Annals of Russian Hypocrisy

Filed under:

We recently reported on the Russian government's outrageous suppression of political dissent, as evidenced most recently in Nizhny Novgorod. As we've mentioned, the other side of the story is the use of Kremlin authority to bolster and support pro-government activity, such as the recent rally by the "Nashi" ("us Slavic Russians") youth cult in Moscow where the activists were actually guarded by the police rather than victimized by them. Global Voices translates the comments of a well-known Russian blogger regarding the Nashi spectacle:

Gallery owner Marat Guelman (LJ user galerist) got hold of Nashi booklet - and here's what he thinks of it:

I felt somewhat jealous of [right-wing extremist leader] Eduard Limonov. To have such determined propagandists [as Nashi are] costs a lot.

In general, Nashi can be considered the founders of a new genre. The booklet resembles a brief user guide. For an extremely simple device (something like a hammer). Just a few words, but repeated on every page:

Fascists: Hitler and Limonov

Traitors: Andrei Vlasov [a Soviet Army General who cooperated with Nazi Germany during WWII] and Mikhail Kasyanov [Russia's PM from 2000 to 2004, who is currently Garry Kasparov's close ally]

Enemies: America and the liberals

Victims: Saddam Hussein and the Russian people

Friends: Putin and Putin tomorrow

As we reported long ago, along with all the other neo-Soviet developments in Russia these days, Russia is clearly attempting to revive the Komsomol youth cult as a way of gaining control over the future generations.