Non-Russians Protest about More than ‘Ethnic’ Issues

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 3 – Non-Russians are angry not only about language and other “ethnic issues” but about all the things that upset Russians as well, a reality that is often ignored but that provides the foundation for cooperation between the two groups, a new report on civic activism in Kazan over the last year suggests.

            On the Kazan Reporter portal, journalist Anton Raykhshtat provides a list of all civic demonstrations and protests both ethnically related and not in Tatarstan’s capital over the last 12 months (kazanreporter.ru/post/2703_vspomnit-_vse-_grazhdanskaya_aktivnost-_v_kazani_2017).  It includes the following categories:

·         Protests “almost all year” on the banking crisis in the republic.

·         Actions in support of Aleksey Navalny.

·         Protests about funding for kindergartens.

·         Protests about trash disposal and processing.

·         Long-haul trucker protests against the Plato system.

·         Protests about failure of Moscow to extend power-sharing agreement.

·         Commemoration of the sacking of Kazan in 1552.

·         Various protests including flashmobs against Putin’s language policies.

·         Demonstrations in support of the republic president on his 60^th birthday.

·         Demonstrations for and against on the centenary of the Bolshevik revolution.

·         A demonstration in support of Vladimir Putin’s candidacy for re-election.