On February
7th, as part of the video-series exhibition Armed and Dangerous, the second
public event of the parallel programme took place at IZONE Creative
Community in Kyiv, Ukraine. The
exhibition and the programme is organised by the IZOLYATSIA Foundation.
According to the creator and curator of the video-series, Mykola Ridnyi, the
project is aimed at problematising the militarization of Ukrainian society and the prevailing ideology
of violence in contemporary Ukraine. The lecture by Anna Hrytsenko was on the
problem of the participation of young people in far-right movements.
The lecture
was given by sociologist Anna Hrytsenko, a researcher of far-right movements,
who was going to discuss the facts and causes of the growth in popularity of
radical right-wing movements amongst Ukrainian youth. A group of young men,
about 20 people, among whom was Aleksey
“Stalker” Svinarenko from National Resistance and the radical organisation C14
(Sich), appeared at the event and tried to disrupt the lecture. Despite the
presence of the police, young people painted chairs with a swastika, switched
off the lights at the power box several times, and disrupted the lecturer
throughout the entire event.
Representatives
of radical right-wing organisations also filed a criminal charge against Anna
Hrytsenko according to Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
"Violation of citizen equality on the grounds of race, nationality,
religious beliefs, disability and other."
Unfortunately,
attacks by right-wing representatives on cultural events, artists and activists
are becoming more frequent in Ukraine. In 2009, after the debate Promoting
Homosexuality or Promoting Tolerance?, the Kyiv art gallery YaGallery was set
on fire. In 2017, the pogrom of the exhibition by David Chichkan at VCRC Missed
Opportunity. A month ago, C14 representatives got involved in the case of
student Spartak Khachanov at NAOMA for his anti-militarist work.
IZOLYATSIA
is an institution in exile, forced to move from Donetsk to Kyiv because of the
war in eastern Ukraine. According to its mission, IZOLYATSIA considers it
necessary and relevant to create, through art,
a discourse surrounding and critical reflection on the phenomenon of the
militarisation of Ukrainian society and the radicalisation of right movements.
Comments by
lecture attendees:
Mykola
Ridnyi, artist, curator and author of the Armed and Dangerous video-series
project:
"About
30 representatives of conservative organisations came to the lecture by Anna
Hrytsenko regarding the participation of young people in right-wing movements.
Some of them were members of the radical organisation National Resistance. The
police let them in saying: “Please, behave yourself!” As soon as the lecture
began, the ultra-rights began shouting down the lecturer and disrupting the
planned meeting. They blew up the microphone and video screen blocking access
to the power box. During the event, the right-wing representatives insulted and
threatened the lecturer and other people who held LGBTQ+ and left positions. Their shouting
interfered with another lecture about the architecture of the local Podil
district in the auditorium next door. In an atmosphere of psychological
pressure, most of the audience left the event before it finished. When the
ultra-rights had left, there were numerous swastikas graffitied around IZONE.
"
Bogdan
Altinnik, activist:
"From
the very beginning, about 40 representatives of the right-wing came to the
lecture; there were twice as many of them as there were listeners themselves.
The police could not do anything since the right-wing representatives did not
take violent action. However, their appearance frightened by the majority of
those present, they also verbally mocked the lecturer, led a manipulative
"dialogue," and in the end, even threatened the left and LGBTQ+
activists. So the lecture was disrupted."
Demyan
Romanovich, visitor:
"Even
on the way to the event, I noticed a large group of people with ultra-right
symbols gathering at the nearest metro station. I told the police officers who
were at the entrance to IZONE about that. They, as it turned out, did not know
at all that the event was scheduled for this evening, reacted aggressively but
assured that they would "cover us". Nevertheless, shortly after the
beginning of the lecture, the same group of about 25-30 ultra-right people
appeared at the auditorium, began provoking the lecturer and visitors, behaved
rudely and tried to prevent the event from happening. At the same time, they
did not resort to physical violence. Among them, I recognised members of the
neo-Nazi organisation National Resistance. In addition to this, I noticed
representatives of the political party Svoboda, Ruslana Andreyka and Yuri
Noevy, in the corridor. The police looked confused and did not know how to
react to what was happening. "