Public Protests in Russia Spreading to Villages as Well as towards Moscow

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 3 – Most protests and demonstrations in Russia now appear to be taking place in small and mid-sized cities, with commentators regularly pointing to those which spread to larger cities and ultimately to Moscow.  But protests are also spreading in the opposite direction from the smaller urban centers to villages, although this trend is frequently missed.

            That is because these protests, when they occur, are typically quite small, far smaller in fact than many in urban areas, and are not regularly reported because Russian media in general and Moscow media in particular routinely ignore what is occurring at the village level unless and until they can see a statistical pattern.

            But demonstrations and protests at the village level are important because they indicate that even among the Russian population thought to be the most inert, docile and deferential to the powers that be, anger about official actions is intensifying; and villagers too are beginning to show their displeasure as well – and to assume as others do that protests can work.

            That suggests the kind of sea change in Russian attitudes that may be even greater than that shown by polls or by protests in urban areas and that may ultimately contribute to a tsunami of demonstrations that the powers that be will have far greater difficulty in coping with than many now think.

             A happy exception to the near blackout on protests at the village level is provided today by Radio Svoboda’s IdelRealportal which tells of a demonstration against the high price of trash disposal by about 60 people in Ibresi, a settlement of urban type, some 94 kilometers from Cheboksary in Chuvashia (idelreal.org/a/29799724.html).

            Vyacheslav Alekseyev, a local activist who organized the protest, said residents had been received approval to hold the meeting on their third try. Officials spoke about “stability,” he continued, but “we do not need the stability” they are talking about. And we want the head of the republic and United Russia deputies to know that and to close down the local dump.

            Officials refused to appear before the protesters or to comment on their complaints.