Protests against Putin sweep Russia as factories go broke

[Turborama]

Source: The Observer

From Vladivostok to St Petersburg, Russians are taking to the streets in anger over job losses, unpaid wages and controls on imported cars

Luke Harding in Khabarovsk

Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, is facing the most sustained and serious grassroots protests against his leadership for almost a decade, with demonstrations that began in the far east now spreading rapidly across provincial Russia.

Over the past five months car drivers in the towns of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, on Russia's Pacific coast, have staged a series of largely unreported rallies, following a Kremlin decision in December to raise import duties on secondhand Japanese cars. The sale and servicing of Japanese vehicles is a major business, and Putin's diktat has unleashed a wave of protests. Instead of persuading locals to buy box-like Ladas, it has stoked resentment against Moscow, some nine time zones and 3,800 miles (6,100km) away.

"They are a bunch of arseholes," Roma Butov said unapologetically, standing in the afternoon sunshine next to a row of unsold Nissans. Asked what he thought of Russia's leaders, he said: "Putin is bad. Medvedev is bad. We don't like them in the far east." Butov, 33, and his brother Stas, 25, are car-dealers in Khabarovsk, not far from the Chinese border. Their dusty compound at the edge of town is filled with secondhand models from Japan, including saloons, off-roaders and a bright red fire engine. Here everyone drives a Japanese vehicle.

=snip=

Across Russia's unhappy provinces, Putin is facing the most significant civic unrest since he became president in 2000. Over the past decade ordinary Russians have been content to put up with less freedom in return for greater prosperity. Now, however, the social contract of the Putin era is unravelling, and disgruntled Russians are taking to the streets, as they did in the 1990s, rediscovering their taste for protest.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/07/russia-putin-policies-protests

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Could this be the build up to another Russian revolution?

[xchrom]

1. recommend -- very interesting

'Over the past five months car drivers in the towns of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, on Russia's Pacific coast, have staged a series of largely unreported rallies, following a Kremlin decision in December to raise import duties on secondhand Japanese cars. The sale and servicing of Japanese vehicles is a major business, and Putin's diktat has unleashed a wave of protests. Instead of persuading locals to buy box-like Ladas, it has stoked resentment against Moscow, some nine time zones and 3,800 miles (6,100km) away.'

[madrchsod]

2. we really are sheep are`t we.....

the argentinian`s are taking over the shuttered factories and the russian`s are taking to the streets while we meekly walk away from the last good jobs we will ever have. ya i`m guilty as charged too.

[CHIMO]

3. Maybe

The next time the Bolsheviks will loose and the socialists will win.

[BolivarianHero]

6. If you have something stupid to say, don't say it at all!

Don't ever refer to Stalin and his clique as Bolsheviks. You're feeding the neo-liberal lie.

[Vidar]

9. You've said it well.

[KillCapitalism]

4. I wish I could tell them "Told ya so!"

The Russians are finally finding out that capitalism isn't as grand as they once thought it was.

[Abq_Sarah]

7. They're protesting import duties

On foreign cars because Putin wants to pressure them into purchasing cars they don't want.

[Odin2005]

5. Uh-Oh. Looks like Tsar Pootie-Poot isn't as popular as he thought he was!

[go west young man]

8. This article is pure bullshit.

I've been to Russia 5 times and have many Russian friends. Putin is incredibly popular still due to the prosperity he brought them and the way he deals with the oligarchs. The article clearly states in the last paragraphs.

"According to Efimenko, there is little danger Russia will have a revolution. Instead of wanting to overthrow the Kremlin, most Russians want Putin to turn up personally and solve their problems - an age-old model in which Putin plays the role of benevolent tsar. Analysts believe there is little possibility of an Orange Revolution in Russia, or much appetite for western-style reform.

The big winner from the protests are the siloviki - the hardline military-intelligence faction, who advocate more state control of business, and want to get rid of the Kremlin's remaining liberals. The big loser is Medvedev, the hapless president, who may be turfed out of the presidency when his term expires in 2012.


A question for DU'ers posting here. What side are you on? The hardline military greedy factions who have a minimal protest that gets covered by the West as an "uprising" every now and then? Or Putins?

Russians love Putin because they know there is a very strong possibility whoever comes along after Medvedev and Putin will be a lot worse.
The West hates Putin/Medvedev because they are great chess players in the "Game" for the worlds resources. After all they control most of Europes gas and have much better access to those resources than the West does.

[Igel]

10. Better put:

"Putin is incredibly popular still due to the prosperity he's perceived to have brought them and the way he's portrayed as dealing with the oligarchs."

The economy was on the upswing before he was elected, but unemployment there, as in the US, lags things like investment and building of infrastructure. He didn't deal with all the oligarchs--just those that were in his way. Those that agreed with him were nicely coopted--they continue to wield influence and rake in the dough, but since they're "good" oligarchs there's not a media campaign against them.

Please don't pose false choices. Putin's no more interested in the population than Eltsyn or Brezhnev were: They're a means to an end, and in Putin's case it's in keeping with his belief that the disintegration of the USSR or, more properly, the Russian empire, was a sin against mankind and God. So, which kind of totalitarian imperialism do you prefer--fascist or Communist? Ah, you probably don't like false choices, either.

I'd also note that not all those protesting are "hardline military" or "greedy". I guess accuracy just doesn't get us where we need to go.

However, I agree that they probably think whoever comes along after Putin and Bear will be worse. He might be; if history predicts the future, he's likely to be. However, I still hold out hope that maybe, just maybe, Russia can do better that Putler.

[go west young man]

11. The economy was on the upswing before he was elected?

Even though Yeltsin had practically given away Russia's resources and let the oligarchs have whatever they wanted? The people of Russia who many I know personally love what Putin has done for their country. Ask any of the smart young Russian lady's who work as waitresses or concierges in resorts or hotels along the US coast who they admire as a leader in their country and you will get one name. Putin. I would also add that Putin isn't interested in communism obviously as the opposition party and the protesters mentioned are the former communists. He has an admiration for Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution when it comes to art and European culture. He seems to want new Russia to be respected for it's culture and history prior to communism while at the same time he and Medvedev are working on infrastructure and building a more prosperous new Russia. he's had very little help from the West who were incredibly antagonistic under Bush. I don't agree with everything he's done. I.E. Chechnya and he has been slow on crime and corruption in the police force and politics but that too is also changing. Russia has a long way to go but once again they need a leader like Putin. He is the right man for the time. In Russia there's a saying. "Eta Russia". Meaning simply it's Russia. It could always be worse.

[go west young man]

12. I would also add this excerpt from Wikipedia on economic growth

after Yeltsin and during the Putin years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

The economic crisis that struck all post-Soviet countries in the 1990s was nearly twice as intense as the Great Depression in the countries of Western Europe and the United States in the 1930s.<119><120> Even before the financial crisis of 1998, Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s.<120> Since the turn of the century, rising oil prices, increased foreign investment, higher domestic consumption and greater political stability have bolstered economic growth in Russia. The country ended 2007 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. In 2007, Russia's GDP was $2.076 trillion (est. PPP), the 6th largest in the world, with GDP growing 8.1% from the previous year. Growth was primarily driven by non-traded services and goods for the domestic market, as opposed to oil or mineral extraction and exports.<6> The average salary in Russia was $640 per month in early 2008, up from $80 in 2000.<121> Approximately 14% of Russians lived below the national poverty line in 2007,<122> significantly down from 40% in 1998 at the worst of the post-Soviet collapse.<81> Unemployment in Russia was at 6% in 2007, down from about 12.4% in 1999.<123><124>


Russia has the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves and the eighth largest oil reserves. It is the world's leading natural gas exporter and the second leading oil exporter. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of Russian exports abroad.<6> Since 2003, however, exports of natural resources started decreasing in economic importance as the internal market strengthened considerably. Despite higher energy prices, oil and gas only contribute to 5.7% of Russia's GDP and the government predicts this will drop to 3.7% by 2011.<125> Russia is also considered well ahead of most other resource-rich countries in its economic development, with a long tradition of education, science, and industry.<126> The country has more higher education graduates than any other country in Europ