Siberia, protest, and politics
Focaal June 9, 2022 Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer 2 citations
A Sakha shaman named Alexander Gabyshev gained prominence between 2018 and 2020 after calling Vladimir Putin an authoritarian demon. Using the internet and a protest march, he critiqued Russia's corrupt society and attracted multiethnic supporters, becoming a civic society leader. This article explains his popularity and why he became a threat to Russian authorities, especially Orthodox elites. His repression is compared to Robin Hood, Amerindian religious movements, and Russia's politicized psychiatric hospitalization. The author argues that anthropologists, through long-term fieldwork, must expose human rights violations, and views Gabyshev's potential martyrdom as an indicator of Russia's political and social fragility.