Have you ever read the book ‘1984’ by George Orwell?

It’s essentially about a government that watches every move we make, controls the news we see, and pretty much regulates everything we do.

The former is actually happening in Moscow, Russia.
 
Anti-Kremlin (Russian parliament) protests have reached a peak over the past year.

So far, they have seen over 1000 people being detained across the country for participating in what authorities call illegal protesting, relating to a presidential election next year, according to The Guardian.

Or, as state TV flagship Vremya (Russian SABC) would have you believe, only 150…

Their lead story? Putin’s handing out state awards…
 
The internet would tell you a different story.  

Alexei Navalny, a political leader in opposition to Putin, organised a live feed showing similar demonstrations in several cities.

To put it bluntly, its the internet’s news versus Russian state TV news.

Navalny is actively criticised and sometimes flat out ignored on state TV.

A prime example of this was on the News show, Vesti Nadeli (Russian eNCA) earlier this year.

The show almost completely neglected his involvement in the huge protests in March. Dmitry Kiselyov, Vesti Nadeli’s anchor said demonstrations, which were the largest since 2012, were ignored on his show because he saw Navalny as a corrupt politician.

Navalny has a YouTube channel with over 300,000 subscribers, and is fairly active on social media.

He regularly posts videos of himself criticising Putin, referring to the 64-year-old as “the old man.”
 
Videos and images found on the internet doesn’t exactly qualify as irrefutable fact, nor is it considered hard evidence, but the internet is not controlled by the state.

Point made.

Categories: Education