Feb In February, a tour of young Russians flooded my Instagram inbox and list of followers. Yulia Navalnaya, wife of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, just reported my latest Instagram story: a photo of Navalny in court, holding hands for a heart shape that made her cover. Wall Street Journal.
My family moved from Russia to the U.S. in the 1990s. Migrated when I was 13, but I can’t remember meeting Russian teenagers and young people like them before: an entire pay generation that grew up under Putin. On their social media pages on Instagram and Ticket ok, they come across as purposeful, bold and creative. They made tickets and made political videos on Instagram. Some of them are known as feminists, vegan activists, dancers, musicians and aspiring lawyers. They were marching towards the beat of a different drum, sharing a set of global values different from those of their parents and grandparents. It was as if they were visitors to another planet.
When Naval flew back to Moscow on January 17 and was quickly intercepted, his team was able to gather thousands of people in cities in Russia’s 11 time zones. Protesters took to the streets after a Russian court sentenced Navalny to two years in prison. In the video, which was shared on social media, teenagers tore down pictures of Putin in schools and replaced them with photos of Navalny.
On February 14, on Valentine’s Day, Navalny’s team organized a campaign, inspired by their gesture to Navalny’s wife in court, “Love is Stronger for Fear.” “We are asking all residents of major Russian cities to do something simple on February 14, at 8 pm,” Navalny’s team wrote. “Go out and turn on the flash on your phone, turn it up and stay there for a while.”
On Sunday, there were many protests, mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where several hundred women joined together in the Axos with Yulia, the wife of the nine, according to AFP. Separately, “thousands of people” responded to Navalny’s call for a Valentine’s Day campaign, ventured into winter temperatures and went out with “flashlights” for symbolic vigil in “hundreds of courtyards” across the country. According to Navalni’s team estimates.
This time, without violent clashes with police and mass detainees, who protested last month-pro-novel, the turnout was low and peaceful. Instead, the government’s response went behind the scenes, focusing on putting pressure on social media platforms and taking action against those who suggested taking to the streets. Immediately after the Valentine’s Day events, there were reports of retaliation against campaign participants, including a COVID-19 nurse, Saidanwar Sulemonov, who was fired and photographed after participating in the “Love is Stronger for Fear” campaign. Were. Meduza reported that he was inside the building wearing protective equipment.
Even before Sunday’s events, many young people had expressed doubts about the long-term impact of this new wave of protests. A 25-year-old indie folk musician from Krasnodar, southern Russia, has changed his mind – the area where Putin’s alleged palace is located, calling the protests “toothed”. The investigation of Navalny and the explosion of political activism he saw in the country and in Krasnodar inspired him to write a song about the palace. About the new generation of supporters, he says, “The novel speaks their language. “He is persistent, courageous and brave. Bravery is a rarity in Russia. ”
This is the kind of bottom-up motion that has set Navalny apart from other opposition leaders and allowed him to join the new payroll through social media, as in this ticket video where he shows his poison investigation. From providing copies of flyers in Google Drive to posting investigative videos even while the novel is in jail – his team teaches this new pay generation a new method of protest and political activism.
“Navalny’s offering instruments, protests for examples, where other opposition members can show up for common goals and unite,” says Nikolai, based in St. Petersburg, who spoke to the Daily Beast under the pseudonym. “The novel for me is also about the people they gathered around, the people who are fighting the system and helping others.”
Navalni’s anti-corruption activities have not only educated this new generation about the state of their country, but also taught them how to fight corruption in the existing system. It shows them what works. “I believe in the novel because it provides arguments and facts,” says Katherine Shipilova, a 17-year-old aspiring lawyer who counts the months until she officially “matures” in Russia. “I plan to apply to law school, I want to help people,” he says. “I love Russia, but I am against our current government.”
In an interview with Russian radio platform Echo Moskvy, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian oil businessman who has been in prison for more than a decade, noted that Putin’s response to Navinelli’s recent investigation into the president’s alleged palace showed a connection between the regime and the new pay generation. The nearly two-hour investigation into a royal palace in southern Russia received more than 112 million views in a single month. Putin called the video boring, called it “montage,” and claimed that “nothing listed as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did.” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov continued to deny any ownership.
Ghodorkovsky described Putin’s response to the viral video as more shocking than the investigation. “It’s a joke,” he said. “It is natural that the younger generation wants something different. The government can listen to them. But for this you need organizations in which you set the rules, and young people live their lives within the framework. But our government does not want to set up a framework. They want to rule all this to stay in power. ”
An opinion poll at the Levada Center showed a video of the palace in a quarter of Russians, and at the age of 18-24, it was most absorbed by younger people. According to the poll, one percent of people in other age groups have seen it, which is higher than other groups.
Putin’s first public response to Navalny’s viral probe into Putin’s reported palace in southern Russia was widely ridiculed on social media. A video from Ticket OK showed Putin speaking from a deep purple “hookah” room with metal poles in the middle of the room as he explained that there were no documents attaching him to the palace.
The Kremlin’s response includes a series of denials of any attachments to the palace, mass arrests with heavy hands and more technical intelligence measures to detain participants before the protest using facial recognition techniques. But the main focus of the government’s response has been on enabling information sharing, mobility and political engagement on social media sites.
After the first wave of protests, the Russian media censorship agency Roscommonadzor zeroed in on the most popular social media agencies, ordering them to remove protest-related content. On Jan. 29, Rosecomnadzor called representatives from Ticket, C, Facebook, Telegram and WeContact, arguing that “it is their responsibility to remove posts encouraging them to participate in unregulated events,” the agency said in a statement. The agency also ordered some media outlets to delete reports on Valentine’s Day protests.
To be sure, these young people are only a fraction of the Russian opposition and the novel itself does not share all their values. Most Russians receive news from their traditional news media, which is more loyal to the Kremlin. But at the moment – after Navalny’s fresh poisoning attempt, recovery, return from Germany and hasty sentencing in Moscow – it is he who is uniting Russia’s opposition, including this young pay generation, which can only be remembered by Putin-led Russia. Is.
Naval was able to capture his imagination and the government’s response was quick. Also the Ministry of External Affairs Official ticket ok account opened In early February, the first two posts were dedicated to Navalny. For some of his supporters, the biggest resonance about the novel is that it provides tents for the opposition, provides them with equipment, and educates them about how their voices are heard: social media activism, video and street protests. By. And they continue to listen and take notes, even with Navalny behind the bar.
Nikolai says he plans to continue participating in the protests despite his detention. “I think the protest movement will continue, but at different times it will take different forms, not just on certain streets.” “I see the future of Russia as a democracy, free, with the rule of law and with each other in mind. The new generation is less sensitive to state propaganda. ”
“If the verdict is the same, we will not amend anything.” Shipilova tells the Daily Beast. She worries that serving a prison sentence will affect Navalny’s chances of returning to office. “I hope our country will improve and we will have laws that are important and necessary.”
Following the events of Valentine’s Day, even more intense and captivating tone was taken in the tone of Alexei Navalny. He was sentenced to almost three years in prison. “The prison is in your head,” he wrote in a recent Instagram post, comparing the conditions of his prison cell and spaceship flight. “At the moment, I realize I’m on a space trip, moving to a beautiful new world.”
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