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I once interviewed a young National Bolshevik. It was fascinating. His ideas were outrageous, and yet he was weirdly likeable; certainly putting on a show, but also very authentic. His leader, Eduard Limonov, has just passed away. http://jordanrussiacenter.org/news/the-eternal-adolescent-savenko/?fbclid=IwAR0IuZHAheYPXlK2MZ_wYjQkvwIe9iSQ944D381w_kEHQhXkgqMlAxB0gdc#.XpUjspp7kxh
My journey through four regions was not short of weird encounters, including an interview with an unapologetic Neo-Nazi who happened to co-lead a human rights NGO (some colleagues no doubt will recognize who I mean).
But still, meeting the NBP activist was special. For the interview, I took a marshrutka to a different town. It was November, the streets were dark and muddy. We met in a café, but we almost did not meet at all.
I was on my way out, walking down the stairs from the first floor, thinking that he did not show up, when a hooded figure slowly rose in a corner, waving me over. He asked me to show him my (German) ID before we sat down to talk.
There was no doubt, he explained, that I was working in the service of German intelligence trying to figure out new ways to destabilize Russia (this was obviously after Crimea, his movement was now on the "patriotic" side).
But he found it safe enough to talk to me, for which I am truly grateful. Not just because he did supply me with valuable information (only for my dissertation, though), but also because I caught a glimpse of his thoughts and his life as an activist.
For sure, he put up a good show. After all, he was part of a movement that places provocation and underground aesthetics front and center. But I got the feeling that he did open up to some extent.
He was in his mid-20s and had already spent two years in prison. The political ideas he advocated I found outrageous and difficult to square. But he was likeable in a way that is hard to define. Perhaps it is because of a phrase that got stuck in my head:
Criticizing the legalism of part of the Bolotnaya coalition that mobilized only for sanctioned rallies, he claimed, elegantly and desperately: "если ты за свободу, то и будь свободным". It seems to me that this captures some of the spirit of this strange and fascinating movement.
