Oborona

Oborona (Russian Оборона to German: "defense" ) is a Founded in 2005, liberal- democratic youth organization in Russia. It stands in opposition to the Kremlin administration under Vladimir Putin and the pro-government youth organization Nashi.

History

Oborona was founded in the wake of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in Moscow. The organization was created in April 2005 as a merger of the youth organization of the party Yabloko with the recently founded non-partisan youth organization Iduschtschuje bes Putin ( " path without Putin " ) and several smaller youth organizations and groups. The first major public action was a support demonstration for Mikhail Khodorkovsky in June 2005. Due to disability policy work is Oborona especially since the end of 2005 / beginning of 2006 in the political struggle on rather unusual methods such as license-free one-man demos, counting down the remaining Putin's government days before its birthplace in St. Petersburg or the demonstrative mass drinking of Georgian mineral water as a protest against a ban. However, the organization is under pressure from the authorities, many members sit again for a shorter time in prison. For actions against Oborona often the special forces OMON was used.

Substantive Profile

Oborona is to be settled by his political orientation in the left-liberal area. Declared models of the association are large youth organizations in other countries such as Pora! in Ukraine and Otpor! in Serbia. The aim of Oborona is an association of currently fragmented liberal opposition to the ruling United Russia party in the Kremlin under Vladimir Putin. Oborona is a supporter of non-violent resistance.

Construction

Oborona maintains local offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Moscow, Voronezh, Samara, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities 4-6. However, the number of active members is rather low outside Moscow and St. Petersburg, so that in the vast country only minor actions by one or two dozen parties may be performed. The local branches are loosely linked to each other, and due to the great distances in Russia and often weak finances of members, most actions are performed autonomously by a local group. At the top of the organization is a Coordination and no fixed board of directors.