Not Bolotnaya

The Washington Post reported that the organizers put the attendance at up to half a million. They had hoped for less than half that. It was surreal how similar this all felt, and my Russian friends on social media confirmed it: “Totally Bolotnaya,” one of them wrote.

I most sincerely hope this protest was not another Bolotnaya. Because the anti -Putin protest on Bolotnaya resulted in an explosion of authoritarianism in Russia, an invasion of Ukraine, an invasion of Syria, and the eventual heartfelt embrace by most of the opposition of Putinism. Most of those who marched against Putin in 2012 are very sincerely singing his praise today. He gave them nationalism, and they were seduced. So no, let’s not compare yesterday’s protest to that colossal fiasco.

4 thoughts on “Not Bolotnaya”

Zero arrests in the DC march today.

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The local protest here was very much like Bolotnaya: People carrying banners in Cyrillic, babushkas pushing their young charges in strollers or holding their hands as they walked, it was very exciting.

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Clarissa says:

January 22, 2017 at 10:11

There were no old people at the Bolotnaya. The old people are all for Putin because they love the USSR. But I’m glad somebody knows that babushka is not a shawl.

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1. cliff arroyo says:
  
  January 22, 2017 at 10:59
  
  “I’m glad somebody knows that babushka is not a shawl.”
  
  Of course it’s not a shawl….. it’s a song!
  
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