Saturday, June 13, 2009

"Socially dangerous behavior"

Here's an interesting story of an artist - Artem Loskutov - the Russian government is afraid of. The blog describes other recent clashes between artists and police there. On June 10 Artem was released until trial.

The interesting thing is not really that these particular events have happened (it's been the same story for thousands of years), but that once again young artists are openly challenging the controlling regime (and its police force) in Russia. Governments always get nervous about people who can generate a mob in the street no matter the reason. "Socially dangerous" means you can change people's minds.

Spreading the news of their struggle is essential to keeping artists safe when they embark on such dangerous missions as these. Oppression works best when it's a well-known secret rather than when it's embarrassing international news. Artists inside Russia are at more risk, so artists outside Russia should support them in their efforts.

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