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The term Samizdat comes from the former Soviet Union and was used to describe the self-publication of contents prohibited by the regime and their circulation through clandestine networks. “Samizdat in the days of the Soviet Union was quite risky – says Anna Trubachova, editor of Samizdat Online -. If you were caught with hard copies, you could be arrested, fined or jailed“.
Censorship in Russia and Belarus
Both Russia and Belarus block many websites: the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders ranks Belarus 153rd and Russia 155th in its index, which includes 180 countries. According to the organization, Belarus was “the most dangerous country in Europe for journalists“until the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. At the moment 15 journalists are in prison in Russiathe last of which, Ivan Safronov, was sentenced to 22 years in prison to have “revealed so-called ‘state secrets’ that were already available online“Reporters Without Borders always reports.
Since Russian troops entered Ukraine, the Kremlin has increased online censorship by severely cracking down on opponents. Natalia Krapiva, legal advisor to the NGO Access Now, highlights the crackdown on VPNs and Tor, and the fact that the Russian state has labeled the opposition groups as “foreign agents”. “Virtually all independent media have been blocked, at least the main ones“, adds Krapiva.
According to aanalysis of websites blocked in Russia, more than 600,000 portals are currently inaccessible, with an increase of 848 percent between March 2021 and March 2022 (the Russian media regulator, Roskomnadzor, and the Belarusian Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to requests for comment on their censorship regimes submitted by Wired UK. The latter was inaccessible at the time of writing this article).
According to Krapiva, Samizdat Online appears to be a useful tool for bypassing online censorship, along with the use of Vpn, Tor, and other tools. In the past other methods have been created to replicate blocked sites and circumvent censorship: “There really isn’t a magic solution that can solve all censorship problems“, adds Krapiva. However, the presence of options for people with different levels of technical skills is certainly useful.
The future of the project
As it prepares to launch a more comprehensive service, Samizdat Online is about to add Russia’s largest independent news organization, Meduza, to the list of its websites. Galina Timchenko, managing director of Meduza, explains that her organization has reviewed the operation of Samizdat Online and has decided to join the project. Before he came blocked by Russian authorities in March, Meduza had 18 million monthly readers. Timchenko explains that the organization has lost about 40 percent of readers in the desktop and mobile versions, while the number of people subscribed to the Telegram channel and the mobile app has increased.
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