Return of the names » Возвращение имен

## Возвращение имен

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# Return of the names

On October 29th, the eve of Russia’s Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repression, we will gather from 10 in the morning until 10 at night to read the names of those who were shot in Moscow as part of Stalin’s Great Terror. From 1937 to 1938, more than 30 thousand people were murdered in Moscow alone. We would like to invite all who wish to take part in the reading of these names to come to Lubyanka Square at any time on October 29th to join in Memorial’s annual ceremony. You will find us gathered around the Solovetsky Stone, a remnant of the Solovki prison camp meant to commemorate victims of the Soviet Gulag. These victims will be remembered on Lubyanka Square on this day.

If we want to live in a society where the values and interests of the people are worth more than the values and interests of the state, and if we want to live in a state where there are no other values or interests besides those of the people, then we will inevitably come to face the Solovetsky Stone along our path.

If we want to live happily, fulfill our duty as citizens, and create independent educational projects without having to look over our shoulders, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we refuse to accept even a single aspect of the ideological, religious, or cultural tenants of the dogma of totalitarianism, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we want to feel free and safe to adhere to the religious and national traditions that we hold most dear, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we do not want to live in a closed country, overcome by suspicion and surrounded on all sides by invisible enemies, internal and external, but want for all people to have the right to participate in the life of their country in accordance with their own abilities, values, and visions of what can benefit Russia, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we want to be confident that our property is inviolable and that our children are well-protected, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we want to be able to safely access whatever information we have the right to that interests us and the people around us and distribute it without fear, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we want doctors to be able to treat their patients instead of following the instructions of bureaucrats, and if we want police to be able to answer every call from people in distress instead of acting as tools of state tyranny, and if we want teachers to be sources of rational education that corresponds to the needs of children and their parents instead of to the involuntary executors of a pervasive governmental dictate that forces both student and teacher to submit to a single template, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we want to learn about all the achievements of philosophy, literature, and art, and if we want to read, write, and print whatever books we deem necessary instead of those that are filtered and imposed upon us and our children by the state, and if we want to record, watch, and show whatever films we find interesting instead of those that are made to order by the state, then we will come to the Solovetsky Stone.

If we want a constitution that reflects the values of society and if we want laws to be observed that are not anti-constitutional, then we will inevitably, sooner or later, come to the Solovetsky Stone and read the names of those who have been shot.

If we want to overcome the totalitarianism that still exists among us and allow all that is free in every one of us to flourish, then we will see you at the Solovetsky Stone.

October 29th. From 10 am to 10 pm.

In the name of the dead, for the sake of us and our children.