digital samizdat/steganography

[Moss, Kevin M.]

Yes — Masha actually talks about the collection as a kind of samizdat — not necessarily for the general reader, but having a specific purpose. Here’s what she writes in the introduction:

I realized what he was suggesting: this would be a samizdat project, the telling
of stories for a small audience that needed it. I remembered reading
(and typing and binding) samizdat publications as a child and a teenager in
the former Soviet Union, and I remember what they did for me: they affirmed
my view of existence; they let me know that my parents and I were not the
only ones who thought differently. They kept me sane. I needed this now.

My review of the collection came out yesterday:

https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/gay-russia-speaks

Kevin Moss







On Mar 24, 2014, at 11:28 AM, Nafpaktitis, Margarita <nafpaktitis at LIBRARY.UCLA.EDU<mailto:nafpaktitis at LIBRARY.UCLA.EDU>> wrote:

Dear Colleagues:

This seems like an innovative approach to smuggling “gay propaganda” into Russia. The book is edited by Masha Gessen and Joseph Huff-Hannon and available for purchase in English and for free download in Russian.  I’m not affiliated with the publisher or the editors in any way, just intrigued – and thought others might be, too.


"For a free copy of the Russian edition of “Gay Propaganda,” send a blank email to tseluyu at orbooks.com.<mailto:tseluyu at orbooks.com?Subject=%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F%20%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F%20%D1%8D-%D0%BA%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B0>

There is a good chance that promoting or distributing Gay Propaganda: Russian Love Stories<http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/gay-propaganda/> in Russia will get you into serious criminal trouble. You might not feel comfortable sending or receiving Gay Propaganda in your email.


To that end, we have also provided some ways to clandestinely spread information, using digital tools to create digital samizdat<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat>. Using these techniques, you can spread “gay propaganda” wirelessly without connecting to the internet, and also hide “gay propaganda” on your computer and in plain sight without drawing unwanted attention from the authorities.”

Yours,

Margarita

Margarita Nafpaktitis, Ph.D.
Librarian for Slavic & East European Studies and Linguistics | Instruction Coordinator
Collections, Research & Instructional Services | Charles E. Young Research Library | UCLA
A1540 Charles E. Young Research Library | Box 951575 | Los Angeles CA 90095-1575 | USA
office: 310-825-1639 | fax: 310-825-3777 | nafpaktitis at library.ucla.edu<mailto:nafpaktitis at library.ucla.edu>
http://ucla.academia.edu/MargaritaNafpaktitis | @nafpaktitism




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