The NEST Centre pinpoints the real vulnerabilities of the Putin regime, and the picture that emerges flatters no one, least of all those of us who oppose him from outside.
This angle kind of gives license to passivity, a waiting game which is psychologically corrosive as it takes agency away from your initiatives and overlooks the power of subversive work that helps collapse the delusion of emperor’s clothes. Subversive work that is necessary and efficient in building in the collective imagination a “putinless” time - it is crucial to offer now (not only when!) a post dictator narrative so people can feel and think its inevitability. Here’s an idea : spread sorrowful propaganda about his funeral. How would it look, how sad many in Russia are allowed and likely to be, where would they pay respects, etc and how would the survivors strengthening songs sound? A post Putin lore of sorts, legend baked in, but making flesh the post-mortem. Do it. I won’t even charge for the idea
For centuries, Russia has been ruled by small elite groups. The elites have changed, but the system of the "vertical of power" has endured.
From where, then, does the optimism stem that things might be different after Putin’s death?
Perhaps the next scenario will be an alliance between the security apparatus and a handful of oligarchs—an arrangement in which the oligarchs involve the *Siloviki* and pay them off
I used to feel that Russians are very like Americana, want to have a good normal life, to take care of family, to have purpose, to be a good citizen. The popular uprising, the least likely of the three, we have everyday to no effect, we don't "kick the bums out".
This angle kind of gives license to passivity, a waiting game which is psychologically corrosive as it takes agency away from your initiatives and overlooks the power of subversive work that helps collapse the delusion of emperor’s clothes. Subversive work that is necessary and efficient in building in the collective imagination a “putinless” time - it is crucial to offer now (not only when!) a post dictator narrative so people can feel and think its inevitability. Here’s an idea : spread sorrowful propaganda about his funeral. How would it look, how sad many in Russia are allowed and likely to be, where would they pay respects, etc and how would the survivors strengthening songs sound? A post Putin lore of sorts, legend baked in, but making flesh the post-mortem. Do it. I won’t even charge for the idea
And yet, whatever happens to Russia, it will be very different from what is outlined above and nobody will have seen it come
For centuries, Russia has been ruled by small elite groups. The elites have changed, but the system of the "vertical of power" has endured.
From where, then, does the optimism stem that things might be different after Putin’s death?
Perhaps the next scenario will be an alliance between the security apparatus and a handful of oligarchs—an arrangement in which the oligarchs involve the *Siloviki* and pay them off
I used to feel that Russians are very like Americana, want to have a good normal life, to take care of family, to have purpose, to be a good citizen. The popular uprising, the least likely of the three, we have everyday to no effect, we don't "kick the bums out".