Muslim Republics Now Lead Russia in Number, Size and Duration of Street Protests, Sidorov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 9 – If one considers where protests have broken out in Russia’s regions and republics over the last several years, Vadim Sidorov says, it is striking that they have been in what are “primarily Muslim” places like most prominently Bashkortostan and Daghestan rather than anywhere else.

            This shows, the Prague-based specialist on ethnic relations in the Russian Federation, that “in recent years in Russia it is precisely the Muslim regions which have demonstrated the greatest potential for street mobilization and civic resistance” (trtrussian.com/mnenie/kto-lidery-protestnoj-aktivnosti-v-rossii-16929924).

            Were Russia a parliamentary democracy “with real competition of political parties,” Sidorov continues, “this potential certainly would manifest itself in the form of representation of the interests of Muslims in Russian politics. However, in current conditions, it remains not in demand politically and therefore still manifests itself only in such spontaneous forms.”