A new wave of anti-government mobilization has swept across the Eurasian countries that once comprised the Soviet Union. Crowds in Moscow have mobilised to call for free and fair city council elections this September. Despite massive arrests and police violence, the protestors have returned every weekend for seven weeks. Similarly, in June a new political movement “Oyan, Kazakhstan!” (Wake up, Kazakhstan) was founded by urban youths demanding political freedoms after the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s president for three decades. It now commands hundreds of followers across the country. Last year in Yerevan, Armenia, young activists led anti-government protests demanding the resignation of long-serving leader Serzh Sargsyan. The list goes on.
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People take part in an opposition unauthorized rally in central Moscow on August 31, 2019.
