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

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
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.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
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.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
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.  
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

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