I'm an Activist in Russia. I Can't Believe What My Life Has Become.

[BigmanPigman]

"I’m an Activist in Russia. I Can’t Believe What My Life Has Become.
As a founding member of the activist band Pussy Riot, I’ve fought for years against autocracy. My country has only slid deeper."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/opinion/navalny-russia.html#click=https://t.co/viMYEdZJFS

"Three fellow dissidents whom I’ve known personally have been murdered (Boris Nemtsov, Anastasia Baburova, Stanislav Markelov) and two beaten almost to death (Mikhail Beketov and Oleg Kashin). I myself was sent to prison for two years just for singing a song, and many, many activists in my country have been sentenced to more time and suffered far worse fates. This is the reality I live with day to day, that we in Russia and my friends in Belarus are living with day to day. You learn to live with it, to fight it as you can, deal with it how you can, but it becomes your life."

"And of course it’s not just activists who are targeted by Mr. Putin’s authoritarianism: The greed and corruption of this president and a handful of families that are close to him affects everyone, every day. Inequality is skyrocketing in Russia. Unrest is growing. Many Russians are tired of backward-looking, post-imperial, oppressive, Cold War-style politics and ready to become a forward-looking country focused on building infrastructure, better schools and health care. Since the 2018 election, Mr. Putin’s popularity has been on the decline, hitting an all-time low of 59 percent in May."

"Our president has only just recently had the law changed so that he can stay in power until 2036, but his program of repression didn’t start out this blatantly. These things happen in pieces, bit by bit, small acts. And each one may even seem relatively benign at first, perhaps bad, but not fatal. You get angry, maybe you speak out, but you get on with your life. The promise of our democracy was chipped away in pieces, one by one: corrupt cronies appointed, presidential orders issued, actions taken, laws passed, votes rigged. It happens slowly, intermittently; sometimes we couldn’t see how steadily. Autocracy crept in, like the coward it is."

*Nadya Tolokonnikova is an artist and activist and a founder of the band Pussy Riot.

[live love laugh]

1. 59% approval rating?! 🤣🤣🤣

Propogandized polls work.

As for the creep towards autocracy we’re there.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

2. re: "It happens slowly, intermittently...

...sometimes we couldn’t see how steadily. Autocracy crept in, like the coward it is."

Everyone knows you put the lobster in the cool water before you turn the heat on.

[Chainfire]

3. And that is Trump's vision of a new, great America.

[Celerity]

4. K & R

[Oceana]

5. Navalny 2021

like the reddening western waves
glinting from the far horizon
a narrow pathway to my feet,
your courage in the darkness glistens

like a hero of times long gone,
from feats of daring, legends birth—
walking to the mouth of danger,
risking life to show its worth

in a world self-mesmerising
in a place of endangered thought
in a time of me-gratifying
how spring the trap and not get caught?

current buzzwords all de-fanged:
meaningless and overused—
in the sum of all her senses,
Blind Justice’s balances are bruised

our era preys to staunch a hunger,
but we know not what we crave;
you refuse to play it safe—
prefer to risk what others save

leaving “safe and sound”, the idols
of addiction, reach to touch
the intangible that grounds us
to remember we are such

as should be willing to persist
into the dark and dismal hole
that speaking Truth takes one who trusts
in the rights of every soul

but you, Navalny, don’t surrender,
don’t hide or self-protect or run
you squarely face the bully bluster
you’ve done the math: you’ll pay the sum

[BigmanPigman]

6. Nadya (Pussy Riot)

was on Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC show again this week. A member of her band got arrested during the recent riots and may have to spend 2 years in a Russian jail.

Lawrence asked her how the US, with our new POTUS, can help to change some of Putin's actions and does he care that Biden is taking tRump's place. She said pressure from the US is definitely something that would help the Russian citizens. She also said that Putin always has a stone face like he has no expressions/feelings when in fact he is very sensitive and aware of what foreign leaders think of him.

[PersianStar]

7. PR's church protest

I remember years ago when PR protested inside Moscow's Church of Christ the Savior. My first impression was - they were what Russians have historically called "holy fools" - and while inside the church I did not see them play their music instruments nor go beyond the icon screen.

[PersianStar]

8. Another Navalny topic

https://democraticunderground.com/10142685023