I was listening to an interview on protests in Georgia (the country) at the end of April.
This article skips over the full weight of this seemingly innocuous (heck, even seemingly valuable!) disclosure law for organizations with 20%+ foreign funding, but the key is that Russia in 2012 used a similar law as a wedge to disrupt civil society.
So locals know it's a dogwhistle. It invites *more*, not less sowing of disruption in favour of foreign interests.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/georgia-russia-how-dream-of-freedom-unravelled-foreign-agents-law
Something Adam Curtis described in one of his docs has stuck with me for years:
One way Putin's Russia solidified was through investment in political action groups across the spectrum. The key was to discourage citizens from feeling they could trust any initiative for change to be genuine. That's how you keep people in line: Believe me! Everyone else is lying to you!
It's been a good tactic for many operators (including Russia with other countries!) ever since. And we just aren't ready for it.
@MLClark Adam Cutis documentaries are brilliant
Bitter Lake · Pandora's Box · Modern Times · Inside Story · The Century of the Self and HyperNormalisation to name a few
The series Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone is also awesome six 1hr episodes
Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone is SO GOOD.
It also affirmed the feeling captured in Svetlana Alexievich's Secondhand Time (2013), if you've ever come across her recording of oral histories. She covers the disorientation of the 90s vividly, in a way that also acutely highlights how the era shaped the cultural consciousness that would come next.
@MLClark I haven't heard of that I'll certainly check it out though 👍
I really liked Bitter Lake, footage of the west’s 13 year engagement in Afghanistan was interesting and not met well by loadsa people/critics in UK, and HyperNormalisation, another goof one IMO love the "acid" Curtis gives in his docs, all of Curtis docs are worthy of a watch
Thanks for the tip deffo look at that
As another Curtis fan, I had a sneaking suspicion Alexievich might be right up your alley. She also wrote Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War, which is another powerful emotional history of the era.
I feel like she and Curtis are aesthetic kin, even if they're working in different media.
@MLClark zinky boys added to list 👍
Its always good when you stubble onto someone who's an aesthetic-kin-like to someone you like - ty
@MLClark *acid affect* lol obvs he doesn't give "acid" 😂😂