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Title: Thoughts about Mikhail Zhlobitsky Author: Prameń Date: 12th March 2019 Language: en Topics: Russia, terrorism, propaganda of the deed Source: Retrieved on 15th August 2020 from https://bo-ak.org/index.php/en/theory-en/144-thoughts-about-mikhail-zhlobitsky
It is easy to be a revolutionary or a rebel in revolutionary times. Not
much is needed to do this: you join the crowd and you are already
carrying on the waves of History. But it is much more formidably when
everything what could be forbidden is forbidden. when humiliation from
those in power is the norm, almost uncontested. When your friends and
comrades are tortured in the woods and minibuses.
In such years, the only thing that pushes people to act is self-esteem
and a fierce, merciless hatred of injustice. Unfortunately, not everyone
is able to pour out these feelingsŃŽ Therefore that is the time for lone
riots to come to fore.
Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who blew himself up in the building of the
Arkhangelsk Federal Security Service on October 31, is already almost
forgotten as many other events have happened since. In the meantime, we
know almost nothing about him. There are neither normal photos, nor his
real page in social net, nor testimonies of relatives. Of course, we do
not take into account the articles by pro-governmental propagandistic
media which claimed Mikhail Zhlobitsky “mentally abnormal” and wrote
that he was “mocked at school”.
So we are only to make assumptions about Mikhail Zhlobitsky only on the
basis of his act.
He was seventeen years old. Let’s remember what each of us did at
seventeen. First alcohol, first sex, first university and first job.
Look back — most of us have decent amount of time between those days and
nowadays. We lived it. We loved, we lost heart, we were laughing and
crying. But Mikhail Zhlobitsky won’t live these years. Because two
things he put above everything in the world: his own dignity and hatred
for injustice. He put it above personal happiness, pleasant impressions,
love and other things. Above his own life.
Think about it: he refused the most expensive that he has.
One can evaluate the political effectiveness of his actions in different
ways, saying that “if he lived, he would be able to make more,” and so
on. But in fact, he did something that most of us are not able to do. In
one of his messages in chat rooms, he said: “I am waiting until I turn
18 years old so that I, but not my parents, bear responsibility for my
actions. What are you waiting for, I do not know. “ With this phrase, he
ultimately described himself. By the ways, Russian cops also described
themselves when they published posthumous photo of Michael in their
telegram channel, accompanying it with a mocking comments.
I have always believed and I still believe that the moral strength of a
person and his immanent honor has only one dimension — the ability to
sacrifice him or herself. This ability begins from little thingds. For
example one could abandon some momentary pleasure in order to benefit
other people, and somebody is able to commit a suicide in the interests
of revolution. There is no need in loud words and statements, if your
basic needs for safety and comfort are at some point instantly
outweighed.
Let’s remember how many times any of us (and I, too) put personal
comfort above everything. I won’t go to the meeting as I am tired for
the day or as I need to prepare for exams, as I have birthday, as I need
to feed my cat, or anything else. Activism is great! But let others do
it. I have more important things to do (life, family, work, parents,
entertainment). There is another option: I will fight when I do all the
other things, because you need to think about the future! In general, it
is desirable to fight without harm to yourself.
Mikhail preferred not to talk but to do. And as long as we are afraid to
sacrifice ourselves even in small things, evil will continue to advance
by arrests, handcuffs, tortures. And this evil meets on its way fearless
people only occasionally. But it is not necessary to blow yourself up to
join these fearless ones. It is not necessary to use violence at all as
besides violence there is a huge arsenal of methods which are sometimes
even more dangerous. But anyway you should remember that readiness for
hardship — at least in the small — is a prerequisite to revolution. And
revolution will never be comfortable.
When you realize it, fearless ones will become groups, and groups will
become masses. And those And those who forced the 17-year-olds to blow
themselves up will be brought to book.