Oborona (organization)
Oborona ( Russian Оборона to German "defense") is a 2005 founded liberal -demokratische youth organization in Russia . She is in opposition to the Kremlin administration under Vladimir Putin and the government-loyal youth organization Nashi .
history
Oborona was founded in Moscow under the influence of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. The organization came into being in April 2005 as a merger of the youth organization of the Yabloko party with the recently founded non-party youth association Idushchuje bes Putin ("Way without Putin") and several smaller youth organizations and groups. The first big public action was a demonstration of support for Mikhail Khodorkovsky in June 2005. Due to obstacles in political work, Oborona has been using rather unusual methods in the political struggle since the end of 2005 / beginning of 2006, such as one-man demos without permission, counting down the remaining ones Putin's government days in front of his birthplace in Saint Petersburg or the demonstrative mass drinking of Georgian mineral water as a protest against an import ban. Nevertheless, the organization is under pressure from the authorities, and numerous members are repeatedly in jail for short periods of time. The OMON special force was often deployed in actions against Oborona .
Content profile
Oborona is based on its political orientation in the left-liberal area. The association's declared role models are large youth organizations in other countries such as Pora! in Ukraine and Otpor! in Serbia. The aim of Oborona is to unite the currently fragmented liberal opposition to the ruling party United Russia under Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin . Oborona is a supporter of nonviolent resistance.
construction
There are branches in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Murmansk, Barnaul, Voronezh, Samara, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod and 4–6 other major cities. The number of active members is, however, rather small outside of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, so that only smaller campaigns with one to two dozen participants can be carried out in the vast country. The local branches are loosely networked with each other, whereby due to the great distances in Russia and the often weak finances of the members, most of the actions are carried out independently by a local group. The organization is headed by a coordination council and not a permanent board.