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TOPIC: marina ovsyannikova

In The News

McCarthy Ousted, Venice Bus Crash Kills 21, Chemistry Nobel Leak

👋 你好*

Welcome to Wednesday, where U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is ousted, Italian authorities launch an investigation into the bus crash that killed 21 near Venice, and Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences inadvertently releases the winners’ names of the Nobel Chemistry Prize earlier than planned. Meanwhile, ahead of the Oct. 15 Polish elections, we look at how some political parties are competing for conservative Catholic voters by promising more draconian anti-abortion laws.

[*Lí-hó - Taiwanese Hokkien]

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The Russian Art Of Protesting Through Silence

English Professor Jacob Edmond takes a look at the creative ways that Russian journalists, writers and artists are turning forced silence into powerful statements.

-Analysis-

“It is impossible to stop a speeding train by throwing oneself onto the tracks,” wrote Russian poet Dmitry Kuzmin back in March. He was commenting on Olga Gordienko, a young teacher who, before she was arrested, stood for several minutes on a Moscow street with a sign that read:

At least don’t lie to yourself. War is death. Enough of this bloody fight for peace!

While acknowledging the teacher’s bravery, Kuzmin warned protestors to take care. Change would not come through such isolated acts, however admirable.

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What would you do if your country launched a war of aggression, causing tens of thousands of deaths and displacing millions? What if the price of protest or even posting objections on social media was arrest and imprisonment?

What if you knew that over the past decades many of your country’s most outspoken journalists had been killed for refusing to the toe the government line? What if even mentioning the word “war” online, in print, or on the street was illegal?

Would you speak out, or keep quiet and bide your time?

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"You Need More Russians Like Me To Beat Putin" — A Response To My Ukrainian Critics

Marina Ovsyannikova's anti-war protest on Moscow’s state television made world headlines. Her story, and her new column in Die Welt, have prompted both admirers and critics. She insists on embracing all those ready to find the courage to take the risk to challenge Vladimir Putin.

-OpEd-

It is impossible to break my spirit. I know exactly what I have done, and the consequences it may bring. And I take full responsibility for my decision.

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Of course I wish I had quit earlier from Russia's state broadcaster Perviy Kanal (Channel One), where I'd worked up until my protest on the live nightly news of March 14. I should have left in 2014.

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Le Weekend ➡️ The Line Between State Propaganda And Fake News

March 19-20

  • Putin’s playbook, from Syria to Ukraine
  • What the West got wrong about Russia
  • AI on the battlefield
  • … and much more.
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Ideas
Anna Akage

The Edge Of Totalitarianism, Why Putin Went Easy On Marina Ovsyannikova

When Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova interrupted Monday’s nightly news with an anti-war protest, most figured her stunning act of political courage would be brutally punished. But she’s received just a small fine and continues to move and speak freely in Moscow. Paradoxically, it may actually be the final tack in Vladimir Putin’s brutal, unpredictable propaganda machine.

-Analysis-

It was a lone act of extreme political courage that brought the world back to the 1989 images of “Tank Man” of Tiananmen Square.

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On the night of March 15, Marina Ovsyannikova, a veteran journalist on Russia's leading state TV newscast, burst into the studio holding up a sign that read "No war ... you are being lied to here."

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In The News
Bertrand Hauger and Laure Gautherin

Kyiv Under Assault, Anti-War Protest On Russian TV, 3 Million Refugees

👋 Cześć!*

Welcome to Tuesday, where deadly attacks are multiplying in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, a Russian journalist interrupts a live TV program to protest the war and 51 million Chinese people are back in COVID lockdown. Meanwhile, America Economia finds the transportation future has already arrived in Latin America: flying cars.

[*Polish]

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