Signs of struggle: the power of online protest in Russia (guest blog)

This photo is just one example of a recent upsurge in Internet activism in Russia. Polis Summer School student Anna-Verena Nosthoff reports. The road is quiet. A single girl stands there, her hair up, jet black like the thin tights beneath her short coat. She has little in the way of effective protection against the chill of a Moscow winter. The woolly white gloves are holding a single placard proclaiming autonomy. The brown eyes above the sign are those of an accuser. Olesya Shmagun’s gaze is a visual call to an internet-minded, global, anonymous community of people.