Daring to dissent in Russia

0:00This message comes from NPR sponsor Charles Schwab with its original podcast, On Investing. It's hosted by Lizanne Saunders, Schwab's chief investment strategist, and Colin Martin, head of fixed income research and strategy for the Schwab Center for Financial Research. Each week, Lizanne, Colin, and their guests analyze economic developments and bring context to conversations around stocks, fixed income, the economy, and more. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts. On today's State of the World, the Russian poet expressing rare dissent on the war on Ukraine.

0:41You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories. Up close with what they're happening. It's Tuesday, April 7th. I'm Christine Arismath. Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine is entering its fifth year, and most headlines focus on the near-daily Russian attacks on the country. But in Russia, expressions of opposition to the war on Ukraine are rare and dangerous. There's an ongoing crackdown on dissent. NPR's Charles Maines has this profile of one Moscow poet who's daring to criticize Russia's aggression. The speech doesn't last long, just over two minutes, on an evening otherwise dedicated to poetry in Christ the Savior Church, Moscow's largest Orthodox cathedral.

1:35The demand on stages just shifted the topic to talk about political prisoners, jailed for their opposition to Russia's war in Ukraine. They're in jail, but they've done nothing wrong, the man says. He lists several names. Zhenya Brakovich, Raya Panamarenko, Alexei Goronov. You've probably heard of them, he says, somewhat hopefully. As he finishes, there's a small smattering of applause. And that's basically it. That small act of defiance passes for incredibly brave in Russia these days, also incredibly rare, not least because it can land you years in jail. So I was surprised when the man in that video, 36-year-old Vadim Zhuba, agreed to meet me in a central Moscow cafe and talk about what it's like to publicly protest against the Russian government and the war in a moment when so few were willing to.

2:27Zhuba told me he was opposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the outset, joining protests and once even arrested. It cost him his job as an actor in a local Moscow theater, something he doesn't regret.

2:42Vadim Dzyuba:When I realized that 80 % of people around me supported this nightmare, I sincerely couldn't understand why. I'd get in arguments with my colleagues during rehearsals all the time. Still, he remained in demand as a performer when it came to his real passion, 20th century Russian poetry. At first, he'd sprinkle public readings around town with anti-war stanzas by his favorite writers, like the Soviet poet Sergei Yesenin, hoping audiences would hear echoes in the current moment. And how many war-scarred wretches come home, now crippled and blind. How many in graves lie buried, and how many more shall die.

3:22But as the war ground on, Zuba grew increasingly distraught about victims in Ukraine and about the growing ranks of political prisoners at home in Russia, a list that included artists, journalists, doctors, and writers. He decided this time he would speak out directly and in his own words.

3:44When he rewinds that moment in his head, Zuba still thinks he talked too fast, despite rehearsing what he'd say over and over again.

3:53Vadim Dzyuba:I was nervous and afraid they would cut me off before I finished, but they didn't. And I'm grateful to the audience for listening to that. And he has a theory why. Mindful he was speaking in Moscow's largest Orthodox church, he couched his speech in Christian terminology, with a call for miloserdia, or mercy, despite the Moscow patriarch's open support for the military campaign. Zuba is himself Orthodox Christian.

4:25Vadim Dzyuba:Mercy is the most natural feeling, even if we often forget. and I wanted to remind people it still exists. You don't need to be afraid to act on that emotion. Still, as Zuba finished his speech and stepped off the stage, he could feel the glares from the hosts of the event. A few onlookers gave quiet nods of support, others, they were just deeply concerned. One elderly woman came up to my friend and said, tell Vadim not to make any more of those statements because it's dangerous to do that in this country. And he went home that night, not sure if the police would come, a bag packed with essentials if they did, prepared but at peace with whatever happened next.

5:07To his surprise, there was no knock at the door. He's still not sure why. Fast forward a couple months, and Zuba decided to share footage of his protests online.

5:21What good were his words if so few people heard them, he thought? And suddenly, he was news, his speech all over social media.

5:34Russian independent journalists abroad lionized him as a brave voice of conscience. Nationalists on pro-war blogs called for his arrest, and well-known opposition figures, famous journalists and artists who'd fled Russia over the war, reached out behind the scenes with offers to help join them in exile. Zuba was surprised they were surprised to see someone, anyone, still speaking out against the war because of the risks everyone knew.

6:02Vadim Dzyuba:I now understand that it's important to give people hope, to show them that even in dark times, there are people in Russia who won't stay silent.

6:14Zyuba says he was raised on writers who also spoke up against injustice in the USSR. Poets like Anna Akhmatova, heard here, reading her famous work Requiem, but also Osef Mandelstam, Alexander Block, and others. The list is long. Some lost privileges. Many spent time in labor camps or worse. Who was he compared to them?

6:38Vadim Dzyuba:I understand I did something that mattered. Probably the boldest thing I've ever done, and maybe that I'll ever do. These days, Zuba publishes his own anti-war poems on social media. and they're getting some attention.

7:01Vadim Dzyuba:I'm with those who sit without light, with those who hide in the metro, with those whose homes have been destroyed by rockets. A Russian actor turned poet, still far from famous, but now part of a larger history of Russian dissident artists challenging the state at risk of losing their freedom. Charles Maines, NPR News, Moscow.

7:28That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening. This week on Up First, with the president threatening to target Iran's civilian infrastructure, such as power plants and bridges, even as gas prices in the U.S. continue to climb, what are the chances of an end to the war in Iran? Listen for updates every morning on the latest overnight news on Up First. Find us on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.