MOSCOW (AP) — When almost all the protesters at recent anti-government rallies across Russia went home, teenagers and young adults were the only ones left on the streets.
Many born during President Vladimir Putin’s 18-year-long rule, young Russians like Zabara have long been considered one of his most loyal constituents. But increasingly, the government’s anti-Western agenda and reports of widespread corruption are turning young Russians against the leader.
With Russia’s rigid political system offering no other outlet for discontent, young people have turned to unsanctioned street protests, ignoring official bans and unafraid of police brutality.
“Young people are taking to the streets on behalf of their parents, not against them,” said Moscow-based political analyst Ekaterina Schulmann. “Those kids enjoy the support of their parents who may be wary of the risks, may be afraid (of coming out)… but they share the same values.”
Zabara says his parents are supportive of his activism but are too afraid to join him on the streets, fearing repercussions for their jobs. Some teenagers attended the protest with their parents.
“Young people are coming out for us and taking the hit,” he said in a video blog earlier this week, adding that older people should “feel ashamed.”
More than 1,000 people were arrested at protest rallies across Russia last Sunday.
The most recent wave of anti-government protests erupted in spring 2017 when opposition leader Alexei Navalny released a YouTube expose of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s alleged wealth. The video got more than 27 million views, and Navalny’s foray into social media and YouTube blogging brought to the streets a younger, more determined and angrier generation.
Emboldened by support from the youth, Navalny has been gathering supporters in central locations in Moscow and other cities, often resulting in run-ins with the police.
Viktor, a 16-year old high school student who asked his last name not to be published for fear of trouble in school, said he started going to rallies last year. He believed the protest crowd is ready to go one step further.
“I can feel this transformation of the youth, of the minds. Before that the rallies were like you shout all you want and then everyone leaves,” he said. “Now people are staying, organizing round-the-clock rallies, marching on to the Kremlin.”
At the demonstration on Sunday, several dozen protesters charged at barriers across the road from the Kremlin and clashed with riot police. The rally fizzled out after some of them were beaten up by police and detained. In the end, some 20 protesters decided to camp out at the protest venue and spend the night there. In the morning, police officers showed up at what looked like an improvised picnic, and asked the young people to go to the police station with them.
Four days later, a dozen young protesters were still roaming the streets of Moscow.
Talking about the protest’s turn to violence is fraught with consequences in Russia, as law enforcement agencies have been using new draconian laws to bring criminal charges against opposition-minded youth for something as minor as a blog post or a tweet.
Zabara says the protesters are willing to consider “more radical methods” and go further than their parents, adding that many young people have been inspired by demonstrations in neighboring Armenia, where the country’s long-serving president and government resigned in the face of massive street protests. He quickly added, however, that he supports a peaceful resistance.
Urban youth are becoming gradually disenchanted with Putin as the state has been aggressively promoting anti-Western attitudes, patriotism and traditional Christian values — including lectures about Orthodox Christianity at schools and universities and officials assailing specific Western films or music.
Lev Gudkov, director of the independent polling agency Levada Center, says the pollsters are beginning to see Putin’s popularity among young people wane.
“Something began to change with young people last year,” he said. “Young people don’t like the anti-Western rhetoric and an embrace of traditional values as far as youth culture, fashion, sexual behavior and morals are concerned.”
Gudhov said the youths who self-organize via messenger chats and get beaten up by riot police are getting a crash course in political activism — and will soon form a solid opposition when they’re older.
“That protest-minded youth who get hit by batons… they will learn how to resist the pressure,” he said. “And we can expect a consolidated resistance against the authoritarian regime before too long.”
Young Russians taking the lead in anti-Putin protests
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(((protestors)))
what do you expect, with no jobs for the young it is easy to hire them. but, I thought Putin was Israel's graestist ally?
(((You)))
The older generation lived in a world where you could get a visit from a kgb agent and never be seen again. You think twice about protesting the goverment when you lived in the real life 1984
Stupid fucking kids fighting for their own destruction. The west is crumbling to dust, a value free assortment of slaves.
Putin a few KGB functionaries and about 200 jews have looted the entire country and control almost all of the wealth. Fuck off kremlin nigger
No it's not. America has never been stronger and it has the best leader in the world. Economy is booming, spics are being deported, gun rights are being protected, conservative judges are being appointed to Supreme Court, and Kim Jong Un is licking Trump's boots to curry favor.
American confidence is back while Russia rots from within.
Russia is in a recession and 1 out of every 5 will be muslium by 2030. Russia is crumbling
God bless Alexei Navalny
Your analysis does not add up. If Putin was 100% under Jewish control, then why did he befriend Solzhenitsyn? Why has he publicly criticize male circumcision?
No Jewish puppet would dare do these things.
Ok dummy. If Putin is 110% under Jewish control, then why is the Jewish-owned media in America doing everything in their power to overthrow him. That doesn't add up.
Your "everything is a conspiracy" is cultural sabotage. People like you would shoot our allies because of some bat-shit crazy conspiracy.
Somewhat… we have a lot of problems but it could be a lot worse.
Somewhat… the election did postpone America's final death knell for some time, especially if the courts and SCOTUS gets flipped more conservative. We still have some major problems… the borders are still wide open with illegals pouring in, domestic industry growth is a lot slower than what the MSM is telling you (as usual), our country is more divided than ever before (we might see another civil war), and the BIG issue: global DE-dollarization (which could threaten our reserve currency status and cause hyperinflation in the not-too-distant future)…. so we are by not means off the hook! Trump has only managed postponed our fate so far.
>It's only a conspiracy if it doesn't fit my (((narrative)))
OK, rabbi
+15
That's because young Russians didn't go through living HELL like their parents went through during the times of the Soviet Union. Putin restored Russia and prevented them becoming such a communist shithole again. Mr. Putin is a capitalist, thus all the communist anger towards him and his nation. Under Putin, their GDP has risen over 1,000%, they paid all their debts off meaning 0 debt, and have massive amounts of economic reserves stored up like gold, silver and oil.
Most adult Russians miss USSR.
No fucking way, oligarchy != capitalism.
The Russian military still uses patched up Soviet era weapon systems and equipment. The reason for this is because Putin and his (((supporters))) have robbed the national treasury of all its wealth. He's a thief and a traitor to ethnic Russian people. He's not even ethnic Russian himself. His mother is Jewish.
If that were true they'd overthrow their elected president and change their political affiliations and push radical policies.
They do have an oligarchy, thats true. But its not a communist oligarchy like the USSR had, its a capitalist one without the mass starvation and gulags.
(((KGB))) Putin is still a card carrying commie.
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History has taught these "people" that there are two options: stick to those in power or shut the fuck up. That's how so many adult russians "just so happened" to be religious once putin came into true power.
So the difference between communism and capitalism boils down to the latter not having gulags huh?
+15
Putin is actually an android built in USSR to protect USSR.
The major difference is that capitalism is successful and less draconian. Its not perfect mind you - but it works. Communism is hellish and never works in the long-term. Communism always collapses at some point (typically from mass insolvency and/or social instability).
Neither of that is part of definition of capitalism. You remove gulags from communist country it doesn't become capitalist. You add gulags to capitalist country it doesn't become communist.
Putin, like Trump, is a Zionist. This is very obvious. The difference is that Putin, like Trump, is capitalist… NOT a communist. Some Jews are communists, others tend to be capitalists. So there are some internal conflicts between Zionists but they try their best to not let this be publicly known.
Correct but I'm not just referring to gulags here. There are various fiscal differences as well. What the Western media fails to point out is that Putin *defected from communism, and he has reformed. He used to be communist and worked for the KGB, but he defected long ago and this the media never dares say.
Hes a KGB agent and has publicly declared he never burned his communist party card or given up on communism
Trump is a nationalist, first and foremost. The most nationalistic U.S. President in over 100 years.
He's Jew influenced, as are all politicians, but he's not Jew controlled, which is why the Zionist MSM attack him every single day.
The Zionist MSM attack him every single day because he's capitalist and a nationalist as well. It has nothing to do with his Zionist connections, that they could care less about. They do care that - like Putin - he has potential to restore national sovereignty which is a threat to their neo-liberal globalist agenda. Again, there is a rift between Zionists, some want globalism (one world governance), others want nationalism (national sovereignty). Notice the rifts between Benjamin Netanyahu and George Soros? Both are corrupt Zionists but the difference is Netanyahu is a nationalist and Soros is a globalist. So there are heavy disputes between these Zionist Jewish factions.