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.
This article talks about the recreation of a WWII era prison camp in Northern Russia as an educational experience for children. Issues of memory politics and Putin's disregard for the preservation of historical record are discussed.
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.
Protests recently erupted in Tarusa after the city's council changed the names of streets named after leaders in the Soviet Union back to their pre-revolutionary forms. While some tend to agree that the Soviet revolutionaries should no longer be glorified, those protesting feel that the re-naming of streets is a sign of fascism and an unwarranted rejection of the town's history
This article explores the recently declassified phone conversations between Putin and President Clinton about Slobodan Milošević. The conversations reveal that Putin once supported the Bulldozer Revolution but since the opinion the state has been that it was misguided and not good for the people.
This article prompted by the death of well known Russian Neo-Nazi Maxim Martsinkevich goes into the story of the far right extremist, tracing his indoctrination to his presence in nationalist groups ending with his suicide in prison. Political groups and their leaders, especially ones like this with violent and hateful attitudes that gained significant popularity (or virality) represent the furthest boundaries of cultural identity and provide meaningful insight into contemporary Russia.
Protests against the Lukashenko regime in Belarus have been met with increased violence by police authority following the contested elections of August 9th, as officers use similar techniques of brutality against civil dissent as those recently employed in Russia. As the fight for liberal democracy in the region continues, the media plays a distinct role in presenting the harm inflicted on protestors to the general population.
