OK. I don't disagree with any of that. But I still think it's somehow "flat" or
"surface" tactics only. Thanks to Tom for the Meduza link, this story also targets the
problem:
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/03/02/why-no-mass-protests-in-russia
Similar to the link off Cody's post, where you can send BTC to the "Come Back Alive"
charity <https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/> and the similar but anti-violence DAO set up
by the Pussy Riot member, there needs to be a way to in-group *actual* Russians while
out-grouping Putinistas. E.g.
https://news.sky.com/story/food-was-great-unfortunately-putin-spoiled-our-appetites-by-invading-ukraine-tripadvisor-disables-russian-reviews-12555968
In Patreon's takedown notice for the Come Back Alive charity, they point out that there are many Ukrainian "creators"
you can support directly. But we can also support in-group Russians directly, encouraging those who reject authoritarianism and
act within their own tiny little sphere of influence. Without those rhizomic tendrils of influence into and *with* our in-group
in Russia, ham-handed things like sanctions will simply turn them against us, against what they associate with
"democracy", "liberalism", and "the West". We already see this in the rhetoric from our socialist
lefties, blaming the status of Russian oligarchs on our introduction of neoliberalism after the collapse of the USSR. And we see
it in the righties at the convoy protests, objectifying "liberals" and blaming them for positions they don't even
really hold.
These blunt instruments like sanctions are better than, say, bombing Moscow,
but not by much. They're still too blunt. We won't win the socio-cultural or
climate war that way. We need tactics that unify the geographically/politically
*perforated* in-group as a network, not according to artificial nationalist
citizenhood and such.
The phrase "hearts and minds" helps, but isn't concrete enough.
On 3/2/22 16:04, Steve Smith wrote:
Glen -
I really appreciate your outlining this so well.
It is always easier to imagine that *other people* can magically do things that we know from our own experience that we cannot (or choose not to) do. I also felt very impotent to do much of anything about Trump's tenure except commit to myself (and encourage other fence sitters) to put aside petty ideals and vote *effectively* against Trump in 2020. I voted against Trump in 2016 but also Hillary by voting for Green Jill Stein (before I discovered what an anti-vaxxer she is, even as an MD). I would not have done so if I thought NM could fall to Trump, but if I'd lived in another state where he was a shoo-in I might have also thrown my vote into the "protest" category. Biden was easier for me than Hillary to accept, even though I'd have chosen any one of about half the big slate in the primaries. Bernie near the top. I may have talked a few of my more curmudgeonly friends out of voting for a write-in simply because they didn't get Bernie (or Mayor Pete or Tulsi or ...)
. This was one election where the total "popular vote" was important even if it didn't "count" as such. There were a couple of candidates I'd have had a hard time not passing over in "protest" but not if it was going to change the outcome.
I do think, however, that gumming up Russia's gears, even if it hits the
populace hard is important. Making the clear, unequivocal statement that
Authoritarian Belligerence isn't welcome. I was shamed by the US under Trump
(and Bush for that matter) but did not begrudge my shamers... I did (do) feel
responsible for what my country does in my name, even if/though I feel fairly
disempowered in most specific ways.
I doubt that the Russian citizenry is suffering any more than the Ukranian
citizenry, and insomuch as many of them are friends/family, there are surely
things *they* can do to help Ukrainians that is hard for the likes of you or me
to do. That doesn't mean I shouldn't try, though I do moderate that by the
myriad *other* things i should be doing both domestic and foreign with my
first-world privilege.
If we can make it out the other side of this without a devastating (or even
trivial but earthshaking) nuclear exchange, I hope it leads to many rethinking
the size of the world's nuclear stockpile. I just saw a headline that implied
that Belarus was going to host some of Russia's nukes. It was *the right
thing* for Ukraine to give up the nukes on it's soil at the end of cold war,
but imagine how things would look (better or worse) if Russia knew that Ukraine
held a handful of nukes? Time to disarm ourselves...
-Steve
This video brings home, to me, the inherent conflict with "do what it takes to
...":
I'm Russian I want the rest of the world to hear me out
https://youtu.be/FUE40mkEYeo
Even though I'm worried she's a plant, she makes the valid point that things like sanctions
don't hurt the ultra wealthy. And in a country where the elections really are rigged (or you're
young enough to have had no way to intervene before the gravity well became inescapable), what
does it mean to "do what it takes to ..."? The last number I heard was Russian
authorities arrested 2700 protesters. And given guys like Magomed Tushayev
<https://www.jpost.com/international/article-699032>, the gods only know what else has
happened.
I mean, I felt pretty impotent with Trump as President. And I'm a relatively
well-off white male in a relatively trustworthy democracy. What hope do those
fed up with Putin and his government have? Only the hopes of coming years, if
not decades of poverty, protesting, and bearing the risk of dying in jail or at
the hands of a Tushayev?
On 3/2/22 14:59, Steve Smith wrote:
I like to hope that the net effect of Putin's nonsense on the heels of
Trump&Co's nonsense is that everyone else might actually get fed up with
Authoritarian capriciousness and do what it takes to shove it out the airlock and
get on with our lives w/o so much of the toxic something-ulinity.
--
glen
When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
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