Social:Lion Versus
_Russian_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Lion Versus or Lion Against (Russian: Лев Против, romanized: Lev Protiv; sometimes stylized Lion Vs.) is a Russian youth social movement opposed to smoking and drinking alcohol in public. Lion Versus volunteers hold video-recorded "raids" by visiting public areas such as train stations, parks and public squares, and asking people to stop smoking in designated non-smoking areas. If the smokers refuse, Lion Versus activists spray the smokers' hands with water from spray bottles in order to extinguish their cigarettes.[1] In anti-public-intoxication raids, activists patrol public parks and squares, asking people who are drinking alcohol to pour the alcoholic beverages out in a nearby trash can or drain. If the people approached state the alcohol is not theirs, Lion Versus activists pour it out themselves.[2][3][4] Police officers sometimes accompany Lion Versus activists on their raids, writing tickets to offenders.[1][5][6] Videos of the raids are posted on Lion Versus's YouTube channel, publicly shaming smokers and drinkers while gathering online support as well as advertising revenue and donations.[7] As of January 2019, the channel has over 1.5 million subscribers.[8]
Lion Versus was founded in Moscow in 2014 by 18-year-old Mikhail "Lev" Lazutin[1] with other former members of the Russian pedestrian-rights youth movement StopXam, which in turn was a project of former Nashi activists.[9] The movement has spread from Moscow to other cities, including Bryansk,[10] Belgorod,[11] Pyatigorsk,[12] and Sevastopol in occupied Crimea.[13] In Kirov in 2016, Lion Versus members petitioned local prosecutors to ban Jehovah's Witnesses from the city, whom they called a "pseudo-religious group ... detrimental to society fundamentals of statehood in the Russian Federation."[14][15][16] The SOVA Center has reported that Lion Versus's anti-alcohol raids are "more or less consistently popular".[17] A 2018 study by the Berlin-based Centre for East European and International Studies found that 20 per cent of respondents recognized the Lev Protiv name, making it the second-most recognized Russian youth movement behind StopXam.[18]
_English_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
In December 2018, Lion Versus activists held a raid in which they approached parents in public places who were drinking alcohol or smoking in the presence of their small children and offered to exchange the parents' alcoholic beverages or cigarettes for Christmas presents for their children.[19] In January 2019, a man smoking in a railway station in Bryansk threatened to shoot Lion Versus activists after they approached him and asked him to stop smoking. A video of the interaction was posted to YouTube and circulated by local media, who reported that the man fled before police were called.[10]
The movement has been criticized as being an "online vigilante movement",[7] "hooliganism",[1] overly confrontational or violent,[20][21][22] and government-run[23][24] or "pro-Kremlin ... part of a government-led effort to create an army of politically active youth."[5] In a 2018 interview with Life in Russia, Lazutkin stated that Lion Versus only posts video of non-compliant public drinkers and smokers, and that Lion Versus's intended audience is not the public drinkers and smokers they confront, but rather their online audience of impressionable young viewers.[25] A 2019 article in The Independent described Lion Versus as "skinhead vigilantes". The article alleged that the group received funding from the Russian government, which Lazutin denied.[26]
See also
- Direct action
- Nashi (youth movement)
- Nizhny Novgorod International Model UN
- Oborona
- PORA (Russian youth group)
- Provo (movement)
- Russian Social-Democratic Union of Youth
- StopXam (organization)
- Vanguard of Red Youth
- Walking Together
- Young Guard of United Russia
- Young Russia (youth movement)
References
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Yablokov, Alexei (22 June 2014). "Anti-Smoking Movement Raids Moscow Train Station" (in en). http://themoscowtimes.com/articles/anti-smoking-movement-raids-moscow-train-station-36623.
- ↑ Shlyonskaya, Ksenia (13 September 2018). "ЗОЖ-ники подрались с выпивающими в Москве и начали уличную войну. В такой ситуации даже неясно, за кого болеть" (in ru). https://medialeaks.ru/1309xsh-lev-protiv/.
- ↑ Моргуновская, Алёна (9 October 2018). "Лев Против. Против помощи пострадавшим" (in ru). https://cbsmedia.ru/proisshestviya/lev-protiv-protiv-pomoschi-postradavshim/.
- ↑ Mareš, Laryš & Holzer 2019, p. 162.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Tsnompilantze, Maria (30 April 2018). "Generation Putin: Smug, Patriotic and Rebellious" (in en). http://themoscowtimes.com/articles/generation-putin-smug-patriotic-and-rebellious-61301.
- ↑ Yudina & Alperovich 2016.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gorbach, Denys (15 October 2018). "Entrepreneurs of Political Violence: The Varied Interests and Strategies of the Far-Right in Ukraine" (in en). https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/denys-gorbach/entrepreneurs-of-political-violence-ukraine-far-right.
- ↑ YouTube 2019.
- ↑ Gabdulhakov 2018, p. 322.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 For Bryansk, see:
- "Активиста движения 'Лев против' пригрозили убить в Брянске" (in ru). Брянские новости (Bryansk News). 21 January 2019. https://www.bragazeta.ru/news/2019/01/21/aktivista-dvijeniya-lev-protiv-prigrozili-ubit-v-bryanske/.
- "Активиста движения "Лев против" пообещали застрелить в Брянске" (in ru). Bryansk Today. 21 January 2019. https://bryansktoday.ru/article/89563.
- "Активиста движения "Лев против" пригрозили застрелить в Брянске" (in ru). Bryanskaya Street. 21 January 2019. https://bryansku.ru/2019/01/21/aktivista-dvizheniya-lev-protiv-prigrozili-zastrelit-v-bryanske/.
- ↑ Kornev, Vladimir (31 October 2015). "Белгородский "Лев против". Как активисты отучают горожан от сигарет и алкоголя на улицах" (in ru). https://fonar.tv/article/2015/10/31/belgorodskiy-lev-protiv-kak-aktivisty-otuchayut-gorozhan-ot-sigaret-i-alkogolya-na-ulicah.
- ↑ "Во время первого рейда проекта "Лев против" в Пятигорске водители маршруток подрались с активистами" (in ru). Блокнот Ставрополь (Notebook Stavropol). 6 August 2015. http://bloknot-stavropol.ru/news/vo-vremya-pervogo-reyda-proekta-lev-protiv-voditel-614016.
- ↑ Klyueva, Ella (3 March 2016). "Вчера: "СтопХам", сегодня: "ЛЕВ ПРОТИВ". Кто еще будет воспитывать севастопольцев?". Informer. http://ruinformer.com/page/vchera-stopham-segodnja-lev-protiv-kto-eshhe-budet-vospityvat-sevastopolcev-video.
- ↑ United States Department of State 2017.
- ↑ "Движение "Лев против" взялось за Свидетелей Иеговы в Кирове" (in ru). 11 March 2016. https://1istochnik.ru/news/20827.
- ↑ Arnold, Victoria (22 March 2016). "Russia: Enforced Liquidation of Communities Accelerates". http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2161.
- ↑ Alperovich & Yudina 2017, p. 41.
- ↑ Krawatzek & Sasse 2018, p. 10.
- ↑ ЛЕВ ПРОТИВ (25 December 2018). "ЛЕВ ПРОТИВ - РЕЙД НА КРАСНОЙ ПЛОЩАДИ ПРОТИВ АЛКОГОЛЯ" (in ru). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3UIeomvMdI.
- ↑ Pochkay 2017, p. 137.
- ↑ Staritskaya, Anna (14 September 2018). "Караулят у дома, угрожают убить. Мать двоих детей борется с активистами "Льва против"" (in ru). 360°. http://360tv.ru/news/tekst/lev-protiv-soboleva/.
- ↑ Yuzupchuk, Dmitry (14 June 2018). "Поэт осудил работу борцов с алкоголем "Лев Против" в Долгопрудном" (in ru). Подмосковье сегодня (Moscow Today). https://mosregtoday.ru/soc/poet-osudil-rabotu-borcov-s-alkogolem-lev-protiv-v-dolgoprudnom/.
- ↑ Kovalev, Dmitry (26 April 2016). "'Лев против': государственные гопники?" (in ru). Kolokol Russia. http://kolokolrussia.ru/vlast/lev-protiv-gosudarstvenne-gopniki. (See also: Gopnik)
- ↑ Schwenck 2017.
- ↑ "LifeInRussia - Meeting Lev Lazutin (Lion Versus)". Life In Russia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdmOknVJ0T0.
- ↑ Carroll, Oliver (2019-06-09). "Skinhead vigilante gangs attack hipsters on Moscow's streets to "uphold Russia's moral code"" (in en). The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/moscow-vigilante-gangs-pepper-spray-russia-morals-violence-clean-streets-a8944891.html.
Bibliography
- Alperovich, Vera; Yudina, Natalia (2017). "Old Problems and New Alliances: Xenophobia and Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2016". in Verkhovsky, Alexander. Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2016. Moscow: SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. pp. 7–64. ISBN 978-5-98418-041-2. https://www.sova-center.ru/files/books/pe17-text.pdf. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- Gabdulhakov, Rashid (2018). "Citizen-Led Justice in Post-Communist Russia: From Comrades' Courts to Dotcomrade Vigilantism". Surveillance & Society 16 (3): 314–331. doi:10.24908/ss.v16i3.6952. ISSN 1477-7487.
- Krawatzek, Félix; Sasse, Gwendolyn (2018). "Youth in Russia: Outlook on Life and Political Attitudes". ZOiS Report (Berlin: Centre for East European and International Studies) (1). ISSN 2512-7233. https://www.zois-berlin.de/fileadmin/media/Dateien/ZOiS_Reports/ZOiS_Report_1_2018.pdf. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
- "Lion Versus YouTube channel". https://www.youtube.com/user/lionversusSmoking/.
- Mareš, Miroslav; Laryš, Martin; Holzer, Jan (2019). Militant Right-Wing Extremism in Putin's Russia: Legacies, Forms and Threats. Abingdon, England: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429490019. ISBN 978-0-429-95362-0.
- Pochkay, E. P. (2017). "Dilettante Journalism as a Way of Self-Actualization". International Research Journal 55 (3): 136–139. doi:10.23670/IRJ.2017.55.020. ISSN 2227-6017.
- Schwenck, Anna (2017). "Review of Youth Politics in Putin's Russia: Producing Patriots and Entrepreneurs, by Julie Hemment". Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research 9 (3): 135–139. doi:10.25285/2078-1938-2017-9-3-135-139. ISSN 2078-1938.
- United States Department of State (2017). "Russia". 2016 Report on International Religious Freedom. Washington: United States Department of State. https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/269104.pdf. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- Yudina, Natalia; Alperovich, Vera (2016). "The Ultra-Right Movement Under Pressure: Xenophobia and Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2015". in Verkhovsky, Alexander. Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2015. Moscow: SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. pp. 7–66. ISBN 978-5-98418-038-2. https://www.sova-center.ru/files/books/pe16-text.pdf. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
Further reading
- Bargain, Héloïse (2019-06-15). "Young Russians Fight Against Drinking in Public" (in en). The Moscow Times. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/06/15/young-russians-fight-against-drinking-in-public-a66019.
- Denisovna, Suslova Kseniya (2017). "Political Identity of Members of Social and Political Movements in Modern Russia: The Case of Stop Kham and Lev Protiv". https://hdl.handle.net/11701/8017.
- Favarel-Garrigues, Gilles (2018). "Justiciers amateurs et croisades morales en Russie contemporaine" (in fr). Revue française de science politique 68 (4): 651–667. doi:10.3917/rfsp.684.0651. ISSN 0035-2950.
- Hemment, Julie (2015). Youth Politics in Putin's Russia: Producing Patriots and Entrepreneurs. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01781-9.
- Lomakin, Boris; Stepanov, Ivan; Boytsov, Maxim (22 October 2018). "'Лев против' обиделся на критика и подловил его в раздевалке. Заступаться пришел Николай Соболев" (in ru). 360°. https://360tv.ru/news/tekst/lev-protiv-soboleva/.
- Matveeva, A. V. (2017). "Media Activism in Russia: Civil Society on the Internet or Personal Gain?". in Kudrin, A. L.; Chernigovskaya, T. V.; Allakhverdov, M. V. (in ru) (PDF). VI Student Smolny Conference Proceedings: Multidisciplinarity in Science and Art; Trends and Opportunities. Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg University Press. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-5-288-05720-5. http://artesliberales.spbu.ru/events/calendar/17_04_21-23events/Conference_Proceedings2017/. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- Shamiev, Kirill; Shentseva, Taya (4 September 2017). "The Deep Roots of Russia's Young Protestors". Intersection. Warsaw: Centre for Polish–Russian Dialogue and Understanding. http://intersectionproject.eu/article/politics/deep-roots-russias-young-protestors.
External links
 |  |
