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Opinion&Analysis
Russia’syoungandrestlessspeakup,AnastasiaSergeeva
Turbulentornotsoturbulent1990s
Today’snewgenerationofactivistswasborninthemidtolate1990s.Teyare
childrenofthosewhowereyounginthe1980s.Teyknowaboutperestroikaand
thefalloftheSovietUniononlyfromhistorylessonsandtheirparents’stories.
Forthemtheideaofthehorribleandchaotic1990sorthewonderfulandstable
SovietUnionisadistantmyth.Teseyoungstersgrewupwiththeinternetand
mobilephones.Teywitnessedtheircountrygrowrichandtheybelievedthatthe
oilmoneywouldstillbethereforthemwhentheygetolder.Teywerereadyto
receivethesebenefits,butithasturnedoutthattheinternetiscensored,mobile
phonesaremonitored,Russiaissurroundedbyenemiesandallthebenefitsare
gone.Teyexpectedtoliveinaworldwithunlimitedopportunities,butinstead
theyhaveinheritedonewithlittleprospects.
Inaway,theyouthproteststhattookplaceinRussiain2017areacontinua-
tionoftheirparents’story.Telattergainednewopportunitiesandweretoleave
themtotheirchildren.Yet,inreality,theyfailedtopreservethem:Teyweretoo
busyadaptingtheirlivestothenewreality,graspingnewrulesandboundaries,and
searchingforawayoflifethatwouldbethemostrewarding.Teywantedfree-
dom,eventhoughtheywerenotreadytoabandoneverythingfromtheprevious
system.Tus,theydreamtofpoliticalandmarketliberalisation(atartificiallylow
prices)alongsidesecureemploymentandwages.Teyalsodidnotthinkofbeing
involvedinpoliticsandleftthatspheretoitstraditionalparticipants–peopleover
40.Teonlyexceptionwasthe1996uVoteoryou’lllose!”campaign–whichdid
notyieldadesiredresult.Intherun-ońelectionBorisYeltsinranagainstGennady
Zyuganov,buthadtoreachouttoathirdleader,GeneralAlexanderLebed(who
attractedvotersover40yearsold),toconsolidateadditionalsupport.
OrangeRevolutionanditsdiscontents
Putin’scampaigns,despitetheirmessageofchangeandrejuvenation,were
neveraimedatyoungvoters.Instead,theoldattitudethatyouthdoesnotthink
aboutpoliticsprevailed.However,whileindeedintheearly2000stheyoungpeo-
plewerefocusedonstudying,findingajobandbuildingacareer,adecadelater,
theparticipantsofthe2011–2012rallieswerereportedlycomplainingthatthey
hadmissedthechancetofightfortheirbeliefs.Tus,withouttheirreaction,the
governmentwasabletoshutdowntheindependentNTVchannel,takecontrolof
themedia,intimidateoligarchsandimprisonMikhailKhodorkovsky.Evenmore,
atthetimewhentheirUkrainianpeerstooktotheMaidanandfoughtagainst
