‘SHE IS NOT A(LONE) WARRIOR ON THE BATTLEFIELD’: Do-it-yourself anti-war activist selves in a modern-day <i>samizdat</i> , <i>Zhenskaia Pravda</i>

This article analyses a wartime feminist publication, Zhenskaia Pravda (Women's Truth), founded by the Feminist Anti-War Resistance shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. We examine the publication as an activist do-it-yourself newspaper and a contemporary version of Soviet samizdat . We explore how, in its 41 issues, it speaks to the intended Russian female readers and, we suggest, invites them to take part in anti-war action. We show how Zhenskaia Pravda puts forward three main types of activist ‘selves’ to which readers can relate: a decolonial activist self, a dissident self and an everyday heroine self. By uncovering these selves, we expose conflicting representations of gender, coloniality and popular feminism, and suggest that Zhenskaia Pravda strategically combines these elements. We argue that it employs a flexible distribution format and ambiguous messaging to speak to diverse Russian audiences and to encourage anti-war resistance.