Paul Goble
Staunton, April 4 – The Russian government’s readiness to arrest and incarcerate anyone opposing Putin’s war in Ukraine has led activists especially in regions beyond the ring road to come up with new “quiet” ways of expressing their opposition, tactics that are beginning to appear in Moscow and other Russian cities as well.
The 7x7 news agency has collected pictures of some of these tactics, including putting anti-war slogans on price tags in stores and on Russian currency, wearing clothes and accessories with symbolic colors, using nail polish in the same way, hanging Japanese-style peace doves in public places, displaying anti-war art, and erecting special tombstones about Ukrainian losses.
The most active groups promoting such things, the agency which covers development outside of Moscow says (semnasem.org/articles/2022/04/05/tihij-protest-kak-zhiteli-regionov-bez-slov-reagirovali-na-sobytiya-v-ukraine), are Feminists Against the War (https://t.me/femagainstwar) and Students Against the War (t.me/studentprotiv).
Some of these tactics are spreading to cities including Moscow, where anti-war activists have added new ones, including having people simply lie down in the streets with their hands bound as if they were about to be shot as in Bucha (themoscowtimes.com/2022/04/05/russian-activists-find-ways-to-protest-despite-the-bans-a77213).
According to 7x7, Russian police are beginning to recognize all these “quiet” protests as a problem and are clamping down where they can. But they face a far more daunting task than they do with protesters or those who write or post anti-war messages. That is exactly why the protesters are taking this route, and why it is likely to expand below the radar screens of most.
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