Strategy-31 (russian: Страте́гия-31) is a series of civic protests in support of the right to peaceful assembly in Russia guaranteed by Article 31 of the Russian constitution. Since July 31, 2009, the protests were held in Moscow on Triumfalnaya Square on the 31st of every month with 31 days. The name is an example of a trend in organizations' naming themselves after sections of treaties and law, something that Zachary Elkins has called "chapter-verse branding."

History

Described as an "elite organization" by American ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'' magazine, Strategy-31 was initiated by Eduard Limonov, founder of the

National Bolshevik Party The National Bolshevik Party (NBP; russian: Национал-большевистская партия), also known as the Nazbols (russian: нацболы), operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of Nat ...

and one of the leaders of The Other Russia coalition. It was subsequently supported by many prominent Russian human rights organisations including the Moscow Helsinki Group, the

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

human rights centre and other public and political movements and associations. It started with modest support but with each event increased in the numbers. Every one of the Strategy-31 actions since it commenced has been refused permission by the authorities on the grounds that other activities were planned to take place on

Triumfalnaya Square Triumfalnaya Square (former Mayakovsky Square, colloquially Mayakovka) is a public square in the Tverskoy District of the Central Administrative Okrug of Moscow. It is located in the Garden Ring between the Big Garden street, 1st Brest street and ...

at the same time on the respective dates. These "counter-actions" included the "Choose Health, Be Like Us!" festival (July 31, 2009), a youth sports festival (August 31, 2009), the "Division" military-sports festivity (October 31, 2009), an action of the pro-Kremlin " Young Russia" movement (December 31, 2009), and the "Winter Amusements" festivity (January 31, 2010). Each of the Strategy-31 actions was dispersed by regular and riot police and accompanied by large-scale detentions of participants and passers-by. The action attracted a strong public and international response on December 31, 2009, when among dozens of other participants the police grabbed and detained the Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alexeyeva (84). The President of the European Parliament

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he served as Pre ...

and the

US National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Execut ...

expressed their outrage at the detention of the prominent human rights activist, while The New York Times devoted its front page to an article about this protest action. Strategy31 2009-12-31-1 crop

The Strategy-31 action on May 31, 2010 has gathered a record number of participants (more than 2000 according to some sources and was dispersed with over 100 arrests. Since January 2010, the Strategy-31 actions have spread from Moscow, to other Russian cities including St. Petersburg,

Archangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near i ...

, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg,

Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk Ba ...

and

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

(about twenty Russian cities in total). On August 31, 2010, protests took place globally, in London, New York, Toronto and Tel Aviv.Их нравы
/ref> The original initiative for "Strategy-31 Abroad" came from the blog of Alex Goldfarb, a close associate of exiled Russian oligarch Boris BerezovskyBoris Berezovsky: Godfather of Strategy-31 Abroad?
. // Sublime Oblivion, August 31, 2010 – though this was originally denied by Andrei Sidelnikov, the organizer of the London protests.

References

External links

Strategy-31 - official site

Strategy-31 - official blog in LJ
* *
The Russian protesters who won't give up. Guardian. 30 August 2010
{{Coord, 55, 46, 10, N, 37, 35, 45, E, type:landmark_region:RU, display=title 2009 in Russia 2009 in politics 2010 in Russia 2010 in politics Civil rights protests Freedom of assembly Opposition to Vladimir Putin Protests in Russia Human rights in Russia 2009 establishments in Russia Organizations established in 2009 Russian democracy movements Eduard Limonov

History

See also

References

External links