material: Demagogue illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Yesterday, July 21, the media began writing en masse that the authorities had begun blocking the accounts and real estate of citizens who participated in opposition events abroad. Mostly they talked about the SlovoNovo festival and the Gift award.

material: Evgeniy Kogan illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Evgeny Kogan, founder of the Babel bookstore and publishing house (Tel Aviv), wrote about the writer and director Vladimir Kozlov, who occupies an important place in the independent Russian-language art of the early 2000s. In his films and books, he talks about the endless darkness of a collapsing empire.

material: Fedya Otroshchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili The Meduza publishing house has published Vasily Chernyshev's debut book of prose, "Time" - a story about emigration and return, or more precisely, the impossibility of emigration and the impossibility of return.

material: Zinovy ​​Zinik illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili In the new episode of the memoir novel “The Stolen Handwriting,” Jesus Christ is imitated in a bar in Soho, Oscar Wilde confuses the Victorian smog of London with the thick steam from the boilers in which dumplings bubble in the Moscow university canteen, and the author Zinovy ​​Zinik himself would have become a world star, known from Algeria to New York, if he had not been robbed by Vladimir Putin.

material: Rose Lux illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Over the past few years (primarily at the instigation of economist Yanis Varoufakis), people are increasingly talking about “techno-feudalism” here and there. And if you think about how we rent a place, say, on Ozone, the association with land rented by a peasant is almost inevitable.

material: Fedya Otroshchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Today the Demagogue turns six years old. On this occasion, editor-in-chief Fedya Otroshchenko wrote a text about how a small student magazine, created during the pandemic, became a support during the war, a place for uniting people with similar views and interests, and most importantly, a source of joy. Thank you for staying with us! Without you there would be no magazine.

material: Demagogue illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili A few days ago a conference was held in Moscow on bookselling in Russia. The speakers spoke about the depressing situation of the book market: book prices are rising, buyers' salaries are falling, circulations have decreased by a quarter, and the number of bookstores in Russia is declining - now we are almost back to the figures of 2015.

material: Zinovy ​​Zinik illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Any religious cult that borders on idolatry gives rise to its dissidents, dissidents and rebels.

material: Roman Polyakov illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili All episodes of Roman Polyakov's podcast about the history and culture of sex in modern Russia. This is a conversation about how the conversation about sex, intimacy and their cultural representation has changed. “We Had Sex” is a podcast about how the conversation about sex, intimacy and their cultural representation has changed in modern Russia. Podcast host Roma Polyakov, author of the Queerorama project.

material: Demagogue illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Oksimiron’s concerts are being held all over the world, despite the accusations of grooming and sexualized violence that were voiced in Nastya Krasilnikova’s podcast “The Robber’s Daughter” and received wide publicity.

material: Sofia Khananashvili illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Having finally recognized our millennialism, we decided to ask people about their hobbies and find something suitable for ourselves. For this purpose, the editors of Demagog magazine sent designer Sonya Khananashvili to interview one of the most famous bird observers, Alexander Borzenko.

material: Mark Lipovetsky illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili The publishing house “New Literary Review” is publishing a new book by Mark Lipovetsky, “The Soviet Trickster: The Cultural Heritage of Cynicism,” dedicated to popular characters of the Soviet era - from Julio Jurenito and Ostap Bender to Woland, Venichka and the heroes of Leonid Gaidai’s comedies. The trickster is the embodiment of the inextricable link between chaos and freedom: creative disorder and destructive self-will.

material: Rosa Lux, Maxim Slav illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Since the beginning of the year, the level of trust in the Russian President has fallen by ten percentage points, showing the lowest values ​​since the beginning of the war. This news caused a stir, although the government's rating is still at extremely high levels.

material: Fedya Otroshchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Yesterday, April 21, Evgeny Kapyev, the head of the largest Russian publishing house Eksmo, as well as several other top managers of the company were detained and taken to the Investigative Committee. This is related to the “publishers case,” when in May 2025 a criminal case was opened against employees of Popcorn Books and Individuum for organizing the activities of an extremist organization and participating in it.

material: tony lashden illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili In April, the Myane Nyama publishing house published the book “On the Corner of Nezalezhnastsi” by Tony Lashden, a Belarusian writer and activist, founder of the feminist writing laboratory “Stretching”. This is a collection of stories about everyday life, which continues even against the backdrop of political and economic crises. Tony works with magic, mysticism and Belarusian folklore, but this time he adds humor to them.