Dostoevsky was addicted to roulette. He lost scads of money playing the game in casinos across Europe and at one low point even pawned his wife's wedding ring. However, years earlier, he hit the jackpot in the roulette of life. Sentenced to death for participating in a radical, anti-Tsarist group in Petersburg, he was hauled off with nineteen other conspirators to Semenovsky Drill Ground in December 1849 to be publicly executed. The firing squad aimed the rifles at the first three victims who had been blindfolded and bound to poles -- and then, unexpectedly: reprieve! Tsarist amnesty was proclaimed. Dostoevsky was re-sentenced to eight years exile in Siberia, four of heavy labor. Literature metaphorically cringes at the thought of what would have been lost had his death sentence not been commuted.
Meanwhile, Semenovsky Drill Ground was renamed Pioneer Square in 1962 by the Communists and it was here that yesterday, 10 December, thousands of people gathered under chilly, grey skies as part of a massive Russia-wide protest against the recent parliamentary election results. Moscow's turnout was enormous -- 50,000 people or more -- representing the largest post-Soviet demonstration to date. In Petersburg, the crowd was estimated at about 7,000, packed around a towering artificial Christmas tree and a statue of the statesman-author Alexander Sergeyevich Griboedov (who, by the way, was slaughtered along with his Cossack guards in Persia for giving protection to two Armenian girls and a eunuch that had escaped from princely harems).
Police in riot gear were standing shoulder to shoulder around a good portion of the square, impassively watching the protestors, many of whom were wearing white ribbons or carrying white flowers and crying slogans like "Russia without Putin! This is our country! We need a different Russia! Give us back our votes! Putin is a crook!" In the midst of the crowd the mood was intense, although occasionally someone cracked a joke, i.e. referring to Petersburg's beloved soccer team, a man yelled "Zenith is Number One. Rah!"
Protestors around the Griboedov Statue, the red banner reads "We demand fair and free elections."
On the other side of the police cordon, life proceeds along almost oblivious of the shouts and turmoil as people go about their normal Saturday activities. The population of Petersburg is close to five million, so that's a lot of folks doing other things besides protesting elections, although nonetheless, unscientific questioning reveals that people generally are disillusioned with Putin & Co.
The sign under Cafe Bistro reads "Give back our votes."White carnations are a symbol of the movement.
So are white ribbons. People of all ages came to show their support.
In the crowd.
"A Different Russia"
Riot police form a living barrier between the square and the street.
Riot police observe the protesting crowd.
The riot police heavy-duty truck decked out with white carnations
The ball keeps rolling, the wheel keeps spinning.
People skate to the BeeGees "Staying Alive." In the background the protestors are gathered around the artificial Christmas tree.
Some people try to earn a living, like this band of old-timers, playing for change on Haymarket Square.
Other people get married.
And in the evening, after the demo, we went bowling in a vast, new,multi-level mall that surpasses most of what I've seen in New York City.
Footnote: Datcha Sergei, the one who several days ago predicted that we were in a state of pre-revolution, came down with a cold and stayed in his datcha about sixty miles north of the city. He said he had no idea what was going on.
[originally published 11 December 2011]
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