Navalny - The Next Sticky Steps

I awoke early this morning, and while I sat in the dark in my recliner with a freshly brewed coffee, I delved into the news stories of the past few days - I was surfing Reuters as my usual go-to for a generally unbiased outlet. Then I made my way to other sites, Globe & Mail, BBC, etc. I knew the day before of Navalny's demise and tried to shrug it off as something beyond my control and just another reason why Putin needed to go.?

Included in the news coverage this Sunday of his demise was this clip from the award-winning documentary - Navalny: The Man Putin Couldn't Kill - clip included here.

In it, the documentarian asks Navalny this most poignant question, in English, "If you are killed, if this does happen, what message do you leave behind to the Russian people?" Navalny answered in English this basic premise, "It's simple, don't give up!" And then, as a favoured begged, then, the Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher, asked him to answer the same question in Russian, knowing that it would be way more personal, way more instructional, way more impactful.?

To surmise here because you need to watch the clip, he said these key points [translated here]: "You are not allowed to give up! If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. Stronger than you know. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. We don't realize how strong we actually are. Don't be inactive." Then he smiles this most powerful of smiles. Knowing, that this is the signal of Putin's demise.?

I could not go on to the next story. I was captured by this problem. One where the power is unaware of their power - the people of a nation not sure that they can make the change needed, because they are unsure of their numbers, or of the support for the cause. In a nation where smaller 'in-person' uprisings are easily quelled and the protesters jailed, where the media is owned, digital media controlled and neighbours rat on neighbours and family on family - where speaking and demonstrations of your support are very dangerous activities.?

So, in the above-described system, how do you make it known that you have the numbers to make the change needed? That you can collaborate, cooperate and achieve your desired ends. You need to begin with an untraceable signal that can endure, and that is hard to erase. So much so that its removal requirements are beyond the ability of the state to remove it easily when it is presented at scale. And then it reminded me of our Canadian philosopher and master of media, Marshal McLuhan and his most potent belief that "The Medium is the Message." Change the medium of the message to a medium that is hard for the regime to control.?

I pondered what could that be.

As I chewed and chewed upon this problem I first came up with the medium. The medium could be the streets, the walkways, the pathways, the sidewalks, initially ... then expand from there. But what message could be placed on this medium anonymously, quietly, easily, cheaply and by anyone who wanted to send a message? What could be laid down and hard to remove? And as weird as it sounds, it is this... Gum. Chewed gum - pounded by foot traffic into the fibre of the medium. First in the hundreds, then thousands, then by the millions- all markers of discontent.

Gum could be the signal that we are too in agreement, we too have had enough, that there has to be "More To This," more than the end of an influential opposition leader [More To This?is from a song that came up on my Spotify feed by Marc Scibilia as I read the Navalny stories - it resonates].?

Start a Gum Revolution... to gum up the confidence of the regime, to gum up the techniques of social listening, to gum up the tattling on neighbours, on friends, on colleagues, of comrades! Gum up the machinery of deceit, of corruption, of snuggery that their citizenry is unable to mobilize and is immobilized by fear to actually know their power.?

When they take your gum, turn to toffee, when they take your toffee, turn to syrup, when they take your syrup, turn to molasses, when they take your molasses, make your own with sugar, when they take your sugar turn to paint, when they take your paint...?

And when they are down on their knees scrapping the roads, the sidewalks - know you have won. They are scared beyond belief of the volume and cohesiveness of your message. You are Legion! Rise up! Rise up! Rise up! and own your country.?

As this expands put gum in the voting machines, put gum in the keyholes of government buildings, put gum anywhere it clogs things up.. Gum the total system - gum it up completely - so it knows that without the people, there is no nation to steal.?

I think Navalny recognized that with him gone the power and passion would multiply and disperse without diminishment. It just needs a medium to give the people the confidence that they have enough people on their side to make it so.?

The sad gift of a leaderless opposition is that there is no one person to jail, no one person to prevent from running in an election, no one person to poison... The 'people' are impossible to stop.?

Do me a favour, don't like this article, 'Likes' won't get us there. I don't need you even to comment on it. I would humbly ask that you just share it if you think it has legs to possibly make a difference. Share it. I want to get it to the people who can implement it. I want the best idea to be implemented and win!

If you have a better idea - please share it with your network - send me a link - I will absolutely read it and share it if I think it can possibly help.?

#GumItUpForNavalny #Russia #Russian #AntiPutin #VladimirPutin #Putin