A thread about Kasparov.ru, the news site I founded over 15 yrs ago to provide a place for Russians to share opinions freely, outside of Kremlin control. It has been banned in Russia for years for criticizing Putin’s regime. 1/5
A recent contributor blog post critical of George Floyd and BLM has attracted outside attention. America has always been a source of fascination for Russians, for good and bad, and the article is part of a big conversation there about the protests. 2/5
Many of our contributors have personal experience with police brutality in Russia, where it is encouraged and rewarded by the government, not punished, and this is the lens through which some of them look at protests in the freest country in the world. 3/5
None of them have any experience with the struggle for justice by Blacks in America, or the appropriate modes of discussing it, leading to material offensive to many. But Russians have enough people telling us what we can and cannot say without my joining in. 4/5
My own views are represented by my own words, which are plentiful and easy to find. I will put my record fighting for justice globally, including against racial and ethnic discrimination, against that of anyone attempting to smear my name over this. 5/5
