Russia: Protests in Moscow
In the State Duma, officials stated that the 'LitRave' in Leninka was 'desecration', called the library a 'holy place' and reported working on a bill about 'what is good and what is bad'. About this, at a meeting of the working group of the committee on family protection, its head Nina Ostania spoke. She stated that Vladimir Putin's decree on 'traditional values' became 'a kind of yardstick when adopting all laws that are now coming to the State Duma'. And she criticized the rave held in the previous weekend at the Russian State Library named after Lenin. 'Someone wanted to mark Halloween, please, let them mark it if it is a traditional value for them. But why do this in the Leninka library? Do not understand that this is a holy place. This is a museum where, probably, the very best is stored. There are rare books, manuscripts. I think it is like desecration', stated Ostania, regretting that 'there is no such law that would prohibit doing this'. She reported that earlier in the family protection committee there were doubts about whether there are separate laws about what traditional values are: 'To us it is quite obvious that to respect elders, to respect the younger ones, to approach historical memory with reverence, a sense of patriotism, love for one's homeland - these are obvious things. And no, for someone, apparently, it is not obvious'. 'Therefore, now with the Ministry of Justice we are indeed working on a bill so that, like Marshak, Чуковский, understand what is good and what is bad. It does not get that they imbibe this with milk of their mother, with the word of the teacher and with what they absorb here in public space from the media, from books - good, let's then be law', said Ostania. She reminded that laws banning 'LGBT propaganda' and 'childfree ideology' have already been adopted. 'So what is bad, legally as if determined. And what is good, apparently does not get in the process of upbringing', said Ostania. Recall, on the night of November 1, Leninka jointly with publisher 'Eksmo-AST' organized a literary rave, which was attended by about three thousand people. In the publishing house, it was already reported that safety measures were complied with: the library and book funds were not damaged. But the Leninka site and applications malfunctioned several times due to a large number of contacts. According to the publisher, all three thousand rave visitors registered reader tickets. At the 'LitRave' there were three dance floors. In the program there were also literary performances, light installations and literary memes exposition. Among others performed z-poet Anna Revyakina, member of the Union of Writers of Russia. Before the event, the CEO of Leninka Vadim Dudu declared that organizers want to unite 'eternal meanings of great literature with the powerful energy of electronic music' and prove that the book is 'not an archaism, but the most relevant cultural code'. The event was criticized by a number of bloggers and public figures: head of the 'League of Safe Internet' Ekaterina Mizulina questioned the safety of rare books after the party: 'Did they not take something in a rush? Ministry of Culture as does this look at? You cannot so irresponsibly relate to cultural heritage'. In fact, books in RGSB in reading rooms are not stored, they are issued on request. The host of 'Solovyev.Live' Sergey Karnaухов stated that he hopes that 'the library management will be fired as a whole staff'. 'And I will not even stress to explain "why"', he declared. Leninka already reported that they know about the criticism and 'take into account every step'. Goal of the event - attract youth to reading: 'This is not a disco in the book storage. This is an attempt to speak with the new generation in his language, to bring him to ours - to the language of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Pushkin'.
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