#i have to watch it with subtitles bc i have a car appointment and i forgot my headphones at home

[picturesofsmant]

THERE HE IS !!!!!!!

[annie-thyme]

some russian bullshit politics, anyone?

on july 1 all russians are supposed to vote in - well, basically it’s nothing more than a poll, really - concerning some amendments to the constitution. all amendments, I repeat, ALL amendments are lumped together into a package deal of bullshit tied off with a pretty ribbon, and you can either vote FOR all of the amendments or AGAINST all of them

some of the nastiest amendments make sure that our current leader stays in power basically forever, and if by some miracle he does lose his crown presidency, then there are amendments ensuring him a lifelong seat in the senate and giving him the power to appoint seven more lifelong senators. the senate can override the decisions made by the constitutional court and oh by the way the president/lifelong senator can appoint the colstitutional court members as well

another disgusting amendment states that a family is “a union between a man and a woman” ONLY. buh-bye LGBTQ+ rights

they even made a social advert for that bullshit. yes, seriously. here’s a youtube link. - but like, all the trigger warnings here, DO NOT watch it if you’re triggered by homophobia, ugly false stereotypes of LGBTQ+ people and child adoption. they show this shit on national television. there’s no subtitles to this so basically what’s going on in the vid is that a man comes in to pick up his adopted son, and his husband is waiting for them in the car, and the orphanage administration and the boy himself are visibly upset and disgusted by the fact that the boy’s new ‘mom’ (that’s a direct quote btw) is an effeminate man (well I’d say that person is nb but like. I don’t think they’re aware that nb people are a thing). the second parent of the adopted boy is happy to see their new son and welcomes him into the family by giving him a pretty dress to wear. the picture fades to black with text over it saying “do you want this future for russia? if not vote for the amendments on july 1st”

the ‘’’’’’fun’’’’’’ thing about these amendments that they have already been approved by all the government bodies needed for the amendments to pass, and in fact the amendments have already been in effect since january 1st 2020. this entire “vote for the amendments” thing is nothing but farce, aimed at making people believe they have a say in these matters when in reality freedom of speech in russia is long gone along with democracy and fair elections. the vote will 100% show the popular support for the amendments - they can do it easily because we don’t even have to show id to vote

w e  d o n t  e v e n  h a v e  t o   s h o w  i d  t o  v o t e

Julia Tsvetkova, a russian feminist artist and LGBTQ+ activist is facing up to 6 years in prison bc the government decided that her drawings of female bodies aimed at body positivity, enlightenment and female empowerment are pornography. this, as so many other cases fabricated agains russian LGBTQ+ activists, is aimed at disgracing their names and making gullible majority believe that LGBTQ+ people are perverted and have no right to exist

I’m not an activist. I’m a queer russian artist. I’m not entirely in the closet but not explicitly out of it either. I want to protest, I want to scream my head off until they listen, but the thing is they won’t. there are protests going on right now in support of Julia Tsvetkova, in moscow and st petersburg, the only form of protest we are still allowed: solitary protests. it means that one single person out on the streets with a sign can protest. a group of two ore more will be immediately captured by the police and thrown in jail.

I don’t know why I wrote this post. guess it’s all just too much. and besides, I don’t think people outside russia know much about things happening in here. so like. is there any country on the planet with a government that listens to the people and doesn’t discriminate against anyone at all? how do we. how do we go on in all of this. how do we live