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A hero indeed! We should post and tweet his photo, preferably one with the Ukraine t-shirt, and pair it with our own heroes (i.e. resisters to US wars). Wear it to your next UNAC/IAC event! On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 4:38 AM, Thomas Campbell via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > > https://therussianreader.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/vlad-kolesnikov-a-real-russian-hero-for-russia-day/ > > “At the military enlistment office, I turned on the Ukrainian national > anthem”: 17-year-old Vlad Kolesnikov talks about his decision to combat > Putin’s propaganda > Dmitry Volchek > June 10, 2015 > svoboda.org > > Hundreds of people have been writing to Vlad Kolesnikov, a 17-year-old > technical college student from Podolsk. They have been writing with offers > of assistance and shelter, and to thank him and advise him to be more > careful. > > “I cannot express in words the emotions I feel reading Facebook,” says > Vlad, his voice trembling with emotion. “There has been so much support > from strangers, it is simply incredible.” > > Vlad has acquired a lot of friends on the Internet, but his own > grandfather, a former KGB officer, has condemned him. At the technical > college where he studied he was assaulted. (Vlad asked not to write that he > had been beaten up: “It was only a split lip, a couple of bruises, a couple > of blows to the head, and three drops of blood.”) And now the police have > taken an interest in him. > > And all because Vlad Kolesnikov not only does not hide his political views > but has also decided to declare them openly. > > Vlad Kolesnikov: Putin sits with his pack of criminals and runs the country > with the aid of powerful propaganda. This is my subjective opinion. Maybe I > am wrong, but I believe it is true. You know the Russian media have been > vigorously promoting the image of khokhly [a Russian term of abuse for > Ukrainians] and pindosy [a Russian term of abuse for Americans] as enemies. > I also supported this until I watched a video on YouTube. It was 2014, and > I will probably never forget it, because the video changed my life. The > content of the video was completely banal. It was just an American family. > The wife is Russian, the husband, American. He gives her a gift, they go to > a shooting range. And instead of the propaganda we get—that it is a fascist > regime where everyone is obsessed with sex and money, and everyone betrays > each other—I saw people like myself. The only difference was that they > smiled more. Since then I have been digging more, looking for different > kinds of information, and reading the western press. I have realized the > Russian media makes lots of mistakes, exaggerates, and in most cases just > blatantly lies. > > Radio Svoboda: And your relations with your relatives have been complicated > because of the fact they do not share your views? > > Vlad Kolesnikov: Yes. And not only my relations with relatives, but with > everyone, you could say. I know only two people who more or less share my > views: my friend Nikolai Podgornov and one other person whom I won’t name. > But all the people I know—my whole college, all my relatives—they are all > against me. It is just Nikolai and me, > > Radio Svoboda: You and Nikolai decided to hang up a banner in Podolsk that > read, “Fuck the war”? > > Vlad Kolesnikov: Yes, it all started when I was at the military enlistment > commission and told them I did not want to serve in the army and did not > want to fight against my brethren. Maybe that sounds sentimental, but that > is the way it is. We decided we could not tolerate it anymore and would > voice it openly. First, we wanted to hang a banner in Moscow, but then we > thought it would be torn down quickly, and so we looked for a good place in > Podolsk. We walked around for a long time and found a building with an > accessible rooftop in the middle of town and decided to hang the banner > there. We went to a fabrics shop. We bought a five-meter-long piece of > cloth. We spent a long time picking out cloth that would be sturdier. We > bought paint. This is expensive for a college student, but it was worth it. > We spent all night making the banner and sitting on the rooftop. We > fastened the banner to iron cables so that it would hang longer, and we > locked the door [to the rooftop] so that it would take the police longer to > get in. They had to summon the Emergency Situations Ministry guys. I think > we gained two or three hours more time on them that way. > > Radio Svoboda: You told the military enlistment commission straight out > that you did not want to fight? > > Vlad Kolesnikov: I don’t have very good eyesight, so I am not fit for > military service. I went through the medical examination, and there was I > before the draft board. There were tables shaped like the letter П set up > there, and the people who did the assessments were seated at these tables. > I had the Ukrainian national anthem recorded on my telephone. I don’t like > the Russian national anthem, because I consider it mendacious. Everything > it says about freedom and so on is just pure rubbish. Before entering the > room I decided to turn on the Ukrainian anthem, because I do not support > the Russian army at all and consider serving in it disgraceful. So I turned > on the Ukrainian anthem and said, “Guys, I’m not going to fight in the > Russian army.” > > Radio Svoboda: Vlad, you would agree that you are a very unusual young man. > You are immune to propaganda, and are fearless to boot. > > Vlad Kolesnikov: In fact, I was just lucky. I just did not have a TV for a > certain time, and I did not watch the news. And when I got a TV, I turned > it on and saw the nonsense that was going on there. I turned right to that > program where [TV journalist Dmitry] Kiselyov fiercely argued that the > hearts of gays should be burned. I was sitting there and thinking, Is this > a comedy show? Then I realized that a new kind of news had emerged in > Russia. It is hardcore, and produced in keeping with all of Goebbels’s > principles of propaganda: enemies surround us, the country has been > occupied. Total drivel. > > Radio Svoboda: So, you turned on the Ukrainian national anthem at the > military enlistment commission. The members of the draft board were > probably stunned when they heard it, no? > > Vlad Kolesnikov: It was something incredible. Some people were dumfounded. > Others jumped up and shouted, “What are you doing? Do you know where you > are?” After a while, a man came running in. He took me to a separate room > and laid two certificates in front of me. One said that I had problems with > my eyesight, which is true. The other said that I had a personality > disorder and something else. In short, the military enlistment commission > had assigned me to the loonies, because I had gone in there playing the > Ukrainian anthem and expressed my opinion. That was a turning point. When > that certificate was put in front of me, I realized I would not put up with > this anymore. I had simply gone in there, and I was immediately classified > as a loony. > > Radio Svoboda: And there is your latest feat. You came to school in a > t-shirt with the Ukrainian flag on it. > > Vlad Kolesnikov: Yes. I had voiced my political views earlier at the > college, and had often argued with the teachers on this score. As you can > imagine, nothing good had come of this, but neither did anything super bad, > except lowered marks and other trifles. But then it got fun. Near the > college, I immediately met the class teacher. At our college, they are > called professional masters. I will never forget that look. At first, he > looked at me like a normal, decent person. Then he saw what I had on my > t-shirt. He looked up at me, and I saw this hatred! Then I went upstairs > and walked into the classroom. Within five minutes, the people sitting in > front of me turned around (I was sitting in the back row) and said, > “Kolesnikov, should we smash your face in now or later?” Well, just you > try, I said. As you know, they kept their promises, not that day, however, > but a few days later, after I had published my posts, when they had heard a > lot of interesting things about themselves. I can argue my position, why I > think Crimea was annexed, why Donbas was occupied. I have arguments, I have > facts, and I know people who served there. On TV, they say there are no > Russian troops there. In reality, of course, it is the other way round. > They could not come up with convincing arguments. It all came down to my > being a disgrace to the country, and I should tear the flag from my shirt. > It is an interesting policy, actually. It turns out if you express your > opinion you are disgrace to the country. > > The inscription on the flag reads, “Give Crimea Back!” > > Vlad Kolesnikov was forced to leave college (he was immediately expelled) > and leave Podolsk. His grandfather, with whom he lived, also did not share > his political views and sent his grandson to his father in Zhigulyovsk. It > was just in time. Kolesnikov called his grandfather to say he had arrived > safely and heard the disturbing news that two police officers had come and > asked where he had got the Ukrainian flag and where his t-shirt was now. > > “All democrats in Russia were sent into exile, and that is how I feel now, > as if I am in exile. Many people are now advising me to go to Kiev. But > that is the most extreme option. If someone thinks I will sit this out, get > a foreign travel passport, leave for Ukraine, and that will be the end of > it, they are mistaken. For now, I am planning after Zhigulyovsk to return > to Moscow and do a couple of protest pickets,” promises fearless Vlad > Kolesnikov. > > * * * * * * > > Russia Day (Russian: День России, Den’ Rossii) is the national holiday of > the Russian Federation, celebrated on June 12. It has been celebrated every > year since 1992. The First Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian > Federation adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian > Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on June 12, 1990. > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
