StopGOK in Chelyabinsk
Copper, protests and repression
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Researchers into authoritarianism tend to underestimate the significance of repression as an instrument of power. It is regarded as the reckless ultima ratio of an authoritarian regime. In Russia, repression is an integral political and administrative tool. Here, federal, regional and local elites work hand in hand, as is the case, for example, with the StopGOK civic initiative, which has been protesting against the construction of a copper mine on the edge of Chelyabinsk, where millions of people live. The state and the private sector are together employing regressive tactics to weaken the civic initiative and to force through the construction project.
(Osteuropa 7-9/2020, pp. 177–194)