MDB and WWF: against hate, discrimination, and inner-scene elitis

Let's keep hardcore positive

Dear all! On behalf of What We Feel and Moscow Death Brigade we are presenting our official reply to the article called “Die Bands What We Feel und Moscow Death Brigade als Beispiel eines zu kritisierenden ‘Antifaschismus'”, which accuses us and Russian militant Antifascist scene in general of being “fascist, homophobic, sexist” etc. While those accusations in general sound outright bizarre to us, we would like to answer these allegations in detail.

 

First of all we’d like to say that we’re happy that this subject has finally come to the public attention. For years now anonymous posters have been trying to hinder our tours sending letters with defamatory statements about our bands to the promoters and supporters. For example they were fruitlessly trying to cancel our Benefit Tour in support of the family of a murdered Russian Antifa activist Ivan Khutorskoi in May 2014, Ultrash Fest and Barrio Antifascista Fest.

While the promoters either had paid no attention to the hatemail or had been satisfied with our explanations, we still tried to meet with the authors for a proper discussion with representatives of European Antifascist scene acting as mediators, as our bands are always open for criticism. However the ill-meaning authors kept avoiding the dialogue.

Our bands can’t help but wonder why the authors never tried to discuss the topics of their article with us in the first place. Still clueless why this article was posted while we were on tour and why there had been no English (or preferably Russian) translation which didn’t let us to properly read it, understand it and reply to it on time. We have to admit that we see it as a dishonest approach, which is both disrespectful to us and to the readers. We also are unpleasantly surprised by the tone of the article. This and all of the above make us think that the real reason behind this activity is personal hostility.

We see this situation as a great opportunity to share the story of our bands that some of the readers might not be familiar with and to finally discuss the differences between Russian and European scenes and the ways to overcome them.

We’ve written this post in English, instead of our first language Russian, to make sure that people who want to read it and understand it can do so with as little difficulty, as possible, since members of Antifascist communities across the world usually use English to communicate with each other. A German translation is currently being worked on and will be posted as soon as possible.

1. Allegations

As far as we understand - thanks to our friends and Google Translate, the authors are trying to state that MDB, WWF, some related bands and, what can be assumed from the language of the article, Russian militant Antifascist scene in general - are not real Antifascists but in fact violent thugs, homophobes, sexists, nationalists etc.

Some statements are supported by the quotes from a couple interviews. First one with Gryundik - member of 210 and ex-member of Razor Bois. The other with Vova - member of MDB, ex-member of Razor Bois and ex-member of WWF.

The interview with Gryundik was deleted after its publication because, according to 210, Gryundik’s answers were interpreted in a wrong way by the interviewer.

Razor Bois interview with Vova is 5 year old and his quotes have been mistranslated and taken out of context.

Other arguments try to link us to people with whom we’ve never done anything and whom we don’t even know, or a label, with which we’ve seized any cooperation some time ago.

Finally certain accusations seem to be based on the authors’ perception and assumptions, which either stem from lack of knowledge of the subject or a biased point of view.

We will try to reply in detail to the more important arguments of the article. Unfortunately time is working against us and we also didn’t have an adequate translation of the original article, so it is hard to present a well-prepared reply, but we will try to do our best.

To conclude this section - we want to state that the accusations don’t have any link to reality. Claiming that we are xenophobes or fascists goes against what we’ve always intended to express in our songs, in our statements, in our actions and our work for the Antifascist ideals. We’ve fought against racism, nationalism and all types of discrimination based on ethnic origin, skin color, religion. We’ve fought against discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. Against stereotypes and generalizations in general. Because of our position we have been physically attacked on numerous occasions, received death threats, our photos and private information posted on Neo Nazi websites with calls for our physical elimination.

2. Differences between Russian and European society and scenes.

The statement that “Russian Antifascists are actually Fascists” is not new to us - as we said, we had already seen it before in numerous anonymous emails, possibly distributed by the same group of people. This statement reflects nothing but a will to ignore the huge gap between the European and Russian societies, conditioned by the historic and cultural factors.

It’s necessary to consider that every lifeform, person or society develops gradually, successively passing the stages of evolution. The processes that were finished in German society many years ago, have just started in Russia. Before 1991 Russia had more than 70 years of oppressive totalitarian regime (not mentioning preceding complicated historical events and processes) and right after 1991 our society jumped straight into prehistoric capitalism. We still live in a very conservative and intolerant society which can not be compared with that of Western Europe.

The same situation is with the scene - the Russian Antifascist scene emerged literally from nothing in early-mid 00’s and immediately found itself facing the well-developed and then-powerful Fascist movement - probably the strongest in the world at that moment. The Neo-Nazis were distracted from attacking minorities and channelled all their hate against the newly formed enemy.

In these conditions Antifa movement was put onto a brink of physical survival. From the very first moment it was militant and subcultural, it consisted of people of different views and was centered around the developing music scene. There were no political parties supporting the Antifa. Instead there was a constant pressure from the Nazis, police and society. Lack of information or good contacts resulted in the fact that the movement usually chose it’s own ways of development, some of which look questionable, now that these people have a luxury of thinking about things other than survival.

The war of Russian Antifascists against Neo-Nazis resembles the struggle of European Antifascist movements of the first part of the XX century against the young fascist parties: brutal street fights, propaganda wars, desperate attempts to win the support of the public.

Considering the colossal cultural differences between the Western European and Russian societies it’s easy to understand that some of the methods used by the young Russian antifascist scene might seem debatable for the representative of a modern German scene. However the scene as well as such parts of it as WWF and MDB are constantly developing and trying to stay open for criticism, help and advice.

The authors of the article demonstrate an intentional disregard of those historical and cultural differences and features which seems like a blatant expression of Western European imperialism and elitism.

3. Homophobia

As a first comment on the issue we’d like to point out that the accusations are completely baseless. The article provides nothing to support the allegations, which only makes sense as there are no grounds on which anyone can base them. This is a very harmful tendency that creates a “Boy who cried wolf” situation when accusations of homophobia and sexism are thrown around without reason solely for dramatic effect. As a result the public gets used to most of it as groundless slur and real perpetrators are more likely to get away with actual homophobia and other types of discrimination.

A short excursion into the environment where we come from: Russia, like many other countries in the region is very homophobic. In the Soviet Union there was an Anti-Gay law, now we have the so-called Law against gay propaganda. The big part of the population went through the prison system so the significant part of the society still live by the prison code, which naturally trickled into the street code . We were raised in the working class neighborhoods where the derogatory words for “gay” were the strongest swear words one could use. According to the street code of honor if you were called that way you had to retaliate by severely beating up or even killing the abuser to avoid being shamed for life.

However even in those conditions we voiced openly our opinion against homophobia:

In 2008 Razor Bois (band with MDB members) released a song “Kick Homophobia Out Of Our Scene”, which stated that people had no right to judge other people’s sexuality as they had no business sticking their noses into other individuals’ personal lives.
http://www.discogs.com/ Razor-Bois-Self-Titled/ release/3148568

http://s018.radikal.ru/ i524/1502/97/ 6fc293c4452e.jpg

For releasing and performing this song live we were criticized by many, who considered that song as an insult.

A year before that release, Razor Bois played and organized a benefit show in New York to support victims of Neo Nazi violence in Russia, including a member of Moscow Antifascist movement, who was brutally wounded by Nazis during an attempt of Antifascists to defend a Gay Pride demonstration in Moscow.
https://www.facebook.com/razorbois/photos/a.1555961544661416.1073741828.1513002208957350/1555961561328081/?type=1&permPage=1

MDB played several times with gay pride banners displayed in venues and demonstrated it in their official videos, for example in this clip about MDB performance at Sorgingaua Fest in Basque Country (0:31):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSfTdL5oG7Q

Also check this photo of WWF with a banner against homophobia:
https://www.facebook.com/wwfhc/photos/pb.301018223349714.-2207520000.1424287211./382932375158298/?type=1&source=42

Members of our bands stand strongly against homophobia. Despite the fact that unfortunately derogatory homophobic words have been engraved in the environment where we come from as the strongest insults to one’s enemy during confrontations - we’ve always made sure to avoid any vocabulary that could be read as homophobic and could reproduce the stigmata associated with those words.

4. Sexism

In 2008 Razor Bois released the song “Forward To The Past” which criticized discrimination against women and problems with sexism present today in many cultures and societies around the world, problems usually ignored even by the Antifa community

http://i052.radikal.ru/1502/be/4d16d927314e.jpg

http://www.discogs.com/Razor-Bois-Self-Titled/release/3148568

Today we can agree that the word “шлюха” (whore) can be interpreted as sexist in many contexts. But there was no intention in putting such a meaning into this word when using it in our lyrics written 6-7 years ago: ““ты нацистская шлюха” (you are a Nazi whore)[Till the End 2009], “Парни поднимают движ, шлюхи ссорятся как дети” (guys are building the movement, whores are quarrelling like little kids) [Tvoi karti biti 2008]. We used it to describe those who sell their ideals, friends and beliefs to follow the trend. We also believed it could be applied to persons of any gender and didn’t mean anything degrading towards people of any sex.

To elaborate: by using such a word we in no way criticized people who choose or are forced into the sex industry. Sex slavery is a terrible blight of many cultures and societies today, and some of the members of MDB have worked with charities that help rehabilitate victims of sex slavery around the world, such as FreeTheGirls.com in the US. We also believe that individuals who willingly work as sex workers have a right to choose what to do with their bodies and should not be judged for exercising their freedom.

As both members of Antifascist community and human beings we support the movements towards women rights and equality and welcome the progress of gender balance within our scene and other communities. We respect female members of our movement as activists, fighters, supporters or whoever they choose to be.

5. Patriotism, Russians Against Fascism

Since early 90’s patriotism has been the most popular trend used by Nazis, which granted them support of the state media, society and authorities. Antifa however has been outnumbered and from the day of its inception labeled as “drug addicts and dangerous extremists sponsored by the “Secret World Government””. The police did nothing to stop attacks on Antifa shows, events and activists, but instead created a special department - Centre E (Center for Anti-Extremism), whose officers would arrest, beat, torture and jail anybody suspected of being a member of the Antifa movement or just Antifa music scene. All the while the society often supported Nazi attacks on minorities and activists.

At the same time young people were more eagerly joining the ranks of White Power skinhead gangs and ultra-nationalist football firms than dramatically outnumbered Antifascist movement.

At some point we decided to turn the situation around and pull a risky trick: take the patriotism away from Nazis, put our own meaning into it and use it against them. We started to use patriotic rhetoric trying to explain people that Russia was a multinational country, a home to peoples of various ethnic origins, religions. In our words patriotism was not about hating foreigners and loving the state and the government, but the appreciation for one’s roots and culture. And for many Russians those roots include Multiculturalism and victory over Hitler. Thus we managed to create a positive image of an Antifascist, and show Neo-Nazis as the real enemies of Russian society and culture.

“Russians against fascism” was a part of a strategy described above and also our answer to the popular Nazi slogan “Russia is for Russians”. The demonstration and the performance of Moscow Death Brigade under “Russians against fascism” name was held on November 4, 2009. This date is traditionally used by the Nazis to hold the so called “Russian March” - a mass procession (up to 25 000 people), which gathers representatives of the major White Power and nationalist parties and organizations. The idea was to spit in the face of Neo Nazis and deprive them of their ability to spread their propaganda of hate on behalf of people who identify themselves as Russian.

“Это я русский - ты нацистская шлюха” (I’m Russian and you are a Nazi whore) from MDB/WWF song “Till The End”(2009) - was a reply to a slogan “Я русский” (I’m Russian) used as a print on t-shirts, flags, banners and tattoos, which was extremely popular with Neo Nazis. The idea was to mock the Nazis and express the message: “Look, I’m Russian and I’m Antifascist who stands for equality and against prejudices while you are just a Nazi scum”. As we said before we didn’t put a sexist meaning into the word “whore”. Today we admit it would be much less questionable to use another word however we are proud to say that this phrase became a trend and is still being used even by people distant from Antifa movement to make fun of Neo Nazis. We also haven’t seen people in “I’m Russian” merch for a long time.

Today we believe that this whole tactic was a stretch and we received a lot of criticism from the far-left wing (while many left-wing activists supported us), but we believe it to be successful as it allowed the Antifascist movement in general to turn the public opinion in its favor, attract more people to the cause and leave Neo Nazis without one of their main propaganda weapons. We believe that through that we have made our contribution to the situation today, when the Neo-Nazi trend has gone down, the number of hate-crimes including attacks and murders has declined dramatically and the society as a whole became more tolerant.

In general, especially with the current situation in Ukraine, we’ve come to realize that playing with patriotism and national identity can be very dangerous. To show this we (WWF and MDB) and many others have put together, signed and published a manifesto against the war in Ukraine (against supporting any side of the conflict). We are proud to say that the manifesto was supported by many bands, groups and individuals in Russia, which demonstrates the positive change at least in the scene.

https://ad-sr.info/2014/08/13/statement-of-the-antifascist-groups-about-situation-in-ukraine-english-text/

We’ll finish this part by reminding the reader that our bands have criticized the state, army and the police from the early days - a pretty strange move for the alleged “nationalists”.

“Ты герой, за страну горой - патриот, льешь потоки молодой крови в свой рабочий телерот, Родины оплот - крепче скипетр держи, гордый взор свет камера мотор, ну ка расскажи Как брызгать пафосом с экрана и проворонить террористов, Как забыть в Чечне солдат и самому остаться чистым, Как плевать в лицо героям, что спасли нас от фашистов,Превращать людей в казармах в психов, калек и садистов.”

“You are a “hero”, “you stand for your country”, a “patriot”, Pouring rivers of young blood into your TV-mouth,“Defender of the motherland” - hold the scepter tighter,Have a proud look on your face, “light. camera, action!” so tell us: How to spread cheesy lies off a TV screen,
While being unprepared for terrorist attacks How to forget soldiers in Chechnya and walk away with clean hands How to spit in the faces of real heroes who saved us from fascism,
How to turn people in bootcamps into psychos, cripples and sadists. [Army song]”

http://megalyrics.ru/lyric/moscow-death-brigade/armieiskaia.htm#ixzz3S762rqHo

“your life is controlled by the state” [Prove them Wrong, MDB]

“слепого поклоненья поколение на коленях? герои на экране ты останешься их тенью”

“A generation of blind followers, Heroes are on your screen, you will remain as their shadow” [Heroes, MDB]

“Пророков много, каждый знает врага, укажет он дорогу, глас рога, зовущего на смертный бой, тот, кто наживется на смерти, смеется над тобой.”

“So many prophets and every one of them will show you the way towards your enemy, the sound of the warhorn calls you to battle, those who profit off your death are laughing in your face” [Truth, MDB]

“От цинковых гробов афгана до Норд Оста и Беслана, Первая чеченская. потом вторая, как ни странно, Все объяснят с экрана, держи шире карманы” [До конца]

“From the caskets of the Afghanistan campaign to Nord Ost and Beslan,
First and second Chechen campaigns. It’s hard to believe
But they can explain everything from the screen, just remain gullible and naive.” [Till The End (WWF feat. MDB)]]

“Feelings suppressed by a less important message
In the age of controlled information
Degeneration of generations
Schemes instigate the clash of the nations” [Viking’s Life, MDB]

“You are born to be on knees,
You must live according to stated scheme,
They line in an endless stream,
But we will struggle, till our hearts are beating.”

We can become the real force,
To provide the alternative to the system,
But how far will you go this time?
Will you see the revolution?” [Deflection from the scheme, WWF]

Has fascism already become a norm? Did YOU forget, what millions of people died for?
Do not dissemble the problem of nazism, Do not believe in all these ravings. GOOD NIGHT WHITE PRIDE! [Good Night White Pride]

“For those who breaks noses of scumbags inked with swastikas” [Cards, MDB]

Frank Castle Gonna Break Your Neck - a thrashcore band some of MDB members including Vova played in, had a song “Fuck Your Flag” - attacking blind patriotism and worshipping of the flag.

http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Castle-Gonna-Break-Your-Neck-Join-The-Frank-Castles-Army/release/2372005

http://s018.radikal.ru/i519/1502/4e/e74345afb5ca.jpg

6. Nationalism

First of all MDB and WWF have a multi-ethnic line-up, including Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, people from Christian, Jewish and Muslim families.

We’ve never concealed the fact that we were strictly against all types of racism - be it white, black or any other, and we still stand behind those ideals. We also admitted that in Russia there were lots of ethnic conflicts and ultra-nationalist groups representing different nationalities. While the Nazis always tried to tell that Antifa stood against Russian people, we explained that Antifa stood against nationalists and racists of all types and of all origins.

The translation of the quote by Vova in which he presumably used the word “cattle” is incorrect - done in such a way as to give the quote a completely different meaning than how it sounds in Russian.

“Быдло” (Bydlo) is properly used as "bully", “aggressive person” "thug" and has no racial specification. What we said was that we equally condemned racism whether it came from White Power thugs who claimed that Russians were superior, or extreme nationalists and religious radicals in Southern Republics who claimed their people were superior. The quote translates as follows: “There is no difference to us between a clown shouting “Sieg Heil” or a thug from the mountains yelling “Caucasus is above us, Russia is beneath us (a popular slogan of nationalists from Southern Republics)”.

We understand that at first glance and taken out of context the word combination “from the mountains” can be perceived as offensive or derogatory, however in Russia people from Southern Republics oftentimes identify themselves as “gorci” - which means “highlanders” or “people from the mountains”. It’s a term that is not racially charged or have any negative connotation.

If the interview was conducted today we wouldn’t have used such vocabulary to avoid any misunderstanding. However we still stand by our opinion that racism of any type is wrong despite who it’s coming from. Denying this is denying the whole meaning of anti-racism and equality.

Needless to say that we have no prejudice against any ethnic or national groups. We have many friends from the Caucasus and Central Asia: Armenia, Uzbekistan, Bashkortostan Kazakhstan, Georgia, republics of Chechnya, Tatarstan and others.

7. Masculinity, cult of violence and machismo

One of the allegations in the article is that our bands promote violence and are based around the “cult of masculinity” and “machismo”.

First of all - in our view stereotyping people based on how they look, their love for sports and martial arts is plain bigotry. Not all people dressed in sports jackets and combat boots are violent, aggressive, “macho” thugs, just the same as a small framed individual dressed in non-subcultural attire should not be considered a “nerd, “weak” or unable to fight. Generalizations such as this are one of the things we are fighting against and in our eye should not be expressed by the members of the Western European Antifascist scene.

Second - the violent nature of many members of our community came to be from the constant necessity to fight and defend themselves and people close to them. That aggression has been channeled specifically against representatives of Right Wing movements, who at the same time presented a major threat.

Third - women have been an integral part of Russian Antifa movement in the most crucial of times. Whether militant members who fought side by side with their male comrades, or activists involved in the scene, its development and growth. While we are not going to name anyone to protect the identities of these women, those who were involved with Antifa in Russia would have first hand knowledge of those people’s deeds.

Saying that our bands and our supporters created a cesspool (sammelbecken) of violent men shows that either the author and their sources twisted the facts to better support their agenda or they have a vague knowledge of the subject. Just as women have always been a big part of Russian Antifa community a lot of women in that community supported our bands. We’ve always welcomed women at our shows and events and there have always been women who wanted to join our cause, support our bands, go to our shows, work and fight along our side. Our activity, our shows, charity and social events wouldn’t have been possible without the involvement of female members of the Antifa.

In our songs we always promote education, hard work and martial arts training. We believed and continue to believe that in the environment in which we live, where social support and financial aid are almost non-existent - improving yourself both mentally and physically is crucial for our community to survive the pressure of the system.

It is not a secret that conflicts between militant activists and non-violent activists took place within our scene and our bands have historically emphasized the importance of militants and took their side. However it shouldn’t be perceived as our discrimination of activists who approach many issues from the intellectual standpoint. At that moment militant Antifa were the only people, who would risk their lives to physically protect the scene and minorities from Neo Nazis. When a mob of White Power “activists” armed with knives, knuckledusters, handguns and hammers are marching towards an event organized by Antifa or a group of minorities, no amount of discussions and debates is going to stop them from killing or crippling those they hate. They could only be stopped with physical force, by people who were ready to fight, and face the risk of being beaten, killed or arrested.

The issue of inner-scene conflicts between militants and non-violent activists is commonplace within the Antifacist communities of many countries and we believe that a dialog between the two groups must be created as both are crucial for the movement and its
development.

8. Must be Communist or Anarchist

The authors blame us for Vova’s words (in a 5 year old interview) that “we don’t call ourselves communists or anarchists” but we don’t see any issues with what he said. As people born in the USSR we have no illusions about the Soviet past. We know that for many people communism means the horrors of concentration camps, repressions, government control, Anti Semitic campaigns, invasions of Poland and Czechoslovakia.

At the same time note that in the same interview when Vova said that he didn’t share all of the ideas of communism and anarchism he did support some of them. He also said that we had worked together with anarchists, communists, Rash, Sharp etc because we all had the same goal - unity and struggle against propaganda of hate and inequality. We can’t understand why it is necessary to be labeled as a Communist or an Anarchist to be part of the Antifascist movement. Moreover we believe that many people, especially in Russia, got scared away from the movement because they share the Antifascist and Antiracist ideas but don’t want to be branded as a member of a political party.

It must be mentioned that since not labeling themselves anarchists What We Feel and Razor Bois took part in benefit shows and compilations in support of Anarchist Black Cross and worked together with other left-wing collectives
.
Here are some of them:

Razor Bois and WWF on “Destroying Prisons” compilation in support of ABC Moscow
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Разрушая-Тюрьмы/release/4906612

Show organized by Razor Bois and RASH NYC in support of ABC Moscow which collected money for Antifa activist critically wounded while defending Gay Pride event from Neo-Nazi attack

https://www.facebook.com/razorbois/photos/a.1555961544661416.1073741828.1513002208957350/1555961561328081/?type=1&permPage=1

WWF Benefit tour for ABC Russia
https://m.facebook.com/wwfhc/photos/pb.301018223349714.-2207520000.1424295599./302192909898912/?type=1&source=42

9. 210

The quotes from the interview with 210 in their interpreted form are absolutely inappropriate. However they were taken from an interview which was removed shortly after publication - according to 210, because of a wrong interpretation of the answers by the interviewer.

Just so the reader understands the situation a little better we’d like to provide a little background on the members of 210. Most of these guys come from the working class, work at the factories and grew up in some of the worst neighbourhoods. They are simple people who didn’t have the luxury of government sponsored education or financial aid provided by the state. They learned to survive on the violent and unforgiving streets of Moscow in the 90’s and early 00’s. And despite the brutality and intolerance of the environment in which they grew up they have been on the forefront of fighting against the blight of Neo Nazis, while most young people in their situation turned to the Ultra Right communities or remained unaffiliated.

Members of 210 have often risked their lives and well-being guarding Antifascist shows and events, putting themselves between the White Power hooligans or cops and Antifa activists or minorities. Our guess is that nobody in Russian DIY and Antifascist scene - even our most fierce critics - would deny the role of 210 guys in militant Antifascist action. For their involvement in the violent conflict their photos have been widely distributed online by Neo Nazis accompanied by death threats. Before a show with The Oppressed in Moscow in 2013 (mentioned in the article) the club owners and promoters received multiple threats from Nazis and right-wing football hooligans, promising to launch a violent attack on the show. 210 were the first people who arrived at the club to face the attackers.

Actions speak louder than words, but still, when we found out about the inappropriate statements of the band we had a choice: to sever any relations with them or call them out for a conversation and understand whether they meant it or not. We believe that problems like that must be solved in an open conversation but not through anonymous one-way accusation. Last year we organized a meeting with 210 and discussed their position with them, explaining that if they indeed had the ideas expressed in the interview it would not be tolerated. The band said they admitted their mistakes of miscommunicating their beliefs and were ready to work on their ability to express their ideas without a chance for misinterpretation. We are convinced that actions of these people have saved many lives in the past and helped bring forth the recent downfall of active Neo Nazi movement in Russia. And we believe they deserve a chance. Again, the development of any person is a gradual process. We believe that these guys can become fruitful members of the worldwide scene if given this chance.

10. Street Influence

Street Influence was a label originally founded by Fyodor Filatov - one of the informal leaders of Moscow Antifascist skinheads, murdered by Neo Nazis. After his death his friends continued releasing records by the label, while all the profits were channelled to Fyodor’s family. That’s why WWF released records on Street Influence - EP and a split with Stage Bottles (the latter was released by SI and Mad Butcher) in October 2013. The label also released some merch and a benefit limited edition of WWF t-shirts with a picture of Ivan Khutorskoi as a central element of design (https://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/135032), sending all profits to the family of Ivan Khutorskoy.

The label also released a tribute to What We Feel, again sending all profits to Ivan Khutorskoi’s family.

http://cdn.discogs.com/5tTdjVWt1kFxjiK_syotCDGAbRk=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc%28%29:format%28jpeg%29:mode_rgb%28%29:quality%2896%29/discogs-images/R-4469967-1365777424-4554.jpeg.jpg

There was no “business” relations between the band and the label, nobody made any money. In October 2014 WWF stopped working with Street Influence after finding out that the label had started to release records and organizing shows for bands whose political attitude was inappropriate for us. Since that moment there were no relations between the band and the label, while SI still may sell some leftover merch, vinyl and CDs.

11. Abu

We tried but still can not find any connection of the said artist Abu and WWF or any other of our bands and we have absolutely no idea why the authors of the article pay so much attention to him. As we stated before, WWF had stopped working with Street Influence. Abu didn’t make art for WWF, MDB or their friends. We have never met him or worked with him. Actually we didn’t have much information about him before reading the article.

Still we decided to conduct our own investigation. What we found out was that, Abu had made one art cover for Zapoy/Rude Riot split (listed in accusation article) released by MLM, a sub-label of Street Influence, when he was known to everybody as SHARP and a member of Antifascist supporters of MTZ-RIPO (football club from Minsk, Belarus). It happened before his known cooperation with RAC and apolitical bands.

To us it looks like this character with his obvious connection to RAC and apolitical scene was put into the article for a dramatic effect, while he actually has absolutely no connection to our bands.

Speaking of the term “apolitical position” in relation to us: all of our bands, including MDB, WWF, Razor Bois, have always spoken out loud against those collaborating with Nazis and Right-wingers.

The label created in mid 00’s by members of Razor Bois and MDB was named “Boycott the Fencewalkers!”. One of its first releases was the international benefit compilation “Planet Of Friends” released to raise money for a person of African descent, who had been viciously attacked by Neo Nazis in Moscow and had received serious trauma.

https://www.facebook.com/razorbois/photos/a.1555961544661416.1073741828.1513002208957350/1555961557994748/?type=1&permPage=1

Razor Bois has a song against fencewalkers “Don’t walk the fence, walk the plank”:
“They are just your old buddies, well I heard that old shit, Tell your tales to the parents of those murdered kids, Don’t go to their shows, don’t shake their fucking hands, I don’t know you backstabber, I don’t need such friends.”
http://www.discogs.com/Razor-Bois-Self-Titled/release/3148568

WWF has a song “Apolitical Scum”:
“What a "beautiful word" you have thought up
For the justification your own cowardice OK, but actually it's safe for you To be far away from problems with nazis”
http://www.anr-music.org/de/releases.php?ACTION=translyric&ID=ANR+26#311

MDB has a song “Cut Off Your Tongue”:
“Fuck the two faced scum, fuck the fencewalkers
Snitches got stitches and talkers got walkers”
https://www.fireandflames.com/de/music/moscow-death-brigrade-hoods-up-ep.html

12. Businessmen?

While the authors keep accusing us of using “Antifa label” to ”sell ourselves to the tolerant West” let’s take a closer look at the activities of our bands. Most of both MDB and WWF tours and shows have been benefits. For example the latest two - in May and September 2014 were organized as charity events for the family of Ivan Khutorskoi - Russian Antifascist murdered by Neo-Nazis. Due to the lack of proper government support for the senior citizens in Russia, Ivan’s mother and grandmother were left with hardly any means of survival after losing their son/grandson. In 2014 MDB and WWF raised more than 8000 Euro combined for Ivan’s relatives and other people in need, including families of other victims of Neo Nazi terror.

Video report about WWF/MDB benefit tour in May 2014 and a visit to Ivan’s family:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5uh0dEmI48

Some part of the profits from shows and merchandise goes to pay for tour expenses such as tickets, renting vans and PA and sometimes for bands’ needs such as recording music. All of us work full-time jobs, we don’t live off our music and we are all friends - not “business partners” as the authors keep repeating throughout the article. We have to work really hard to make every tour happen, because Russian salaries can not be compared to , for example, German ones and every trip to Europe is an expensive and risky endeavor (especially since obtaining the Schengen Visa is sometimes a challenging process for Russian citizens).

As we love making music it would be great if we could earn a living by doing so, which would also allow us to dedicate more time to our bands and community (instead of working elsewhere) but so far we don’t make enough to both support the causes that we believe in and support ourselves financially. We don’t use our beliefs to make money, but instead strive to make high quality music, which gives us an opportunity to spread our message, attract more and more people to our cause and support various charities.

By the way we saw that countless European and in particular German bands, labels and distros sell their merch items including those with Antifascist symbols (which we almost don’t have). So we are eager to learn why we are not allowed to sell merch as well and if it is another expression of authors’ elitist views.

Conclusion

To sum up it all up: Russian society is still in the middle of development process and growth. It is still conservative and suffers from many issues, many of which stem from its traumatic history and slow economy resulting from a combination of inner and outer factors. Objectively, it looks like people are slowly becoming more tolerant and advanced in their views, however difficult conditions in which this society exists slow this development. In the end of 80’s and 90’s when a lot of today’s Russian Antifascists grew up, and even 5-7 years ago - the environment in which we lived was not comparable to that of Western Europe.

Russian Antifascist scene is immensely young and immediately upon its inception its members lived in mortal danger from Russian Neo-Nazi movement - one of the strongest and most brutal in the world at that moment. Russian Antifa became the worst enemy of the Neo Nazis, distracting them from attacking minorities and paying a bloody price for that. To physically survive and keep making progress towards stopping the hate-based violence, the movement had to work in two directions: getting enough people capable of physical confrontation with Nazis and spread its message to receive the support of the public. WWF and MDB among other bands became the voice of the movement and played a distinctive role in achieving both goals.

The authors of the accusing article blatantly ignore these cultural, social and historical features, judging the Russian scene and such parts of it as MDB and WWF by the standards of a modern German Scene, which development started decades earlier. We witnessed the same approach not only to our scene but also to the scenes of other countries with the cultural climate different from the Western European one - such as those in the Middle East, Southern Republics of Russian Federation etc. We find this approach Eurocentristic.

It also must be mentioned that the authors of the article used inappropriate and unfair tactics: the anonymity of the authors within the community, incorrect translation (using the simplified Google Translate version “cattle” instead of proper “thug” or “bully” despite supposedly having Russian-speaking friends involved), possibly intended distortion of facts (connection of WWF and Abu, Gryundik being an ex-WWF member), using the 5-year old interview and the quotes taken out of context, lack of a Russian (or at least an English) translation as well as the timing of the publishing coinciding with our international tour. These issues put credibility and goodwill of the entire article in question.

We admit that from the point of view of a modern scene some of the vocabulary used by us in interviews (which are 5-8 years old) seems questionable. But we want to assure the readers that we didn’t put any sexist, homophobic or racist meaning into them as we have explained above. A lot of times we were using the language of the streets we came from and were not trying to insult anybody but our enemies. Anyway, if those interviews were conducted today we wouldn’t have used such vocabulary to avoid any misunderstanding. We’re against any forms of prejudice - something that we have expressed through our music from the very first years of our activity.

We’re always open to dialogue and we have discussed issues like that with active members of Antifascist movement like the representatives of RASH Potsdam, explaining our point of view with arguments that everyone found to be valid.

Considering all the facts above we see the article as a defamation of our bands and Russian militant Antifascist scene in general and assume that it is dictated by personal hostility. It also seems like an attempt to dictate its will to the developing scenes without considering local social and cultural conditions. We see it as an expression of elitism and Western Imperialism and will not tolerate such an approach. We are ready for the development of our bands and scene and are grateful for any healthy criticism. But we need friends, not people who feel superior to us.

We will be happy to continue the discussion on this with the authors of the article and all interested persons during our meeting at Kopi, Berlin at 20:00 (8pm) local time on Friday, February 20th (the time and place have been posted by Kopi in the comment section of the original article on February 17th).

We are grateful to everybody who supports us!

Best regards,

Moscow Death Brigade, What We Feel

https://www.facebook.com/moscowdeathbrigade
https://www.facebook.com/wwfhc

Wwfhc666 [a t] gmail.com

Zeige Kommentare: ausgeklappt | moderiert

eine übersetzung auf deutsch wäre sinnvoll damit das statement die runde macht..

Liebe Menschen heute Abend in der Köpi, liebe Moscow Death Brigade,

wir begrüßen das heutige Statement von Moscow Death Brigade und What We Feel. Es ist uns heute noch nicht möglich, auf alle Details einzugehen, aber unsere (auch englische) Antwort auf das Statement und eine Übersetzung des ursprünglichen Artikels wird folgen. Vor dem heutigen Abend würden wir gern ein paar Fragen loswerden, da es uns leider als Autor*innen des diskutierten Artikels nicht möglich nach Berlin in die Köpi zu kommen. Da wir dennoch an einem Austausch interessiert sind, wollen wir noch ein paar klärende Fragen zu unserem Artikel loswerden. Wir freuen uns, dass der Artikel zur Diskussion genutzt wird und wollen nochmals betonen, dass es uns nicht darum ging, Bands oder Einzelpersonen zu verurteilen oder Sanktionen zu fordern. Außerdem haben wir zu keinerzeit mit die Bands als "Faschisten" bezeichnet und wundern uns doch, dass das plötzlich behauptet wird. Ebenso erwähnten wir, dass es besagte Statements gegen Homophobie etc. von den Bands gibt, dennoch werfen die aufgezeigten Widersprüche bei uns noch einige Fragen auf. Es ist es wichtig, Fakten auch innerhalb der Szene zur Diskussion zu stellen und einen Austausch, wie er heute Abend beispielsweise stattfindet, zu erzielen. In diesem Sinne würde es uns auch sehr freuen, wenn sich einige der vorgebrachten Fragen auflösen lassen.

 

Zu unseren Fragen:

1. Der Artikel basiert zu einem großen Teil auf Äußerungen von Gryundik (Грюндик) von 210 sowie Wowa (Вова) von Moscow Death Brigade. Wie würdet ihr euer heutiges Verhältnis als Band zu Gryundik beschreiben? Warum stand Gryundik bspw. erst in der letzten Woche mit What We Feel als Sänger in Wien auf der Bühne, wo ihr auch aufgetreten seid? Und wie steht ihr ganz konkret zu den folgenden zitierten Aussagen von eurem Bandmitglied Wowa?


- Beispiel: „Für uns gibt es keinen Unterschied zwischen einem Clown, der "Sieg Heil" schreit und einem Vieh aus den Bergen, das "Kaukasus über alles, Russland unter uns" kreischt - weder das Eine noch das Andere hat Platz auf unseren Straßen.“ (Wowa von MDB im Interview mit dem „Made in Moscow“-Fanzine 2010)
- Original: „Для нас нет разницы междуклоуном, орущим «зиг хайль», и быдлом с гор, визжащим «Кавказ над нами, Россия под нами» - ни тому, ни другому нет места на наших улицах.“ (Вова, MDB, Made in Moscow 2010, http://madeinmoscowzine.blogspot.de/2010/10/razor-bois.html?m=0)

 

 

2. Die aufgeführten Aussagen sind aus dem Jahr 2010. Wie würdet ihr im Jahr 2015 zu den damaligen Aussagen von Wowa stehen? Was sind für euch „Tolerasten“ („толерастами“)? Was bedeuten für euch Heimat, Tradition und Kultur?

 

- zum Beispiel: „Kommunismus und Anarchie sind alles gefährliche Utopien, welche die Köpfe der Menschen, vor allem der jungen Leute, verstopfen. Es sind Märchen, die sie von der Lösung spezifischer Probleme vor Ort abhalten. (...) Unsere Ansichten haben sich seit unserer ersten Probe nie geändert. Wir haben immer über Rassisten und Faschisten jeglicher Couleur gelacht sowie über Tolerasten und politische Korrektheit. (…) Wir haben eine positive Einstellung zur Idee des gesunden Patriotismus, das bedeutet natürlich nicht den Staat geil zu finden und die Außenwelt zu hassen, sondern Bezug auf Heimat, Traditionen und Kultur zu nehmen und den Wunsch zu haben, es besser zu machen.“ (Wowa von MDB im Interview mit dem „Made in Moscow“-Fanzine 2010)

 

- Original: „Коммунизм, анархия – все это опасные утопии, забивающие людям, особенно молодым, голову сказками и отвлекающие их от решения конкретных локальных проблем. (...) Наши взгляды никак не изменились со дня нашей первой репетиции. Мы всегда смеялись над расистами и фашистами всех мастей и цветов, также как и над толерастами и фанатиками политкорректности. (...) Мы положительно относимся к идее здорового патриотизма, которая выражается, естественно, не в восхвалении властей и ненависти ко всему остальному миру, а в уважении к своей родине, к ее традициям и культуре и стремлении сделать ее лучше.“ (Вова, MDB, Made in Moscow 2010, http://madeinmoscowzine.blogspot.de/2010/10/razor-bois.html?m=0)

 

 

3. Die Band 210 und ihr Supporter-Umfeld sind nicht unumstritten in Russland. Es gibt die im Artikel erwähnten Äußerungen von Gryundik, mehrere rassistische Flyer 1 mit antikaukasischen Motiven und Diskussionen um 210 in Verbindung mit einem sogenannten "rot-braunen Antifaschismus" (Красно-коричневый антифашизм) in in Moskau. Dieser "rot-braune Antifaschismus" soll eine gedankliche und personelle Nähe zu faschistischen Ideologien, wie Nationalismus und antimuslimischem Rassismus, aufweisen. Der Kampf gegen Faschismus wird dabei ausschließlich auf offensichtliche Neonazis in den Straßen reduziert und weniger auf faschistische Zustände, beispielsweise in der Gesellschaft oder Politik, bezogen (Quelle: https://avtonom.org/blog/krasno-korichnevyy-antifashizm). Gibt es aus eurer Sicht eine solche Strömung? Wie geht ihr als Antifaschisten mit diesen Vorwürfen gegenüber 210 um? Warum veranstaltet ihr immer noch regelmäßig gemeinsame Konzerte? Warum läuft das Booking von 210 über die Booking-Mail von What We Feel?

 

 

4. Wie passen Song-Ausschnitte mit russisch-nationalistischen, sexistischen und teilweise anti-linken Aussagen zu eurem antifaschistischen Selbstbild?

 

- z.B. „Wir sind nicht zusammen mit solchen, die sich vor dem Feind hinlegen, mit russophoben Verrätern, deren Hirn von Angst kaputt gemacht wird. Wir halten nichts von Nazi-Blödsinn und ultra-linken Dogmen. Politik ist für Schwache, eigene Meinungen für Tapfere. (…) Typen bauen die Bewegung auf, Schlampen streiten sich wie Kinder. Wir handeln so, dass sich unsere Opas und Väter nicht für uns schämen. Mein Moskau, mein Russland - wir sind mit dir bis zum Ende.“ (Ausschnitt vom Song „Твои Карты Биты“ von MDB)

 

- Original: "Не с нами тем, кто стелется перед врагами, Русофобам и предателям с убитыми страхом мозгами Не ведемся на нацистский бред и догмы ультралевых Политика для слабых, свое мнение для смелых. (…) Парни поднимают движ, шлюхи ссорятся как дети Поступать, чтобы не стыдно было дедам и отцам Моя Москва, Россия, вместе мы с тобою до конца." („Твои Карты Биты“, MDB)

 

Daher ganz konkret die Fragen: Was meint ihr mit Aussagen wie „mein Russland“? Was sind „russophobe Verräter“? Warum ist Politik was für Schwache? Wer ist schwach und warum? Was sind „ultra-linke Dogmen“? Warum lehnt ihr sie ab, wenn ihr linke Strukturen nutzt?

Zu Frage 1 wurde zwar eigentlich schon von der Band geantwortet, aber eure Methode macht mich wirklich sauer. Selbst nach dem Bandstatement, wiederholt ihr eure nachlässige Recherche, statt euch genau dafür zu entschuldigen?! Was ihr getan habt war doch maximal den Google Translator anzuschmeissen, was dann zu obigem, falschem Ergebnis führte.  "быдлом" bzw. "быдло" wird über Google Translator mit Vieh und Rind übersetzt. Leo, Pons oder Abacho haben da ganz andere Übersetzungen, die eigentlich auch semantisch die richtigen sind: Pöbel, Prolet oder vulgär umgangsspachlich "Arbeitsvieh". 

 

Also werte "Weltweite antifaschistische Subkultur" (nehm euch anscheinend selbst sehr wichtig), wie wäre es mal mit einer teilweisen Entschuldigung?!

5. Was meint ihr im folgenden Song-Beispiel mit „Schlampen“? Was ist „Rassismus jeglicher Coleur“ (z.B. "schwarzer Rassismus" von dem ihr auch in eurem Statement sprecht)?

 

- Beispiel: „Kritiker, Politiker, abstoßende Fressen aus dem Fernseher. Nazis, Pädophile - alle sind sie da. (…) Du hast Geld erbettelt und wir die Touren organisiert. Wir sind gereist, haben zugeschlagen und Zeit auf dem Bullenrevier verbracht. (…) Wir bauen die Bewegung zusammen mit Freunden und denjenigen auf, die uns seelisch nahe stehen. Ich bin Russe - und du eine Nazi-Schlampe. Gegen Politik und Rassismus jeglicher Couleur. Wenn das Chaos angreift, wissen wir die Antwort." (Zitat aus dem Song „Till the End“ von WWF und MDB vom WWF-Album „Our 14 Words“ aus dem Jahr 2009)

 

- Original: "Критики, политики, из ящика мерзкие хари Нацисты, педофилы – каждой твари по паре (…) Ты клянчил деньги, а мы пробивали себе туры На выезда гоняли, били, тусили в ментуре (… ) Поднимаем движ с друзьями и теми, кто близок по духу Это я русский, ты - нацистская шлюха Против политики, расизма всех оттенков цвета Хаос наступает, но нам есть, чем ему ответить" („Till the End“, WWF + MDB, „Our 14 Words“, 2009)

 

6. Die folgende Frage betrifft vor allem die Band What We Feel. Da es zwischen euch einen regen Austausch gibt, interessiert es uns , wenn es auf diese Frage dennoch eine Antwort gibt bzw. sie mindestens weitergeleitet wird: Der Vertrieb von What We Feel- und 210-Produkten läuft exklusiv über das Label Street Influence Records. Deren Sublabel Mangy Little Mut Records veranstaltet zum Einen Konzerte mit What We Feel (z.B. am 23.11.13 in Minsk), vertreibt daneben aber auch CDs mit rechtslastigen Bands, wie den im Artikel erwähnten „Oi! - This Is Russia! Vol. 1"-Sampler. Im Booklet des Samplers wird offen Werbung für Rechtsrock (RAC = Rock Against Communism) gemacht. Wie sieht der Austausch zwischen euch und den Labels aus?

 

Vielen Dank für die Offenheit euch dem Gespräch zu stellen. Wir hoffen auf eine solidarische Diskussion und freuen uns, wenn ihr uns die Antworten für einen Auswertungsartikel zur Verfügung stellt, in dem wir unsere bisherigen Darstellungen gern nochmals von einer anderen Seite betrachten können.

 

Solidarische Grüße,

Antifascist Subculture Worldwide

 

1 - hier http://on.fb.me/1w4Q0Jn und im Artikel aufgeführt

 

P.S.: Die Fragen wurden ebenfalls an die Köpi für die Diskussion am heutigen Abend weitergeleitet.

die meisten fragen wurden in diesem statement schon beantwortet.im übrigen wurde auch angesprochen das gewisse verbindungen einfach nicht existieren.wäre es nicht an der zeit euch für gewisse dinge zu entschuldigen?

habt ihr das statement von wwf und mdb überhaupt gelesen?

 

frage 1 wird beantwortet:

 

“Быдло” (Bydlo) is properly used as "bully", “aggressive person” "thug" and has no racial specification. What we said was that we equally condemned racism whether it came from White Power thugs who claimed that Russians were superior, or extreme nationalists and religious radicals in Southern Republics who claimed their people were superior. The quote translates as follows: “There is no difference to us between a clown shouting “Sieg Heil” or a thug from the mountains yelling “Caucasus is above us, Russia is beneath us (a popular slogan of nationalists from Southern Republics)”.

 

We understand that at first glance and taken out of context the word combination “from the mountains” can be perceived as offensive or derogatory, however in Russia people from Southern Republics oftentimes identify themselves as “gorci” - which means “highlanders” or “people from the mountains”. It’s a term that is not racially charged or have any negative connotation.

 

frage 3 wird beantwortet:

 

Actions speak louder than words, but still, when we found out about the inappropriate statements of the band we had a choice: to sever any relations with them or call them out for a conversation and understand whether they meant it or not. We believe that problems like that must be solved in an open conversation but not through anonymous one-way accusation. Last year we organized a meeting with 210 and discussed their position with them, explaining that if they indeed had the ideas expressed in the interview it would not be tolerated. The band said they admitted their mistakes of miscommunicating their beliefs and were ready to work on their ability to express their ideas without a chance for misinterpretation. We are convinced that actions of these people have saved many lives in the past and helped bring forth the recent downfall of active Neo Nazi movement in Russia. And we believe they deserve a chance. Again, the development of any person is a gradual process. We believe that these guys can become fruitful members of the worldwide scene if given this chance.

 

frage 6 wird beantwortet:

 

There was no “business” relations between the band and the label, nobody made any money. In October 2014 WWF stopped working with Street Influence after finding out that the label had started to release records and organizing shows for bands whose political attitude was inappropriate for us. Since that moment there were no relations between the band and the label, while SI still may sell some leftover merch, vinyl and CDs.

 

 

diese rassismus/sexismus/nationalismussachen werden auch angesprochen, da spar ich mir aber mal die textstellen rauszusuchen. bei so viel (gewolltem?) unverständnis stellt sich schon die frage, was wollt ihr eigentlich?

Ich denke auch das der groß Teil eurer Fragen in dem sehr umfangreichen Statement schon beantwortet wurden aber sinnerfassendes Lesen ist nicht jedermanns Stärke...und ja ich finde es auch richtig innerhalb der Szene über solche Sachen zu reden aber irgendwo ist dann mal der Punkt erreicht wo man einsehen sollte das man falsch gelegen hat und sich lächerlich macht und sich vielleicht eine Entschuldigung abringen sollte anstatt weiter mit Tunnelblick gegen die die Wand zu laufen. Der Artikel ist aus meiner Sicht schwer rufschädigend,respektlos und beleidigend nicht nur für die Bands und einen großen Teil der russischen Antifa Szene .Eine solche Abwertung gegenüber einem großen Teil der russischen Antifa Szene halte ich auch für die deutsche Antifa für rufschädigend.

Wie dem auch sei ich werde sehen das ich mich heute Abend im Köpi zur Diskusion über die Problematik ein finden werde.Ich denke das ich dort nicht alleine sein werde mit der Meinung das ihr euch für diesen diffamierenden Artikel entschuldigen solltet.Ich hoffe sehr das ihr erkennt das es eure Argumentiation hauptsächlich auf flaschen Fakten,Fehlinterpretationen und Missverständnissen eurer seits beruht.Ich bin wirklich entsetzt und entäuscht.

Dear folks from "Antifascist Subculture Worldwide",

 

I can't believe, that even now, that you got such a great response from WWF and MDB- you're showing such a lack of tact and basic manners. The very least you could do, would've been a response in english to ensure a proper communication on international level.

WWF and MDB put a lot of effort into translating a text that is neither their mothertongue nor a language they learned to speak fluently and to respond to it in a language, that as many peole as possible are able to understand.

And yet, you don't even have the decency to write back in english at least?

It is a very disgraceful gesture and I hope, you might do better in future conversations.

 

Thanks to WWF and MDB for your effort to teach some germans in intercultural manners  

спасибо 

Ich weiß nicht mehr was ich zu dem haufen Bullshit sagen soll außer: I hope that people from the outside of Germany understand that this person/s only speak for them selves and not for the german antifa movement or somebody else in the hardcore/skinhead/ whatever scene.I'm feel very sorry for that and you can be sure that there are a lot of people in Germany who support the russian antifa movement and understand the russian antifa situation.

im übrigen finde ichs ne bodenlose frecheheit sich antifa worldwide zu nennen und dann nur auf deutsch zu schreiben....das musste auch nochmal raus!

ja, diese dämliche Arroganz ist wirklich zum kotzen: die damen und herren vom cultureclub haben sich mit diesem unsinn selbst am schönsten gezeichnet. kein statment in russisch, keines englisch, keines in spanisch, aber oberlehrhaft in deutsch in jener form daherkommen, vom inhalt fange ich lieber erst nicht an, so unterirdisch wie die sich verhalten haben..

Da wir dennoch an einem Austausch interessiert sind, wollen wir noch ein paar klärende Fragen zu unserem Artikel loswerden. Wir freuen uns, dass der Artikel zur Diskussion genutzt wird und wollen nochmals betonen, dass es uns nicht darum ging, Bands oder Einzelpersonen zu verurteilen oder Sanktionen zu fordern.

 

Wenn ihr einen Austausch wollt, dann geht doch mal auf die ausführliche Antwort von WWF und MDB ein! Ihr stellt hier Fragen, die sich ME schon nach dem Lesen des Textes beantworten. Zum Beispiel was die Band 210 angeht gab es ein ganze Kapitel und ihr tischt da eine Frage an in der genau das wieder Subjekt ist.

 

Nach der Antwort zu dem Thema wird für mich der eigentlich Widerspruche voll klar.

Ihr zieht euere Infos aus Recherche im Internet und Gerüchten die ihr irgendwo aufschnappt und leitet davon Gedanken und Handlungen ab.

Bei WWF und MDB basiert dies dagegen aus persönlichen Erfahrungen. Ganz klar wird das beim Thema 210.

Bei Antifascist Subcultur Worlwide sind 210 eine "nicht unumstritten" weil sie auf einer Seite von einer russischen Antifagruppe was gelesen haben, was sie mit googletranslate übersetzt haben aus einem Artikel. Höchstwahrscheinlich wissen sie nicht mal wer diese Gruppe ist, die den Artikel veröffentlicht hat. Für WWF und MDB ist 210 eine Band mit denen sie sehr vielfältige Erfahrungen gesammelt haben und auch viele Diskussionen geführt haben.

 

"Actions speak louder than words, but still, when we found out about the inappropriate statements of the band we had a choice: to sever any relations with them or call them out for a conversation and understand whether they meant it or not. We believe that problems like that must be solved in an open conversation but not through anonymous one-way accusation. Last year we organized a meeting with 210 and discussed their position with them, explaining that if they indeed had the ideas expressed in the interview it would not be tolerated. The band said they admitted their mistakes of miscommunicating their beliefs and were ready to work on their ability to express their ideas without a chance for misinterpretation. We are convinced that actions of these people have saved many lives in the past and helped bring forth the recent downfall of active Neo Nazi movement in Russia. And we believe they deserve a chance. Again, the development of any person is a gradual process. We believe that these guys can become fruitful members of the worldwide scene if given this chance."

Wenn ich das lese, dann denke ich, dass wir alle von WWF und MDB ganz viel lernen können:

1. Mal solidarischer Umgang und sinnvolle Wege Kritik anzubringen und damit etwas zu erreichen.

2. Aus persönliche Erfahrungen und den gefundenen Infos ein eigenes Bild machen mit einem vollständigen Eindruck und daraus Konsequenzen ableiten.

3. Folgenden Grundgedanken im Hinterkopf behalten: Menschen aus der ArbeiterInnenkasse, die sich bei einem Angriff von Nazis politisieren, sind eben was ganz anderes als behütete Kids aus bürgerlichen Familien, die sich auf einer hippen Szeneparty oder durch einen Lesekreis politisieren.

 

Ich denke wir brauchen beide Typen von Antifas und sollten es endlich mal unterlassen sich gegeneinander auszuspielen. Aus meiner Sicht sind jedoch die Konflikte eher von Seiten der moralischen Antifas ausgehend.

 

Auf der einen Seite sind so Typen wie 210. Sie verhalten sich mackerhaft und teilweise sexistisch und sogar rassistisch. Doch in der entscheidenden Situation merken sie auf welcher Seite sie stehen. BUMM! Sie können und wollen nicht ihre Sozialisieurng verbergen. Versuche dazu enden meist fatal.

Es folgen nun zwei frei erfundene Geschichten um die Problematik deutlich zu machen:

Der 210er erinnernt sich an einen Vater, der jeden abend besoffen nach Hause torkelte. Wenn er die Mutter geschlagen hat half er ihr. Irgendwann hat er sich tot gesoffen und der 210 er hat mit seiner Mutter alleine den Laden geschmissen. Den Orden der roten Armee vom Vater hat er zu sich genommen. Das ist für ihn gleichzeitig Erinnerung an den Triumpf über das versoffene Arschloch von Vater wie dessen patriotischen Beitrag zum Sozialismus. An der Wand von Mutti hängt dennoch ein Bild von Vater als er noch ein erfolgreicher Fußballer bei Spartak Moskva war und der Marineordern von Opas Erfolgen in der Krim hängt auch noch dabei.  Die Schwester ist eine Schlampe meint er, weil ihr Freund ein Scheiss-Fascho ist. Wenn der kommt dann knallt es. Doch derletzt wurde es eng weil er sein Kumpels mitgebracht hat. Der Schwester war es egal. Nur weil sein Vater mal bei Spartak gespielt hat haben sie ihn nicht umgebracht. Als er blutend am Boden lag hat die Schwester ihm dann aufgeholfen und zusammen geflickt. Dennoch will sie mit dem Fascho weiter gevögelt werden diese Hure! Dem kaukasische Nachbar war dies alles reichlich egal. Er will auch nur seinen Arsch retten und wenn die "Scheißrussen" sich untereinander boxen juckt ihn das wenig. Dem 210er sind die Kaukasier in der Nachbarschaft daher so egal wie ein Faß Kwas in Vladivistok. Abfällig kotzt er ab über sie. Daher rümpfen die GenossInnen die Nase und zeigen mit dem Finger auf sie. Alles schlecht?

Nach dem kleinen Ausflug nach Moskva machen wir einen Schwenk nach Berlin. Wenn da eine intelligente Genossin irgendwann mal merkt, dass gewisse Widersprüche vorhanden sind und ihre Zeit bei den Jusos und anschließend bei der grünen Jugend eben unter Lebenserfahrung gebucht werden können ist alles gut. Eine vorbildliche Genossin. Sehr aktiv und immer fesch angezogen und dazu noch so witzig. Sie kennt sich aus und berichtet aus der Welt. Sie kann gut spanisch und war schon auf Kuba. Sie findet Wege ihre frühren Ansichten zu verschleiern und ihre politische Idendität und ihr bürgerlichen Hintergrund irgendwie unter einen Hut zu bringen. Doch Papi zahlt nach wie vor das Studium mit seinem Geld, das er durch die Ausbeutung von ArbeiterInnen erwirtschaftet hat. Die schicke Wohnung im Szenekiez gehört auch ihm. Das spielt alles keine Rolle wenn Töchterchen nun Ungleichheiten bekämpfen will. Schließlich ist sie intelligent genug sich in die subkulturellen Verhaltensweisen des antifaschistischen Szenesumpfs einzuordnen und ihre Schattenseiten möglichst gut zu verbergen. Dass die von allen bewunderte Wohnung Papi gehört verleugnet sie. Ebenso wie der Umstand dass Mutti ihr Leben lang ausgebeutet wurde und ihr aus den gleichen Gründen wie der kämpferischen Tochter das völlig egal ist. Der Vater findet seine Tochter spitze. Das erinnert in an seine wilde Jugend als er mit Klaus Röhl um die Häuser zog und sie beide sich lustig machen, weil Ulrike Meinhoff ihn einen sexistischen Salonkommunisten genannt hat. Das nun seine Tochter politisch so engagiert ist weckt bei ihm Assoziationen an alte Zeiten.

Nun treffen der 210 und die hippe Tochter aufeinander Theorie vs Praxis, Schizophrenie gegen ehrlichen Genossen. Abeiterklasse vs  Tochter eines Ex-Salonkommunisten. Für die meisten ist der 210er ein Problem. Die hippe Tochter ist mainstream im antifaschistischen Sezensumpf.

So einen Widerspruch wird durch Statements niemals gelöst werden können. Bitte kapiert das! Leute die noch nicht einmal ein Plattenbau in Moskva von ihnnen gesehen haben werden das auch wenn sie noch so viel Texte lesen oder Videos anschauen nur schwer verstehen.

 

Diese bürgerliche Hegemonie mit einer ungewollten aber logischen Abwehrreflex gegen große Teile der ArbeiterInnenklasse ist echt ein Problem!

 

Wenn das bei dem "Austausch" hängen bleibt wäre schon viel gewonnen.

Hey everyone!

We wanted to provide a short update on the yesterday's discussion and show at Kopi.

First of all - thank you to Kopi for providing the space for the discussion, all of their time and effort that went into organizing the event. 

MDB were there in full force and the representative of WWF interrupted his familiy vacation to come to Berlin at his own expense specifically to take part in the discussion. 

Under these circumstances we find it unacceptable that the authors of the defamatory article never showed up despite receiving an invitation from us and the representatives of Kopi. Regardless we had a great discussion about militant Russian Antifascist scene and the differences between Russian, Middle Eastern, Eastern and Western European Antifascist communitites. 

We also took this opportunity to show a trailer for an upcoming documentary about Russian Anti-Fascist movement. The full documentary will be shown during MDB and WWF tours in May. 

All in all we've come to realize that unfortunately the critisizm expressed in the original accusational article did not stem from any real concern for the scene, but was nothing but slender aimed against us, our bands, Russian Militant Antifascist Scene, our European supporters and promoters, as well as an attempt to instigate an inner-scene scandal.

Considering all of the above, the tone of the defamatory article, which seemed purposefully rude, and the fact that the article and questions to our counter statement were posted only in German (while we've made it clear that none of us know German) - we consider the discussion with these people closed. However it is important to note that we are willing to continue and develop the conversation about the differences in scenes with people who are able to discuss in a respectful, equal and constructive ways. 

We believe that the time of anonymous intrigues, elitism and disresepectful methods should come to an end. We are entering the new era of open and transparent dialogue between Antifascist scenes from all over the planet!

Thanks to everyone who came to the discussion and supported us and especially our comrades from Siria who took a stand with us. 

MDB would like to thank everyone who came to the show after and raised the roof! For the mosh pit, slam dancing, stage diving, crowd surfing, singalongs. It was one of the best shows we've ever played with amazing support from the crowd. It was an honor for us to perform at such a legendary place on such an important occasion! An update on the gig at Kopi Anniversay will be published by us shortly.

 

https://www.facebook.com/moscowdeathbrigade/photos/a.379427594659.158624.293289314659/10153082792889660/?type=1&permPage=1

Das nenne ich mal n statement.

Trotz der fiesen Vorlage haben es die Bands geschafft einen konstruktiven Text und output zu haben.

Viele der Dinge wurden so noch nicht gesagt und ich freue mich sie so formuliert zu hören. Hut ab!

Viel Spass in der Köpi und hoffentlich auch bald mal wieder in meiner stadt.

Sehe ich auch so. Starkes und sehr klares Statement!

one has to say, that the primarily articel was good for starting a communication between the scene in germany and russia... maybe there will be an answer again...?

Starting a communication? the bands were touring several times gave interviews and were available via internet. there was always a communication!!! and there will always be, but please not through articles like the previous one through an unknown group called Antifa subculture worldwide.

This kind of communication is far from beeing constructive or positive in any means. I see it as an attempt of seperatism, instead of mutual progress motivated by solidarity.

Thanks to the bands, this ugly incident had a positive outcome

I am not curiouse for an answer of the group. All accusations have been answered and there is no doubt about the bands ideals anymore.

But Maybe an excuse would be a right answer

and thats for me the problem with the band. why they are working together with coretex. why they release a split with stage bottles. i understand that the russian scene is different and you cannot (never) compare it with the german szene. in the original text is a lot of things wich i would never blame them for, but not a word about the constellation with cortex/mad and stage bottles (about the nice pictures of sb members and stümper88 members).

thats the only thing i can criticize about wwf, mdb and smg

only problem here is with idiots that wrote that statement and a reply to MDB/WWF one (in German.. I guess making sure not many people can understand it.. like a good internationalist would do :)  and idiots that agree with them and play a role of a stalinist secret police, to whom everybody has to constantly explain their every act and every word. People like you ruin antifascist movement, it is time you fucked off as far as possible from it. 

ok you believe that a black/white band is NAZI band-i believe you need a doctor!

Core tex

true rebel store

30.04 im Clash, What we fell show

23.05 im Cortina Bob, Moscow Death Brigade show

20.02 Moscow Death Brigade köpi ab 21.00 uhr starten die bands und vorher diskusion wegen des Artikels

Now that really is an insightful, detailed and constructive way to react on a critical review (how many bands would give such an in-depth response while being on tour?). Ceratinly, both articles can and should be used to develop a better understanding of the many given differences of Russian and German reality, that neccessarily leads to a different outworking of antifascist action - providing  that polititical motives are identic. Finally, our common demand should always be to overcome this gap, and this discussion appears to become a good platform for that approach (so i hope it won't be used for the opposite)!

in Kürze: Respekt für diese Ausführung! Nutzt die Diskussion als Chance, ein besseres Verständnis füreinander zu erlangen, und nicht um sich gegeseitig zu zerfetzen (was ja "gern" mal gemacht wird)!

Das Linksunten so was stehen lässt (den Band dieser ominösen Antifagruppe, mit weltweitem Anspruch) wundert mich nicht, dass er hier immer noch steht ist ein Ärgernis:

 

http://afunke.blogsport.de/2015/02/17/die-bands-what-we-feel-und-moscow-...

please next time at least write your uninformed firstworldelitism bullshit in english...be happy that your work as "leftists"mainly contains sitting infront of your screen,writing accusions,wearing punkshirts and listen to "leftist"music,showing up at demonstrations between the lectures and wanking about your selfrighteousness.fortunately there are lots of people,also in the german "movement" who seem to be pissed off enough about your arrogant bullshit as well,so why don t you take your time to think about your own limited views,think about different circumstances outside your disneyworld and next time be more aware about that

It’s great to see that there is finally a discussion on those topics, or at least it looks like the begining of discussion..
however, after reading comments to this answer from mdb + wwf it seems to me that a lot of people very easily take a side, or to be more precise - very easily agree to and accept what they hear/read, so it makes it more difficult to get into the real complexity of the problem(s) mentioned in the first text. this answer from the bands was, i believe, aimed exactly to that - to show that problems don't exist. 
unfortunately, mentioned issues exist, but not just in russian antifa movement, but also among other similar antifa groups and bands in some other countries.
the root cause of those issues is probably the idea/belief fostered among these kind of antifa groups (that can also be recognized in this txt by wwf + mdb) that antifa struggle is > on the top of all others < (can’t really find a proper term to describe that).
and that’s where we come to the complexity of those issues, making the situation and certain statements or acts of those groups a bit complicated to understand.
the idea that antifascism is above everything else (all other fights are seen as antifascism, so it’s a kind of monopoly of antifascism over all other leftist fights and ideas), brings those groups in the position that they can’t see, admit or confront even the possibility that their afa comrade might be sexist, homophobe, nationalist, capitalist, etc. it’s classical deductive thinking (even tough completely wrong): you are antifascist > that means you can’t be sexist, capitalist, homophobe, etc.
in the same time, as we are speaking about  militant antifa groups, "antifa" is understood primarily as fight against neonazi groups and individuals (you are antifascist if you beat fascist).  
there is just “anti”, and not enough of “pro” (what for).
and that huge gap between ‘you beat fascists so you are antifascist’ and ‘you are antifascist, thus you can’t be sexist, capitalist, etc.’ is actually giving a room for discrimination, hater and even violence toward other antifascists.

it’s also not surprising that mdb + wwf but also similar groups and bands avoid to declare as communists, anarchists, or smthng else and why sometimes their members even declare as apolitical. 
on one hand, it can be understood, because it's not easy at all to find people who would devote themselves to beating nazi scum for years, risking their lives, freedom, etc.  that's why any kind of political divisions and different opinions are often seen as harmful to unity and uniting. Also, because of continuing need for people who want and know how to fight, these groups are sometimes ready to tolerate some things which are not to be tolerated (of course, just when it’s coming from the members of the group). “militant” means really militant, so it’s not surprising that there is a lack of auto-criticism, and in general the lack of group discussion about antifascist values and what they mean beyond intolerance and violence toward fascists. it seems that even idea of unity is often put into practice in a militant way – everyone has to share the same opinion or at least to agree to the opinion of majority in the group. those who strongly disagree with certain statements, acts, etc. and raise questions about certain issues, are seen as disloyal or even crazy or stupid (incapable to understand).
still, it’s not hard to understand how many challenges militant antifa groups are facing (especially in ex ussr and ex yu countries).. as all efforts to start a serious discussion with those groups about some of challenges they are facing have ended up with contra-effect, we can just hope that one day they will decide to finally face and fight inner group issues the same way they fight fascists.    
it’s also important to recognize that it’s not just about mdb, wwf and russian antifa.
it’s much wider issue.. we all share..

But the bands answered even that point.

In their statement it became very clear and easy to understand that they are embracing a development in the russian antifa scene.  But for this,  to say it with their own words: "they need friends for this not a superiour elitistic prosecuter".

And with this attitude behind all discussios can get to an fruitful result instead of creating seperatism, mutual accusations and a waeker movement.

Thats all

unfortunately, i couldn't get such an impression from their answer..
again, it's not just about them, there are more similar examples, and all such groups faced with that kind of criticism use more or less the same rhetoric to 'deffend' themselves. 

while they are saying "
our bands are always open for criticism", 
if there is some critique they react by turning it upside-down and 
misinterpreting it. i'm not sure if they have a conscious intention to banalize it as well as any further discussion, but that is certainly the result of such rethoric. 
to be more precise, they say: 
- "which accuses us and Russian militant Antifascist scene in general of being “fascist, homophobic, sexist” "
- "the authors are trying to state that MDB, WWF, some related bands and, what can be assumed from the language of the article, Russian militant Antifascist scene in general - are not real Antifascists but in fact violent thugs, homophobes, sexists, nationalists etc." 
etc.

the idea that if someone is criticizing certain acts and statements made by certain members of the group/movement, means that this person is accusing the whole movement ('Russian militant Antifascist scene in general') and everyone into it for being 'fascist, homophobic, sexist', is just simply terribly wrong. and even using term 'russian' in that context is very questionable, probably also intentionally used, to give a (wrong) impression that russian antifa has been 'attacked' by comrades from germany who want to 'teach them a lesson' (and that has a kind of special meaning for afa crews in countires which were fighting against the axis powers in the 2nd world war). so, instead of making the ground for discussion about the issues a lot of groups are facing, everything is turned into imagined conflict (sometimes it is, as i already mentioned - perceiving antifa from germany as ones acting dominant, arrogant, want to teach all others lesson, and sometimes it is about 'elitists who just theorize' and don't fight (physically)).  
such kind of answer to criticizm don't put people into position to deal with and discuss real issues, but to take sides and show support towards one or another, instead of trying to understand both and what the problem really is. 

ps. "Auch wenn sich diese Bands im „Antifa“-Spektrum verorten: manche Bandmitglieder und deren unmittelbares Umfeld äußern sich zuweilen rassistisch, russisch-nationalistisch, sexistisch, homophob etc."  - can't possibly mean that someone is trying to accuse 'Russian militant Antifascist scene in general', so it can be just intentionally wrongly interpreted that way.

the will to get another, maybe a more specific impression, leads me to the question, what the bands should do to give you that impression. e.g. the impression of taking the former articel/txt of the german comradse serious? to any extent or to which extent and which manner of statement from the band or members of the bands do you think people could come to the impression of trusting the bands/bandmembers in their willingness to discus the points? and what about cross-understanding, i´m quite amazed about the relation/or missing of relation of your capability to understand the critic position of our german comrades and the positioning of our russian comrades. does´nt it feels a bit strange to talk about german and russian comrades, maybe i should call them "these people we are talking about", which leads me to my last point, we are just talking about people and not that much to each others. i´d say movement means to me to talk to each others. and only people who are commited to change, are going to change smt. how much commitment do you think is coming by the way of accusing, outingt an threatening with exklusion? this sounds to me as controll, and controll needs laws and orders, and police, judges, referees. would you mind if we would try it the other way round?

"accusing, outingt an threatening with exklusion" (as u call it)
never show up just like that, specially when it comes from the inside of movement..
most often, it comes after figuring out that communication is not possible.
and yes, it is possible that communciation is sometimes not possible, with some people.
especially if someone who is not feeling ok because of someone else's behaviour, words, acts try to speak with that person about the problem.
i personally had several similar experiences (and that's why i am glad that this issues are finally spoken about, at least on some level). so, yes, there are people inside the movement who doesn't get really everything, and it doesn't matter that they call themselves anti-fascist and beat fascists, it can still happen that they for example don't understand what is sexism, and can manifest sexist behaviour without being aware of it. and if you are, in my case - a woman, and you react (try to speak with them, explain), it is very probable that you will face complete denial or even been laugh at, while trying to turn everything into the joke. so, there is no chance for communication there.. i'm not speaking specifically about wwf and mdb, but in general, based on personal experience (when i was reading the text it was like i was reading about some people i personally know, and, who are, by the way, huge funs and supportes of wwf+mdb). but that with sexism is just one issue, there are more similar issues (also with nationalism and chauvinism, etc..). the thing is that, of course, not everyone is like that, but just certain people (and that's why answer from bands that someone is trying to accuse the whole movement in russia doesn't make any fckn sence). 
i don't believe that any communication can start without admiting that such issues exist, especially in militant afa groups and
 especially in east and south-eastern contries (due to many reasons).  
the way the bands answered, i've already had a chance to experience - it's a denial, followed by justification and a lot of "evidences" that it can't be possible there could be some problem. 
and again, usually really few people are causing those problems. but the real issue is that it's been tolerated by others. and of course, usually just the closest comrades of those people could really make them think or try to change their behaviour. but beating fascists every once in a while, seems to make such a link and strong shared experience among those guys that things like 'how some women felt in some moment' don't really seem important to them, specially not so imporant to confront closest comrade.
should i mention the number of women (or any other minority inside those specific groups) going together with them to beat fascists and how that influence the relations inside the group? ...
(i trully believe, the root of that kind of dominant behaviour in those groups starts there - in the "hunt" or "battle".. you could ask me now why there are no woman or lgbt or roma people involved in the fight, but..  
the whole issue is so complex, that it can't be understood nor solved easily, without wide discussion and all different people involved.. who, firstly, have to face the fact that those issues exist)
 

just take a look on this pistures. as an illustration

 

one, two, three, four 

(one hand, isn't it?)

 

in context of bands members & friends statements about "быдло с гор", "black rasism" and trying to create a "positive" patriotism. maybe this is a "positive" meaning of racism?

 

for somebody "in a tank"(in russian means for somebody, who don't understand even now) - the people, who have so much hairs on their bodies and "stupid" caps with FBI are that "быдло с гор" drawed so, as "they" usually are described by racists. germans can compare this pictures with racists pictures of "arabic" or "turkish" inavaders

 

the whole disscussion shows, how the double standards and europecentrism of the german scene works. and how some smart people from russia learned to use it

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10931315_72075151804...

 

yeah, you right, this is the most patriotic sexism and macho pride design what i ever saw in my life.))

 

 

seems like it was not mentioned before

here is a text - lyrics to one of 210's songs texts (in Russian, sorry, no translation yet)
it's kinda controversial, but in fact pro-life
http://s004.radikal.ru/i207/1103/02/32740b23f32b.jpg

In your weins the blood won't play
You will never know what is love
nor sound nor light
Your mother said "no" to you

Your choice was made for you
It was decided that life is not your game
Only a mistake, extra pain
You will never play in the world
your own role

You're forgotten as garbage
Got rid of the heavy burden
Shame on your mother
And Father is just a coward

...

 

i think that's enough to have an overview of the song

Just to make it clear from the very beginning - i'm not coming from western europe. As there were already attacks on that, which are quite funny and doesn't make a legit argument.

 

----

 

I was quite surprised to hear such a tone in the conversation from the bands that have a long lasting macho reputation in the CIS countries. To be honest it is quite interesting to see this side of the band, where even some argumentation is brought to the table. It is something that you don't hear so often in this specific part of the antifa scene.

 

It was quite surprising to see so many posters of WWF and MDB in the political spaces around Europe here and there. In the conversations with political activists many people were giving positive feedback about those bands and their political stands. That was really surprising for the person coming NOT from western europe.

 

If you would spend a bit of time in Russia/Ukraine/Belarus it would become clear that those bands are standing in a corner which most of the political activists from left and anarchists look at quite sceptical. The games those people were playing last years were not making any progress for the social political movement and such words as:

 

Today we believe that this whole tactic was a stretch and we received a lot of criticism from the far-left wing (while many left-wing activists supported us), but we believe it to be successful as it allowed the Antifascist movement in general to turn the public opinion in its favor, attract more people to the cause and leave Neo Nazis without one of their main propaganda weapons.

 

do not have any factual support under it and should be perceived as a personal judgement of the movement that is facing one of the most serious crisis because of the war in Ukraine.

 

It is also quite interesting to hear all this bravades about how heroic is the struggle of russian antifaschists with nazis. To be honest from non western perspective it sounds a bit over the top. Glorification of your own actions and danger that you have passed through to reach the goal reminds a bit of a greek legends:

 

The war of Russian Antifascists against Neo-Nazis resembles the struggle of European Antifascist movements of the first part of the XX century against the young fascist parties: brutal street fights, propaganda wars, desperate attempts to win the support of the public.

 

Considering the colossal cultural differences between the Western European and Russian societies it’s easy to understand that some of the methods used by the young Russian antifascist scene might seem debatable for the representative of a modern German scene. However the scene as well as such parts of it as WWF and MDB are constantly developing and trying to stay open for criticism, help and advice.

 

Just so the reader understands the situation a little better we’d like to provide a little background on the members of 210. Most of these guys come from the working class, work at the factories and grew up in some of the worst neighbourhoods. They are simple people who didn’t have the luxury of government sponsored education or financial aid provided by the state. They learned to survive on the violent and unforgiving streets of Moscow in the 90’s and early 00’s. And despite the brutality and intolerance of the environment in which they grew up they have been on the forefront of fighting against the blight of Neo Nazis, while most young people in their situation turned to the Ultra Right communities or remained unaffiliated.

 

The authors of the accusing article blatantly ignore these cultural, social and historical features, judging the Russian scene and such parts of it as MDB and WWF by the standards of a modern German Scene, which development started decades earlier. We witnessed the same approach not only to our scene but also to the scenes of other countries with the cultural climate different from the Western European one - such as those in the Middle East, Southern Republics of Russian Federation etc. We find this approach Eurocentristic.

 

Guys seriously? You are really epic in those moments and it not clear if we live together in the same world. The victimisation of yourself to make your arguments sound stronger is something unexpected from you.

 

And althought the criticism of the several parts of the criticism article is reasonable the whole tone of the reply is making even those facts strongert then contr-arguments.

 

25 000 people at Ruskiy Marsh? Oh for god sake not better then NTV or ORT with their state filled propaganda lies.

 

There is a lot of criticism that is still on the sholders of those bands. Some people connect such bands as MDB and 210 with direct crisis inside the antifa movement that started with patriotism even before the was in Ukraine and brought so many troubles to the antifa movement not only in Russia but as well in CIS countries, where antifa now moving to the right with their games with nationalism.

 

In this context it is interesting to see your link to the statement on Ukraine which was also highly criticized and doesn't portray any actual political position on the situation. The fake neutrality of the text is also filled with some state propoganda (to the armed forces fighting for the anti-people, pro-fascist and pro-oligarch government of Ukraine) where ukraine state is becoming pro-faschist.

 

I do respect the things you did for the family of Ivan but the shit that is rolling around is over the top. And it really nice that somebody brught at least the tip of the iceberg to the german scene.

Especially for the “real activists from CIS” who have a right to judge everybody: just a short list of people, supported by WWF and MDB during the recent years (from 2013). Most of those people are leftists and anarchists by the way. Money earned by bands were spent to pay lawyers and sent to families of the imprisoned activists:

Aleksey Sokrat Sutuga (http://rosuznik.org/arrests/sutuga)
Aleksey Gaskarov (http://gaskarov .info/)
Igor Harchenko (http://www.antifa.fm/7980.html)
Alexey Rashodchikov (http://jungle-world.com/artikel/2013/37/48448.html)
Denis Levkin (http://freedenislevkin.ru/)
Dmitry Zvanko (http://abc-belarus.org/?p=4645)
Dmitry Steshenko (https://pp.vk.me/c313519/v313519890/a8b0/P9NjFT3zOMc.jpg)
Court against antifa in Kazan - https://ad-sr.info/2013/10/06/nas-obeshhali-zakry-t-na-universiadu-eshhyo-za-god-do-eyo-provedeniya-interv-yu-s-kazanskim-antifashistom/
Maksim Solopov (http://www.antifa.fm/6228.html)
Family of Fedor Filatov, who was killed by nazis in 2008

We may not agree on everything with WWF and MDB but 1) nobody is perfect 2) they do a lot for the scene and support their beliefs with actions instead of sitting in front of the screen and starting Internet scandals.

SONNTAGS IN RUSSLAND: Am vergangenen Sonntag wurden in Moskau zwei alternative Musikveranstaltungen durch einen Bombenalarm, von Nazis sowie den Sicherheitsbehörden gestört.
Im Moskauer Jerry Rubin Klub (siehe https://vk.com/jerryrubinclub) sollte ein HipHop Festival mit verschiedenen Crews stattfinden. Die Veranstaltung wurde aber von OMON Paramilitärs circa 19 Uhr gestürmt, die ungefähr 40 Anwesenden, unter ihnen die Bandmitglieder, in Gewahrsam genommen und in die Gefangenensammelstelle gebracht. Die Inhaftierten wurden abfotografiert und zum Teil erkennungsdienstliche behandelt. Mindestens eine Person wurde in der Befragung verprügelt. Erst um 2 Uhr Nachts wurde die letzte Person frei gelassen.
Ungefähr zur selben Zeit ging im Klub Volta (siehe hxxps://www.facebook.com/voltaclub) eine Bombendrohung ein. Hier wollte Play it loud mit den Bands What We Feel hardcore, Hausvabot, Jack Russell usw. eine Soli-Geburtstagsparty feiern. Außerdem warteten unweit des Klubs Nazi-Skins,wahrscheinlich um potenzielle Festival-Besucher*innen zu attackieren. Zur Überprüfung des Klubs kamen OMON Einheiten und die Feuerwehr. Nach einer halben Stunde war der Spuk aber bereits wieder vorbei. Niemand wurde belästigt. Auch über Übergriffe ist nichts bekannt. Die Party begannt zwar verzögert, verlief aber ohne besondere Vorkommnisse.

"За адекватный антифашизм" - an article by Vova Razor Bois, published in Imhopang#3 zine, Moscow, September 2010
no translation available, but "I fight for middle class", being anticapitalist is bullshit; privete property, free enterprise and the law are okay. you wanna fight for anarchy and communism? okay, but don't get involved into "healthy antiracist initiative" with your ultraleft ideas. "healthy patriotism" rules, ultraleft sucks.
http://s018.radikal.ru/i501/1502/8d/b2d06639a05c.jpg
http://s47.radikal.ru/i115/1502/24/90b5e08e58ca.jpg

My friend, you are lying shamelessly. The article starts by the guy talking about solidarity and unity between leftists people and other antifascist who fight for one cause. Here's just one fragment translated properly from the article which shows that you distort everything:

“I have many friends among RASH, Anarchists and other people who call themselves left-wing. I’m always happy to work together and communicate with them. I support many left acts like Anarchist Black Cross. Their representatives help to collect funds for victims of nazi terror and police aggression. But I don’t call myself anarchist or communist.”

Doesn’t sound like anything you say, does it? The other stuff you "translated" is the same - you made it sound completely different.

You took advantage of peeps here who can't translate a scan of a russian mag, but there are plenty of people here who can call you out on your lies.

I agree. Though it is ok to post an article, in my opinion this is by far not a fair summary of this text. I only learned Russian as a foreign language. But I made an efford to try and read it and the message I got from that article is different. Now what I got from the text, or what I read between the lines (though I should say that I'm not 100% sure because my knowlegde of russian language is limited) is not that "anticapitalist is bullshit", but rather critical remarks towards double standarts when it comes to stating to be against capitalism and at the same time consuming quite a lot and having enjoyed a rather priviledged youth in western europe. Also some explanation about different life reality and different past of Russia and western europe, about present poverty in Russia and the need to support and care for family and close ones, and difficulties of many people to believe in ideologies due to the soviet past of this country (in which, we should not forget, existed such things as Gulag, a cruel prison system without transparent judgement and trial). As I understand it the author of this text also says he believes that change happenes rather if you search for a concrete action or a concrete endeavour to fight for than to discuss about the best possible political utopia.

Though some choice of words in that fanzine article sounds misunderstandable or clumsy or not very friendly to me, and it is ok or necessary to critizise some statements, let us stay fair.

The two people accused in this before published article were open for communication and critizism, the attempt to seek a dialogue seemed very sincere and honest to me. And at the same time nobody of the people who published this article (only in german) showed up.

WWF and MDB posted a statement, which was explaining their position in a very repectful manner. They repeatedly said that they want an open dialogue that is constructive for mutual understanding and self-developement. They said that self-improvement and emancipation is a gradual process and they are open for critizism, if brought forward in a respectful and explaining way. They explained their cultural position and social background to make us understand where their attitudes or choice of language come from. Now I from the perspective of somebody who believes in the utopia of anarchism, which in my opinion is more than any other system based on mutual respect and equal communication, they showed some good-style behaviour here. It is constructive to talk with people, it is not constructive to only talk about them. It is ok and useful to critizise, it is not ok to make some final judgement while refusing open communication.

Anyway, dear members of WWF and MDB, as you made an effort and tried to explain your cultural background, I will try and explain mine.

I know that our situations are different and hardly comparable. But, you should know, that anything connected with patriotism is a very sensitive matter here in Germany, and we have good reasons to be suspicious about this, as you are well aware of our past. Having grown up in a country that has colonized several countries, started two world wars, commited terrrible acts against humanity and exported the idea of national socialism and is therefore also responsible for that militant Russian neo-nazis, against which you have fought under risk of your life, it is only natural and healthy that people here react with great suspiciousness about anything connected with patriotism. For the reason that the step between patriotism, nationalism and racism has always been very small in german history and still is.

I read your statement and I believe you have good intentions, fighting against discrimination under very tough conditions. As I understand you want to demonstrate other people how to be aware or their cultural background but without discrimination of other people. As long as fighting against any form discrimination and creating a tolerant society is both our goal, I am open to the fact that we might have different opinions on some matters and believe it is important that our scenes stay in dialogue to avoid misunderstandings.

And, about the gender debate: although no doubt that there has been large improvements regarding the equality of gender in western European society in the last decades, emancipation is still standing on very fragile ground here. There are many domains in society that are dominated by men. As a woman, you have to work three times harder to gain the same respect, and there is often some bullshit comment about your gender. When you watch certain television programms, you could get the impression that there had never been any emancipation at all. But, to stay fair, I am often very happily surprised that many people start to overthink their gender perspective and treat you with respect when they see that you are putting effort and passion in what you are doing. About the use of language, people come from different backgrounds. I have some friends that grew up with swearing language, but they are good people and respect me as a women. I think emancipation works through self-developement, respecting each other and fighting any kind of discrimination. Emancipation doesn't come as a present from somebody and it sure as hell doesn't come as a package of wisdom taught by somebody who thinks he own the truth because of growing up in a priviledged background and having a lot of time for education and self-improvement. Also, I am glad to say that I chose my own way of living my life as a woman and no guy using some swear language can discourage me from that, although I welcome it when people start to be aware of the meaning transported by their swear language.

Finally, about this quote from one of you, who thinks that people here get dogs from animal shelters for money reasons, I can tell you, you got some really strange false information there. I have never heard of anybody who gets money support for caring for a dog. All my friends that got dogs from the shelter, did this simply because they like animals and they take good care of their dogs. The fact that people have dogs has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not they might live on social welfare. So with all due respect, your picture of our scene seems likewise outright bizarre to me.

I believe your right when you blame us for ethnocentric worldview, but if you actually said that most people from the west that you met are money-hungry assholes, excuse me but then it is my turn to say that this sounds like a soviet-origined cliche predjudice against people from the west. I hope that in the time that passed since you said that (if you actually said that), you have met some good people and changed your views towards our scene, otherwise this would make me sad.

Anyway, thank you for travelling here for discussion, which is a strong sign that surely has been remarked by many people here.

And for the fact that some people make fun of "epic language" used for describing the fight against fascism in Russia, that is such insensitive and respectless statement towards people who lost friends in the fight against fascism, that it makes my heart hurt.

And, this to be said, these people who published the text under the name of antifascists worldwide, of course they don't represent every opinion in the antifascist movement, they most certainly don't represent mine. Also, I don't know how many people would be ready to risk life and freedom to stand up against fascism and militant neo-nazi-scene in Russia, in a country, where distribution of power is strongly imbalanced and facing a huge extend of repression. I have spent some time in Russia. You have my deep respect for your courage.

I will continue to visit your shows and I'm also ready for constructive discussion should we meet face to face.

Take care and stay fair everybody, greetings from Hamburg.

https://www.facebook.com/moscowdeathbrigade/posts/10153097331059660:0