Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 12 – After walking more
than 2,000 kilometers over the last four month, Sakha shaman Aleksandr Gabyshev
reached his first major Russian city, Chita, where he told a crowd of more than
300 that they should no longer take orders from Vladimir Putin, that the Kremlin
leader is “a demon,” and that as a shaman, he will drive Putin out of Moscow
next year.
He and his supporters had hoped for
an even larger turnout, and pictures of the crowd suggest that many in
attendance were there more from curiosity than to show support. But local media
nonetheless say his rally was the largest ever in that city’s designated protest
area (chita.ru/news/132439/;
cf. m.activatica.org/blogs/view/id/7392/title/shaman-idushchiy-izgonyat-putina-dobralsya-do-chity-i-sobral-massovyy-miting-na-ploshchadi-truda,
region.expert/shaman-chita/ and
mbk-news.appspot.com/region/putin-demon-i-ya-dolzhen/).
More people might have attended had
it not been for a campaign unleashed by the Chita bishopric of the Russian Orthodox
Church which declared that the shaman’s appearance would be “a provocation” and
that the shaman himself was mentally ill. The church was especially upset that
the shaman had scheduled the rally at on the Day of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
“God told me,” the shaman told those
who came to hear him, “that Putin isn’t a human being but a demon and that I
must exorcise him.” He said that he would use “peaceful methods like popular
assemblies and meetings,” but that if those don’t work, Gabyshev continued,
then “other methods” will have to be considered.
During his remarks, the shaman declared
several times that “the main force in Russia at all levels must be the popular
assembly” and that from now on, Russians must live freely and not take orders
from Putin. At the end of the meeting
which was conducted and dispersed peacefully, the crowd joined him in singing a
Cossack hymn.
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