This article talks about groups of Russian nationalists who are protesting Putin for being authoritarian. The protests occurred on National Unity day which has been promoted by Russian officials since 2005 in order to push patriotism. The holiday replaced a previous holiday which commemorated the Bolshevik revolution.
Yelena Leuchanka, a Belarusian basketball player, was recently arrested and kept in the Okrestina detention center for her participation in protests opposing the Lukashenko regime. Her story speaks to the broader human effects of the continuing protests in Belarus, as well as the ways that the state cultivates strong complicity amongst its constituents.
This article talks about a Belarusian march protest that coincided with a Belarusian holiday remembering ancestors and a day of remembrance for the victims of Stalin's purges.
On Thursday, November 5th, Pavel Krisevich, a Russian activist famous for his symbolic protests, performed a ‘mock crucifixion’ outside of Moscow’s FSB headquarters. His use of art combined with the motto “Down with the police state!” speaks to the ways in which the power dynamic between the police and the people in Russia maintains the authoritarianism that marks the region, as well as the potential for change towards liberal democracy.
The death of Irina Slavina, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the free journalism KozaPress, is the living evidence of media censorship and violation of free speech in Russia.
A famous Belarusian body-builder recently divorced her husband, a member of the riot police of Minsk, after she received threats following the release of his personal information via a doxing service. Her declaration that her divorce "Is what society wanted" speaks to the growing effect of protests in the region on individuals, as well as whether threats to personal livelihood will grow increasingly relevant in convincing the authorities to enact positive change.
The article describes the protests that took place in Belarus on the 18th of October 2020 and their relation to previous statements by Belarusian government agencies and foreign countries
Two members of the Russian feminist music group Pussy Riot were arrested this week for participating in a protest in demand of LGBTQ rights. The activists hung rainbow flags around Moscow on government buildings including the Presidential Executive Office and the Supreme Court. A journalist covering the event, Artyom Radygin, was arrested and later released, although his cell phone was never returned to him. These arrests point to the Russian government's censorship of any form of speech that criticizes or opposes them.
This article reports on the sanctions placed on Belarus by the EU and America because of election protests as well as the retaliation by Belarus and Russia.
In response to severe police suppression of protests in Belarus, developer Andrey Maximov designed a program that exposes the identities of police officers accused of abuse. While this is a positive evolution in terms of the Belarusian people's tactics of non-violent direct action, its efficacy will only be revealed by the nature of the response of the Lukashenko regime.
This article elaborates on how the Belarusian authorities responded to a women’s march that took place in Minsk, demanding for the impeachment of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
