What We Feel – one of the few bands which exists on the territory of the former USSR, which does not copy popular western groups, but plays tough, acute social, daring music. Guys never wrote vague, non-committal texts. They always expressed their opinion about the things that happen in the city and country they live in the most clear way.
In the country, where defense agencies are persistently looking for extremists on the concerts, organized by youth, while true extremists are killing human rights activists at the Caucasus and journalists in downtown Moscow with perfect impunity. In the country, where fascism became a fashion for the youth, and grandchildren of veterans post up congratulations to Hitler on stadium stands and brag in internet with self-shot videos with the murders of Tajik yard cleaners. In the country, torn by crime, corruption and social inequality. In the country, where to say the truth and to struggle for justice long ago became the occupation dangerous for life and freedom.
Threats, attempts to wreck or ban the concerts, losses of close friends – during 4 years of existence, group passed through all that. Group gained its reputation not by words, but by its deeds, behind – more than a hundred concerts in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, three euro-tours in support of Russian antifascist movement, participation in great number of charity actions. And new album, named “Our 14 Words”, became a proof that group never gave up its positions, satisfied with reached achievements, but made a forward step.
Every song on this album – a nail in the coffin of all those, who thinks that hardcore became insipid and lost its fury, that it became regular entertainment for rich boys and nazi tolerant people, and that it can no longer be the instrument of direct action.
According to sitemeter, my blog has now received over 400,000 visits and 675,000 page views (which is probably the number of readers Andrew Bolt’s blog receives in an average week). I’ve no idea how this measures against other blogs — pretty poorly, I imagine, as on average that (apparently) works out to be something like 600 or so visits a day.
Which is not very much.
(But it’s certainly better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.)
Anyway, Googling ‘Andrew Bolt’, ‘blog’ and ‘popularity’, dredged up the following:
‘Monitoring the Australian Blogosphere through the 2007 Australian Federal Election’, Lars Kirchhoff, Thomas Nicolai, Axel Bruns & Tim Highfield, a research paper [PDF] given at the July 2009 ANZCA09 conference —
This paper examines the observable patterns of content creation by Australian political bloggers during the 2007 election and its aftermath, thereby providing insight into the level and nature of activity in the Australian political blogosphere during that time. The performance indicators which are identified through this process enable us to target for further in-depth research, to be reported in subsequent papers, those individual blogs and blog clusters showing especially high or unusual activity as compared to the overall baseline. This research forms the first stage in a larger project to investigate the shape and internal dynamics of the Australian political blogosphere. In this first stage, we tracked the activities of some 230 political blogs and related Websites in Australia from 2 November 2007 (the final month of the federal election campaign, with the election itself taking place on 24 November) to 24 January 2008. We harvested more than 65,000 articles for this study.
— which defines the ‘political’ blogosphere in terms best summarised by John Dewey: ‘As long as politics is the shadow cast on society by big business, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance’.
Left to right: Gary Smith, Jean-Charles Tanzi, Will Browning and Daniel Jack of the band No Remorse which recorded the album Barbecue in Rostock (source: bernardomahoney.com). The album celebrates the events of August 1992, when a mob in Rostock besieged and burned a house for asylum seekers to the applause of 2,000 bystanders, and under the patient gaze of German police. See: Foreigners, Go Home!, Daniel Benjamin, Time, November 23, 1993. Also: Lars Rensmann, Confronting the New Germany: Neo-Nazi Violence and The State of Racism, Barricade Publishing, Melbourne, 1995.
A JERSEY MAN accused of plotting to spread Neo-Nazi propaganda admitted to a London jury yesterday that he was a former member of extremist group Combat 18. However, William Browning (39), a former Les Quennevais School pupil, claimed that he was ‘just putting two fingers up to the establishment’. He said that he had left Combat 18 after a friend was stabbed to death in an internal feud because he felt that the group had ‘lost the moral high ground’. Mr Browning is in the dock alongside his old schoolfriend, St Helier tattoo artist Jon Denny-Mallen (40), at Southwark Crown Court. They are both accused of trying to incite racial hatred by importing racist hard rock CDs from Poland into Jersey. The albums, by band No Remorse, were a product of the so-called Blood and Honour rock scene and promoted anti-semitism in their lyrics, it is claimed. Mr Browning, who has addresses in Deptford and Almorah Crescent, St Helier, and Mr Denny-Mallen, of St Martin, both deny one charge of conspiracy to distribute material with intent to stir up racial hatred between 1 January and 13 July 2006. The trial continues.
In Australia, Justin O’Brien of ‘Hold Fast Body Art’ in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood is a tattooist and the organiser for Blood & Honour Victoria. On September 28, he and three of his kameraden paid an impromptu visit to the ‘Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre’ in Northcote, where the group proceeded to terrorise a meeting of a group campaigning against sexual violence. Subsequent weeks saw the front of the building daubed with swastikas.
Importing ‘No Remorse’ CDs into Jersey is apparently some kinda crime, but in Australia the band’s product is available for purchase from both Blood & Honour and Combat 18. From Combat 18 Australia — http://terrormachine.net — you can buy the albums ‘Deutschland’, ‘Oi Monkey’ and ‘See you in Valhalla’; from 9percent — http://9percentproductions.com — ‘This time the world’. Both sites also flog neo-Nazi kitsch and propaganda (books, flags, hats, keyrings, patches, pendants, pins, t-shirts and zines).
‘No Remorse’ (1986–1996) also has the distinction of having had an Aussie — ‘Aussie’ Nigel Brown — play with the band; joining No Remorse in 1991, Nigel (a local boy) can also boast of having performed with Australian reich ‘n’ rollers ‘White Lightning’, members of which have since formed Sydney-based band ‘T.H.U.G.’.
A JERSEYMAN accused of paying £2,000 to import racist CDs into Jersey told a London court yesterday that the money was for a series of hard-rock gigs in east London.
William Browning (39), a former Les Quennevais School pupil, claimed that he needed the cash to promote Polish [neo-Nazi] punk act The Gits and called the lead singer to give evidence on his behalf.
Mr Browning, who admits that he was member of violent right-wing organisation Combat 18, is accused of trying to incite racial hatred using neo-Nazi ‘Blood and Honour’ records.
In July 2006 Jersey Customs officers intercepted a package of 100 CDs sent from Poland and addressed to a tattoo parlour in Hope Street owned by his childhood friend and co-defendant Jon Denny-Mallen (40). The albums, entitled Deutschland and recorded in the 1990s by one of Mr Browning’s former groups, No Remorse, contained inflammatory racist and anti-Semitic lyrics.
The two men are in the dock at Southwark Crown Court accused of trying to incite racial hatred by importing the CDs from Poland into Jersey. Mr Browning, who has addresses in Deptford and Almorah Crescent, St Helier, and Mr Denny-Mallen, of St Martin, both deny one charge of conspiracy to distribute material with intent to stir up racial hatred between 1 January and 13 July 2006.
Bonus!
Members of Combat 18 were apparently involved in a brawl with members of the ‘English Defence League’ (EDL) recently. According to one anonymous source, two C-18 “wannabes” — Noel Barrington and Tony Carney — were beaten up following the EDL’s rally in London on October 31 (the incident supposedly occurred outside a pub — with the fabulous name of ‘The Lord Moon of the Mall’ — in Whitehall).
Added Bonus!
In Australia, the local Hammerskins and Volksfront franchises play together nicely; in Europe and the US, it’s a slightly different story. At one of David Irving‘s speeches in Florida recently, four neo-Nazis attacked another — the victim, John Kopko (43), stabbed one of his attackers, Christopher Nachtman (31): both were taken to hospital. Kopko is supposedly a member of ‘Crew 38’, the junior membership of the Hammerskins; Nachtman, on the other hand, has supposedly been aligned with Volksfront.
Or is it the other way around?
Anyway, in Europe, the Hammerskins have allegedly been cleaning house, evicting — or attempting to evict — the Volksfront franchise from Germany.
Monday, November 30, 2009
1:00pm – 3:00pm Sofia, Canberra, Athens, London
Jock Palfreeman is a 23 year old Australian currently in prison in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is undergoing trial on charges of murder and attempted murder after an encounter with a gang of 16 far-right football hooligans.
In December 2007, Jock witnessed the gang attacking two men of Roma ethnicity in Sofia. Jock went to the aid of the Roma men, putting himself in the middle of the attack. The Roma men were able to escape, but the gang continued their vicious attack on Jock. Following the fight, one member of the gang was killed and another injured.
Jock was refused bail, and has been in the infamous Sofia Central Prison for nearly two years awaiting a verdict. He will give his final plea on Wednesday, 2nd December 2009, and can expect a verdict on the 3rd December.
Jock’s trial has been repeatedly delayed due to witnesses, court officials and even members of the judging panel failing to attend scheduled court dates without notice. Three consecutive court dates were aborted after 30 minutes due to missing medical and technical experts.
More importantly, crucial evidence proving Jock’s innocence has been either carelessly or deliberately destroyed. For example, CCTV footage showing the gang’s assault on the Roma men and then on Jock was initially deleted due to police recklessness. When Jock’s defense was able to retrieve it using a computer expert, the entire computer mysteriously exploded destroying the footage, again in police “care”.
The stories of the gang members and other witnesses have been changed repeatedly since the initial statements. The gang members initially confirmed Jock’s version of events, but have since changed their statements to deny even the existence of the Roma men. They claim that Jock, a young Australian in a foreign country, simply attacked a gang of 16 men alone without a motive. Their initial statements have been blocked from court by the prosecutor. Initially, ten Bulgarian Police Officers supported Jock’s version of events. To date, eight of these have changed their stories to fit with the statements of the gang. Throughout the entire case, Jock’s statement has remained exactly the same.
On Monday, 30th November, a coordinated demonstration will be held in Sofia, Canberra, Athens and London. We will show the Bulgarian representatives that Jock’s case is being closely observed across the world, and that any outcome other than self-defence is a perversion of justice.
Anyway… anarchy is a fag… that’s all I have to say to you Mr Moran…
See how fast words travel my friends? Be careful what you write on the internet…
Coz you never know when some stalker is gonna put it on there [sic] website.
Thanx to the people who have supported us… and to the random [sic] people letting us know about this anarchist knobjockey Mr Moran…
On Thursday 29th October, the Civil Police of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), under the command of Governor Yeda Crusius, broke into the premises of the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha. Police seized various materials such as posters, minutes of meetings, the hard disk of a computer and also the contents of refuse containers that were at the headquarters. They also tried to intimidate those who came to show their solidarity and names contained in the records of the organization’s website. Two comrades were arrested and charged.
Today 50 comrades gathered at the Brazilian Embassy in Uruguay to demonstrate against the repression that has hit the comrades of the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha.
The rally was organized by Uruguayan anarchist collectives with the purpose of expressing our solidarity with our comrades.
For an hour, flyers were distributed and there was singing and waving outside the embassy. We were then met by the first secretary of the embassy, Arnaldo de Baena Fernandes, to whom we handed a letter denouncing the situation and demanding an immediate halt to the persecution of anarchist popular militants in Porto Alegre. He claimed to know nothing about the case but expressed an interest, saying he was aware of the murder of the landless peasant comrade Eltom Brum.
The various organizations involved in the protest expressed a commitment to keeping abreast of the case and allowing no foothold for the persecution to which we anarchists have always been subjected.
With the comrades of the FAG!
With solidarity and action! Arriba los que luchan!
Thursday, 5 November 2009 Federación Anarquista Uruguaya
(Uruguayan Anarchist Federation)
Translation by FdCA-International Relations office
Nestor McNab (November 17, 2009) writes: ‘The police investigation has now ended, with the result that a total of 8 comrades have now been indicted for “criminal offence against the honour [of the governor, Crusius], incitement to commit a crime, and conspiracy or gang membership”.’
Speaking of anarchy, fags, streets and repression…
Smith Street Boogie
On Monday, November 30 there’s gonna be a party on Smith Street in Collingwood just down the road from The Birmingham Hotel (the formerly fascist-friendly venue that ‘Chunga’ and his band did so much to support and which was subject — in the words of Doug Smith of the bands Bulldog Spirit/Marching Orders and chief spokesperson for ‘Skin Heads Neither For Nor Against Racial Prejudice’ — to “a pretty unsuccessful boycott“). The party is taking place the day before ‘Local Law No.8’ comes into effect:
Drinking alcohol on the streets of Yarra will be banned from 1 December, Yarra City Council decided last night.
Council resolved to introduce Local Law No.8, which will empower police to request that people drinking in unlicensed areas on the streets of Yarra at any time of the day pour out opened drinks.
Police will be able to issue fines of $100 if people do not follow a direction to cease consuming alcohol, or seal a container of alcohol, or pour alcohol into a police-approved container, or surrender any opened container of alcohol…
The only councillor to have voted against the Law was the dirty filthy lousy rotten stinking communist Steve Jolly. The pumpkin-hating (long story) Red, along with Fitzroy Legal Service’s Belinda Lo, was interviewed by 3CR’s Done By Law on October 27, and you can listen to the interview here.
Things kick-off at around midday, and it is — in the words of Gil Scott-Heron — a BYOT (Bring Your Own Thing) affair — food, BBQs, musical instruments, amplifiers/PA systems, tables, chairs, and so on.
Bloody hell… 1989… It Came From Outer Space… or possibly Gaslight… on vinyl… I shoulda been listening to Def Leppard… “You will re-assess and prioritise your life in accordance with the principles of intelligence, compassion, and accountability”… “Step inside, walk this way, you and me babe, hey hey”…
I last posted an update on Jock’s case on November 3. It referred to his hearing of October 29. Since that date, there have been two further hearings: one on November 9, the other on November 18. His next hearing — likely to be his last — is scheduled for early December.
November 9, 2009
Two teams of experts were called to give evidence.
One expert witness scheduled to provide testimony regarding the murder victim’s autopsy failed to appear, and so the remaining two experts from this team were unable to testify.
All three experts from the other team came to court, and were able to testify regarding the wound to Anton Zahariev, the man Jock is accused of attempting to murder. They testified, after questioning, that his wound was not the result of a stabbing action, but rather was the result of a slashing motion. This accords with Jock’s account of his attempts to ward off attack using his knife in this fashion.
The experts also testified that Anton did not realise that he had been wounded (his wound was 2cm wide and 1cm deep) until long after the fight was over. His failure to do so — it was stated by the experts — was likely a result of his inebriated state: his BAC was 0.20%. Anton’s original statement to Bulgarian police and court-appointed experts confirmed this account.
In court, however, Anton previously stated that he knew he’d been injured at the time, and by Jock. Subsequently, Anton’s original statement has been blocked by the prosecutor (along with Anton’s lawyer, who is also suing Jock for financial compensation for Anton’s injury).
The expert testimony of November 9 cannot be blocked, so there are now two accounts of Anton’s injury before the magistrate: one he gave in court, the other which appeared in his original testimony and which is supported by the court-appointed experts.
In other words, there is reasonable grounds to believe Anton lied in court.
November 18, 2009
On this date, three experts officially submitted their reports on Andrei Monov’s autopsy and their forensic examination of the knife Jock is alleged to have used to murder Andrei and to attempt to murder Anton.
Unfortunately for Jock, the experts stated that, as the wound to him was very deep — the knife entered Andrei’s body to the hilt — Jock struck Andrei deliberately and with great force. Jock’s defence requested that a new report be made, making reference to other, more contemporary examination techniques: these suggest that the most important factor in determining the nature of such a wound is the sharpness of the blade, rather than the force with which it is used.
The magistrate denied this request.
The experts also stated that it was not possible for Andrei to have fallen on the knife while drunk — a claim which may also be contested in a future appeal.
December 2, 2009
Jock’s trial should conclude on December 2, with summaries of the evidence being given by two private plaintiffs, statements by Andrei Monov’s parents, the state prosecutor, Jock, his lawyer and Jock’s father Simon (in his capacity as one of Jock’s defence counsel).
Jock Palfreeman is a 23 year old Australian currently in prison in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is undergoing trial on a charge of murder and attempted murder, following an encounter with a group of 16 far-right football hooligans.
In December 2007, Jock witnessed a gang of young men attacking two Roma (‘Gypsy’) men in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. Jock went to the aid of the men, putting himself in the middle of the attack. The Roma were able to escape, but the gang then turned on Jock. The fascists kicked and punched Jock, and then started collecting pieces of broken concrete and throwing them at his head. Jock was alone, and forced to defend himself against the gang of 16 drunken, violent fascists. As a result, one fascist (Andrei Monov) was killed and another (Anton Zahariev) injured. Monov’s father, Dr Hristo Monov, is a prominent Bulgarian doctor, with ties to the government and contacts in the legal system.
Jock has been in prison for two years. Police have beaten and threatened to kill him, and have openly lied about his case in court. Much of the evidence that supports Jock’s version of events has been destroyed or has gone missing. For example, a CCTV video tape which showed the brutal attack on Jock has been “lost” by police and then been retrieved, only to mysteriously explode — again while in police custody. The Bulgarian media has labeled Jock a murderer and a hooligan, and has consistently and systematically published lies and distortions about Jock and his case. The court has been repeatedly delayed due to witnesses and court officials failing to turn up.
Attacks against Roma in Bulgaria have spiked in recent years, and the far right has declared that the eradication of Roma from their territories is of utmost political importance. Their anti-Roma campaigns include both propaganda and violence. In February 2009, local fascists organised a rally in Sofia, demanding that Jock be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. A local journalist who attended the rally was threatened by the protesters.
Jock has dedicated his life to fighting against fascism and for social justice, and he is now facing a possible life sentence in a Bulgarian jail because he chose to try to stop a fascist attack.
On December 2, 2009, Jock faces a final court hearing, which will declare his guilt or innocence on the two charges, and impose a sentence.
Jock has supporters in Australia, Bulgaria, Greece, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Please consider what you might do to help Jock in his struggle, and please keep an eye open for further updates and details of forthcoming actions.
Update #2 : Sadly, ‘Cheeky Darrin’s Abandoned Warehouse of Hate’ has been abandoned. But in other news, the ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ has been evicted from its premises on Facebook by a Monster named Nessie… or possibly a ‘Son of Rage’?! Oh, and Darrin’s blog — ‘The Infidel Diaries’ — is in ‘Maintenance Mode’: http://www.darrinhodges.com/. (Darrin is also ‘nothing more th[a]n a racist, homophobic bigot’, apparently.)
Description: FOWF- Comprised mainly of the backward, drooling, moronic, cousin-marrying, mis-shaped headed, shovel wielding, whinging, gronk dregs of society. But it comes as no surprise as the group itself was created by the love child of Mr Sheen and Nosferatu, born atop a pile of radioactive rubble.
Yes, everyone’s favourite pasty porn salesman with dreams of politics and podiums, has hijacked a nifty catch-phrase in the hope of rallying society’s bottom feeders into chanting his name with their fists in the air. He wasn’t blessed with a superior intellect, he wasn’t blessed with a sharp wit or keen insight. He wasn’t blessed with charismatic features, in fact he resembles the essence of oddity… some ungodly slug spat straight out of the bowels of vampyric Hell.
But he does have an edge, a portion of a population who are so mentally numb that stringing together a coherent and logical sentence gives them sharp pains in their madula oblongata. Gronks love a war, they love to hate, to punish the world for their short comings, inconsistencies and disproportioned cranial structures. All the leader need do is point his crooked claw in the direction of any entity and tell his mutant drones, “There they are, there’s the cretins responsible for your low socio-economic standing!” and then sit back, basking in the spotlight, slowly drifting off to sleep to the sound of war cries the likes of… “They took our jawwwbbsss!”
I have been called many things in my day, but I have never been called a “lefty”. That is harsh, cruel and not funny at all. And I won’t stand for it.
Terrie-Anne Verney has once again jumped ship, becoming one of the administrators of the new group.
In other, exciting news, the APP held a rally in Sydney on Monday to complain that there’s too many foreigners running around the country, breathing The White Man’s air. Unfortunately, despite being given a plug by squawking multi-millionaire talk-back hack Alan Jones, the masses didn’t exactly flock to their banner…
ATTENTION!
Dave Starr writes: “I think everyone should block public seeing your Profiles on Facebook… They has names and have links directly to you on Facebook, check it out, Anyone could find out all about you, or maybe about your Children, we all know we have some looneys out there… Please look into this People…”
As always, this post is dedicated to local yuppie Dion & the Melbourne Dumb Punx.
“No offence but honestly who gives a shit about some skinhead in Russia.” Nowave, Melbourne Punx Forum, October 2008
“If Russians are so interesting to you, move to Russia.” ~ Fruitsalad, Melbourne Punx Forum, October 2008
“As I stated on the Bombshell forum Andy, you are a liar, a hypocrite and no better than the trash that you fight against.” ~ Dion, December, 2007
“Anarchy is a fag. Thanx to the people who have supported us… and to the random people letting us know about this anarchist knobjockey Mr Moran.” ~ Chunga (The Worst), September 2007
Yesterday evening, Monday the 16th of November, 26 year old anti-fascist Ivan “Vanya Kostolom” Khutorskoy was shot to death at the entrance to his home at Khabarovsk street in the east side of Moscow; according to some information with two shots to his head.
Vanya was a great figure in the Russian anti-fascist movement, and I am sure many people will write down their memories of him in the days, months and years to come. But as of today most of his friends are too angry and too shocked, at the loss of this friend and comrade.
My first memories of Vanya are from around 2004. I was running an anarchist distro at a concert in R-Club. By that time I wasn’t going to gigs too often, so most of the faces were unknown to me. It was before the period when after the murder of [Alexander] Sasha Ryukhin Moscow hardcore went completely underground. Thus the concert was openly announced, and you could not be sure who was around. So I was a bit wary of the skinhead crowd, especially this one big guy. But there was no reason to worry, Vanya being there was actually the best guarantee that any trouble would be handled.
I do not know where Vanya got his nickname “Kostolom”, “Bonecrusher”. Maybe it was some kind of joke, as it is hard to imagine a more friendly and humorous guy than Vanya.
Last time I saw Vanya was at the “No surrender” mixed martial arts tournament, organised on the 10th of October this year in Moscow. The tournament was organised in memory of another murdered anti-fascist, Fyodor Filatov. Vanya was the referee, as seen in the photo above. Vanya was well-trained in Sambo, a martial arts developed in [the] Soviet Union which is still popular in the region. He had some success in tournaments and he achieved the degree of Candidate for Master of Sports of Russia. He also competed in arm-wrestling. This was one of the reasons that made him especially feared and hated among Nazis, since they attempt to picture their enemies as weak alcoholics and junkies. Few Nazis could match up to Vanya in a fair fight, this is why they attacked him with razorblades, screwdrivers and knives, and when even that did not work out, with a gun.
Before that my last meeting with him was outside the Ska-P concert last May. None of my friends had enough money to pay 30 euros for a concert of Spanish ska-punkers, but we decided to give out free anti-fascist papers outside. After all, on the concert poster the group was in anti-fascist t-shirts – not a big thing in Spain, but something for which a musician may have to pay with his life in Moscow. Thus handing stuff outside was not any worse than leafleting random people at the street. Vanya and a number of other people were asked to cover us.
The reaction of semi-yuppie clubbers and punks to our papers was mixed – obviously many were there just to party. Then a phone-call – another group of comrades was in trouble a few kilometers south, followed by a larger mob of Nazis. Our cover had to move to clear things out. I had no plans for a fight that evening, but I had little choice – having distributed anti-fascist papers to hundreds of people, going wandering around afterwards alone could [mean I] easily end up with 5 inches of steel between my ribs. So I had to stick with the crew.
We met with the other mob and regrouped. Vanya warned about not attacking as soon as the Nazis were in sight due to the fact that they would figure out that they were outnumbered and just run away and never get caught. But people could not hold themselves back. 100+ meters was way too much distance to close the gap, the Nazis ran to alleys and jumped over some fences – no one was caught. I was in bad shape so I could not run as fast as the rest – Vanya simply didn’t run because he knew it was pointless. So we were left behind the mob with some girls who avoided being in the front-line, and together we took a look around [to see] if any Nazis had hidden in an alley to our side.
Later that evening, another regroup – some asses kicked, some more missed opportunities. But it would be pointless to tell all these stories – while I was an unusual guest, for Vanya beating up Nazis was as routine as waking up in the morning. To tell one of these stories would be to tell nothing, as there are hundreds of them.
Vanya was a common face in the punk scene since the beginning of the century. Anti-antifa websites have large galleries of him, the oldest photos with a mohawk hairstyle. He was not in the first Moscow Antifa generation which got together around spring of 2002, but when he joined up in 2003-2004 he stayed for good.
Sometimes, after such tragedies, there is a kind of sad body-snatching match going on where everyone wants to claim a dead hero – that was the case for example with Stanislav Markelov, who, while still alive was a prankster who told anarchists that he was a social-democrat, and to Trotskyists and Stalinists that he was an anarchist, just to frustrate everyone.
With Vanya, any such post-mortem claims would be a misrepresentation any way you look at it, as every clique and crew in the scene considered him one of their own, and he was respected and loved by absolutely everyone. Vanya considered himself a RASH skinhead, which did not hold back the apolitical and patriotic Moscow Trojan Skinheads from considering him as one of them. Anarchists of course considered Vanya one of the anarchists, and it is true that Vanya had an anti-authoritarian and social position and was always ready to provide security for anarchists events. But he did not live for activism – he lived for the streets and for punk rock.
He was as sharp as a razorblade, and he finished his juridical studies at the Russian State Social University with a “red diploma”, that is a diploma “with excellence” given to students in the region of the former Soviet Union who have almost exclusively the best possible grades. As there are few people with juridical studies in the scene, I had some hopes that Vanya would join the ranks of the activist lawyers when he would retire from street fighting one day – even before he was murdered, Stas Markelov was overwhelmed with legal cases from our movement and had trouble in dealing with them alone. Vanya and Stas knew each other well, and Vanya also provided security to some press-conferences held by Stas. Most recently Vanya worked as a lawyer in the Deti ulitsy center (“Children of the street”), which works with street children and other children with difficulties.
Of course people now ask why he went to his flat that evening, although his address was posted all around in the Nazi websites. Vanya often stayed in other places. Maybe he had some important business with his family, maybe he just spit in the face of death, having survived so many attempts on his life.
Vanya was jumped the first time in 2005 and his head was cut with a razorblade. This incident was recorded with a CCTV camera and used in a TV documentary of NTV channel, which is available online here.
Next time, in the autumn of the same year, they attempted kill him – his neck was punctured 6 times with a sharpened screwdriver, which is a popular weapon among Russian Nazis as it punctures deeper than a knife. Any of these strikes could have been lethal, but miraculously none of them hit arteries and he survived. This incident was also recorded to a CCTV camera, but cops had little interest in investigating and they didn’t even check the recording! It took more than half a year for Vanya to fully recover from this attack.
In January of this year, Vanya was stabbed in his stomach during a street fight, this wound was almost lethal as well but he survived. And now, when everything else failed, Nazis decided to use guns – they finally succeeded.
~ S2W
Vanya’s father died a few years ago, he is survived by his mother and his sister. Donations to support friends and family with funeral costs are welcome. You may use Yandex-money account 41001411894609, or in case you do not know what that is, you may donate through ABC-Moscow. But in this case write to ABC-Moscow about your plans (abc-msk AT riseup DOT net, and also indicate in transfer that it is “for Kostolom friends and family”.
Two Greek anarchists are making molotov cocktails. One says to the other: "So who will we throw these at then?" The other replies: "What are you, some kind of fucking intellectual?"
