I am completely in support of this. Hopefully the Russian people understand that these types of measures are not taken because we are trying to exact revenge on them as a people.
This is our way to motivate you, to encourage you to go out in major cities and protest by the millions. More so than any other profession, we in tech are often shielded from major events happening in the outside world (see pandemic). We need to get off our asses and fight for what's right because we're not living in the metaverse yet.
As this comment ([1]) demonstrates, I caution you against thinking it's safe to protest in Russia. We are truly privileged to live in a country where dissent doesn't result in being poisoned. Empathy goes a long way towards building a better world.
We know it's unsafe, we see the videos of peaceful protestors getting arrested. We knew all of this before the current conflict. And I completely agree with you that we are privileged to have these freedoms.
The ugly reality is that regime change will not happen in Russia without bloodshed, and currently the bloodshed is happening in a country that was unfortunate enough to border Russia.
The war in Ukraine is egregious and refusing to assume the risk as a Russian person is almost akin to saying "better them than us".
This is our way to motivate you, to encourage you to go out in major cities and protest by the millions. More so than any other profession, we in tech are often shielded from major events happening in the outside world (see pandemic). We need to get off our asses and fight for what's right because we're not living in the metaverse yet.