May 10, 2018

Monstrous Protests, Mobile Plants, and Too Much Paper


Monstrous Protests, Mobile Plants, and Too Much Paper
Protests, Counter-protests, and Non-protest Protests Galore!

1. Mayday! It’s May Day! On May 1, most Russians celebrated Labor Day (aka Solidarity Day), replete with parades, marches, and demonstrations. However, some Russians also gathered in a “Monstration,” which is an absurdist public demonstration native to Russia. Moscow had its first Monstration this year, and participants went all out with signs that meant nothing or that poked fun at traditional political signs. In a darker twist of absurdity, hints of political overtones put the police on their guard, and several people were not allowed to participate or were even arrested. Is the joke on the police for not getting the joke, or on the de-monstrators for getting one-upped by the police? You decide.

2. Alternative energy is setting sail as Russia launches the world’s first floating nuclear power plant. The power plant, named the Akademik Lomonosov, is being towed from St. Petersburg to Murmansk, where it will be fueled. After that pit stop, Akademik Lomonosov will travel to its final destination in the Arctic, where it will provide energy for a water desalination plant and oil rigs. Greenpeace has spoken out against the power plant, citing its potential for disaster. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope there’s only smooth sailing in Akademik Lomonosov’s future.

Photo: ChNPP

3. All right, everybody better be recycling. This week, the Russian state media censor Roskomnadzor called on Russians to throw paper soccer balls out of their windows in support of the provision of high-speed internet at the 2018 World Cup, even linking to a 20-minute video that describes how to make the balls. This sounds innocent enough, but it is oddly reminiscent of the paper airplanes that Russians are throwing in protest of Roskomnadzor for blocking the messaging app Telegram. The rules of rock, paper, scissors are pretty easy, but it sounds like Roskomnadzor is trying to beat paper with paper.

Photo: Сказки для детей Обучающее видео

In Odder News:

Photo: yav_zone

  • The writing on the wall: subversive Swan Lake graffiti greeted Vladimir Putin in honor of his inauguration

  • Curls of conquest: veterans received free haircuts in preparation for Victory Day

  • Story update: last week’s ruble wrongdoer has been caught!

Quote of the Week:

“Say no to anti-semiotics”

— One Monstration demonstrator’s absurd sign

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955