Insights from Navalny followers chats
“We have agents inserted into Navalny’s headquarters. The agents say the stuff generally works for money, not because of ideology. There are some fanatics, but not much. What is less known, there is a case kept for each headquarters’ member – including all the activity, all the illegal stuff, with pictures and video recordings. If someone who knows much or has conflicts with leaders leaves, the case is immediately sent to the Police. The guys name some people who were imprisoned on the base of these cases.
https://vk.com/wall-62262331_15903
There’s a strict governance structure, which looks like a cult. There is a system of subordination among headquarters: for example, staff from Vladivostok completely obey to the members of headquarters from Khabarovsk. The key figures are in St. Petersburg.
- If they all were only ideological, the movement would have never reached a size that much. Cult-like structure allows the organization to be easily governed. I’m proud of St. Petersburg. Once again it is proved to be a center of fostering excellence in politics and ideology.
- There is also a 4-year tendency. The headquarters used to actively involve university students, but now they prefer working with secondary education colleges. The stuff mainly comes from this cohort of the age of 18 to 20. They try to involve even younger people.
- Well done by them, my compliments. Even before Navalny’s calls for protest were banned on Facebook, they started using Ticktack, which is a teenagers’ social network in Russia. After watching the videos the children went to their parents, the grown-ups started panicking and publishing critics. Same money, auditory covered is three times wider.
A question is who did it. Each side – the headquarters and the government – has its profit. The headquarters definitely get more people involved, especially youngsters. They are not skeptical to Navalny, as they don’t know much of him.
