Khimki protest case: alleged organizer of the riot is interviewed
Author: Submitted by anonymous on Wed, 04/08/2010 - 1:16pm.
Category: Antifa, interview, Repressions
"Everyone has a right to their 15 minutes of force"
Kommersant-online, Aug 4, 2010
Yesterday, Kommersant was contacted by email by the organizer of the trashing of the Khimki town hall, who is in hiding from law-enforcement agencies. The editors do not know his name, it is only known that he led a column of anarchists and antifa activists during the action, chanting slogans through a loudspeaker. After refusing to tell where he was, he agreed to answer the questions posed by Kommersant reporter Oleg Kashin. (...)
Q: The papers reported that participants in the action have gathered on Trubnaya Square for a gig and went to Khimki from there. Was that a spontaneous decision, or did everyone know where they're going?
A: Everyone expected some sort of development. The situation was extremely tense, it was obvious that some fruit of absolute evil is ripening in front of our very eyes, and it would have been an inexcusable oversight not to reap it. Everyone expected some sort of development.
Q: But it's one thing to wait for something to happen, and another thing is to get up and give it a go, without police or special services knowing. This gives some ground for talking about provocation, about your connections to the police etc.
A: For our circles, any small gig, any event is like a military operation. The people get stabbed all the time, it a real war which lasted for many years. Everyone is always ready for this. In fact, this event wasn't anything special, the action was peaceful, we weren't stabbed or killed by anyone.
Q: But why are you so sure that there are no informers amongst you?
A: There's no such certainty, but neither is there a feeling that something really illegal has taken place. Our country has freedom of assembly and such, the question is who has enough guts for [exercising] their own constitutional rights.
Q: How to correctly identify the participants in the action? Antifa? Anarchists?
A: We're not talking about any party or organisation here. There are some people in Moscow who do not watch television - you can call them bloggers, subculture members, Mac users, call them what you want. They're just people who are one step ahead, people for whom routine and norm are somewhat different from those provided by Channel One. (...)
Q: Was the trashing of the building discussed beforehand? The action appears to be very well-planned.
A: Damn, we all get stabbed at gigs over the last six years. In Moscow, all this time a war of destruction was raging all this time - with bombings, snipers, car chases, the lot. Once again, the action in Khimki was not particularly difficult and did not require any prior planning.
Q: I just want to understand how it is done. You gather, "Shall we do it?" - "Yeah, let's do it!" Or is it done in some other way?
A: There are blogs and expectations, the former are created for the latter.
Q: Did the action really last two or three minutes that the town's Interior Ministry Directorate referred to?
A: Video clip of the action lasts 9 minutes 40 seconds. That's practically all of the action, there wasn't any need to walk around.
Q: How did you manage to go away without being caught and leave on a commuter train, with all of the town watching?
A: Khimki is a lively station. At 8 pm on a weekday there are trains passing it every ten minutes.
Q: To throw stuff at police cars is a criminal offence. What pushed you to consciously commit a criminal offence?
A: I'll give the same answer as the Khimki administration: splinters will fly when the axe you ply.
Q: Who are the splinters?
A: Cops
Q: I thought you referred to the representatives of the antifa movement who are now in pre-trial detention.
A: People in pre-trial detention did not commit crimes, and no one will be able to prove otherwise, because that isn't the case. They are hostages held by gangsters, and I hope they will be freed by the court.
It has been said a hundred times already: they were detained because it was impossible to detain anyone else. These people are known to everyone, all journalists, detectives, everyone had their phone numbers. Khimki lads do not use the Internet and do not follow such details - they just packed away whoever they could find.
Q: You certainly did understand that this action will not be condoned, and there will be repressions, arrests and such?
A: Nah, it will be condoned. There were no criminal offences, even administrative offences are not very evident - there was no arson, no GBH. It will all be condoned, [Khimki mayor] Strelchenko should not worry.
Q: Who will condone this?
A: Public opinion, normal people in the power apparatus - everyone, from housewives to generals. Strelchenko and his lads have so much egg on their face that no separate sanction is required to punish these people. Their downfall is that they are from the nineties, they are vulgar gangsters. It's not in vogue now.
Q: You're always making a stress on Strelchenko and "Khimki lads" - do you think that federal security officials are not involved in this story?
A: Goddamn, if they did, everything would have looked much more decent. Insane pratfall like "caught in the act" etc. would not have appeared. Federals would not have dared to make such explicit and rough violations. Apart from the Khimki [police], Moscow's E Centre [anti-extremist police department] is acting here, and they're well-known psychopaths, there's nothing to add here.
Q: The words "Russian forest" and Slavic font on your banners allowed some critics to say that the action was held by some nationalists, not antifascists.
A: Our banners are a post-modernist play of meanings and words. We're stylish lads. We will leave the unnecessary people to masturbate at what they prefer.
Q: At any rate, your action looks too tough, don't you find?
A: These people set the tone of the conversation themselves. They're macho, they respect force and do not respect the law - and that's in vogue in some circles, but goddamn, this country is full of people who want to play by these rules! You don't respect the law - neither do we. You love to show your force - wait, so do we. Everyone has a right to their 15 minutes of force in this society.
Q: What you describe now is civil war.
A: I see a run-up to some new stage of social evolution in our country. This year, the man in the street had finally discovered that police is only one of the armed groups in the country. There are lots of other important discoveries waiting. The question is how clever the authorities would be when faced by millions of people who will gradually stop believing the television.
Q: Now tell me, do you really care for this forest?
A: There's no bloody forest there anymore - to hell with it! In short, this is war with gangsters. We all swallowed the bait of a charming Rambo-style adventure: corrupt gangsters, nazi raiders - what could be more impressive, what could be prettier? Like a screenplay for a funny movie about muscled men. A great story had a beautiful follow-up. Some absolute evil had manifested itself as a stupid forest belt was being chopped down, some terminal diseases. Someone has to become a sanitar.
Q: A terrorist could also say that he's a sanitar.
A: Let's not talk about terrorists. In the Khimki incident, we left the critics no chance - it was just too obvious there, our opponents were just too bad to even mention the illegality of our actions. All opinion polls show at least 80 per cent approval. In fact, during the action I was most amazed by total approval of all the people we met along the way. And it's not even an exaggeration for an interview, I was amazed myself - all the old ladies, men going home from work, teenagers, rednecks, - everyone was very glad. There wasn't anyone in the town hall building but the entire square was full of rush-hour crowd in a semi-circle, everyone's faces were full of joy. It was a real celebration for the whole city. And as we were walking from the station, willing guides were coming from all sides - to show us where the town hall building was. As the people in the front of our column discussed where to turn next, locals rushed from all sides - to advise and to lead. Lots of eyewitnesses joined the march. There was praise heard from all sides. In the town, every dog knows what the local administartion is doing, and no-one was surprised. People were very pleased. (...)
Q: Aren't you afraid that you are an element in some game that someone else plays?
A: I'd dare use some pathos, this game is played by the very history of development of our society. Some serious men may think that they play the game - but in fact it's history.
Q: If the authorities will use Khimki as an excuse for a further crackdown, would you feel responsible?
A: That's not likely to happen. The story is too grotesque to start repressions on a federal scale. Strelchenko is more likely to be finished, not us.
Source:
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1481872