Strategy-31 () is a series of civic protests in support of the right to peaceful assembly in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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 Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'' magazine, Strategy-31 was initiated by

Eduard Limonov Eduard Veniaminovich Limonov (né Savenko; , ; 22 February 1943 – 17 March 2020) was a Russians, Russian writer, poet, publicist, political dissident and politician. He emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1974, but returned to Russia in 1991 ...

, founder of the National Bolshevik Party 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 Moscow Helsinki Group (also known as the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, ) was one of Russia's leading human rights organisations. It was originally set up in 1976 to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accords and to report to the West ...

, 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 such as home ...

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 (; formerly 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 ...

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

Lyudmila Alexeyeva (84). The

President of the European Parliament The president of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the European Union (EU) and internationally. The president's signature is required for Euro ...

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (; born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and former 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 serv ...

and the US National Security Council expressed their outrage at the detention of the prominent human rights activist, while

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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 Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, to other Russian cities including St. Petersburg,

Archangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river and numerous islands o ...

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka River, Iskitimka and Tom ...

and

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

(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 Political career of Eduard Limonov

History

See also

References

External links