Image: Russian Channel1 broadcast screen grab
Yesterday, Monday, 14 March was a regular day on Russia's Channel 1 TV channel. Until the studio was video-bombed by the brave lady named Marina Ovsyannikova. Her feat? Walking behind the anchor in the view of the camera with a sign that read "No war" in English followed by the text in Russian that read, "Stop the war/Don't believe the propaganda/They are ling", followed by English text n the bottom that read, "Russians against war".
Ovsyannikova in her own words (video)
This is clearly a violation of employment rules, one has to acknowledge that in a sane society. But that would be that. Not so in today's Russia. In Russia, following the start of the war in Ukraine the legislature passed a law hat makes it a crime to make statements deliberately misinforming on the activities of the country's armed forces. Such dastardly crime is to be punished by up to 15 years of imprisonment. Of course, the key question is, who decides what is misinformation and what is defined as being related to the armed forces'activities. For example, the official line currently dictates that the activities of the Russian military in Ukraine - the war which is the largest war in Europe since World War Two - are not to be referred to as war as the campaign was officially defined as "special operation".
It is in that context that we need to look at Ovsyannikova's protest. That makes her action nothing short of heroic. And I am saying that in all seriousness.
Thus far, Ovsyannikova has been fined 30,000 Roubles (an equivalent of under 300 USD) which is, best I can tell, an administrative fine imposed for some sort of public nuisance. She may still face criminal charges under the new law. In addition, if prior practice of repressions, especially dating back to the Soviet era, is that she may be confined to a psychiatric facility and drugged into insanity. Hopefully these concerns are unfounded - but, given how massively Soviet realities are being revived, this can not be ruled out.
Today's Russia is moving towards a totalitarian society. It is also pursuing colonial ambitions, of which the war in Ukraine appears to only be one piece of the puzzle. Its censorship policy is curiously similar to that many parties in the West are trying to push by way of political correctness or attempts to fight "medical disinformation" - just like the government's narrative is the only valid one in that paradigm when it comes to any discussion of COVID in many countries in the US, in Russia the government's narrative is the only one you are allowed to voice when it comes to the war (sorry, "special operation"). The regime in Moscow is, by all indications, under extreme stress. That makes it very dangerous - and that, naturally, makes the actions of those who, like Ovsyannikova, stand up to the regime all the more heroic.
And one more point: some people opposed to the creeping globalist tyranny, the tyranny trying to establish itself by way of politically correct censorship and corporate stranglehold tend to view Russia as a force fighting against these trends. But that vision is likely short-sighted as "soft" tyranny of political correctness and "hard" tyranny of Putin's regime are not the opposites, they are merely two flavors of the same oppressive regime. In my opinion, true liberals - people who value liberty, free enterprise, individual rights - ought to oppose both with equal vigor.
References
Some are in English, some in Russian.
A protester storms Russia’s most-watched news show, yelling ‘Stop the war!’
Anton Troianovski, New York Times Service, 14 March 2022
На сотрудницу «Первого канала», ворвавшуюся в прямой эфир с антивоенным плакатом, составлен протокол
Nicholas Sergeev, Anastasia Larina, Kommersant, 14 March 2022
Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian journalist tells of 14-hour interrogation
BBC, 15 March 2022
Russia fights back in information war with jail warning
Reuters, 4 March 2022
Senator Amy Klobuchar seeks to quell health misinformation on social media
Mark MacCarthy, The Brookings Institution. 27 July 2021
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I saw it on news. Brave girl, I think she was arrested. Russia is being isolated and also is isolating itself from the world.
I don't know whether the Russian people are aware of what is waiting for them in the future. If things go in this way, Russia might be another North Korea.
She is also a mother of two small children. She was arrested, questioned for about 14 hours with no relief or access to her family or a lawyer (no word as to whether she was subjected to physical violence too). In the morning, she was taken to court and fined administratively and released. She may still face criminal charges. Personally, I think she would be well advised to leave the country ASAP if she is able to.
As to the Russian people - best I can tell, there are two societies, more or less. One is globalised and plugged into the global info space. Those are people who likely know as much as you or I. And the second one are people who have basically been hypnotized by the propaganda - and they are quite comfortable in that literal pseudo-reality (much like so many people are deluded here about COVID, for example). That's best I can tell. And yes, this sort of societal delusion and oppression certainly create something like a North Korea.
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BEER.A truly heroic deed, since we are now imprisoned for this and many people are simply afraid to go to rallies.
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