Some Background on Urban Politics in Petersburg

On March 3, 2007, a major street demonstration took place in St. Petersburg. As the business magazine Ekspert implied afterward in its commentary, observers from the middle-class and the West might rather be associated with the visually attractive and familiar Russian cultural elite than with the elderly pensioners and dissatisfied poor who often have been the ones desperate enough to show up to demonstrations (Ekspert 2007 no. 10, 12-18 March, p.80). However, as the same Ekspert article asserted, the number of people who showed up to the “March of the Dissidents” in St. Petersburg indicated that dissatisfaction with the government “was the position not merely of a handful of marginals, and to ignore it completely was now impossible… The photos that showed bedraggled retirees with wrinkled faces and absurd posters, not to mention nationalist bands, do little to show the real composition of the crowds” (p. 78, 79). Indeed, the article’s authors added, “the majority of the demonstrators were made up of the most average of Petersburgers” (p. 81).

In fact “dissidents” --the word used most often in the Western press to translate "nesoglasnye" -- was a mistranslation in some ways. That word links the new movement with cultural and social figures who opposed Soviet-era communist bureaucrats; it has a specific historical context. The word “dissident” exists in Russian, but was not used in this case. The most literal translation of “Marsh nesoglasnykh,” the March 2007 demonstration (and others) is “March of Those-who-don’t-agree”; it has also been translated as "March of the Dissenters."

While Western media coverage focused on the Yabloko party, on Gary Kasparov and on other prominent political figures, the real spark behind the spontaneous participation of average Petersburgers in the demonstration on 3 March 2007 was the frustration with the lack of transparency in the city government’s handling of urban development. In particular, the plan to build a 300-meter skyscraper directly across the river from Smolny Cathedral had been rankling since the announcement in December 2006 of the winner of a competition to design this tower for the Gazprom corporation, Russia’s natural gas giant. Beneath the frustration with Gazprom was also a growing network of what we would call grassroots activists—active citizens in neighborhoods across the city who had been developing civic skills for months in the struggle to prevent various urban development projects in their districts. Over time, these groups began to find out about each other and cooperate in order to gather information, prepare legal documents, and engage in community outreach.

A crucial common factor in this developing network was the legal consulting organization ECOM, or St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists. ECOM has provided ample proof that those who “do not agree” are not just romantic dissidents but also smart, resourceful pragmatists; that Russian activists can have a decided impact on government decisions; and that Russians are not apathetic and doomed to have an authoritarian government. This blog will be continued in their honor, with a major goal being to provide information in English about their activities.