11 ms·

Your sacrasm reveals your ignorance, not an exaggeration or a hole in the story. Yes, environmentalist movements in 1989 were all across the country, and were

Your sacrasm reveals your ignorance, not an exaggeration or a hole in the story. Yes, environmentalist movements in 1989 were all across the country, and were significant. It was 2 years into Perestroyka and Glasnost [1] policy, and such things were not restricted from discussion, and 1989 was the year when a lot of non-CPSU new local politicians were elected in local councils and the soviet deputy council [2]. In my region, people would protest a projected Katun river dam [3]. It's not clear, whether the pressure stopped it, or financial shortages, but it was noteable -- at least I as 1st grader saw it discussed everywhere. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Soviet_Union_legislative_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Soviet_Union_legislative_... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katun_(river) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katun_(river)

orbital-decay 3y ago
To add to that, Chernobyl disaster and the subsequent coverup attempt clearly showed that Glasnost lacked actual substance. It was the one of the main reasons behind lifting the censorship regime (since the 1987 the press was essentially free to write about anything, and did so), and a major contributor to allowing competing factions inside the party. Nemtsov in particular became a prominent figure after his Chernobyl-related activism. However, claiming that environmentalists took down the whole Union is downright silly. Yes, the fears of the crumbling infra and coverups, Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Spitak earthquake, and Ufa train disaster dominated the media of the late USSR (and especially Armenia, due to the Spitak earthquake), but that was only a small factor, the reasons were much more fundamental.
- culebron21 3y ago
  > showed that Glasnost lacked actual substance. What do you mean? Glasnost (policy of open discussions) started in 1987, a year later than Chernobyl disaster and the coverup attempt.
  - orbital-decay 3y ago
    It's been discussed since 1985, with implementation attempts in 1986 before the Chernobyl disaster, but only accepted as the official policy (Glasnost-Perestroika-Acceleration) in 1987. I still have a Uborevich-Borovsky's satirical comic book published in 1986 with Glasnost taking probably one third of it.
- natmaka 3y ago
  Someone in the know said that "Chernobyl was REAL reason behind Soviet Union's collapse" This may be a tad exaggerated, and the main reasons were indeed much more fundamental, but the impact was massive. It was the coup de grace. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1137086/chernobyl-hbo-series-sky-atlantic-nuclear-disaster-gorbachev-soviet-union-spt https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1137086/chernobyl-hbo-s...
perihelions 3y ago
To add to that, environmental opposition to a Soviet mining project was actually a key trigger for the Baltic independence movement (hence, in part, the dissolution of the USSR), - "The Phosphorite War (Estonian: Fosforiidisõda) is the name given to a late-1980s environmental campaign in the then-Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, against the opening of large phosphorite mines in the Virumaa region[...] In Estonia it is regarded as a catalyst that led to the destabilization and dissolution of the Soviet government in Estonia.[3]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorite_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorite_War (I'm surprised this has never appeared on HN before in any context, https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Fosforiidisõda&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Fosforiidisõda&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=phosphorite%20war&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=phosphorite%20war&type=comment

orbital-decay 3y ago

To add to that, Chernobyl disaster and the subsequent coverup attempt clearly showed that Glasnost lacked actual substance. It was the one of the main reasons behind lifting the censorship regime (since the 1987 the press was essentially free to write about anything, and did so), and a major contributor to allowing competing factions inside the party. Nemtsov in particular became a prominent figure after his Chernobyl-related activism. However, claiming that environmentalists took down the whole Union is downright silly. Yes, the fears of the crumbling infra and coverups, Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Spitak earthquake, and Ufa train disaster dominated the media of the late USSR (and especially Armenia, due to the Spitak earthquake), but that was only a small factor, the reasons were much more fundamental.

culebron21 3y ago
> showed that Glasnost lacked actual substance. What do you mean? Glasnost (policy of open discussions) started in 1987, a year later than Chernobyl disaster and the coverup attempt.
- orbital-decay 3y ago
  It's been discussed since 1985, with implementation attempts in 1986 before the Chernobyl disaster, but only accepted as the official policy (Glasnost-Perestroika-Acceleration) in 1987. I still have a Uborevich-Borovsky's satirical comic book published in 1986 with Glasnost taking probably one third of it.
natmaka 3y ago
Someone in the know said that "Chernobyl was REAL reason behind Soviet Union's collapse" This may be a tad exaggerated, and the main reasons were indeed much more fundamental, but the impact was massive. It was the coup de grace. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1137086/chernobyl-hbo-series-sky-atlantic-nuclear-disaster-gorbachev-soviet-union-spt https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1137086/chernobyl-hbo-s...

perihelions 3y ago

To add to that, environmental opposition to a Soviet mining project was actually a key trigger for the Baltic independence movement (hence, in part, the dissolution of the USSR), - "The Phosphorite War (Estonian: Fosforiidisõda) is the name given to a late-1980s environmental campaign in the then-Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, against the opening of large phosphorite mines in the Virumaa region[...] In Estonia it is regarded as a catalyst that led to the destabilization and dissolution of the Soviet government in Estonia.[3]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorite_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorite_War (I'm surprised this has never appeared on HN before in any context, https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Fosforiidisõda&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Fosforiidisõda&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=phosphorite%20war&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=phosphorite%20war&type=comment