Over the past two years, public protests have become increasingly common in Russia: a conflict over the Shiyes landfill site in Russia’s far north; a campaign against an Orthodox church being built on a Ekaterinburg city square; protests in Moscow in support of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, and over city council elections - these actions have become a milestone in the recent history of protest politics in the country. Or at least, that’s how it feels for activists, interested observers and expert commentators.
Some commentators have rushed to see something new and revolutionary in these “regional” protests - a radical challenge to the Russian state by society. But does this view betray a certain confirmation bias? A new study of the Ekaterinburg and Shiyes protests in 2019 suggests a different picture: these protests have crystallised a demand for a democratic state in Russia - one that would be capable of dialogue with civil society, act in the interests of the “people” and be accountable to them.
This is a demand by active citizens, rather than passive individuals and it signifies something bigger than just “sympathy for the state”. Indeed, perhaps we are seeing a shift from the politics of protest to grassroots politics as a regular process in Russia.
