DOXA Magazine
 | |
| Founded | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Website | https://doxa.team/ |
DOXA Magazine is a Russian online student magazine.[1]
History
[edit]The magazine was founded in 2017 by students at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow and named after the Ancient Greek term Doxa. Initially only focusing on university affairs, the magazine soon began covering student human rights activism, including struggles against sexual harassment and academic censorship, and in opposition to the Putin regime, where many students often played significant roles.
After mass arrests in the 2019 Moscow protests, including two DOXA journalists, the magazine launched a project called Here We Stand, offering digital resources against police brutality.[2][3][4] In December 2019, the Higher School of Economics university board cut its funding of the magazine, alleging that the magazine was harming the university's reputation and harboured a political agenda.[5][6]
In May 2020, the magazine ran a series of articles on sexual harassment at Moscow State University.[7]
In January 2021, Roskomnadzor forced the magazine to delete a video covering the 2021 Russian protests. The video had discussed pressures students faced ahead of the protests and the threats of expulsions students faced for participating in the protests. The magazine then filed a lawsuit against Roskomnadzor contesting the order to delete the video.[8]
In April 2021, Russian police raided the magazine's office as well as the apartments of several of the editors' families. Four of the magazine's editors, Armen Aramyan, Natalya Tyshkevich, Vladimir Metyolkin and Alla Gutnikova, were then charged by the Investigative Committee of Russia with encouraging minors to take part in illegal activity. Human rights groups raised concerns about the arrests, claiming that they were made in an attempt to suppress freedom of the press in Russia.[9][10] Amnesty International stated that "the Russian authorities' intention is transparent. Investigations into corruption will not be tolerated, mobilizing youth to actively and peacefully participate in society will be prosecuted, and those journalists and media outlets who receive foreign funding will be ostracized and labelled as foreign agents."[11] Later that month, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision to impose pretrial restrictions on the editors, confining them to house arrest but allowing the editors to spend up to two hours outside per day.[12] In April 2022, after spending a year under house arrest,[13] the four editors were sentenced to two years of correctional labour.[14][15]
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the magazine published a guide for Russian youth on how to talk to their older relatives and co-workers about the invasion, including a list of rebuttals to common pro-war talking points. Roskomnadzor demanded that the magazine delete the guide.[16]
In 2023, the magazine was awarded the Student Peace Prize for their work exposing corruption and sexual harassment at universities, documenting state persecution, and fighting government disinformation.[17]
In early 2024, Russian authorities designated Doxa as an "undesirable organization."[18]
Political position
[edit]The magazine's editors have described the magazine as pro-feminist but not specifically left-wing, stating that:
We write about the problems Russian students have, and it turns out that regardless of our views (many in the editorial office do have leftist views) the language for these problems also happens to be left wing. When you write about discrimination against women, the sexual harassment of female students and female university employees, about work-related issues among teachers – their lack of job security, and increasing precarity – you notice that the criticism of these phenomena is steeped in a left, anti-capitalist and anti-patriarchal language. The upshot is that we also speak in this language, otherwise there is no way we can articulate the problems faced by teachers and students in Russian universities.[19]
The magazine has also spoken out against the commercialisation of post-secondary education in Russia.[20]
References
[edit]- ^ "Online talk on Russian media in April: Russian alternative media and their hegemonic contestations – Russian Media Lab Network".
- ^ "Moscow police detain, assault journalists covering protests". August 8, 2019.
- ^ "Russian youth in the Moscow protests". October 28, 2019.
- ^ Times, The Moscow (September 19, 2019). "Who Is Speaking Out Against the Moscow Protest Prosecutions?". The Moscow Times.
- ^ Vasilyeva, Nataliya (December 31, 2019). "20 years of Putin: How Russia's younger generation have lost the capacity to imagine another future". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Silent Faculty and Students Needed". June 17, 2020.
- ^ Times, The Moscow (May 20, 2020). "Russia's Top University Ignores 'Commonplace' Sexual Harassment Amid Controversy". The Moscow Times.
- ^ "Russian authorities raid student magazine that covered protests". PBS NewsHour. April 14, 2021.
- ^ Times, The Moscow (April 16, 2021). "Prominent Academics, Media Figures Show Support for Raided Russian Journalists". The Moscow Times.
- ^ Censorship, Index on (April 16, 2021). "Russia: Index expresses concern over the arrest of Doxa journalists".
- ^ "Russia: Police searches at student magazine are a new low for press freedom". www.amnesty.org. 14 April 2021.
- ^ "Moscow Court Ups Student Editor's Daily Dose Of Freedom". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 28 April 2021.
- ^ "Russian Student Editors Defiant as Criminal Trial Draws to Close". 31 March 2022.
- ^ Time, Current. "Four Former Doxa Editors Sentenced over Video Questioning Teachers". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
- ^ ""Our words must be strong enough to stop bullets"".
- ^ "Russians struggle to understand Ukraine war: 'We didn't choose this'". 3 March 2022.
- ^ "Russian student magazine DOXA - Student Peace Prize winner 2023". 20 February 2023.
- ^ "Russia Declares Doxa Student Magazine 'Undesirable Organization'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. January 25, 2024.
- ^ "Meet the student journalists who are trying to change Russia". openDemocracy.
- ^ "What's behind Russia's left-wing turn?". openDemocracy.
External links
[edit]- Official website of DOXA Magazine