Fighting for the right to assembly in Russia

In response to the monstrosity of Stalinist rule in the Soviet Union, ideologues of the Cold War peddled the idea that democracy & capitalism were inextricable & tyranny inherent to socialism. That doesn’t wash so well these days where riot cops around the world attack protestors & strikers with arsenals of weapons to prevent us from exercising the democratic rights of assembly & of free speech. This political conceit is quite starkly exposed in capitalist Russia today where just like under Stalinism, all protests are illegal despite plenty to protest about: election fraud, a 100 year ban on homosexuality, massive homelessness, you name it! But on the 31st of the month, hundreds of activists in several cities defy the bans & risk arrest to protest in support of Article 31 of the Russian constitution--the right to assembly. Here an activist in Moscow shouts defiantly as cops cart off protestors to the paddy wagons. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)