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Russian protesters resist Putin’s repression on anniversary of brutal government terror
May 6, 2013
The Russian opposition is back at its main protesting spot in Moscow’s Bolotnaya (Swamp) Square, where an anti-Putin rally on May 6 last year resulted in massive protests against Putin’s violent political repression and in extreme police brutality as a result.
Thousands of opposition protesters are taking part in Monday’s sanctioned event called ‘For Freedom!’ Some 5,000 “law enforcers” have been deployed in the capital’s downtown to harass, terrorize, detain and abuse protesters for the second year in a row.
The main demand of the participants of the event organized by Russian opposition activists is the release of all political prisoners in the country. Those also include activists arrested as part of the ‘Bolotnaya case’ following last year’s rally on the square.
A day before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as ‘president’, thousands took to streets to protest against election fraud, and to demand political reforms and a fresh vote. The sanctioned rally turned violent as police brutalized protesters at Putin’s command. Over 600 protesters were detained and over a dozen faced criminal charges ranging from inciting mass unrest to using violence against police. So far, two of the Bolotnaya Square protesters were sentenced to jail terms. The opposition maintains though that clashes were provoked by police.
On Sunday – as Orthodox believers celebrated Easter – the opposition held another sanctioned protest rally in the Russian capital. The event called ‘Freedom March’ was organized by the so-called Opposition Expert Council. Despite the initially-announced 10,000 participants, the gathering was joined by only around 400-500 participants and around a hundred journalists.
The real history of International Women’s Day
March 8, 2013
Do you have $100+ to spare? Then you could attend an International Women’s Day luncheon hosted by the Chamber of Commerce or various business organisations. But, although IWD has become mainstream in recent years, it was historically a socialist event and that is how we commemorate it
Clara Zetkin, a leading member of German Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the early 1900s, argued that the working class would never win its battles without women and raised the issue of special party work among women. Under her leadership a working women’s movement grew rapidly in Germany, and the female membership of the SPD rose from 10,500 in 1907 to 150,000 in 1913.
Zetkin proposed the establishment of an international women’s day at the International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen in August 1910, inspired by American socialists who had held women’s demonstrations and meetings the year before. The slogan for IWD was to be: “The vote for women will unite our strength in the struggle for socialism.”
In 1911, more than a million women and men took up the idea of IWD enthusiastically, with rallies and marches in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark and other major industrial cities of Europe. According to the Russian revolutionary socialist Alexandra Kollontai, “Germany and Austria were one seething, trembling sea of women… Meetings were organised everywhere – in the small towns and even in the villages, halls were packed full.”
In subsequent years and throughout World War One, IWD continued to provide a focus for activists. In 1913 and 1914 women across Europe held peace rallies on or around 8 March. In 1915, socialist women held a march in Bern, Switzerland, in opposition to their own countries’ war effort, which was treason in wartime. They took a manifesto home to be distributed secretly in their countries. In 1917, female socialists in Turin hung posters addressed to women throughout the working class neighbourhoods protesting rising food prices. And in 1918 in Austria, 3,000 women, despite the ban on demonstrations, marched in small groups past the parliament and the Palace of Justice demanding peace.
In Russia Alexandra Kollontai played a leading role. She brought the idea of IWD to Russia and helped organise events in the pre-war years. In Petrograd (St. Petersburg) in 1913, Bolshevik women workers organised a “scientific morning devoted to the woman question” (this sort of subterfuge was necessary under tsarism). Kollontai wrote:
“This was an illegal meeting but the hall was absolutely packed. Members of the party spoke. But this animated ‘close’ meeting had hardly finished when the police, alarmed at such proceedings, intervened and arrested many of the speakers.”
In 1914 police again intervened and arrested many people. Some women were nonetheless able to celebrate IWD with flash meetings around the city, and similar small actions were possible in 1915 and 1916.
Peace and bread
By 1917, deteriorating living conditions had resulted in strong feelings. Frustration with food shortages and interminable queues had already produced food riots, and the large number of women workers in large factories had already carried out many strikes.
What happened in Petrograd combined food riots, economic strikes and a political strike. And it was all sparked by women determined to celebrate International Women’s Day.
The local Bolsheviks judged the time unripe for militant action. So when a group of women from the Vyborg district asked for advice on how to celebrate IWD they were told to “refrain from isolated actions and follow only instructions of party committee”.
The women decided to strike anyway. In spite of all directives, women in Petrograd chose to protest and strike for “Bread and Peace” on 23 February (8 March on the Gregorian calendar). Demonstrations organised to demand bread were supported by the industrial workforce. Women textile workers in several factories went on strike and sent delegates to metal workers for support. The women workers marched to nearby factories bringing out over 50,000 workers on strike.
By 25 February, the strike had spread to 240,000 workers. Mass demonstrations surged through the town. The following day large parts of Petrograd were in control of the insurrection and when soldiers went over on 27 February, the tsar abdicated.
General Khabalov of the Petrograd Military District summarised the problem facing the authorities: “When they said, ‘Give us bread!’ we could give them bread and that was the end of it. But when they said, ‘Down with the autocracy!’ we could no longer appease them with bread.”
Happy International Women’s Day!
Pictured: Si Se Puede by Robert Valadez, Chief Theresa Spence, Dr. Angela Davis, Vandala Shiva, Amy Goodman, Malala Yousafzai, Leila Khaled, Pussy Riot & Zapatista women.
‘Basta!’: Femen activists attack Berlusconi at polling station
February 24, 2013
Three topless members of the feminist movement FEMEN tried to attack Silvio Berlusconi in a polling station in Milan, where the leader of the center-right coalition was casting his vote.
The three women pulled off their clothes, remaining only in jeans, as soon as the former prime minister appeared at the polling station.
They shouted ‘Basta Berlusconi’ (‘Enough With Berlusconi’); the same slogan was painted on their bare upper bodies.
The activists broke through a line of journalists at the polling station at the Dante Alighieri School and tried to reach Berlusconi, but they were immediately seized by bodyguards and dragged away.
The three women, Inna Shevchenko, Oksana Shachko and Elvire Duval-Sharle, were quickly detained by police. The women resisted as officers struggled to put jackets and handcuffs on them and seat them in a police car.
The 76-year-old politician’s reaction to the incident was calm.
“It’s an exaggeration. Those who think with their mind and intelligence can vote only in one direction and behave consequently,” Berlusconi said, as cited by International Business Times.”Then, there are situations like this outside the boundaries of reason and we cannot do anything to avoid that.”On Sunday Italy started early parliamentary elections. As a result of the two-day vote the winning party will form a new government. The former four-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is one of the candidates, despite being on trial on charges of having sex with a minor. He denies all the charges. Berlusconi’s trial is postponed until after the elections with the next hearing set for March 4.
Berlusconi has previously been involved in fraud and sex scandals. He has an extensive record of criminal allegations, including mafia collusion, false accounting, tax fraud, corruption and bribery. He has been tried in Italian courts several times, though never found guilty.
On the official internet page of FEMEN Movement the activists urge to “make a ‘political’ killing” of Berlusconi.
‘Italy, do not vote for the one who should be in prison!’
The FEMEN activists gained notoriety by conducting impromptu topless protests. The last protest was in the beginning of February 2013. FEMEN activists got naked in Notre Dame de Paris to mark the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. The activists are reported to have attacked ‘homophobic propaganda’ in the Vatican.
FEMEN movement activists have conducted protests during major international public events in different countries against sex tourism, religious institutions, international marriage agencies, sexism and other social and international issues.
Two Pussy Riot members sent to remote prison camps
October 23, 2012
Maria Alyokhina, 24, will serve the rest of her two-year term at a women’s prison camp in Perm, a Siberian region notorious for hosting some of the Soviet Union’s harshest camps. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, has been sent to Mordovia, a region that also hosts a high number of prisons.
“These are the harshest camps of all the possible choices,” the band said via its Twitter account on Monday.
Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing an anti-Putin “punk anthem” in a Moscow cathedral in February. They argued that their conviction was part of a growing crackdown on free speech and political activism in Russia.
They are expected to serve the rest of their sentences, which end in March 2014, in the camps, where conditions are reportedly dire.
A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released earlier this month after being given a suspended sentence. Pussy Riot’s supporters have argued that her release was designed to give the appearance of mercy from the authorities.
Confusion reigned on Monday as relatives and lawyers tried to assess exactly where the women were sent. Both Perm and Mordovia host several prison camps, some of which comprised the Soviet-era gulag system. Prison authorities declined to comment on the women’s whereabouts.
Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova had petitioned to serve their sentences in Moscow, arguing that they wanted to be close to their children. Alyokhina has a five-year-old son named Filipp, while Tolokonnikova has a four-year-old daughter named Gera.
Pussy Riot member released on probation, sentence upheld for 2 others
October 10, 2012
After an appeal, a Moscow court overturned the original ruling and released on probation Ekaterina Samutsevich, the Pussy Riot activist who previously requested new counsel in light of the circumstances surrounding her arrest.
Samutsevich asked for a new lawyer on October 1, when the court was first convened to hear appeals on behalf the group. In a surprise move, Samutsevich claimed that she required new counsel, as the defense lawyers were only representing the group as a whole and special circumstances applied to her individual case. The appeals process was briefly delayed while Samutsevich sought new representation.
Irina Khrunova, Samutsvich’s new counsel, argued on appeal that Samutsevich had been removed from the church premises before she was able to engage in the ‘punk prayer.’
Khrunova emphasized the fact that Samutsevich never took part in the protest, and that she was only on the pulpit for 15 seconds. In the Orthodox tradition, only male priests may enter the pulpit, which is barred with a rail. Samutsevich barely had time to remove her guitar from its case, according to the additional statements, and was therefore unable to perform any of the offensive acts for which the defendants were found guilty.
In reading her statement, Samutsevich declared that while she did intend to perform a political act when entering the church on February 21, she had no intention of offending any religious beliefs.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs expressed shock at the new developments, calling Samutsevich’s position “hypocritical” and an “attempt to delay verdict”. They argued, unsuccessfully, that Samutsevich’s confirmation of her intent to carry out the protest warranted punishment in and of itself, and that any other statement was contradictory.
Samutsevich was released shortly after the session. Though she appeared reluctant to comment, she told journalists that she was sad that the other two band members are still imprisoned, and that she will continue fighting for them. Her counsel, Khrunova, who used to represent jailed former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in court, said that Samutsevich faces further challenges in her bid for freedom.
“Of course today’s decision of the Moscow City Court to exchange jail time for probation is a victory, but it is not the final victory, as she has still been found guilty of committing a crime,” Khrunova said. If Samutsevich agrees, Khrunova will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Samutsevich will remain on probation for two years after she is released, and any deviation from her probation will likely result in her being arrested again. She is also required to regularly report to a police station.
The one on the far left (no pun intended) is Ekaterina Samutsevich. The fight to free Pussy Riot must continue until all three women are free.
Police apprehend participants of a rally in support of Pussy Riot punk group outside Moscow’s Khamovnichesky courthouse. Three members were sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism.”
Masked female activists demonstrate in support of members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin, Germany, Thursday Aug. 9, 2012.
Prosecutors in Russia on Tuesday called for three-year prison sentences for feminist punk rockers who gave an impromptu performance in Moscow’s main cathedral to call for an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule, in a case that has caused international outrage and split Russian society.
The new face of protest: Radical, young and connected
August 13, 2012
Political scientists believe that the protest movement in Russia will undergo change with the gradual withdrawal of liberals and the appearance of new parties on the political stage. Economic factors could also play a role.
According to Igor Bunin, president of the Center for Political Technologies, Russia may soon experience the rise of a radical new breed of protester.
“On the one hand, it seems to me that the protest movement will be more radical, more social, younger and more ready for direct actions,” Bunin predicted.
Meanwhile, many members of the opposition will disappear from the street scene because they aspire to real participation in the election process.
The political opposition is made up of a mixed basket of characters, including Alexey Navalny, a political blogger and one of the leading figures of the protest movement; Boris Nemtsov, a former Deputy Prime Minister and co-chairman of the Republican Party of People’s Freedom, also known as Parnas; Sergey Udaltsov, political activist and leader of the Left Front movement; and Vladimir Ryzkhov, also a co-chairman of PARNAS and the founder of the Republican party – one of the oldest parties in the country.
Bunin believes the general atmosphere of future street protests may become more radical in nature.
“The spirit of the protest movement is now different from December 2011; this spirit is more of a spirit of social conflict and is more radical,” he warned. “The leaders are different, the liberal movement has become weak, while younger people – those who were born in the late 1980s – are now taking part in protests.”
Coincidentally, Russia is waiting for the verdict to be passed down on the members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, who were arrested in February for delivering a protest song on the altar of Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow.
The members of the band, all in their 20s, face up to seven years in prison for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.”
Another analyst, Igor Yurgens, head of the Institute for Modern development, says the number of protest participants may increase if the economic situation in the country deteriorates sharply, which, he says, seems unlikely at the moment.
“The number of protesters will depend on the economic situation,” Yurgens said. “In my view, we now don’t have a situation where a sharp deterioration is anticipated, for example, a fall in the prices of our traditional exports.”
Meanwhile, the number of opposition protesters may decrease considerably due to the creation of new parties, he said.
“New political parties have been formed, and they will help to erode the base of the protest movement,” he said.
Concerning the choice of slogans used by the protesters, Bunin said the messages are politically ineffective and obsolete.
“I don’t see any new slogans,” he said.
He also believes that the number of future protesters is not expected to increase.
“I think the number will stay the same, up to 50,000 people per protest,” Bunin said. “Udaltsov’s plans to bring many more people are not feasible.”
However, the movement will not disappear altogether anytime soon, he added.
