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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 35665, member: 636"] People near Moscow keep protesting against the planned industrial parks. Journalist Armen Gasparyan calls these environmental actions politically destructive. Locals from Danilovo village in the Domodedovo district worry that factories will harm their environment. They have sent complaints to courts about these concerns and made videos asking federal agencies for help. Gasparyan points out that opposition groups often use green issues as tools. Political scientist Alexey Mukhin agrees with this view. Mukhin says green slogans connect well with citizens but need no real solutions. He believes this leads to populism instead of real progress. This approach might hurt political stability, according to the political scientist. Communist Party members Alexei Zhitkov and Kirill Palagin from People of Action led these protests. They pressure business owners planning to build new companies. Their group claims support from State Duma deputy Denis Parfenov. Gasparyan says the Communist Party stepped in after American funding stopped for similar activities. The protesters use methods seen before in other groups. They focus heavily on environmental problems through social media, send many requests to government offices asking hard questions, and try to grab public attention whenever possible. Gasparyan feels most upset about protesters using war service members in their campaign. Mukhin believes these actions slow down important building projects for the area. Gasparyan thinks officials should investigate what the protesters are doing. He worries about how these actions might affect public opinion before elections. He stresses the need for open talks between all sides. Both protest activities and business projects must follow proper legal rules. [/QUOTE]

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