The Mushrooms Are Sprouting
Cracks are appearing in Russian propaganda’s parched earth
Last week I wrote that Russian free thinkers are like mushrooms. That their hyphae are spread underground in an interconnected network designed to share knowledge. That all that’s now underground could burst forth at a moment’s notice. And that when things rot, mushrooms grow.
Today a mushroom sprouted. Meduza, a news service now operating in exile and carefully monitoring Russian television recorded a photo bomb moment. A Channel 1 employee burst into the evening news cast with a sign declaring “Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”
Elsewhere other mushrooms are appearing, and the Russian government’s attempt to stamp them out is looking increasingly absurd.
In Nizhny Novgorod a woman was arrested for carrying a blank piece of paper
In Moscow protesters walked silently in circles and still were arrested.
In St. Petersburg an ancient survivor of the Siege of Leningrad was taken away by police.
My heart goes out to all of them. For the courage they’re showing in the face of terrifying oppression.
