Dissident Spotlight: Oleg Kuvaev
Oleg Kuvaev began as an animator but had to flee Russia over an anti-war music video he created in 2022.
In 2001, a quirky adult cartoon was created that ran on Flash and would go on to have 9 seasons and 181 episodes. Oleg Kuvaev’s creation would grow his site into a small studio that produced other cartoons and sold merch.
Kuvaev used his talents to aid a musician’s protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He created the music video for Anthem of the Damned, a rock song protesting the war that Vladimir Putin started.
It’s a parody of a military march that skewers the Russians marching into Ukraine:
The path of the doomed
Trainloads of prisoners
Tribes of exiles
"Novichok” in your underwear!
The laughter of lepers
Distorted faces become ugly masks
Immersed into sweet oblivion (by propaganda)
Then fresh dirt.
Kuvaev had to go into hiding in March 2022. According to PEN America, Russian authorities charged Kuvaev with “action against national security.” He is currently living in Israel and continues producing animated shows.
Entertainers Can Be Hard to Silence
Oleg’s portrayals of Putin hardly seem dangerous to national security. Cheap animation is even more laughable than some of the AI content allowed to circulate on social media.
However, dictators like Putin meld their own identities with the states they hold hostage. Putin has identified himself with a country with a much richer history than any individual who claims to own it. So, anything contrary to his interests is an “action against national security.”
But entertainers like Kuvaev not only poke holes in the indomitable image dictators build for themselves. Entertainers also excel at communicating to large numbers of people. Their accessibility is one of their greatest weapons against authoritarians.
Entertainers can be difficult to silence. It takes great effort to make the newly forbidden voice disappear. Authoritarian countries have expended the effort in controlling the judicial system and the lawmaking process. But when any voice can be heard somewhere, attempts to silence entertainers often amplify their messages instead.
Often, one of the best ways to protect dissidents is to give them publicity, ensuring leaders will face pressure for killing people who speak out against them. Attention isn’t a foolproof shield, but it has saved lives before and will again.