Lion Versus

Lion Versus Russian-language logo

Lion Versus or Lion Against (Russian: Лев Против, romanized: Lev Protiv; sometimes stylized Lion Vs.) is a Russian youth social movement opposed to smoking and drinking alcohol in public. Lion Versus volunteers hold video-recorded "raids" by visiting public areas such as train stations, parks and public squares, and asking people to stop smoking in designated non-smoking areas. If the smokers refuse, Lion Versus activists spray the smokers' hands with water from spray bottles in order to extinguish their cigarettes.[1] In anti-public-intoxication raids, activists patrol public parks and squares, asking people who are drinking alcohol to pour the alcoholic beverages out in a nearby trash can or drain. If the people approached state the alcohol is not theirs, Lion Versus activists pour it out themselves.[2][3][4] Police officers sometimes accompany Lion Versus activists on their raids, writing tickets to offenders.[1][5][6] Videos of the raids are posted on Lion Versus's YouTube channel, publicly shaming smokers and drinkers while gathering online support as well as advertising revenue and donations.[7] As of January 2019, the channel has over 1.5 million subscribers.[8]

Lion Versus was founded in Moscow in 2014 by 18-year-old Mikhail "Lev" Lazutin[1] with other former members of the Russian pedestrian-rights youth movement StopXam, which in turn was a project of former Nashi activists.[9] The movement has spread from Moscow to other cities, including Bryansk,[10] Belgorod,[11] Pyatigorsk,[12] and Sevastopol in occupied Crimea.[13] In Kirov in 2016, Lion Versus members petitioned local prosecutors to ban Jehovah's Witnesses from the city, whom they called a "pseudo-religious group ... detrimental to society fundamentals of statehood in the Russian Federation."[14][15][16] The SOVA Center has reported that Lion Versus's anti-alcohol raids are "more or less consistently popular".[17] A 2018 study by the Berlin-based Centre for East European and International Studies found that 20 per cent of respondents recognized the Lev Protiv name, making it the second-most recognized Russian youth movement behind StopXam.[18]

Lion Versus's English-language logo

In December 2018, Lion Versus activists held a raid in which they approached parents in public places who were drinking alcohol or smoking in the presence of their small children and offered to exchange the parents' alcoholic beverages or cigarettes for Christmas presents for their children.[19] In January 2019, a man smoking in a railway station in Bryansk threatened to shoot Lion Versus activists after they approached him and asked him to stop smoking. A video of the interaction was posted to YouTube and circulated by local media, who reported that the man fled before police were called.[10]

The movement has been criticized as being an "online vigilante movement",[7] "hooliganism",[1] overly confrontational or violent,[20][21][22] and government-run[23][24] or "pro-Kremlin ... part of a government-led effort to create an army of politically active youth."[5] In a 2018 interview with Life in Russia, Lazutkin stated that Lion Versus only posts video of non-compliant public drinkers and smokers, and that Lion Versus's intended audience is not the public drinkers and smokers they confront, but rather their online audience of impressionable young viewers.[25] A 2019 article in The Independent described Lion Versus as "skinhead vigilantes". The article alleged that the group received funding from the Russian government, which Lazutin denied.[26]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Yablokov, Alexei (22 June 2014). "Anti-Smoking Movement Raids Moscow Train Station". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  2. ^ Shlyonskaya, Ksenia (13 September 2018). "ЗОЖ-ники подрались с выпивающими в Москве и начали уличную войну. В такой ситуации даже неясно, за кого болеть". MediaLeaks (in Russian). Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  3. ^ Моргуновская, Алёна (9 October 2018). "Лев Против. Против помощи пострадавшим". CBSMedia.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  4. ^ Mareš, Laryš & Holzer 2019, p. 162.
  5. ^ a b Tsnompilantze, Maria (30 April 2018). "Generation Putin: Smug, Patriotic and Rebellious". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  6. ^ Yudina & Alperovich 2016.
  7. ^ a b Gorbach, Denys (15 October 2018). "Entrepreneurs of Political Violence: The Varied Interests and Strategies of the Far-Right in Ukraine". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  8. ^ YouTube 2019.
  9. ^ Gabdulhakov 2018, p. 322.
  10. ^ a b For Bryansk, see:
  11. ^ Kornev, Vladimir (31 October 2015). "Белгородский "Лев против". Как активисты отучают горожан от сигарет и алкоголя на улицах" [Belgorod 'Lion Versus'. As Activists Disaccustom Citizens from Cigarettes and Alcohol on the Streets] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  12. ^ "Во время первого рейда проекта "Лев против" в Пятигорске водители маршруток подрались с активистами" [During the First Raid of the Project 'Lion Versus' in Pyatigorsk, Minibus Drivers Had a Fight with Activists]. Блокнот Ставрополь (Notebook Stavropol) (in Russian). 6 August 2015. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  13. ^ Klyueva, Ella (3 March 2016). "Вчера: "СтопХам", сегодня: "ЛЕВ ПРОТИВ". Кто еще будет воспитывать севастопольцев?" [Yesterday: 'StopXam', Today: 'LION VERSUS'. Who Else Will Raise Sevastopol?]. Informer. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  14. ^ United States Department of State 2017.
  15. ^ "Движение "Лев против" взялось за Свидетелей Иеговы в Кирове" ['Lion Versus' Movement Takes on Jehovah's Witnesses in Kirov]. 1istochnik.ru (in Russian). 11 March 2016. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  16. ^ Arnold, Victoria (22 March 2016). "Russia: Enforced Liquidation of Communities Accelerates". Forum 18. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  17. ^ Alperovich & Yudina 2017, p. 41.
  18. ^ Krawatzek & Sasse 2018, p. 10.
  19. ^ ЛЕВ ПРОТИВ (25 December 2018). "ЛЕВ ПРОТИВ - РЕЙД НА КРАСНОЙ ПЛОЩАДИ ПРОТИВ АЛКОГОЛЯ" (in Russian). YouTube. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  20. ^ Pochkay 2017, p. 137.
  21. ^ Staritskaya, Anna (14 September 2018). "Караулят у дома, угрожают убить. Мать двоих детей борется с активистами "Льва против"" [Guard at Home, Is Threatened to Be Killed. Mother of Two Children Struggling with Activists 'Lion Versus']. 360° (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  22. ^ Yuzupchuk, Dmitry (14 June 2018). "Поэт осудил работу борцов с алкоголем "Лев Против" в Долгопрудном" [Poet Condemns the Work of Alcohol Fighters 'Lion Versus' in Dolgoprudny]. Подмосковье сегодня (Moscow Today) (in Russian). Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  23. ^ Kovalev, Dmitry (26 April 2016). "'Лев против': государственные гопники?" ['Lion Versus': State Gopnik?]. Kolokol Russia (in Russian). Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2019. (See also: Gopnik)
  24. ^ Schwenck 2017.
  25. ^ "LifeInRussia - Meeting Lev Lazutin (Lion Versus)". Life In Russia. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  26. ^ Carroll, Oliver (9 June 2019). "Skinhead vigilante gangs attack hipsters on Moscow's streets to "uphold Russia's moral code"". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2020.

Bibliography

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