New forms of resistance – This is how war protest works in Russian – Culture

Anyone who mobilizes against the war in Putin’s Russia is risking a great deal. Nevertheless, there are people who rebel – often creatively.

“No to war” someone wrote on a couple of ruble pieces with a permanent marker. Also this: “Prices are rising in Russia. People are dying in Ukraine. Don’t be silent.” Several people in Russia seem to have the idea of ​​putting anti-war messages on money.

This is shown by photos on social networks. You can also see ruble notes printed on them with a stamp: “The heart aches from the special operation that kills children.”

Putin and the propaganda

“Military special operation”: That is the official term in Russia for what is currently happening in Ukraine. Even anyone who uses the word “war” can be punished – with up to 15 years in prison.

The same applies to everyone who spreads alleged “false information” about the Ukraine war, i.e. reports critically about it. The Russian parliament voted in favor of such a law in early March, just a few days after the start of the invasion. President Vladimir Putin signed it that same evening, putting it into effect.

Fine print in Kazan

Since then, it has become even more dangerous for people in Russia to speak out against the war and the ubiquitous propaganda. Many are therefore now trying to achieve as much as possible with as little risk as possible.

Legend:

Activists have designed price tags and filled them with information about the war. The number stated in the information is repeated in the price. For example, the signs read: “The Russian army has destroyed 80 percent of the city of Mariupol. For what?” (80 rubles)

Screenshot telegram

In Kazan, a city in south-west Russia, activists changed the price tags in supermarkets and added small print information like this: “My great-grandfather hasn’t spent four years in the Great Patriotic War [Anmerkung der Redaktion: So wird in Russland der Zweite Weltkrieg genannt] fought to make Russia a fascist state and invade Ukraine.”

The color of resistance

Actions like these should also reach people who tend to be apolitical or who even support the war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, prices have risen sharply in Russia, so Russian citizens are likely to pay even more attention to supermarket price tags than usual.

others protest, by dressing themselves in a special way. In the last few days and weeks, women in particular have been walking through Russian cities dressed completely in black, holding a white rose in their hands.

The group “Feminist Anti-War Resistance” (FAR), which was founded by the Russian political activist Daria Serenko after the beginning of the war, calls for such small signs of protest.

Stay alert

The group’s Telegram channel now has 29,000 subscribers. On it, activists from all over the country share their creative protest actions: stickers, memorials, outfits, drawings. FAR gives tips on the current legal situation on the channel to make the protest as safe as possible.

But that is not so easy, because the situation can change at any time, Daria Serenko tells The Moscow Times: Two weeks ago it was still possible to demonstrate in black and with a white rose. Today you get arrested for that too.