Russia: The "Big White Circle" Protest in Moscow

Global Voices Online
Monday, February 27, 2012

This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.

On Sunday, Feb. 26, thousands of people gathered in central Moscow for the Big White Circle protest, forming a human chain along most of the length of the Russian capital's 15.6-kilometer/9.7-mile Garden Ring, protesting against corruption and demanding a fair presidential election, which is to take place in one week, on March 4.


The Big White Circle protest for fair election: people stood along the Garden Ring in Moscow, holding hands and waving white ribbons, flowers and balloons. Photo by MARIA PLESHKOVA, copyright © Demotix (26/02/12).

According to the Q&A note [ru] posted on the Facebook page [ru] devoted to the protests in Moscow, the idea of the Big White Circle does not have a specific author:

[...] The idea is on the surface: hundreds of groups of people were doing this in the 20th century when they wanted to show solidarity with each other regarding certain issues. The best-known action of this kind is [the Baltic Way] of 1989, similar actions took place in Moscow in the late 1980s, and this is being done in Europe nowadays. [...]

In the same Q&A note, there is an explanation of why one of the protest's slogans - "Let's encircle the Kremlin" - shouldn't be taken literally:

[...] We can now be sure that if we choose to surround the Kremlin on Feb. 26, we'll definitely have detentions, beatings, arrests and trials. [...] Are you sure that we have 5,000-6,000 people who are prepared to be jailed for participating in this story? We are not sure [...]. [...] Some of us are probably prepared to play the game of "a 70% chance of getting [a 5-year sentence]" - but this, of course, is a game for heroically courageous people. Our courage, just like yours, has its limits. We respect those who are prepared for such a self-sacrifice. And we also respect those who aren't prepared for that. [...]

There's been no lack of international media reports on the Big White Circle protest. One post on the Moscow protests Facebook page reads [ru, en]:

The whole world has learned about the White Circle! Here are some of the headlines from the world's leading news agencies and mass media: Thousands join human chain protest against Putin || Anti-Putin protesters form 'ring around Moscow' || Impressive anti-Putin demonstration in Moscow || Moscow's Big White Circle || Nine mile human chain encircles Moscow in anti Vladimir-Putin protest || Moscow surrounded: Holding hands 'for fair elections' || Muscovites link hands to protest Putin's grip on power || Putin protests cause a 'chain reaction'...

In a comment to this post, Ekaterina Vizgalova wrote [ru]:

The whole world has noticed, while the [state-owned] Channel One hasn't.

RIA Novosti, a state-owned Russian news agency, did notice the Big White Circle protest, however, producing this fast-motion video of a car ride around the Garden Ring at the time of the protest:



A popular Russian blogger Roustem Adagamov (LJ user drugoi) also took a ride around the Garden Ring, pausing to take photos. He wrote this [ru] in the intro to his photo report:

A few tens of thousands of Muscovites have gathered at the Garden Ring today, to take part in the Big White Circle civic action. I rode all around the Garden Ring in an hour and a half, with brief stops - it all looked very cool and fun. The way it always does at genuine gatherings of free citizens who come there of their own free will and not on the orders from their bosses. Cars with white [symbols of the protest] were riding along the [Garden Ring], honking, and people were waving white ribbons, flowers, and balloons. An excellent action, very upbeat and cheerful. [...]

The Big White Circle protest. Photo by MARIA PLESHKOVA, copyright © Demotix (26/02/12).

Another popular blogger, Oleg Kozyrev (LJ user oleg-kozyrev/@oleg_kozyrev), also drove around the Garden Ring, taking photos and shooting a video (which he hasn't posted yet). Following this ride, Kozyrev tweeted [ru] that initially he had doubted that the Big White Circle protest would succeed:

Now I'll confess that I didn't expect success and was feeling pessimistic :)

In the intro to his photo report - a "photo-circle" - Kozyrev wrote [ru]:

[...] A white circle, a live circle. It is becoming more and more obvious that the angry [PM Vladimir Putin] has already lost. He can no longer stop this avalanche of positive resistance.

Will the smile be able to stop the rough force? This is what we'll have to find out in the coming days. [...]

The Big White Circle protest. Photo by MARIA PLESHKOVA, copyright © Demotix (26/02/12).

"Moscow in the circle of friends" is the title of LJ user vova-maltsev's photo report from the Feb. 26 protest. He wrote [ru]:

Some people were saying that we wouldn't be able to close the circle around the Garden Ring. Aha... We have closed it, in two rows. The first one - with the pedestrians, the second - with the drivers.

If you want to see what people who love their country and wish it well look like, here [they are]. [...] I haven't seen so many kind, happy and smiling people in a very long time. At the [regular] rallies, everyone are piled together, while here you are walking down the street and enjoying it. [...]

The Big White Circle protest. Photo by MARIA PLESHKOVA, copyright © Demotix (26/02/12).

More photo reports can be found in the live_report LJ community (by LJ users tushinetc and semasongs), as well as in the namarsh-ru LJ community (by LJ user belial_68).

The next opposition rally is planned for March 5, the day after the election. Moscow city authorities, however, have rejected the opposition's request to hold the rally on Lubyanka Square.

Serguei Parkhomenko, one of the most active participants of the protest movement, wrote this [ru] on Facebook about the significance of the Big White Circle protest - and the wider meaning of March 5 for Russia:

[...] I think we all understand that our today's initiative is not only the last and very powerful event in the history of the past three months [...]. It is also the beginning of a new stage, a new long and difficult conversation that we will all have to be engaged in. Much patience, resilience and strength will be needed. [...]

[...]

We need to avoid making a mistake as we search for the right decision for March 5. [...] History is again offering us a strange and powerful rhyme. It is hinting on something important.

March 5 is the anniversary of the day on which the country got rid of one tyrant [the day on which Joseph Stalin died in 1953]. [...]

March 5 isn't just a random day for all of us.

This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.

Russia: Moscow Pride 2011

Global Voices Online
Sunday, May 29, 2011

The May 28 Moscow Pride event - banned by the city authorities on May 17 - did not go smoothly: according to news reports, at least 18 gay rights activists and 14 of their opponents were detained by the police, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Manezhnaya Square and, later, in front of the Mayor's Office on Tverskaya Street. This was the sixth attempt to hold a gay pride parade in Russia's capital; a 2006 GV translation about the first attempt is here.

LJ users zyalt [ru], drugoi [ru], o_maksimoff [ru], al_31f [ru], edelveis8 [ru] and linuel_foto [ru] were among those who posted photo reports of the rally and the clashes on their blogs.



An anonymous Moscow-based riot police officer, who blogs as LJ user omon_moscow [ru] and tweets as @OMON_Moscow [ru] (more about him in this post by Kevin Rothrock of A Good Treaty), shared some photos [ru] from Tverskaya Street, where he was on duty at the time of the rally, noting that "the activists of homosexual relationships" had been trying to ruin the Russian border guards' official holiday, which is marked annually on May 28 (photos from the May 28 celebrations at Gorky Park, by LJ user ridus-news, are here). On Twitter, @OMON_Moscow defended the actions of the police this way [ru]:

To all the smart ones who are telling me about gay rights and European laws, I suggest not to bother. I live by the laws of [the Russian Federation], not by those of the European Union. :)

A number of foreign gay rights activists were arrested in Moscow on May 28, including a former U.S. Army officer Dan Choi (a report on his violent detention, which includes a video, has been published by AMERICAblog Gay, here). @OMON_Moscow posted this casual-sounding, work-related comment [ru] about it:

Okay, the majority of foreign [homos] have been detained at [Manezh Square]. [A black one] is still running somewhere. They're here now. I'm running off to do some work.

Yelena Kostyuchenko (LJ user mirrov_breath), a 23-year-old Novaya Gazeta journalist who, among other things, has written extensively [ru] about the Khimki Forest case (GV coverage is here), explained on her blog why she was planning to attend this year's Gay Pride event in Moscow. The post [ru] has generated 7,414 comments so far (it has also been re-published [ru] by Novaya Gazeta, where there are two pages of comments now).

Kostyuchenko - pictured here, by LJ user o_maksimoff, with a printed note that reads, "It's boring to hate :)", and here, by LJ user zyalt, as she was being taken away by a police officer - reportedly suffered a concussion [ru] after someone had hit her in the temple during the rally, and is now at the hospital.

Here is a translation of excerpts from Kostyuchenko's powerful post, in which she writes about her 31-year-old partner, describes problems that homosexual couples are facing in Russia, and responds, in advance, to the homophobic readers of her blog, recounting some of the obvious truths, which may not seem all that obvious to many.

[...] We've been together for two years. [...] Moved in together after two weeks. I haven't regretted it for a minute. I'd like to spend my whole life with her.

[...]

It is this very ordinary kind of happiness. I don't think it's much different from yours.

[...]

We'd like to register our relationship. [...] We are adult, capable [women], citizens of the Russian Federation, we work a lot and well, we pay taxes, do not violate laws and love each other - we would like to register our union.

We'd like the state to recognize us as relatives. Not just relatives, but spouses, with all that it involves. We'd like to be able to take a family mortgage. To get a family medical insurance [...]. I'd like my woman to feel secure in property lawsuits that may follow after my death. I'd like her to have an opportunity not to testify against me in court. And if I find myself at ER one day (which is, unfortunately, quite possible with my health), I'd like her to make decisions.

We will have children. You, my dear homophobes, may [defecate yourselves] right now on the other side of the computer screens, but we will have children. And we already love them and look forward to their arrival very much. And, if necessary, we'll [do anything] to make them happy. And yes, we do want to have both of us listed in our children's birth certificates. We want - both of us! - to represent our children's interests at school, at the doctor's office, and (God forbid!) at the hospital and in court. [...] WE DEMAND GUARANTEES that, in case of the biological mother's death, our children will not be sent to an orphanage, while the second mother is trying to prove to the [damn] Russian custody authorities that she is related to these children.

[...]

Everything written above relates to your question as to "why do they need parades if the Criminal Code article [criminalizing male homosexuality] is no longer there?" and "screw quietly in the corner and no one will touch you." I'm sorry, but we want a little bit more than this safe "screwing in the corner." We want a normal human life. Scary, isn't it?

[...]

I don't like it when you are [wishing death on the homosexuals] in the comments. [...]

I feel even worse when seemingly mature people who look smart and speak good Russian start musing on the "propaganda of homosexuality." My dear ones, are you serious? [...] I understand that you don't want to read all those boring scientific works and research by anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, sexologists and historians. OK, they are indeed boring. Just turn on your brains then. The absolute majority of the Russian homosexuals were born and grew up in heterosexual families in the Soviet Union, where [there wasn't even any sex], let alone gays. So where do we come from? [...]

[...]

It makes me furious when ignorant comrades recommend that "homos undergo treatment." Treatment of what, [damn it]? Homosexuality has been officially excluded from the list of disorders, both internationally and in our country. [...] To make it easier to understand, a variation of the norm, it's like with the hair: some people are black-haired, others are quite blond, and some have red hair. One doesn't encounter redheads too often. But no adequate person would suggest that someone get treated for red-hairedness. [...]

Some of the people I consider friends say: "you are right, but in this country..." And then follows a lengthy message about national culture, religion, social mores, etc., with a hint on emigration at the end. And I don't remind them of the fact that "this country"'s traditions included slavery and mass executions just a short time ago, and national culture and religion, as well as social mores, tolerated it well enough. I don't remind them because I believe that our country deserves something better. [...] Russia will change. It is changing already.

And it will happen even if you, bastards, smash my head with a baseball bat [at the Gay Pride event later today].

Because love and common sense always - even though not at once - defeat hatred and [nonsense].

This is how this world works, and gays have nothing to do with it. [...]

Ukraine: Citizen Media and Political Forecasting

Global Voices Online
Thursday, January 22, 2010

Some of the online conversations about this year's Ukrainian presidential candidates appear to be somewhat lacking in substance. This, in part, can be explained by the fact that the most popular of these politicians have been around for quite a while and there isn't much left to discuss about them. There's also certain voter fatigue, as well as the fact that some voters seem to be guided by their ideas of physical attractiveness rather than more practical considerations when choosing the head of their state. As one blogger - LJ user grebeniuk - noted in an earlier GV translation,

[...] Political advisers, marketing and advertising specialists don't even have to bother! Comb your candidate, do the makeup, and go ahead! It's funny and sad :) [...]

Over-simplification isn't always a bad thing, though. Moscow-based LJ user limikon, for example, has managed to gain some curious insight by focusing on something that the top 5 presidential candidates (as well as the candidate who came in seventh) shared on the CVs: their past ties to ex-president Leonid Kuchma. He stripped the candidates of their names, which must have seemed redundant in this context, and shared his insight (RUS):

It's quite amusing to read the results of the Ukrainian election

#1 - Kuchma's premier;
#2 - Kuchma's vice-premier;
#3 - Kuchma's vice-premier, head of the [National Bank of Ukraine];
#4 - Kuchma's acting head of the [National Bank];
#5 - Kuchma's premier;
#7 - head of Kuchma's [Presidential Administration]

The mighty old man has laid eggs into Ukrainian politics that will last for the next 20 years. [...]

Despite such familiarity and other discouraging factors, there was no lack of interest in the outcome of the election, and, as a result, the blogosphere was overflowing with political forecasting attempts on the eve of the Jan. 17 vote.

Below are some of the actual results of the first round of the election (more about the vote, its winners and runners-up is here):

#1 - Victor Yanukovych - 35.32% (8,686,751 votes)
#2 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 25.05% (6,159,829 votes)
#3 - Serhiy Tihipko - 13.06% (3,211,257 votes)
#4 - Arseniy Yatsenyuk - 6.96% (1,711,749 votes)
#5 - Victor Yushchenko - 5.41% (1,341,539 votes)

And here are a few summaries of the polls and forecasts that appeared on Ukrainian and Russian blogs.

LJ user vaxo (Ukrainian journalist Vakhtang Kipiani) surveyed 301 bloggers (UKR), 22 of whom (7.89%) did not plan to vote in this election at all. The poll's results are below:

#1 - Victor Yushchenko - 35.48% (99 votes)
#2 - Serhiy Tihipko - 14.7% (41 votes)
#3 - Oleh Tyahnybok - 9.68% (27 votes)
#4 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 5.73% (16 votes)
#5 - Victor Yanukovych - 2.51% (7 votes)

LJ user kermanich (Ukrainian journalist Andrey Manchuk) was not pleased with the results of this poll and wrote this (RUS) about the Ukrainian blogosphere and the society in general:

[...] Reading the results of such an impromptu voting on [Kipiani's blog], it seems as if Ukrainian bloggers live not just in some other country, but altogether on a different planet.

[...]

Such an indecent gap between the opinion of the people and the opinion of the "patriotic blogosphere," represented by a thin social stratum of office intelligentsia, shows how hopelessly removed these folks are from the people. [...]

At least two more polls conducted by Ukrainian bloggers had Victor Yushchenko as their winner.

At chomusyk LJ community ("Ask Me: All that you wanted to ask about"), 495 people responded (UKR), 57 (11.5%) of them did not support any of the candidates and 83 (16.8%) did not plan to go to the polling station at all. Here's the rest the vote breakdown (UKR):

#1 - Victor Yushchenko - 27.5% (136 votes)
#2 - Anatoliy Hrytsenko - 15.4% (76 votes)
#3 - Serhiy Tihipko - 9.9% (49 votes)
#4 - Oleh Tyahnybok - 6.9% (34 votes)
#5 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 6.3% (31 votes)
#6 - Arseniy Yatsenyuk - 1.8% (9 votes)
#7 - Victor Yanukovych - 1.2% (6 votes)

At LJ user ledilid's blog, 188 people turned up for a vote (UKR):

#1 - Victor Yushchenko - 43.1% (81 votes)
#2 - Oleh Tyahnybok - 20.2% (38 votes)
#3 - Anatoliy Hrytsenko - 10.6% (20 votes)
#4 - Serhiy Tihipko - 7.4% (14 votes)
#5 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 5.9% (11 votes)
#6 - Arseniy Yatsenyuk - 5.3% (10 votes)
#7 - Victor Yanukovych - 1.1% (2 votes)

A poll (RUS) at LJ user sunlike77's blog, which surveyed 479 bloggers, produced comparatively realistic results:

#1 - Victor Yanukovych - 34.7% (166 votes)
#2 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 30.7% (147 votes)

And the forecasts by 126 bloggers who took part in LJ user kotyhoroshko's The People's Prognosis project (UKR), produced a pretty good reflection of the actual results as well:

#1 - Victor Yanukovych - 29.27%
#2 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 21.56%
#3 - Serhiy Tihipko - 9.48%

A Twitter poll (RUS) set up by Odesa-based Twitter user #netocrat drew 335 votes and had the following vote breakdown:

#1 - Serhiy Tihipko - 34% (114 votes)
#2 - Victor Yushchenko - 19% (65 votes)
#3 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 14% (47 votes)
#4 - Anatoliy Hrytsenko - 10% (33 votes)
#5 - Arseniy Yatsenyuk - 7% (24 votes)
#6 - Oleh Tyahnybok - 6% (21 votes)
#7 - Victor Yanukovych - 6% (19 votes)

One of Russia's most popular bloggers, LJ user drugoi, introduced his Ukrainian election survey (RUS) with a photo of three activists of the Ukrainian women's group FEMEN, who were urging voters at a Kyiv polling station not to sell their votes (their slogan (RUS): "Don't be a whore! Don't sell your vote!"). As of now, 3,931 bloggers have cast their votes (RUS) - and the voting seems to keep going:

#1 - Victor Yanukovych - 17% (670 votes)
#2 - Serhiy Tihipko - 16.8% (662 votes)
#3 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 13.8% (541 votes)

Another popular Russian blogger, LJ user tema, had 13,842 bloggers respond to his election-related survey (RUS), which seemed like the least serious in tone and presentation, but which nevertheless managed to place the first three contenders in the right order:

#1 - Victor Yanukovych - 19.9% (2,758 votes)
#2 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 15.7% (2,175 votes)
#3 - Serhiy Tihipko - 12.2% (1,685 votes)

LJ user yashin (Russian opposition activist Ilya Yashin, whose blog carries the following tagline: "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido"/"The people united will never be defeated" - one of the slogans of the 2004 post-election protests in Ukraine) hosted a political prognosis contest (RUS), and below is the average outcome of the bets submitted by 168 bloggers:

#1 - Victor Yanukovych - 31.4%
#2 - Yulia Tymoshenko – 24.7%
#3 - Serhiy Tihipko - 9.48%

U.S.-based LJ user kireev (Aleksandr Kireev, founder of the bilingual Electoral Geography website), conducted a political forecasting competition (RUS) as well, in which 99 bloggers took part - and he even issued two awards: one for the best forecast and one for the worst.

The best forecast award went to LJ user tulskiy (Russian political analyst Mikhail Tulskiy), whose guess was very close to the actual results:

#1 - Victor Yanukovych - 34.5%
#2 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 23%
#3 - Serhiy Tihipko - 15.5%

The worst forecast award - an optimist's pink glasses - went to LJ user tanya_ogf, who made the following projections:

#1 - Yulia Tymoshenko - 23.4%
#2 - Victor Yushchenko - 20.7%
#3 - Victor Yanukovych - 19.4%

Ukraine: Flu Stats, Panic, Gauze Masks (and Some Lingerie)

Global Voices Online
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

GV's H1N1 Outbreak 2009 special coverage page is here. Last week's coverage of the flu epidemics in Ukraine: Oct. 31; Nov. 1; Nov. 2; Nov. 3; Nov. 4; Nov. 6; Nov. 7.

According to Ukraine's Health Ministry (UKR), 1,031,597 people in Ukraine have fallen ill with "flu, acute respiratory illness and their complications (pneumonia, etc.)" between Oct. 29 and Nov. 9 - and 174 of them have died.

According to World Health Organization, whose experts are currently working in Ukraine, "public health measures recommended by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine across the entire country include: social distancing (school closures and cancellation of mass gatherings); enhancement of surveillance activities; increased respiratory hygiene; and continuation of the vaccination campaign against seasonal influenza targeting at risk groups."

In the Ukrainian blogosphere, much of the discussion of the current medical emergency focuses on whether there are enough reasons to panic or not.

Maryna Reshetnyak, GV's Russian Language Health Editor, has just translated excerpts from one of the most widely read and discussed Ukrainian blog posts of the past week, written by Kharkiv-based pediatrician and author Yevgeny Komarovsky on Nov. 2. In his post (RUS), according to Maryna, Dr. Komarovsky has provided, among other things, "a balanced professional analysis of the flu epidemic" - and "shared his opinion concerning the hysteria surrounding the flu, the irresponsible appeals of politicians and the errors of public health officials." Here is one of Dr. Komarovsky's assessments:

[...] If we double the number of people sick with the swine flu (since no more than half the people with the flu go to a doctor) and compare it with other death rates, we will see that the death rate is even lower than with the regular flu. Pneumonia is the most common cause of death in every country at any time. Pneumonia often accompanies many other diseases and traumas. If each case of pneumonia was reported by the media, nothing good will happen. [...]

On Oct. 29, the day the epidemic was announced by Ukraine's Health Ministry, Lviv-based LJ user orestk carried out similar calculations (UKR) in an attempt to counter the panic:

In 2007, 205 adults died of pneumonia in Lviv region, in 2008 - 182 people. In the first nine months of 2009 - 105 people. There are 92 days in the last three months of the year. For the number of deaths to be no lower than last year, 182-105=77 more people have to die. That is, six people every week. And here we are having a panic attack because of four deaths (of adults, and there is one more - an 11-year-old girl) in the past week. Perhaps it's time to stop panicking? [...]

Two weeks later, Lviv region has 74 flu/acute respiratory illness/pneumonia-related deaths, which makes it the hardest-hit region of Ukraine so far.

On Nov. 5, Natalia Zhuravlova announced (UKR) the launch of an interactive map of flu dynamics in Ukraine, as well as a number of other related widgets, on the blog of the Ukrainian branch of the Russian web portal Yandex. Here is an excerpt from her introductory post:

Because of the epidemic, various scary rumors have been spreading rapidly in Ukraine - that we are having atypical pneumonia, or that we are having lung plague, or that there are more lethal cases due to swine flu than due to regular flu. The data on the dynamics of the disease often varies [significantly].

We at Yandex choose to look at things with calm. Yes, of course, we do not want to fall ill ourselves and are worry a lot about our dear ones. But we get flu epidemics every year, and each time we are told that there hasn't been a more horrible strain, but we are still alive and healthy (knock on wood). The most important thing is that actually the numbers of those sick with flu and acute respiratory infection aren't really high, they haven't reached last year's level yet. Unfortunately, people were dying from these diseases in the previous years, too, only no one was making the statistics public. So we should not panic. And, moreover, we should not trust the unconfirmed data.

So that our users could follow the official statistics of the spread of the disease and knew where to go to for consultation and help, we've developed several useful devices.

[...]

With the help of the map and the widgets, you'll see when the epidemic begins to subside. We hope that this will happen as soon as possible.

Stay healthy! And if you're feeling sick, call the doctor. And everything will be okay.

In a post about the flu info service offered by Yandex (UKR), Ukrainian Watcher - a blog covering "social networks, blogs and internet business" - also mentions Google.org's Flu Trends portal, which "uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity." According to this resource, "flu activity" is currently assessed as "high" in Ukraine, Hungary and Poland, and as "intense" in Russia and Bulgaria.

While Belarus is not being monitored by Google.org's Flu Trends, here is what LJ user budimir wrote (RUS) on Nov. 3 about the situation there in a comments thread on a post by Kyiv-based LJ user kermanich:

[Here] they are using good old methods in their attempts to fight [the flu outbreak] - by hushing it up. They are not allowing any information whatsoever, even the most necessary.

And the panic is raging here already. Maybe even more than in Ukraine.

[...]

EVERYTHING that is even distantly related to the treatment of flu has been swept away from the pharmacies.

And yes, Minsk is wearing masks. No one is explaining to Minsk residents, however, that it is not necessary to wear masks outdoors.

[...]

In my work-related [RSS feed] that I got myself when I started doing reviews of the Belarusian blogosphere, nearly every second post is about swine flu.

There are also plenty of reports from friends and friends' friends, who are saying that "people are burning down like candles."

And there is some first-hand info - from hospitals. [The situation is grave] there, as far as I understand.

[...]

They aren't blogging about Ukraine here, are focused on local matters instead. [...]

But the government, it seems to me, is trying to portray Ukraine as the source of the infection - the first officially confirmed swine flu death of a Belarusian citizen turned out to have its origin [in Ukraine].

But this is a lie - there have been more deaths. Not from flu, of course - because they don't die of it, but of its complications - pneumonia, etc.

[...]

Here's how blogger Ivanko of Fructus temporum described the situation in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk (pop. 173,700; Donetsk region, where, as of Nov. 8, 48,263 people have been officially confirmed to have flu) in this Oct. 31 entry (UKR):

[...] First of all, lines in pharmacies. Not too long, some ten people on the average, but considering that we have a pharmacy every 20 meters, and sometimes pharmacy kiosks stand right next to each other, it was hard not to notice such a sharp increase in demand.

After my question, "What's happened?", people looked at me as if I... well, they looked at me unkindly.

After I learned the reason of the anxiety, I decided to buy Amizonum and Oxoline ointment [anti-viral drugs popular in Ukraine], because I didn't remember if we had them at home.

But I was too late. Amizonum had been sold out the day before, they've run out of gauze masks today, and bandages were almost gone, too. The pharmacist was dispensing her expert opinion on how to make two gauze masks out of one bandage.

I stopped by at a few more pharmacies - same thing everywhere.

[...]

Today, people were even lining up to buy medicinal herbs from an elderly lady [at the local market].

I don't know, maybe things are really that bad?

Then again, my neighbor still has a sack of overpriced salt that she bought during the latest salt anxiety. [At some point, there were false rumors in Ukraine that salt would disappear from the stores, which urged many people to store up on it in advance.]

And here is what LJ user e_grishkovets (Russian writer Evgeny Grishkovets) wrote on Nov. 5 about Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, where his shows were canceled due to the flu situation:

[...] In general, I can't recall Kyiv ever being in such a gloomy, suppressed and exhausted state. Though, of course, it would have been hard for me to perceive the city differently, considering the problems that have occurred.

[...] Theaters are closed. Ministry of culture has made this decision. But events scheduled to take place in sports facilities have not been canceled... The concert of Todes dance group at some palace of sports hasn't been canceled, a football game took place at a huge stadium yesterday, and today there is Aleksandr Rozenbaum's concert [...], at the Ukraina Palace (4,000 seats). [...] If someone could explain to me why these events are taking place while the theaters are closed... Where is the logic here, where is the truly thoughtful and well-justified fight against the epidemic?... [...]

[...]

On my way to the airport, the driver said that for the fourth day in a row there were no traffic jams in Kyiv, and there are a lot fewer cars and people in the streets. "Everyone looks kind of beaten," the driver said and smiled bitterly. [...]

On a lighter note, Ukrainian women's organization Femen held an "anti-stress" event at Kyiv's Independence Square on Nov. 9: to cheer Kyiv residents up, a group of activists put on self-made gauze lingerie and masks. LJ user drugoi (RUS) has posted three photos from the event, and there are six more photos at Femen's LJ blog (RUS). (Natalia Antonova's Sept. 11 interview with Femen's leader Anna Gutsol is here.)

While the undressing part of Femen's prank may or may not have been an allusion to the Nov. 2 protest against Ukraine's anti-pornography law (WARNING: graphic content), carried out by the Voina radical art group, the masks do seem to be turning into a fashion item in Ukraine: here, for example, is a selection of user-designed masks on sale at one of the Ukrainian online shops. And here's a link to LJ user ellustrator's gauze mask cartoon, which may or may not allude to this photo of PM Yulia Tymoshenko wearing a mask.

EU: Russophone Bloggers React to Dairy Farmers' Protest

Global Voices Online
Thursday, September 17, 2009

On Wednesday, LJ user drugoi re-posted two Reuters photos of Belgian farmers spraying their fields with fresh milk in protest over low milk prices, and summarized the situation this way (RUS):

[...] Belgian farmers, drawn to despair by low prices offered for their produce, decided that it was more profitable for them to dump 3 million liters of milk than sell it for nothing. Currently, the milk price is approximately 18-20 euro cents per liter, while the production cost is 33 euro cents. To make dairy farming business solvent, they believe that farmers should be able to sell milk for 50 euro cents per liter. But for now they can only dream about such a price. Earlier, farmers had already blocked roads and given away the milk for free. And now here's their latest decisive action - fields near the Belgian town of Ciney have been fertilized with millions of liters of milk that no one needs. [...]

And here is drugoi's post scriptum (RUS) to this post:

[...] They should've asked LJ users. Our experts always have recipes for all possible situations. For example, here the experts' council could suggest giving the milk away to the starving children in Africa. Let's see who responds in the comments - and what recommendations we'll get.

LJ user drugoi has 41,453 readers among registered LiveJournal users alone, and, needless to say, many people have responded: there are 774 comments so far, and here's a translation of just a handful of them:

a_brosimov:

Would've killed them if I were God.

***

flymanager:

Indeed, they should have given it away to the needy. To export to Africa would be too costly.

lenin75ka:

Africa wouldn't allow European products in, just like Russia. The problems with sales that the local farmers are facing are much worse than those of the European farmers.

[...]

The price isn't going to go up if they give it away to the needy, because this would diminish the demand.

***

sokolhan:

It's better to sell it for 20 cents than to dump it.

***

lavradar:

Last century, during the over-production crisis, they were just dumping it into the river, so here they've actually done a pretty practical thing.

lenin75ka:

In the years of the great famine in the USSR, Stalin was offered American products for free, because the demand wasn't there at all. We were too proud and categorically refused - and showed off our "abundance" by staging feasts. So the farmers were forced to burn grain and dump milk into rivers. It seemed to have helped as a result - the demand returned.

lavradar:

Haven't heard about the "free offers" - but it's true about farmers giving away for free, only there are no sponsors to deliver it to Africa.

lenin75ka:

There were rumors in the West that many people in the USSR are starving to death, even newspapers were writing articles about it. But the USSR was denying these rumors were true. They were even staging huge feasts for European and American guests, to demonstrate that there was no food shortage in the USSR. And the West believed it. Offers of humanitarian aid from the U.S. government to Stalin stopped coming.

[...]

http://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles/bernard_shaw.htm

In the open letter to the editor of the Manchester Guardian, Bernard Shaw calls the reports of the famine in the USSR false. (Thursday 2 March 1933)

pashyrey:

Famine in the USSR was caused by the fact that the harvest was being taken away from the peasants and sold to the West. They needed currency for industrialization, and gas and oil weren't so popular then, grain had much more value.

lenin75ka:

Yes, the were selling. And - it was also rotting in the fields. Moreover, the West refused to buy - they had plenty of their own and the prices were collapsing towards zero.

***

denver07:

Well... Let's take Sudan, for example. Where people are dying off like flies. And they are dumping the milk... This mentality is somewhat alike to ours.

lavradar:

Well, so why don't you sponsor the delivery to Sudan.

***

onlymax:

http://www.rg.ru/2009/07/30/moloko.html [An article published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on July 30, RUS]

An unprecedented action is planned for tomorrow in Ust-Labinsky region of [Kuban]. Villagers drawn to despair by low milk prices intend to publicly dump their produce into manure.

Same stuff in Stavropol region.

***

pashaman:

This did happen before... In England... Some 100 years ago... But with vegetables. They were drowned in the sea.

[...]

And our [Russian] farmers are also selling their produce for 10 rubles [22 euro cents], and in stores it costs 30 rubles [67 euro cents].

daily_winegraph:

Ten rubles sounds like a good price. According to the info I have, it's from 4 to 6 rubles [8-13 euro cents].

kolbaska:

Four rubles per liter [8 euro cents].

***

zanozanet:

They should have dumped the milk into a swimming pool and then charged 50 euro cents for tickets there.

***

leo_nardo:

Don't they have orphanages and other preschool institutions in Belgium?

mcsdwarken:

I don't think Belgian orphanages and other institutions suffers from a shortage of milk.

***

tatti_anna:

Aren't they making anything out of milk nowadays? [...] Like, division of labor - farmers are producing milk, other farmers are making cheese and cottage cheese [...] People are too lazy to produce something, it's such a Russian way - to gather, have it rot, ask for more money... This has always been the cheapest option...

incogn1too:

Socialism does lead to this. Everyone wants subsidies from the state.

***

sergey_sht:

By the way, in 2002, when the EU refused to buy powdered milk from Ukraine, which resulted in a similar situation, our folks slaughtered the cows - so radical. And this reflects on the raw products market still. And [the Belgians] are just dumping the milk, drawing attention to themselves, but they aren't SLAUGHTERING the herd! It remains to be seen who is acting smarter in such a situation.

***

red_tengu:

They used to get good subsidies from the national government and the EU, and now the subsidies have been significantly cut (WTO and the crisis) - and the farmers' revenues have fallen. No one wants to buy such expensive milk. In Latvia, by the way, milk prices are even lower - approximately 6 euro cents, and there were cases when farmers weren't getting anything for their milk - like, not fat enough, etc.

***

golovach_igor:

Why do they need so many farmers if no one needs milk? All Belgian farmers should urgently turn into citizen journalists, bloggers, sell their tractors, buy a camera with a laptop, and they'll have enough money left to buy a ticket to [Perm] - quite a competition that's gonna be!!!!!!!!

***

rolliks:

A good way to get money for the milk:

Day One. In a convoy of milk trucks, we drive into Brussels - and water the streets [with milk].
Day Two. In a convoy of milk trucks, we drive into Brussels. It smells. We still water the streets [with milk].
Day Three. We approach Brussels. The stench is terrible. Brussels residents meet us at the city edge with money. We sell the milk.

Georgia, Russia: Cyber Attacks on Blogger 'Cyxymu'

Global Voices Online
Sunday, August 9, 2009

A year ago, the Russo-Georgian war coincided with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, diverting some of the public attention from the peaceful sporting event. This week, cyber attacks on LiveJournal, Twitter and Facebook, targeting Tbilisi-based LJ/Twitter/Facebook user cyxymu, have added an extra dimension to the coverage of the first anniversary of the war - and even re-focused it to some extent.

Initially, the Russo-Georgian connection was not evident. On Aug. 6, LJ user mhwest posted this note (ENG) in the lj_maintenance LJ community, announcing that the blogging platform was "under attack":

Wonderful World of DDoS

As some of you may know, LiveJournal has been under attack this morning from 6:00am PST until ??? We have taken steps to mitigate the DDoS but some users may still experience site connectivity problems. [...]

This post has received over 250 comments, but there is only a handful of mentions of the geopolitical cause for the outages. Here is a sampling:

lavvyan - Aug. 6:

The Russians are coming!

No, wait...

[...]

nysidra - Aug. 7:

I remembered seeing this comment yesterday.

Just so you know, you were right. ^_^

Twitter's Meltdown: Blame the Russians

Also on Aug. 7, Eternal Remont quoted from a BBC piece (ENG), explaining the situation:

Yesterday, as blood poured down from the heavens, the seas boiled and the Earth was ripped apart because of the Denial of Service attack against Google, Twitter and Facebook (“OMG, I can’t tweet about the fact that Twitter is down!) we pondered one alluring possibility: is Russia involved?

Maybe. We do know that the disruption of all social networking on the planet was directed at one person:

BBC: "The massively co-ordinated attack on websites including Google, Facebook and Twitter was directed at one individual, a pro-Georgian blogger known as Cyxymu… Specifically, the person is an activist blogger and a botnet was directed to request his pages at such a rate that it impacted service for other users." [...]

And so, on the eve of the first anniversary of the war, LJ user cyxymu - whose nickname is a latinized version of the Russian spelling of Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia - became a celebrity of sorts.

Cyrillic LJ users - diana-ledi, taki-net, markgrigorian and many others - reported (RUS) not being able to publish posts and comments containing cyxymu's nickname.

His primary LJ blog and two backups - cyxymu1 and cyxymu2 - are currently inaccessible (some of his recollections, however, were translated by Global Voices' author Lyndon in Oct. 2007 and July 2008: The War in Abkhazia - ‘Cyxymu' Remembers, and Abkhazia, Georgia: "Home.”)

Cyxymu also has a Blogger blog, Twitter account, a public Facebook page, and a Facebook group with more than 750 members, created by someone else to support his cause.

Evgeny Morozov of the Foreign Policy's Net.Effect blog wrote (ENG) that he'd been "calling attention to CYXYMU's problems for months now, and this brought no results." Here is Evgeny's take on the recent cyber attacks:

[...] In short, I think that the current wave of attacks had one objective: to flesh attackers' cyber-muscles by revealing the kind of leverage that CYXYMU's detractors have on the Internet's most popular sites. Make no mistake: these attacks on Twitter and Facebook were NOT about silencing him down or thwarting the distribution of information that would Kremlin feel uncomfortable. [...]

If you carefully look at CYXYMU's Twitter account (most of it in Russian), you will see that there is really no information of ANY political significance there. He's been tweeting since late December 2008, produced 41 updates, and most of them had nothing to do with politics (here are some typical updates: "Summer is good!", "Life is great! I am recalling all the jokes about mothers-in-law", "Oh those bureaucrats").

This is definitely not the kind of stuff that threatens Kremlin. [...] His blog is also somewhat of a news hub: he has done an amazing job of keeping his followers in the loop as to what happens in Abkhazia and Georgia, the two regions that are not exactly in the center of media attention (even in Russia). He's definitely NOT the blogosphere's version of Anna Politkovskaia; it is his opinions and visibility - rather than his revelations - that have made him an important target.

Thus, I think that the attackers' real goal was humiliation, not censorship (however, more on the censorship part at the very end). A secondary goal was to generate awe-inducing headlines about Russia's cyberpower all over the Web; there is no better way to do it these days than to make Twitter inaccessible for a few hours. [...]

Ostap Karmodi wrote (RUS, link via LJ user drugoi) that "the attackers" would have probably thought twice before doing what they did if only they had been capable of foreseeing the outcome of their attacks:

[...] The result of yesterday's attack is that cyxymu, so disliked by some hackers, has become known to the whole world. The Spanish El Pais has written about him, and the French Liberation, and the German Spiegel, and the British Guardian, and the American Washington Post, and the Japanese Yomiuri. In short, all the main papers of the world. Some of them have even done short interviews with cyxymu. From now on, if a conflict between Russia and Georgia breaks out again, the world media will know who to talk to.

From now on, cyxymu's opinion on Russian politics will be interesting to the whole world - the opinion of a person who caused a crash of a hundred million accounts is always interesting.

The day before yesterday cyxymu was known to no more than ten thousand people. Today he is known to - what's the audience of the world media? 500 million? A billion? And most of these people sympathize with him - people do tend to sympathize with victims of mass persecution. [...]

Here is one of Evgeny Morozov's theories on who might be behind the attacks:

[...] The amateurization of cyberwarfare has been one permanent feature of virtually all recent cyber-attacks that somehow implicated Russia; it may be part of a broader Kremlin effort to "crowdsource" its defenses and offenses to groups of nationalistic vigilantes, not just in cyberspace. Thus, recent news reports suggest that Nashi, Kremlin's youth arm, will soon be recruiting up to 100,000 problematic teenagers to form ARMED militia units that would patrol the streets. It would make some sense if they also invest into units of "cyber-vigilantes" who would be patrolling cyberspace, particularly given the rising importance of the Internet in Russia's public life. [...]

And LJ user dolboeb felt, too, that "the recent initiative to create street 'militia units' in Russia" and the idea to attack cyxymu's blogs could have originated from the same source. He wrote (RUS):

[...] Indeed, why would the regime torture itself, trying to come up with some general anti-internet laws, the way the naive Kazakhs and the old-fashioned Chinese did, when a pack of patriotically-minded thugs is close at hand, ready to crash any service or resource [as soon as they are ordered to (or even without being ordered to)]. [...]

LJ user drugoi pointed in a slightly different direction in this very short and sarcastic post (RUS):

A request

Comrade [officer], I've written a post about The Beatles. Will you allow me to publish it? There's not a single word about Georgia in it. Will you please turn off your hurdy-gurdy for five minutes?

(The Beatles post (RUS) is here, by the way - it commemorates the 40th anniversary of the famous Abbey Road photo.)

Russia: Farewell to Actor Oleg Yankovsky

Global Voices Online
Thursday, May 28, 2009

Renowned Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky died in Moscow at the age of 65 on May 20 and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery two days later. Thousands of fans came to the Lenkom Theater to bid farewell to him. LJ user drugoi re-posted AP photos from the memorial event, and LJ user leosat wrote this (RUS) about it:

Half an hour ago, they carried the coffin out and took the body away for a requiem service. I didn't make it inside the building to say good-bye. Even those who were there by 11 AM did not make it. There were lots of people, and two hours is too little. At 1:15 PM, it was no longer possible for the people to bid farewell to their beloved [actor]. The crowd didn't grow smaller until the body was carried out. Along with others, I passed the flowers with those who were inside the cordoned-off area. There was a lively ovation, as during all the plays he had been in. Today, the applause sounded twice. The first time, when [Nikolay Karachentsov, another famous actor, who was severely injured in a 2005 car accident] came to say good-bye. I guess this was appropriate. I shed a tear when the coffin was carried out: he remains deep within us all and it's impossible to associate his image with death. Loving memory to him!

Here is one of the comments to this post - and the blogger's reply:

seaseas:

Thank you [...] for going there and for writing...

leosat:

I was there for you, too. In general, I don't go to such events often. Was at [Boris Yeltsyn's farewell ceremony] - and today...

Moldova: Overview of Blog Coverage of the Protests

Global Voices Online
Thursday, April 9, 2009

For all the attention given to the impact of social media on the protests in Moldova (earlier GV posts on that here and here), there were people both in and outside Moldova who felt that media coverage of the events was inadequate.

Mihai Moscovici wrote this on Twitter on Tuesday, when the rioting in Chisinau was at its height:

People in Moldova don't know about the anti-communist protest in capital. Public TV not covering the protest. Internet down in Moldova.

Kyiv-based blogger MoldovAnn wrote this on Wednesday morning:

[...] I am having a hard time finding good news sources on-line. The New York Times is reporting from Moscow, which to me means they don’t know squat either, their news is as much hearsay as the anything else. And since they have no facts to report, they published an article about the social networking aspects of the protests. Please. Give me some real news!!! [...]

MoldovAnn, like many others, relied to some extent on the information provided by contacts on the ground - and shared it on her blog:

[...] I talked to two friends in Chisinau yesterday - one in her office right in the center of town, in the heart of the protest area; the other at work on the edge of town. The first told me there were reports of injured protesters being transported away by ambulances. Both said the protesters are overwhelming young people. Traffic was blocked in the center, but a few blocks away was supposedly running normally. [...]

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow, whose excellent updates on the situation and its coverage can be found under the "Grape Revolution" tag, also posted emails from a Chisinau friend; below is part of the first message:

[...] Protesters planned to reassemble in downtown Chisinau at 10am local time today (that is, about an hour ago). The latest news I have is from an email sent around by a friend of ours in Chisinau a few hours ago:

It is 7am in Chisinau and a fresh day is about to start.

A quick update on the night's events:

1. Parliament building is no longer in flames

2. The night in Chisinau's center was peaceful

3. The major local news networks either are not allowed to work by the Communist party or are actually getting some rest until the later in the morning

Thank you for sending me updates and news on Moldova from the international press. I find that the Western press has been very professional at capturing the reality on the ground and the reasons for why the youth are on the streets. As NY times put it - it is a generational clash - the youth (who voted mostly anti-communist, for lack of job opportunities in Moldova or even abroad this year in the context of the global crisis) and the older generation nostalgic after the "stability" offered by the current and former Communist governments.

[...]

One last note for this early morning - this is the FIRST Even large scale protest that turned into violence in Moldova since 1989, when the first large-scale meetings were taking place to support Moldova's independence and union with Romania.

Moldovans on the whole are a very peaceful nation, and would rather sit at the table with you over a home-made glass of wine [...] than take to the streets. [...] The opposition promised to continue the peaceful protests in the main square and have been asking now for families to join in in a sign of solidarity. The lady in the Parliament who was thought dead is actually well. So it seems that in spite of all the damage inflicted on the Parliament and the Presidency, thankfully no one has lost his/her life. [...]

Robert Amsterdam's blog, too, had a selection of messages from "colleagues" in Moldova's capital:

[...] Do you see what's going on here? I barely got home (I live in the center). God only knows where my son is, they're shutting down mobile communications. They're shooting, blood is being spilled. My God. The situation is out of control.

They're protesting the results of the voting. But there are more civil ways to do this. Today they threw the children out of the lyceums and universities to make revolution. The Romanian flag is already flying over the Parliament. The Presidentura [building where the President sits] has been ransacked. I don't know where the fool is holed up. These are children!!! [...]

Below are some more links to blog coverage of the protests.

Photos:

- April 7 photos from Chisinau - at Kosmopolito.

- More photos by LJ user le_trefle, posted in LiveJournal's md_community - and this observation (RUS):

[...] I was shocked by how, just 200 meters away, such different actions can be taking place. Across the street from the government building, they are calling for civility and calmness, while inside the parliament building, they are burning furniture, breaking windows and looting all they can. [...]

- Reuters photos - at LJ user drugoi's blog.

More "names" for the "revolution" in Moldova (in addition to Evgeni Morozov's "Twitter Revolution" and Lyndon's "Grape Revolution":

- "Candle Revolution" - by gabrielaionita of Power&Politics Weblog:

[...] Demonstration of young people from Kishinev started as a viral message on the Internet. That stated on April 6 Day of National Mourning, and young people were called to light a candle in the Great Square of Chisinau. [...]

More on the candles - here:

Cezar Maroti [writes] this [on Twitter]: "In Moldova apparently almost 200.000 dead people voted for the Communists. The protesters were right to declare today a mourning day."

- “Orphans’ Revolution” - by Dumitru Minzarari:

[...] Now the communists and their Eastern “partners” are building a huge media myth to discredit the pure ideals of Moldovan youth willing nothing more than freedom and respect for their rights. Their protests were labeled the “Orphans’ Revolution” because under the Communist government close to a third of Moldovan citizens (their parents) went abroad to earn money for a living. [...]

A couple posts on Natalia Morari, who is believed to be one of the organizers of the protests:

- OpenDemocracy.net posts a background on Morari and translates from her blog - here.

According to OpenDemocracy.net, "no one in the capital Chisinau knows where [Morari] is. Her mobile phone is switched off." However, according to Morari's husband (RUS), Russian journalist Ilya Barabanov (LJ user barabanch), she is currently "in a safe place" - while Moldova's interior ministry was "lying" when it announced that Morari had been detained.

- Russian youth opposition leader Oleg Kozlovsky urges "American and European leaders" to "speak up in support of peaceful solution in Moldova and call both sides to refrain from violence":

[...] The governement is now in control of Chisinau and accuses the opposition of attempting a coup. Communist President Vladimir Voronin may now use the protests to crack down on the civil and political activists and the arrests are already said to have begun. Organizers of the Monday action, like youth leader Natalia Morar, deny the accusations and explain that they tried to prevent violence. However, the government doesn’t seem to be listening. If the crackdown continues, the whole democratic opposition in Moldova may be beheaded and the already threatened democracy effectively destroyed. [...]

Miscellaneous blog links:

- Updates and analysis at Nicu Popescu's Neighbourhood (part of EUobserver Blogs)

- Ari Rusila of BalkanPerspective (part of Blogactiv.eu) writes about "some possible consequences" of what's happened in Moldova:

[...] Moldova’s parliament will select a new President as [Vladimir Voronin] is not eligible according law to be reselected anymore. However he probably will get new influential post – maybe PM or Speaker of Parliament – so his policy will continue. This means no to NATO, no to reunification with Romania, some but not full cooperation with EU, continuing decline of GUUAM (cooperation body supported by US energy giants and military-industrial-complex) and frozen situation with separatist regions. [...]

- A Russian take (RUS) on the same issue - by LJ user misssing-link (Yuri Tyurin):

What's happening in Moldova [is good]. If Voronin stays in power, he'll lose international support in any case, and Russia will begin to get closer to him and simultaneously blackmail him with [the possibility of an Orange Revolution scenario], forcing him into recognition of [Transnistria]. [...]

Some "dark humor" inspired by the protests:

- Evgeni Morozov:

Here is also some dark Twitter humor: "Protests in Moldova "explode, thanks to Twitter". To say thanks, authorities will only imprison 140 characters at a time".

- LJ user vsm_md (RUS):

To one of today's news items - "Today, protesters in Chisinau stormed the building of Moldova's presidential administration and raised the European Union's flag over it" - I'd like to add this: "Somewhat later, the European Union showed up and took its flag down."

Russia: Lenin Statue Bombed in St. Petersburg

Global Voices Online
Thursday, April 2, 2009

What one saw in this April 1 post (RUS) by LJ user drugoi looked like an April Fool's Day joke at first - a Photoshop prank, most likely: a photo of a statue of Vladimir Lenin in St. Petersburg, the Bolshevik leader's back to the Finland Train Station, with a huge hole torn in the lower part of his bronze overcoat. But the photo was taken by AP's Dmitry Lovetsky, and there were more available, from other sources (RUS), taken from different vantage points, so it must have been for real. And it was.

LJ user drugoi posted this comment to the photo:

What's humbly called "the back" in news agencies' reports is actually [Lenin's butt]. I don't think anyone will outdo the [St. Petersburgers' joke] today.

The post has generated nearly 800 comments thus far; below are some of them.

vad_nes:

[...] Do you consider vandalism a joke?

drugoi:

The monument by the train station is vandalism. :-)

[...]

Yet another "volodka" [a short and playful - or, in this context, disrespectful - form of "Vladimir"], there are thousands of them all over Russia. One more, one fewer.

vad_nes:

[...] First of all, the monument was erected at the time when there were no "thousands" of others whatsoever. This is one of the first and the best monuments to, as you say, "Volodka," and, unlike thousands of inferior copies, it is really a serious work of art created by world-renowned masters. [Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh] have also worked on the building of the [Lenin Library in Moscow], for example. Shall we [bomb] that as well? Why feel sorry for totalitarian art.

drugoi:

[...] It's not me who's saying this, it's a professional term used by painters/sculptors of that period. They've [littered] everything with these "volodkas," squeezed the image of the "genius of all progressive humankind" wherever they could. And I know well how it was all done, better than you do. [...]

vad_nes:

[...] "That period," as far as I understand, is the 1920s, when the monument was erected, isn't it? I doubt you know those years well, better than I do.

But I'm not going to argue, it doesn't seem worth it. It's just amusing when someone who is not silly in general does not see the difference between [sculptors producing low-quality] "volodkas" - who have indeed littered the whole country - and the masters of architecture.

drugoi:

[...] Of course, not. I spent much time around the people who worked in the [monumental style] in the 1950s and later. [Makes no difference], absolutely. A whole army [of such artists] fed off "volodkas" for decades. [...] The masters, they also needed to feed themselves. And the blast, of course, is vandalism. But it was just too funny, and [I don't feel sorry for the monument at all.] [...]

***

kaspar_hauser:

It's idiotic, of course, to consider vandalism funny, but in general I now feel somewhat sorry for you, because of your defectiveness.

krywal:

It is defective to love Lenin.

***

ales_wyr:

According to this logic, the whole city of [St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad], beginning from its construction, is "vandalism." It stands on [human] bones. Alas, everything is so intertwined here... Yes, the Bolsheviks were treading on graves more furiously and shamelessly, but they weren't the first ones in this city... I can't think any kind thoughts about perpetuating [Lenin's memory], but explosions - it's their [the Bolsheviks'] method [...]. And there is nothing to be happy about. :(

This being April 1 (known as the Day of Laughter in this part of the world) - and despite the fact that the repairs of the monument might cost (RUS) St. Petersburg from 6 to 8 million rubles (from $177,000 to $236,000) - many bloggers chose to abstain from overly serious discussions of the incident. LJ user fildz, for example, re-posted the AP photo from LJ user drugoi's blog and held a Best Caption contest (RUS). Here are some of the entries:

annamasterova:

The window into Russia [refers to Peter the Great's "Window into Europe"]

stcatharine:

Avrora strikes back [refers to the symbol of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the Aurora Cruiser]

alber:

The revolutionary energy of the masses has found a way out

theophil:

[...] On April 1, [St. Petersburgers] go for below-the-belt jokes

Russia: A Day of Rallies

Global Voices Online
Sunday, February 1, 2009

It was sunny in Moscow on Jan. 31, with temperatures around minus 14 degree Celsius/7 degrees Fahrenheit, but despite the cold, the city saw a number of anti-government rallies - and some fighting. Below are a few accounts, some photos, videos, and links.

LJ user drugoi posted nine photos from the opposition rally on Bolshaya Polyanka and wrote this (RUS):

Young opposition activists have once again succeeded in marching down a Moscow street today. This time it was Bolshaya Polyanka, and the participants of the rally [...] were getting there in roundabout ways, switching trains on the metro. Today, however, it turned out that the regime had some volunteer (or, perhaps, hired) assistants. [...]

The moment the column of approximately 50 to 80 "dissenters" with flags and banners started moving along Polyanka, a few cars drove up from behind and - with the words, "Why aren't you letting us relax, assholes?" - some 10 or 12 people got out, dressed uniformly: in jogging pants, jeans and hooded jackets. Without delay, the gang started beating the protesters, and a pretty serious fight began.

There was some initial confusion in the "dissenters"' ranks, but then they were quite organized and tough as they fought the attackers back. Among the protesters, there were people with blood on their faces, one of the reporters had a stone thrown at his camera, but the attackers were forced to run away and would have been chased if the opposition activists hadn't decided to continue on their march.

At the end of the fight, those who were covering their faces with scarves sprayed some tear gas around. Many of those who were affected had to wash their eyes.

Riot police showed up only after the rally was over, and the work of all the law enforcement organs had to be done by two police [officers] from a nearby station, under the sharp eye of a dark-blue police helicopter hanging over Polyanka.

Several times they jumped bravely into the protesters' crowd, trying to take the banners away. It was causing some serious resistance, but the protesters had more people and [the police officers] obviously didn't have the guts to face up to them.

Desperate, one of the policemen rushed to a group of soldiers he saw standing on the sidewalk, and begged them to join in the difficult task of protecting public order. The cadets reluctantly shifted from one foot to the other, but didn't go against the people's will.

All in all, the Dissenters' March has again taken place, and there was more than enough drive today. Riot police units, which showed up belatedly [...], seized whoever was within reach - a cameraman, for example, with a huge Betacam on his shoulder - placed them into the [police van] and drove away. Somewhere above the square a new police helicopter hung still - all it had left to do was register the fact that the "dissenters" have managed to achieve what they wanted today.

LJ user zyalt posted nearly 30 photos from the same rally in the oppositional namarsh_ru LJ community.

Russian photographer Oleg Klimov posted a few pictures of the National Bolshevik leader Eduard Limonov, who made an attempt to hold another rally on Jan. 31 - a follow-up to the protest by the Communist Party at Triumphalnaya Square. Here're some of Klimov's observations (RUS):

[...] Triumphalnaya Square, in front of the monument to [poet Vladimir Mayakovsky], was cordoned off by riot police - and empty. There was a crowd by the entrance to the metro, though, not allowed to come to the stone "revolutionary poet" - and the loudspeaker kept addressing them loudly: "The rally is over! Go home!" Most of these people were journalists and they didn't want to disperse. They were waiting. Waiting despite the fact that the [National Bolshevik activists] and other young people had already been arrested and squeezed into [police vehicles].

We walked out [from the opposite side of the square] and it seemed as if nobody noticed us. Limonov started his speech by the monument to Mayakovsky. The crowd by the metro got somewhat excited, but riot police were holding them tough. Some of the journalists managed to break through, however, and ran towards Limonov. Riot police ran after them. Things were happening around the revolutionary writer [Limonov] as well. He continued talking, most likely about "freedom, fraternity and equality," surrounded by his personal guards, but at some point two huge plainclothes guys pushed over simultaneously on Limonov's bodyguards and hit one of them right into his nose. It was just an ordinary fight. Limonov was thrown on the asphalt, but, as an experienced revolutionary, he managed to take his glasses off, to keep them from being broken, obviously. The guards did their best to protect him, but the riot police were there soon, and it all ended the way it always does - the doors of the [police vehicle] [...] were shut close.

The crowd was just staring at what was going on - with obvious pleasure, it seemed. No one said anything. No one yelled anything. No one cursed anyone... the crowd was observing, along with the journalists. Observing lawlessness and impunity of the "cats" who didn't like one "little mouse" that was not gray.

There was a feeling of sadness because of this, and a terrible embarrassment, because, as Johann Goethe, I guess, said - "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."

Below is a video of the events at Triumphalnaya Square, posted by LJ user zlaya-uchilka:



According to LJ user alaverin (RUS), Eduard Limonov is to spend the night and part of Feb. 1 at the police department.

A pro-Kremlin rally took place just off Red Square on Jan. 31, too. LJ user drugoi posted a photo of one of the banners from that event: "We believe!" - underneath the portraits of Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. Some of drugoi's readers thought the banner looked familiar, in two different ways:

cab9:

I thought at first that this was an Obama poster.

***

filaretus:

Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin.
Long live CPSU.

How deep must the USSR still be in the people that even after nearly 20 years the same style of banner design comes up.

dont_ban_me_mo:

It never went away anywhere, they've just done a little re-branding, Putin instead of Lenin, [Medvedev] instead of Stalin, and the CPSU has renamed itself into [the United Russia party].

LJ user mutin2007 posted a sheep cartoon, on which the animals hold banners thanking the regime for price hikes and layoffs, among other things.

Also, LJ user mutin2007 posted a photo from a rally that took place on the same day all the way across Russia, in Vladivostok: a group of protesters there carried a banner with the words "Putler kaput!!!" on it.

LJ user bwm posted 16 more photos from the Vladivostok rally, organized by the Communist Party and the Community of Activist Citizens of Russia (TIGR), and wrote this (RUS):

[...] The march turned out to be pretty strange because [TIGR activists] didn't really have anything in common with the Communists - neither in their appearance, nor in their [political views].

But most of the protesters were people who did not belong to any political movements, but were just not indifferent to the realities around them. [...]

Russia: Conscript Seeks Asylum in Georgia

Global Voices Online
Thursday, January 29, 2009

Aleksandr Glukhov, a 21-year-old Russian conscript, has asked for asylum in the Republic of Georgia to escape the "unbearable conditions" in the Russian army. One of Glukhov's media appearances took place as he was dining at a McDonald's restaurant in Tbilisi. Russian officials claim that Glukhov was captured by Georgian armed forces in South Ossetia, where he was performing his compulsory military service, and taken to the Georgian capital. Quite a few people in Russia seem to consider Glukhov "a traitor." Below are some of the reactions from the Russophone blogosphere.

LJ user shurigin:

[...] The defense ministry is currently [trying to figure out how all this could have happened]. To begin with, it turns out that this soldier is a conscript. How he got to South Ossetia, despite the order to staff military units with contract soldiers - no one can answer this question coherently.

LJ user introvertoff:

I was on the way home late at night yesterday. On a [bus], in addition to me, there was a bus driver, a couple of men and a couple of women, aged 50 to 60. The radio was playing the news:

"And, finally, metropolitan Kirill becomes the finalist of the "choose the patriarch" game," - the radio was saying something like this, only in a more formal style. [...] The bus filled with happy noise - women and men started a joyful discussion about how they worried, how they hoped, how they prayed. They are happy that the Church will now turn to the right path, etc.

And suddenly! They started talking about the news of the deserter Sergeant Glukhov on the radio. And the happy noise was replaced with angry cries - "How could he!", "A dirty deserter!", "He's exchanged his motherland for junk food!", "And he was under oath!", "Impale him, the dog, impale him!" Orthodox Christians, who were [wiping tears of joy] a minute ago, turned into bloodthirsty fanatics demanding punishment for a traitor! [...]

LJ user drugoi:

[...] He's not a traitor, of course. Just a fool, immature, a boy. He doesn't belong in the army, he should be making sand pies in a sandbox still.

LJ user mike67:

Maybe Glukhov deserves condemnation, but how to do it when you are weeping with laughter? [...]

When it turns out that a soldier has defected to the enemy because his unit didn't have a bath and the commander was cursing when orders weren't carried out... No one believes this. They are looking for politics, suspect pressure from the Georgian side. What pressure? Wake up: it's the same people who interpret a request to take out the garbage as an attempt on their human dignity. This is a free generation, [...], and they sure know about honor and dignity a lot more than we do.

[...]

No one is getting it: it's not politics, it's an infantile generation, raised on [...] an opportunity to take a loan for a plasma-panel display - or even a car - right after high school. [...] The idea that every person deserves the best [...] is spreading around the world like a virus. [...]

A note on the living conditions in the Russian army, by LJ user shabolovka38, in a comment to LJ user grazy-gunner's post:

[...] And one woman there says: Yes, the conditions are bad. They live in tents, heated by stoves.

And where are soldiers supposed to live? In a cottage?

LJ user budimir:

Aleksandr Glukhov: «I'm loving it!».

McDonald's has launched a creative [...] advertisement: a Russian soldier, unable to bear the hardships of service in South Ossetia, where they didn't feed him properly, deserts to the Georgian side and finds happiness there [...].

LJ user merjageko:

I wonder if Russia is going to send tanks to Georgia, to save Sergeant Glukhov? Because he's being tortured with McDonald's there...

LJ user neznaika-nalune asks:

Tell me, is an out-of-the-way McDonald's with peeling walls a new symbol of the "famed Georgian hospitality" and the "famous Georgian cuisine?"

LJ user taganay replies:

This kind of hospitality befits this kind of a defector.

Russia, U.S.: LJ User Drugoi in NYC

Global Voices Online
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

LJ user drugoi's post with beautiful photos from Manhattan (RUS) is currently listed as the Russian blogosphere's most popular one at Yandex Blogs portal. There are over 400 comments so far to this item by one of the most popular and prolific Russian bloggers, and here's a quick, almost random selection of just a couple of them:

lamirka:

How cool! Too bad I don't have photos like these ones ( I looked at yours and recalled the feeling of [being inside] an anthill and of freedom at the same time. Thank you.

***

tutushka:

Thank you ) It suddenly occurred to me that I've never actually seen such truly positive pictures of Moscow and its residents. I wish I could.

***

andreybar:

Great shots. New York does differ so much from the rest of America.

***

rustex:

THANKS! A great series. Allowed me to feel the spirit of the City again. [New York] isn't that simple - it's not easy to get a sense of it. And you've managed to do it. [...]

***

anywayblue:

New York used to be my only friend when I lived there for three years. I understood then why there were so many lonely people there - they could afford it - because they had this city.

LJ user drugoi also jotted down some notes (RUS) on the Russian-language blogosphere conference that he attended on Friday, Oct. 17, at Columbia University School of Journalism (for more information about the event - Russia Online: Mapping the Russian-Language Blogosphere and Participatory Internet - click on this link and and enter username: russiaonline and password: columbia):

[...] Spent the whole day yesterday at a conference organized by Columbia University and Harvard. Americans are studying the Russian blogosphere, among others, and have summoned the insiders capable of sharing their knowledge on the subject. Serezha Kuznetsov (aka [LJ user] skuzn) talked about "do you remember how it all began," Ellen Rutten spoke about online literature research, mentioning the ["podonki language"] as one of [Runet]'s cultural phenomena, but overall, the discussion focused mainly on politics, of course. Of the things that were interesting, there was Floriana Fossato's report on the failures of Russian online political projects, and sociologist Olessia Koltsova recounted the story of the attempts to rescue the [European University at St. Petersburg]. The folks got excited, an interesting discussion took off, though I was a little surprised by the seriousness with which some people treat such civil actions, of the kind that were taking place when the [European University at St. Petersburg] got shut down. In Russia, such events are effective only when they are reinforced at the level of personal connections in the so-called "corridors of power." If the dean hadn't been involved in "telephone" work then, no signature lists, no LJ communities or street actions would have helped. If they had been serious about shutting [the institution] down, they would have done it. [...]