Will the democratization of Russia be the work of women?

Conference-debate by Daria Serenko

Daria Serenko, a Russian poet, has had to go into exile in Georgia since the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. A women's rights activist, she is the co-founder of the FAS (Feministskoïe antivoiennoïe soprotivlenié) or Feminist Anti-War Resistance which acts in the Russian Federation

On Monday, April 3, she will give   a conference, followed by a debate with Galia Ackerman, writer, historian and literary translator, specialist in the Russian and ex-Soviet world around the theme:

"Women's Resistance to War and Dictatorship in Russia"

Utopia bookstore – 7 p.m. – 1, rue Frédéric Sauton 75005 PARIS

Created in February 2022, at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the FAS brings together 45 associations throughout the territory of the Russian Federationto which are added dozens of anonymous activists, not counting those who have had to go into exile.

The strength of this network comes from the fact that it relies on structures that existed before the war and horizontal links making it more difficult to control and arrest its members. However, more than 200 activists are now being prosecuted in Russia.

FAS actions,that mobilize ordinary citizens range from public rallies to burning down army recruitment offices.Resistance to the regime's propaganda ranges from intervening in neighborhood WhtasApp groups, spreading advice on escaping conscription on dedicated Telegram channels, to distributing it in the mailboxes of the anti-war samizdatJenskaya Pravda(therePravdaWomen), also written in the minority languages of the Federation.

Violence in Ukraine and violence against women are one and the same scourge of Russia:virilism and the cult of brutality are the ideological cement of the Putin regime and of a society where violence is everywhere: from the family sphere, where violence is exerted on women and children, to criminal hazing which is accompanied by military training, passing through the now militarized school.

"War and women's rights are closely linked, explains Daria Serenko,for […] those who commit the worst crimes [on the battlefield] are often the same ones who are the most brutal at home.»

In Ukraine, the mobilization of women shows their capacities in the organization of civil society: in Russia, can they constitute a force of political mobilization in the face of the macho and masculinist dictatorship?

IN REGARDS TO :

·For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours!Association created by 130 academics joined by many supporters of the Ukrainian cause, publishes forums and carries out actions in support of the cause of Ukraine.

·Russia-Freedoms: Founded in 2012, the association's main objective is to defend human rights and support the development of democracy in Russia.

·The Association for the Defense of Democracy in Poland(ADDP) was created in 2016 in Paris with a view to defending European democratic values (rights of women, refugees, etc.). She supports women survivors of sexual violence perpetrated by the Russians in Ukraine in collaboration with the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation.