An Under-Reported Form of Anti-War Protest: Russians Work to Remove ‘Z’ Symbols from Their Cities

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 29 – With mixed success, activists in Russian cities are seeking to have removed the “Z” symbol of support for Putin’s war in Ukraine that have defaced public buildings near where they live and that are clearly intended to suggest that support for “the special military operation” is well nigh universal, a form of anti-war protests that is seldom reported as such.

            The SibReal portal says that activists in cities like Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Kirov, Tyumen, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg have organized appeals to local officials to remove these signs which they believe deface the public buildings and send the wrong message to the population (sibreal.org/a/kak-v-rossiyskih-gorodah-dobivayutsya-snyatiya-z-bannerov/32698856.html).

            In some places, the activists have been successful; but in others, they have been threatened with charges of “discrediting the Russian army” and may go to jail as a result. But what their struggle is all about is perhaps best reflected in the comment of Vadim Palko, an activist in Irkutsk.

            He says that “if the Zwastika hangs everywhere and no one speaks out against it, then this means that the Zwastika is normal. And if someone fights for its dismantling and sparks a public debate, then it means that there is something wrong with this symbolism” and that Russians know that and want change.

            Moreover, Palko continues, such actions mean that “there is no total unity, the illusion of which propaganda seeks to impose. And the struggle itself helps people who do not support the war to know that they are not alone and powerless and even encourages others to think about the conflict and what should be done.”