A video appeared from Kazakhstan. Local residents made a person cover a Z symbol on his car with paint.
He tried to justify himself that his last name, Zinovyev, starts with a Z, and apologized for his actions.
lazylion_ca ( @lazylion_ca@lemmy.ca ) 20•10 months agoWhy would they find the Z offensive?
“Z” is a military symbol that the Russian military has been painting on vehicles in Ukraine. It’s become a pro-war symbol for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Alto ( @Alto@kbin.social ) 25•10 months agoTo expand, it’s essentially the Russian version of the German iron cross in ww2, and has very similar connotations.
Skua ( @Skua@kbin.social ) 14•10 months agoI’m not sure that analogy really holds. The iron cross had been part of German military iconography since before Germany was even a united country, whereas this Z thing appears to have popped up specifically for the current Russian invasion
Alto ( @Alto@kbin.social ) 4•10 months agoThe connotations of the iron cross during ww2 and the Russian Z now are very much similar.
Nowhere did I claim the connotation of the iron cross outside of ww2 carried the same connotation, because it very clearly doesn’t.
snooggums ( @snooggums@kbin.social ) 7•10 months agoI heard Zorro will be suing any day now.
Epilektoi_Hoplitai ( @Epilektoi_Hoplitai@lemmy.ca ) 28•10 months agoUpvote for a sincere question. Here’s the wiki article on its use as a fascistic pro-war symbol. Kazakhs are unhappy with it because they too are a country that Russia makes territorial claims against and are thus largely opposed to the war and its symbols.
antifa ( @antifa@infosec.pub ) 19•10 months agoW Kazakhstan
PugJesus ( @PugJesus@kbin.social ) 12•10 months agoI’ll probably never have the chance to eat whatever the fuck brand of Kazakh chocolate that is, but being nice to a Russian guy fleeing the draft while also implying that being outside of Russia is his first taste of freedom is peak international trolling, I love it.
Ignacio [he/him] ( @Ignacio@beehaw.org ) 12•10 months agoCorrection to that Russki: his last name doesn’t start with a Z. It starts with a З.
Troy ( @troyunrau@lemmy.ca ) 9•10 months agoThat depends. Kazakhstan switched the Kazakh language to the roman alphabet recently. So now Russian names, when transliterated to Kazakh can start with Z. Still, in this context, it’s probably not being used that way.