Hello, Michiel!
Monday July 29 2024 16:28, you wrote to me:
DP>> It doesn't matter how people vote. If you have total control over
DP>> the voting system, you can make up any numbers. 40% can become
DP>> 70% with no problem.
MV> Of course. But it was not always like that after the end of the cold
MV> war. Remember Glasnost and Perestroyka? Yes, that is gone now, but in
Glasnost and Perestroyka was a Soviet thing, in late 80s. It was long before
Putin.
However, the country was ill-prepared for such a significant shift. We lacked
people with good economic education and as a result, the attempt to transition
from socialism to a system akin to that of the Netherlands failed. Many of those
experts in government saw the transformation as an opportunity for personal
gain, and the Soviet Nomenklatura maintained their hold on power.
An even greater issue was the lack of "grassroots collaboration". Under Soviet
rule, gatherings of more than three people were viewed with suspicion (police
had instructions to check ANY people gathering), leaving us with little to no
experience in municipal self-governance.
DP>> But when you have total control over the media, the courts, the
DP>> police, and the secret service, it's very difficult to even make
DP>> people believe that they can change anything.
MV> It was not always like that...
In the 90s, I was too busy working to get involved in politics. I started
working at the age of 13 because my parents couldn't afford to buy me a modem or
pay for phone calls, which were quite expensive and charged by the minute.
I've started to go the protests only in 2006, but it was too late.
MV> And who told you to trust the leaders of the Ortthodox church? Your
MV> parents?
People once trusted the Communist Party, but with its collapse they needed
someone new to believe in. The Orthodox Church attempted to fill that void.
DP>> Fidonet was different because it was a democracy :)
MV> Fidonet is not and never was a democracy.
In Russia, we had Fidonet as a great example of democracy. Many of my friends
still talk about democracy as something from the Fidonet era! (I'm not joking).
Before Fidonet, they had no experience with real elections, or providing the
infrastructure for elections or removing an elected person from "office".
DP>> People like simple answers to difficult questions and strong
DP>> populist leader is a very simple answer.
MV> Bottom line: "the people" are too naive for democracy. :(
Not all people and not always :)
DP>> Russia is always providing very good examples of how not to do
DP>> things. The previous one was communism, now it's time for a new
DP>> one :)
MV> Not "always". 200 years ago Russia was a country not much different
MV> from the rest of Europe.
In reality, it was quite different. We had actual slavery in place. The culture
may have been the same but it was a culture of the elite. The average Russian
lived like an African slave with no rights, in his own country.
DP>> I am just curious why it's always something from Germany? Carl
DP>> Marx was German, the current Putin's regime is very much based on
DP>> German ideas from 193Xs..
MV> Trotsky was not German...
Interestingly, I now live in London (for the past 1.5 years, since the war
started), and there's a pub here where Trotsky, Lenin, and Stalin used to drink
together. It's quite the spot for anyone who dreams of returning and
transforming our country!
Best regards,
dp.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20230304
* Origin: All is good in St. John's Wood (2:5001/100.1)
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