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Comment of Mikalai Dziadok on the accusations of homophobia, sexism and nationalism

Today from my friends I learned that yesterday somebody – using anonymous nicknames and fake accounts in social networks – started spreading a call among the foreign movement on behalf of «Anarchists of Belarus». The text called to stop supporting Mikalai Dziadok, ABC-Belarus and a media-collective «Pramen» because they support Mikalai Dziadok who is «homophobic, sexist and nationalist».

Before I explain who is doing it and why, I should state my position on the above-mentioned accusations. I am not going to comment every screenshot individually, as I don’t have to make excuses for anything, instead I will just openly and clearly state my opinions that I stick to at the moment.

1. Nationalism. I have always been and stay an opponent to every nationalism as an ideology that is antagonistic to anarchism. I have written about it criticising Belarusian ‘ethnic anarchists’ (https://pramen.io/en/2016/09/ethnic-anarchists-in-belarus-myth-debunking/). This article was first posted on my Facebook page in Russian and because of it I received threats from the notorious ‘ethnic anarchists’ from the group ‘Poshug’. I’m also the author of another article ‘Against nationalism’ (https://pramen.io/ru/2016/04/suprats-natsyyanalizmu/) in Belarusian language, which is also a stand of the media-collective ‘Pramen’ on nationalistm, where this ideology is criticised from anarchist positions.

All the accusations of ‘nationalist propaganda’ consist of the fact that: a) I have posted in my blog 9-10 years ago a picture with a nationalist coat of arms with a reference to a nationalist author. b) I allegedly ‘supported’ ethnic anarchists from Poshug 6 days after I got out of jail. Even though I didn’t do it as claimed, it should be pointed out that I couldn’t work out the political surroundings in Belarus since I couldn’t follow it being imprisoned for 5 years and didn’t want to make any hasty judgments. Nevertheless, the proof of the accusation is the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FroftRw7uao - an excerpt from my interview with English subtitles. In these subtitles my words are falsified and some words are added that I never pronounced. This can be confirmed by any person who understands Belarusian. This fact speaks a lot about the authors of this translation and the letter you received.

This being said, I have always been saying that I support the advancement of Belarusian language and culture and do what I can to develop the use of the language, for instance, I communicate in Belarusian. I love the places where I was born and grew up. But neither me, nor my comrades never saw it as anything criminal. Belarus features a specific situation – since the authorities are considered to be pro-Cremlin, it is a protest to speak and write in Belarusian. Anarchists have always opposed colonialism and imperialism, and this is exactly what the ‘Russian world’ is offering us. But I don’t see any connection between speaking my mother tongue and ‘nationalism’.

2. Sexism. Let me begin with stating that the translation of the comment was distorted again. I never tried to conceal that I’m skeptical to western feminism including anarcha-feminism, I see a lot of drawbacks in it. For example, in my opinion, gender is not exclusively social construct, and the differences between men and women is deeper that just a difference of sexual characters. This opinion has evolved after reading scientific works on biology and my personal experiences. I’m ready to substantiate the opinion to any comrade who is able to have a constructive dialogue.

This being said, I have never allowed myself to publicly or privately humiliate women for the fact that they are women (and I don’t let others do it in my presence), to discriminate based on gender, since as anarchist and an adequate person I stand for equality and against any discrimination. All anarcha-feminists that know me personally (and they are quite a few) communicate with me and cooperate within various anarchist projects, disregarding the discrepancy in positions. I don’t think that criticism of some feminist tendencies equals sexism.

3. Homophobia. I was raised in a traditional family and was socialized as a man. From my childhood I got used to perceiving homosexuality as abnormal and shameful. However, my views have changed onver time. Though I still find it unpleasant to watch two men kissing, for example (I speak openly about that since I don’t see a reason to conceal what I feel on the emotional level), I stand against any persecution of these people, discrimination of them and putting them to jail. Among my close friends are a few homosexuals and I don’t see a problem to communicate with them. For 5 years I was staying in Belarusian prisons where homosexuality is automatically putting a person in the lowest caste, they are deprived of any rights. These surroundings are extremely homophobic. A gay person there is not considered a human and equated to an animal.

I wrote about this caste, about their life and problems in a large article who was quoted and published in mainstream Belarusian media and was translated into English (https://avtonom.org/en/news/belorussian-prison-untouchables-prison-hierarchy). In the article homophobia and machism are related as explicitly negative tendencies. This article was proof-read by my gay acquaintance and LGBT-activist, plus it was refered to at a queer film festival DOTYK that took place in Minks this February.

Concerning ‘threats’ addressed to a ‘ukrainian LGBT-activist’, here is what I have to say: 1. There was no threats, I only suggested meeting me personally and check if the person can say the same insults to my face. Many would agree that people communicate so differently online and offline. 2. The authors of the letter didn’t provide full tread of communication, because the conflict has started in another FB blog, where this LGBT-activist insulted me repeatedly. Everything I did is answered by the insult to the insult. And I certainly acknowledge the mistake – I shouldn’t have stooped to their level. Though I still assume that class and social war should be primary in anarchism, I’m always open to an adequate communication with all anarchists. I don’t care who you are – a man, a woman, a gay, a trans-person, etc. I care about political and ethical views of the person. This in my opinion is anarchism.

Now I’d like to comment on the authors of the letter. It appeared 4 days after ABC-Belarus stated that they will not support a former member of the ethnic anarchist group ‘Poshug’ Vyacheslav Kosinerov who has recently been arrested in Minsk. ABC-Belarus has stated this position already in 2013. At the end of 2015 when ethnic anarchists started to threaten our comrades and to publish sensitive information about them, a similar statement was written and signed by 5 Belarusian anarchist initiatives (https://pramen.io/en/2016/09/ethnic-anarchists-in-belarus-myth-debunking/), representing the vast majority of Minsk anarchists. As mentioned above, the biggest part of the statement was written by myself, my comrades only made some ammendments and translated it.

But after the new case was started against Kosinerov, ABC-Belarus raised this question again, and friends of Vyacheslav Kosinerov and, particularly, Alexander Frantskevich from ‘Revolutionary Action’, who are actively supporting Kosinerov and ethnic anarchists (https://revbel.net/en/2017/04/sud-nad-anarhistom-vyacheslavom-kosinerovim/), decided to undermine the reputation of ABC-Belarus and media-collective ‘Pramen’ (who are against ethnic anarchists and are critical to ‘Revolutionary Action’) and started to anonymously send this information to ABC groups and post it on Facebook. The letters are basically written by the people who don’t care about the values they claim and are supporting Kosinerov who was accused of the same things as I am now. In fact, they are just cheating all who received the letter in an attempt to libel me, ABC-Belarus and Pramen.
Note that none of the people who sent the information signed it either with their name of even an initiative they are part of. I have no doubts it was done by Alexander Frantskevich, the anarchist who is notorious for beating up another anarchist for a comment on the Internet (https://abc-belarus.org/?p=6185&lang=en).

Thus, instead of holding the discussion in the open space, they are filing complaints to other people – western comrades.
This being said, I have to say that I’m not a member of ABC-Belarus and supporting me and supporting ABC-Belarus are different things. Depriving ABC-Belarus of support means depriving of support of many other comrades who need it so much.

I understand that you probably don’t find it pleasant to read this all and it looks like throwing accusations back and forth, and it’s hard to identify who is right and who is wrong here. However, this is our reality for today – instead of fighting with the state, some ‘anarchists’ fight with other anarchists.

In the end, I’d like to say that if you have any questions concerning my position, you want to debate with me or tell me I’m wrong, I’m always ready to answer, to clarify my position, explain why I think this or that way. If I claim something, I’m not hiding behind anonymous ‘belarus activists’ or ‘anarchists of Belarus’. All my political ideas rest on the surface and every person is choosing if they want to cooperate with me. Before trusting anonymous denunciations, please, ask me personally. You can contact me by email mikola@riseup.net or on Facebook fb.com/happymikola
With kindness and respect, Mikalai Dziadok