Russian prosecutors suspend leftist opposition group

[pampango]

Source: Reuters

Russian prosecutors suspended a leftist opposition group for three months on Friday in what critics of President Vladimir Putin say is an intensifying crackdown on dissent sponsored by the Kremlin. "They have three months now to change that or the next step is to seek a closure of the group altogether," prosecutor's office spokeswoman Yelena Rossokhina said.

Since the start of his third term last May, Putin has signed laws increasing fines for protesters and tightening controls of foreign-funded groups while several opposition activists face prison terms in cases they say are trumped up.

The decision by Moscow prosecutors on Friday means the Left Front, whose leader Sergei Udaltsov played a prominent role in street protests last year against Putin, is not allowed to hold meetings or protests, or use its symbols or bank accounts until July 19. That would cover the first anniversary of Putin's presidential inauguration when the opposition groups have vowed to stage a mass demonstration to revive the protest movement that has died out over the winter.

The Left Front said it would appeal against the decision and in the meantime operate as the New Left Front.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/19/us-russia-opposition-idUSBRE93I0VZ20130419

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Sounds like the Left Front is not backing down - just adding "New" to their name and continuing on. Something tells me that the Russian prison system is about to welcome some new residents who formerly were with the liberal opposition.

Russia Today has a similar article:

This picture shows a Left Front activist speaking during a march for the rights of Muscovites.

Russian law enforcers have suspended the activities of Sergey Udaltsov’s group after it started collecting money online without being registered as a legal entity. “As of today, the activities of the public union the Leftist Front is suspended for three months, until July 19 2013,” reads the statement published by the Moscow Prosecutors’ Office.

The agency explained that the Leftist Front web-site regularly published classifieds with requests to send money to persons who were either in pre-trial custody or serving sentences for causing public disturbance. Such activities contradicted the Russian law that allows only registered legal entities to possess property or bank accounts. Besides, the front was constantly using its emblem – the five-pointed red and white star with a black logo – in its street actions and press and online materials, but the emblem was not officially registered, which is also against the law, the prosecutors said.

After the news was announced Leftist Front leader Sergey Udaltsov wrote on his Twitter feed that the movement was changing its name to the New Leftist Front and the new name will be used until the suspension is lifted.

The radical leftist movement was founded in 2008 and gained notoriety during street protests in Moscow in 2012. The head of the movement and two of his aides are currently on trial over charges of plotting the unrest and using foreign cash to sponsor their plans. The head of the front – Sergey Udaltsov – is currently under house arrest and two other suspects – Konstantin Lebedev and Leonid Razvozzhayev are in custody.

http://rt.com/politics/fronts-activities-fundraising-online-116/

[David__77]

1. Putin always attacks Russian patriots.

Putin does not like being called out for his nation-selling politics and subservience.

[Pterodactyl]

2. Sadly, not unexpected. Putin is a "former" Soviet.

And you know how those communists are.

[harmonicon]

3. Did you miss the point about the whole left thing? Like, the left protesting against Putin? (nt)

[Pterodactyl]

4. Not at all. Putin is an authoritarian leftist.

The Upper Middle or Starboard Bottom or Left Front or whatever they are called is a competing brand of leftism.

[harmonicon]

5. Please explain to me how you figure Putin to be a leftist. (nt)

[Pterodactyl]

7. Here is a list:

1. He was a communist. He joined in college and stayed a member of the party until the party dissolved. What's more leftist than the Soviet communist party?
2. He was a high ranking member of the KGB.
3. In the post-Soviet era, he has been an autocratic bully, like old school leftist/communists such as Stalin.

Since when are socialism and communism not "left"?

[harmonicon]

8. I mean as he's actually governed.

While in power, he's oppressed the left. Yes, he was a member of the communist party because he had to be for his career. That says nothing about his own political feelings. What in the world is leftist about the KGB? "Autocratic bully" and left generally do not go together.

Since when are socialism and communism not left? They are left. Since when has Putin governed in a way that would ever suggest he's a socialist or communist?

[Pterodactyl]

9. The authoritarianism and bullying is the communist part. You know, same as the Soviets.

The Soviets were oppressors and Putin was a post-Soviet oppressor. "Authoritarian" and "Left" are not mutually exclusive. There is a huge area of overlap.

What's leftist about the KGB? They are the epitome of leftism! The agents of cummunism! Literally, agents!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB#Suppressing_internal_dissent

Logically speaking, oppressing other leftists does not make one non-left.

[harmonicon]

10. I think you're getting your wires crossed.

Just because there have been authoritarians in charge of leftist governments doesn't mean that authoritarianism is leftist. That would be absurd, because authoritarianism is generally more associated with right-wing governments, is it not? I mean, what's more right-wing and authoritarian than monarchy/dictatorship?

There is nothing leftist about the KGB. I don't know how you can think that. It was a government job that would exist no matter what the type of government was. Are the CIA or MI6 "left"? If not, I don't see how the KGB is.

[Pterodactyl]

11. Leftism is not necessarily authoritarian, but they sadly overlap a lot.

For example, the Soviets, the Chinese Communists, the Khmer Rouge were or are all leftist authoritarians.

And the KGB isn't leftist? I just don't buy it. That would be like saying the SS or Gestapo were not Nazi. The KGB worked harder, committed more crimes and suppressed more people than anyone to try to ensure the success of communism. That's leftist in my book.

You need to stop seeing everything in black and white (or in a rigid view of left and right) and start seeing things in shades of gray.

[harmonicon]

12. You're demonstrating lateral thinking.

It's good for artists sometimes, and various kinds of "brainstorming," but it only leads to very crazy conclusions when dealing with simple facts of history, as you're demonstrating here.

[Alamuti Lotus]

21. "What's more leftist than the Soviet communist party?" -- answer: virtually anything.

To get an accurate analysis of what the Stalinist bureaucracy really constituted from an actual leftist perspective, I would recommend thumbing through Trotsky's "The Revolution Betrayed". But, I suspect that you're not looking for any accurate assessments, only stereotypical soundbytes.

[Ash_F]

14. Would you care to elaborate what you think leftism to be?

All his positions are right wing as can be.

* Religion in Schools

* Flat taxes, lowering corporate taxes

* Deregulation of industry

* Vastly expanded military spending

* "Totally-not-racial" Nationalism

-----------------------------

There are people to the right of Putin in Russia, true, but there are people to the right of Romney in the US. That doesn't mean either of them are leftists. Actually, I think Putin is to the right of Romney. I never heard of Romney pushing a flat tax, though he did hit all the other bullet points.

[Pterodactyl]

15. Left

The Left believes in social equality. They also prefer active government involvement in the lives of the people, in promoting the common good, controlling economic activity and sometimes rounding people up and throwing them into camps (e.g. the Soviet Union) inm order to fix what they see as injustice.

The Left is mostly secular and sometimes atheistic and sometime hostile to religion and religious freedom. However, the Left can also be religous, as in the case of liberation theology and Unitarian Universalists.

There is nothing "right wing" about military spending. Communists of the left have spent massive resources on military throughout history, often to the detriment of the people. North Korea is a great modern example of that.

[Ash_F]

16. As the other poster pointed out, your logic is reversed.

You are starting with the label that "communists are left" therefore anything a communist or, in Putin's case, former communist supports is leftist. I'm sorry but runaway military waste and the chest thumping that comes with it has historically been a detriment to social equality, so it is in fact antithesis to leftism.

That aside, you still did not address any of Putin's other right wing policies and initiatives that were listed. Does this mean that you concede that those are indeed right wing ideas? It would seem the majority of Putin's governing positions point to him being a staunch conservative.

[Pterodactyl]

17. I do not concede that communists are not leftists.

Do you concede that communism is a leftist movement?

[Ash_F]

18. I never argued that it wasn't.

But we are talking about Vladimir Putin, a member of United Russia, which is a conservative party with conservative policies. This is an article about him crushing leftist opposition.

[Pterodactyl]

19. OK, now we're getting somewhere. So, do you agree that the KGB was a communist organization?

[Ash_F]

20. Let me guess...

KGB = Communist

Communism = Leftist

Putin = KGB

Putin = Leftist Despite well, everything?

[Pterodactyl]

22. If a KGB agent was in charge of Russia, what would he do differently?

[LostOne4Ever]

6. Wannabe dictator

Look like Russia's wannabe dictator is one step closer to his goal.

[winstars]

13. And these are the people the 'pugs are saying the FBI did not listen to???

So our Justice Department did not take the warnings of former KGB scumbags... This is what Ms. Lindsay and the rest are gonna be screaming about.

Dictators telling us what to do, yeah right....