Russian protest movement has implications for the U.S.

WASHINGTON – The Arab Spring political demonstrations in the Middle East dominated international headlines over the past two years, but the protest movement percolating in Russia was largely relegated to the media’s back pages.

At a lecture in Albuquerque on Sunday, Feb. 3, Marina Oborotova, the founder and president of the Center for International Studies and the Albuquerque International Association, will discuss the importance of the civil unrest in Russia and the reasons Americans should be paying attention to it. The lecture is a part of the association’s ongoing series “Bubble, Bubble, Boil and Trouble” that analyzes protest movements around the globe.

	If you go WHAT: Lecture on “A New Protest Movement in Russia (2011-2013): A Tempest in a Teapot, a Light at the End of the Tunnel, or a Sleeping Volcano?” by Dr. Marina Oborotova, founder and president of the Center for International Studies and the Albuquerque International Association WHERE: UNM Continuing Education Auditorium, 1634 University NE, Albuquerque WHEN: 3- 5 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 3 COST: $15 for AIA members; $20 for nonmembers; free for students with proper ID MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.abqinternational.org

A Russian native and scholar, Oborotova will discuss the ongoing protests and dissent affecting Russian politics and society in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major Russian cities.

An Albuquerque resident for the past 20 years, Oborotova told the Journal she’s followed developments in Russian life and politics closely since the days of Leonid Brezhnev in the Soviet Union. She co-authored a book about Russia with Sharyl Cross titled “The New Chapter in U.S.-Russian Relations: Opportunities and Challenges” that focused on the honeymoon period in U.S-Russian relations under President George H.W. Bush and President Boris Yeltsin.

In a Journal interview, she said the current protest movement is rooted in discontent with Putin’s authoritarian style of rule, disgust with government corruption and a system that offers people and their children few opportunities.

“The protests started in December 2011 after the fraudulent parliamentary elections in Russia and they continue today,” Oborotova said. “This is not adequately covered in the media and it is not properly understood … but what is happening in Russia is extremely important.”

Many Americans were fascinated by the fate of the all-girl punk rock band Pussy Riot whose members were jailed for what Russian authorities deemed “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” stemming from their performance inside a Moscow church. But Oborotova said it was really only a small part of the protest expression.

“The new protest movement really is unprecedented in the history of post-Communist Russia,” Oborotova said. “Young people are taking part in these demonstrations and it shows that the new generation of Russians – those who grew up after perestroika and were not affected that much by Soviet traditions – are coming into the political arena. These are the people who can and will eventually change Russia.”

“It represents democratization of Russia, not from above – not by Gorbachev or Yeltsin – but from below. It’s people going to the streets on their own. It shows the growth of civil society in Russia.”

She said that the movement is heterogeneous. Although the middle class, highly educated and pro-democratic forces are prominent in the movement, it also includes the left, nationalists, anarchists, sexual minorities and others.

“Putin is trying to cripple the movement but he can’t eliminate the root causes of the protest,” Oborotova added. “Although Putin is still in control, and although the movement is not very numerous and limited to Moscow and major cities, the process has begun and it has the potential to change Russia in the long run.”

She said the things the protesters are calling for – freer elections, more tolerance of dissent, equal opportunity for all – “in a word, democracy” – represent bedrock American values. “These are the values that are cherished in the United States – democratization and political freedom – so it is important to Americans from a values standpoint.

“This is something that Americans should be interested in,” she added. “This is not a tempest in the teapot, it is not a light at the end of the tunnel, but it represents tremors that signal an awakening of a sleeping volcano.”