter.ru/~osvod/english -

as country goes to polls today we publish the english version of
our site and bring you update on our disasterously successful
campaign

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We wanted a big campaign, but it became such a super hit at once that we 
had to acknowledge: we became part of the plot. In the absence of 
opposition we were to become the enemies of the public #2 (after the 
Chechens). In the political spectacle we had a special part, previously 
reserved for hard-line communists. We were so successful in it that 
people from Putin camp even offered us financial support.

Surrounded by groups of pre-paid activists, on our second street action 
we decided to take the bold stand - and refused to smash the TVs in 
front of the cameras. We just talked, and then peacefully trashed the 
TV-sets in the nearby trashcans. All intact. And it worked. Although the 
event was not broadcast because there was nothing spectacular about it, 
the happening was not ignored. Reserved timeslots in the TV news were 
used to address the issue in general. And that was a huge step forward: 
instead of inserting a picture we installed new agenda.

We cancelled our third action. Our stardom was bright but brief. But 
we'd be fools to chase it. It was a good lesson for us: playing in the 
paranoid media space restricts you message delivery capacity to to the 
spectacular images. Setting agenda is much more difficult - but 
possible.

Anyway, we're glad we tried it.

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today a group of artists is drawing a protective circle around Kremlin
with cockroach-killer pencil. Volunteers invited. 15:30 Pushkin
museum, Kropotkinskaya metro


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