The Scarf and the Snuffbox

Rough Translation

NPR

Society & Culture, Social Sciences, News, News Commentary, Science

4.8 • 7.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2022

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What can a blank piece of paper, four ballerinas, a scarf and snuff box mean in Russia? A conversation with Russian Anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova about how anti-war protestors resist the war in Ukraine through code and hidden messages.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Rough Translation from NPR.
0:02.9	So here's a question.
0:03.9	If you're an anti-war protester in Russia,
0:07.1	what are you right on your side?
0:09.3	When the word war is illegal.
0:11.6	To stand in the middle of the street with a small slogan,
0:16.4	a no war or stop war, and you will get fine
0:20.1	or you go to jail for 15 days.
0:22.8	Alexandra Arkepova, who goes by Sasha,
0:25.5	is an anthropologist who's been studying protests.
0:28.3	She says that after these arrests,
0:29.6	someone had an idea, a different sign,
0:31.9	with no words at all.
0:33.6	Just eight asterisk, eight dots.
0:36.4	One dot for each letter of no war.
0:39.1	Which in Russian is eight symbols, not a vanya.
0:42.7	But when Russian authorities caught on to this trend,
0:45.2	people who were trying to use these signs,
0:48.5	they were also punished.
0:50.9	So what about a poster with no words and no dots?
0:54.4	Three people who were protesting with a blank piece of paper,
0:58.8	just a piece of a blank paper.
	...

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