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Russian anti war movement

Again, this is anti-war Belarusians. Hope nobody minds but think it fits better here than on the Belarus thread.
Since it's so difficult to protest there now, union of mothers left small cuddly toys out in public with anti-war messages.
Even these small acts come with great risk. It's a poignant record of the cruelty of Putin and Lukashenka, and the bravery of those who resist.

 
Latest roundup:

To front line or to jail. Russian offensive is disrupted by boycott? Part 11

While the front mostly froze in anticipation of the main blows, direct action continues to exhaust the forces of the aggressor. A banner with Z-swatika on the wall of the sports complex set on fire on the night of July 22 in the town of Gulkevichi near Krasnodar. But the anti-war guerrilla is...
libcom.org libcom.org

Always interesting to hear stuff about morale in the Russian army:
In the southern theater of hostilities, instead of rotation, Russian soldiers are being sent to the Henichesk district of Kherson region. They are placed at the bases of the Arabat Spit sandbar, where they are allowed to rest for several weeks, and are sent into battle again. The command fears they will flee if they are allowed to visit Crimea, local residents say. Russian human rights lawyer Alexei Tabalov claims that in the Kherson region there are some "pits" for refusers, similar to the concentration camp in Bryanka. "This is happening throughout the occupied territory, where Russian troops are located. And from the appeals that come to us, from the frequency of appeals to our organizations, in particular partner organizations, one gets the impression that everyone is ready to run away from the battlefield. And, probably, recognizing this fact, this is a big problem for the Ministry of Defense. And now they are already moving from intimidation at the beginning of the "special operation" to such serious actions as kidnapping, taking them to some pits, premises and keeping their own servicemen as prisoners of war". He has a number of successful cases to help the military personnel with termination of their contracts.

According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, authorities of the peninsula initiated at least 148 cases on sabotage of Z-cars, 21 of which are in Sevastopol. In one of the cases, a resident of Sevastopol was fined 30,000 rubles for damaging the rear windshield of a Russian Guard's vehicle with the Z-signature. But these are only the facts on which the statements were made. They are sure that there are many who did not complain.
Click to expand...
 
Moscow ABC raising money for a lawyer for a guy who (I would say allegedly but I'm not sure that disclaimer applies here) molotoved a FSB office in Moscow:
avtonom.org

Support Russian anti-war resister Igor Paskar

On June 14 2022, Igor Paskar painted his face in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and threw a Molotov cocktail at the door of the central entrance of the FSB headquarters of Krasnodar region, Russia. With this gesture, he protested against the invasion of Ukraine. Igor did not try to leave...
avtonom.org avtonom.org
 
I don't know if this interview with the veteran self-described Marxist diissident Boris Kargalitsky belongs in this thread exactly, but can't see where else to put it. It's interesting. This, for instance, is typical Russia, and tells us everything:

'There is no sign that the working class supports the war. But the Russian working class is weak, defeated by enormous deindustrialization. The Russian bureaucracy is huge; they side with the government no matter what it does. If tomorrow we have a different government, these people will immediately side with the new government. All these people were communists. Then they became liberals, then they became good patriots.

If necessary, they will become communists again or whatever. Liberals or fascists, it doesn’t matter. But what really makes quite a few people scared is the trend, especially outside of Moscow, which can be described as a sort of fascist political practice.'

Behind Russia’s Ukraine Disaster
 
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(Maybe Russia just writes large the societies that exist more or less eveywhere now. Most people's 'beliefs' are fluid, and it only takes a severe crisis to expose it.)
 
Kargalitsky describes below Perestroika and Glasnost's legacy. even if inadvertently. It unintentionally brought out the very worst in Russian society. The quote below leaves aside the plunder of the economy, and the social and economic breakdwn. P& G had to come, but the results were inevitably different from the intention (a bit like October 1917). 'The West' obviously didn't help in encouraging the very tendencies that, first of all, brought about mafia capitalism and the oligarchs, and then in treating the most western-friendly Russian government in history as a potential/inevitable enemy and begining to expand NATO eastwards when Russia was so much on its knees that military aggression was unimaginable. It was almost as if western support for the (mostly) ex-CPSU leaders who created post-Soviet Russia had in mind the inevitable reaction within Russia, and the opportunities to expand the vast NATO bureaucracy, and all the careers that depend upon it, that would follow. As well as the new openings for the arms industry, and the fortunes to be made and maintained.

The working class and its organisations in Russia and Ukraine, as well as everywhere else, are, as usual, being totally had.


Kargalitsky: 'Some people say, oh, it was like that in the Soviet Union. It was not like that in the Soviet Union because in the Soviet Union at least there was some kind of ideology, some kind of social and political practice.

I don’t know. I didn’t live under Stalin. The Soviet Union, which I remember, was cynical in a sane way. That is, they followed some rituals but were cynical about them; they were religious rituals that are just part of life. Now they want people to be enthusiastic. If you are not enthusiastic, you’re going to be severely punished.

A kind of dictatorship over emotions is being imposed. I know quite a few people who live in Moscow because it doesn’t work this way there. But in Moscow, in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), in Irkutsk, in Krasnoyarsk, in Yakutia the consolidation against protest is intense. You feel it on the street.

But in small towns and medium-sized cities, it’s very different. And there are people who are sort of against the war. They’re very much isolated and they’re afraid. They’re really afraid because they’re living under permanent pressure that something is going to happen to them.'
 
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On 31st July, during celebrations of Navy Day in St Petersburg, Yelena Osipova was out again with her words and art against the war in Ukraine. (Alt text below.)

Yelena Osipova - NO WAR.jpg

Description - Older lady (Y. Osipova), wearing navy coloured jacket over stripy light and dark blue top, and smart dark skirt, grey hair tied back, stands in front of fence next to a placard featuring picture of sailors in front of marine vessels. Below reads in Russian "We died for peace," "NO WAR in Ukraine." Beside the writing on the placard are 3 real peach-coloured roses.
 
Another appeal to donate to defence funds via ABC Moscow, who I imagine must have really quite a lot on their plates at the moment:

Russian anti-war attackers need your help!

Even one in the field can be a warrior. Title photo with the arson of the riot cops HQ is from Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East of the Russian Federation. International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners 23-30 August is coming to an end but these brave resisters deserve to be...
libcom.org libcom.org
 
meduza.io

Russian government removes all mention of the war in Ukraine from 'patriotic' curriculum — Meduza

Russia’s Education Ministry has removed all references to Ukraine and the “special military operation” from the curriculum for its "patriotic" lesson series, Conversations About What's Important, after a slew of complaints from parents and teachers. The original lesson plans and supplementary...
meduza.io meduza.io

Seems like good news and a victory for the anti war movement even though it won't be framed that way
 
This BBC article is about how a group of young women traced the identity of the copper who tortured them after they were arrested following a Moscow anti-war rally back in March.

It's not an easy read in parts, the way he treated the women was, probably unsurprisingly awful. At least one of the women is only 19.

The torturer police officer's name is Ivan Ryabov. His enabler, the police station's acting head, is Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Georgievich Fedorinov. Although he wasn't present during the torture, all communication took place through him.

The BBC put the allegations - that police officer Ivan Ryabov initiated and participated in the abuse of detainees, and that this abuse in some cases amounted to torture - to both Ryabov and Fedorinov, and to Russia's Investigative Committee. There was no response.
Click to expand...

How the ‘man in black’ was exposed by the Russian women he terrorised
 
hitmouse said:
Fundraiser for Autonomous Action/Avtonom:

Support revolutionary media struggling inside Russia

Autonomous Action has been fighting against the Putin's regime for the last 20 years. Now we need your help.
www.firefund.net www.firefund.net
Click to expand...
Avotonom fundraiser is being cut short, last day to donate is tomorrow:
avtonom.org

The Crowdfunding campaign of Autonomous Action is forced to end prematurely, donate until the 15th of September

On the 16th of August, we launched a crowdfunding effort to continue our online media activities in an environment, which is becoming more and more hostile. We are committed to remaining in Russia, and to spreading anti-war and anti-militarist message within the country. We believe that you can...
avtonom.org avtonom.org
Link to donate is:

Support revolutionary media struggling inside Russia

Autonomous Action has been fighting against the Putin's regime for the last 20 years. Now we need your help.
www.firefund.net www.firefund.net
 
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