Russians Still have Many Ways to Promote Small Positive Changes Even when Achieving Big Ones Now are Impossible, ‘Horizontal Russia’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 20 – According to the Horizontal Russia news agency, achieving major positive changes in Russia anytime soon is an impossibility, according to the Horizontal Russia news agency. But Russians should not despair because there are still many opportunities to promote small changes for the better “without risking one’s freedom.”

            Increasing repression has left many residents of the Russian Federation with the sense with the sense that there is nothing they can do without becoming targets of the regime’s security forces. But in fact, there are many possibilities that give hope for the future that many are already taking advantage of (semnasem.org/articles/2024/03/20/rossiyu-ne-izmenit-eto-ne-tak-vot-idei-bezopasnogo-aktivizma-dlya-nachinayushih-ot-izucheniya-semejnoj-istorii-do-zaboty-o-gorode).

            Among them, Horizontal Russia reports are the following:

·       Participating in Independent discussion groups which exist in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Syktyvkar, and Tver where people can meet and discuss all kinds of issues and thus no longer feel atomized (vk.com/prostpolitika, /t.me/revoltcenter and semnasem.org/articles/2024/02/20/chem-tyazhelee-situaciya-v-rossii-tem-cennee-nash-proekt).

·       Taking part in community efforts to clean up areas around where one lives or to plant trees or maintain gardens (t.me/barnogorod/4, vk.com/parklandekb, vk.com/sadnurova and semnasem.org/articles/2024/02/26/pesochnica-kak-gorizontalnoe-obedinenie-iz-arhangelska-vospityvaet-v-lyudyah-ekoosoznannost).

·       Contributing to other groups of activists who are doing such things like planting trees where there have been forest fires, teaching young people in children’s homes, and restoring decaying buildings (barkingstore.ru/, nash.posadiles.ru/, vk.com/nastavnik.detinashi and t.me/horizontal_russia/8480). Additional ideas for making contributions can be found at nuzhnapomosh.ru/, which continues to work despite being classified as a foreign agent.

·       Researching one’s ancestors and nation to get a better sense of one’s own identity (semnasem.org/articles/2024/02/12/chtoby-ulaalzaj-zacvel-povsyudu-nebinarnaya-hudozhnica-iz-buryatii-prevratili-semejnuyu-istoriyu-v-zin-vot-kak-eto-poluchilos, t.me/nerusmir/826 and  t.me/nerusmir/793).

·       Studying one’s national language, participating in groups sharing a common interest such as feminism, or even joining others to run through one’s regoin (semnasem.org/articles/2023/03/15/kogda-govoryat-takie-zhe-kak-ty-uchastnicy-grupp-podderzhki-soobshestva-feminitiv-o-tom-kak-vstrechi-pomogayut-im-perezhivat-trudnosti, t.me/helpwithoutprejudice, semnasem.org/articles/2023/02/22/spravitsya-s-travmoj-svidetelya-pomozhet-gruppa-podderzhki-kak-sobrat-takuyu-bez-opyta-sovetuyut-aktivistki-proekta-ya-ostayus and vk.com/event217122399).

·       Writing letters to or even better getting together with others to write letters to those who have already fallen victim to repression and are now behind bars (t.me/myagkaya_sila_ru/5518, в Калининграде такие встречи устраивает фем-сообщество «Феминитив». https://t.me/sotavisionmedia/24722 Адреса политзаключенных публикуют правозащитные проекты «Зона солидарности», t.me/solidarity_zone, t.me/deptone, t.me/politzekinfo and semnasem.org/articles/2022/10/18/nasha-cel-pisat).

 

None of these activities is going to change Russia overnight, but all of them can help fight the sense that nothing can be done and thus provide the basis for the survival and growth of a civil society which may be able to change the bigger picture at some point in the future.