Shiyes Protesters' Victories Affecting Entire Region

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 1 – At a time when many Russians are counting the number of days demonstrators have gone into the streets in Khabarovsk and Belarus, all too many have ignored the much longer time that those protesting the possible construction of a dump for Moscow trash at Shiyes in the Russian North have stood guard against that possibility.

            For two years, people first from Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Komi Republic and then from across Russia came to Shiyes to express their opposition to a plan that would have contaminated the land and water of that region forever. Many viewed this action as Quixotic because it was directed against powerful friends of Vladimir Putin.

            But by being steadfast and disciplined, the protesters appear to have won. An appellate arbitrage court has confirmed a lower court decision requiring that the company involved in site work not only withdraw from the area all of its construction materials but also reseed the land it had disturbed.

            It has been a long hard slog, and many would like to end it. Ever fewer people have stood guard against the construction of the dump. But there has always been some, typically about ten during the week and a bit more on weekends. They’d like to declare victory and turn their attention to protecting the environment elsewhere.

            But they don’t trust the authorities to live up to their promises or to court decisions and so the encampment will remain right through the winter months to film what the companies involved do or don’t do and thus be in a position to restart larger protests or go into court again if they have to.

            Sibreal journalist Karina Zabolotnaya has interviewed some of those who remain on guard as it were. “All the activists acknowledge that their views over these two years haven’t changed much, although they add that they have ceased to watch television and have begun to believe the powers that be even less than they did” (severreal.org/a/30916018.html).

            But she continues, the resistance has had a major impact on the surrounding population. Last summer, a majority of the people there voted against Putin’s constitutional amendments, and they then voted for the Just Russia opponent of Aleksandr Tsybulsky who was elected government after promising that the Shiyes project was dead.

            In short, the protest radicalized many in the area who may never gave taken part in it. That is reflected not only in these votes but also in the fact that across the Komi Republic, people are now far more active than before in promoting trash disposal in an environmentally friendly way.

            That kind of impact of protests is seldom noted, but it may be critically important. A demonstration may produce other demonstrations – that is expected – but it may also change the minds and mindset of those who don’t take that root. And if such people change, that is another victory for the protesters, one that is rarely acknowledged.