Photos from yet another public protest action by the heroic patriots of Oborona, this one just a couple of weeks ago. The activists protested for democracy in Belarus outside the barbaric nation's embassy in Moscow. They were responding to the latest round of draconian crackdowns by the Belarussian dictator Lukashenko after an explosion in the capital city of Minsk on July 4th, which Lukashenko shamelessly used as a pretext. They carried copies of signs that protesters in Belarus were jailed for carrying.

Source: Garry Kasparov's blog.

"One of the largest state-sponsored monuments to the Gulag, this monument sits atop a hill in Astana, the capital of independent Kazakhstan. It incorporates the names of all the major Gulag camps in Kazakhstan, images of barbed wire and the black raven (symbolic of the prisoner truck bearing its name). Many of the non-Russian republics of the former Soviet Union have more readily dealt with the legacy of the Gulag, as they have built it into a narrative of what they (the Russians) did to us (the non-Russian peoples of whatever state). Of course, this simplifies a very complex history in many cases, but at least allows for the beginning of a conversation."

Where is the Russian Astana?

Russia can never escape the eternal shame it has brought upon itself for attempting to sweep the horror of the gulag under the national carpet. And the new online exhibition "Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives" from which the above photo was taken only serves to memorialize this point. A project not of the Russian government but of the American George Mason University and the Center for History and New Media, it documents the horror of worshiping Stalin, eerily similar to what is now happening with Vladimir Putin. A live exhibit will open in Washington DC later this summer.

And it underscores the single most important fact about Russian history: By far the worst murderer of Russians is other Russians. Russian xenophobia is, quite simply, utterly insane.

Russian blogger Savva Terentyev, upon learning he would be sentenced to a year in prison (suspended) for writing a comment on a blog the authorities didn't like, and below him the "judge" who issued that sentence in a decision that was ridiculed as being quasi-literate. Global Voices has the wrap-up and a review of Russian blog postings on the subject including the pathetically cowardly statements of Russia's #1 blogger Anton Nossik, who merely says he'd prefer the police catch violent criminals rather than scouring the blogosphere.

Google Video.

A reader points us to a YouTube video (embed disabled) in which, among other things, Vladimir Putin is shown ferociously growling as he lectures some Nashi youth cult members about the evil foreigners waiting to destroy them.

Lev Ponomaryov on the job, standing up for human rights in Russia and confronting the malignant forces of the Kremlin that oppose him.

Oborona posts photographs from the first meeting of the new "National Assembly" shadow parliament organization which is being supported by groups across the opposition spectrum:

Oborona announces the opening their new web video archive. Below is their slick promotional video set to rockin tunes:



Click through to view the many other offerings available, including much documentation of the group's courageous confrontations with the Kremlin's stormtroopers.

Russian opposition leader Oleg Kozlovsky, hours after being released from prison last week after serving a 13-day sentence on bogus charges designed to intimidate him and prevent him from taking part in the first meeting of Russia's new shadow parliament organization. His haggard appearance is due to a hunger strike undertaken to protest the illegal nature of his arrest.


Soon after his release, Oleg was surrounded by his comrades in arms at a local watering hole for his first decent meal in two weeks.

Source: Los Angeles Times (click image to play)

On May 1 in St. Petersburg Oborona activists, along with other opponents of the status quo in Russia, held a "march for freedom and justice." The participants paraded along Nevsky Prospect and other principal streets of the "Northern Capital" and held a rally at Pioneer Square. The dissenters chanted slogans such as: "We need another Russia!" and "Putin, go skiing in Magadan!"and "The Plan of Putin is Russia poverty!"and "This is our city!"

The event ended with a concert hosted by actor Alexei Devotchenko, a member of the United Civil Front (FSI). He invited opposition leaders express themselves in the language of music, calling Putin's regime "illegitimate" and condemning the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the activities of state. He followed Garry Kasparov, who said that United Russia was "looting" the country. Andrei Illarionov also spoke, asking those assembled to remember those who could not be present because they had been incarcerated, and calling for freedom for all political prisoners of the Putin regime.

A blogger in Grozny, Chechnya, posts current photographs of her home town, which Vladimir Putin has supposedly rebuilt into a civilized part of Russia:

On April 8th, the St. Petersburg chapter of Oborona signed an agreement of cooperation with the Youth Front of Belarus, their counterpart organization in the land of Lukashenko

Oborona's St. Peterburg branch reports that on March 31st, the eve of the start of spring conscription into the armed forces of the Russian Federation, unknown people placed a construction warning ribbon around the entrance to the local draft board facility, as shown above. They also leafleted the surrounding streets with notices stating that April 1st was "the beginning of hunting season . . . for people!"

Oleg Kozlovsky's new English-language blog reports on a recent march by its activists demanding the end of universal military conscription in Russia. Oborona posts photos from the event:

The YouTube above shows the offices of Oborona after being raided by the Kremlin's stormtroopers last week in an effort to evict them and drive them underground. Below, an Oborona activists heroically displays the group's colors during the raid.