Anti-War Movement in Russia: Making Resistance Visible
Soloveva, Valeriia (2023)
Soloveva, Valeriia
2023
Yhteiskuntatutkimuksen maisteriohjelma - Master's Programme in Social Sciences
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-05-18
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305135731
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305135731
Tiivistelmä
The Russian invasion of Ukraine was followed by a wave of mass protests in Russia that soon was halted by the adoption of increasingly restrictive laws and wide-spread police violence. Despite continuous repressions, the anti-war resistance did not disappear and instead, it acquired new, creative forms.
This thesis aimed to investigate the meaning, power and limit of non-violent acts of anti-war resistance in Russia. This was achieved by researching the socio-political environment within which anti-war movements and their participants operated and non-violent ways to perform anti-war resistance. The research was built on the basis of the theory of the everyday, resistance studies and the theory of social movements. The data was collected from a project called Vidimiy Protest that captured the evidence of anti-war resistance. The thesis employed visual analysis to analyze the data.
The thesis concludes that these non-violent acts of anti-war resistance disrupt people’s everyday, influencing identities, opinions and attitudes. Although these acts might not have an immediate impact, they may create extraordinary circumstances needed for people to look and understand beyond dominating discourse. At the current stage, these acts do not seem to have enough power and favorable circumstances to push social change by themselves, however, they play a crucial role in ensuring the continuity of resistance, inspiring it further.
This thesis aimed to investigate the meaning, power and limit of non-violent acts of anti-war resistance in Russia. This was achieved by researching the socio-political environment within which anti-war movements and their participants operated and non-violent ways to perform anti-war resistance. The research was built on the basis of the theory of the everyday, resistance studies and the theory of social movements. The data was collected from a project called Vidimiy Protest that captured the evidence of anti-war resistance. The thesis employed visual analysis to analyze the data.
The thesis concludes that these non-violent acts of anti-war resistance disrupt people’s everyday, influencing identities, opinions and attitudes. Although these acts might not have an immediate impact, they may create extraordinary circumstances needed for people to look and understand beyond dominating discourse. At the current stage, these acts do not seem to have enough power and favorable circumstances to push social change by themselves, however, they play a crucial role in ensuring the continuity of resistance, inspiring it further.