Black
Petrograd - 04
(Report)
The anarchist
festival "Black Petrograd-04 " taken place November 6-8 in St.
Petersburg, collected about hundred anarchists from several cities of Russia
(St. Petersburg, Moscow, Petrozavodsk, Tyumen, Perm, Neftekamsk), and also
several comrades from Belarus, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Romania. Actions
within the framework of festival as a whole have passed successfully, changes
of preliminary program appeared to be insignificant.
The festival has
opened on November, 6, about 11.00, in the building of Centre of Information
and Science "Memorial" with the lection on history of makhnovist
movement in Ukraine; an audience has gathered about 30 persons. Upon termination of
lecture anarchists, as an organized group went to meeting “Against the Regime
of Terror”. The meeting begun at 14.00 near the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt
and Malaya Konyushennaya in the Peterburg city center. The action was organized
by participants of Petersburg Anti-war Committee - anarchist Pyotr Rausch,
trotskist Alexey Drozdov and right-protecting activist Ekaterina Vargina. The
action collected about 70 of comrades. Meeting passed under three black banners
(liberal anti-fascists and bolsheviks-internationalists had not brought their
flags). Petersburg
anarchists have been developed an orange header with slogan "Freedom to the
people, death to the empires!" and a black one "Death to fascism!";
the Moscow comrades from "Autonomous Action" brought a white header
"Death to the state and the capital!" and a yellow "No war
between peoples, no peace between classes!". Speeches were made by: Pyotr
Rausch (the participant of Petersburg League of Anarchists / ADA / IFA),
Ekaterina Vargina (the participant of Independent Right-protecting Group),
Alexander Skobov (Chechenian Peace Initiative), Alexei Petrov (member of
trotskist group “Worker democracy”), Andrey
Kalenov (Petersburg League of Anarchists / ADA / IFA), Pavel Viktorov (editor
of anti-war paper “Antivoennyi Westnik”), comrade Ukrop (Moscow group of “Autonomous
Action”), Deni Said Teps (president of Chechenian World Congress) and comrade
Arlequin (participant of Peterburg Antifa-Punk group “Punk-Revival” and Petersburg
League of Anarchists / ADA / IFA). After the meeting, that past without any
excesses, at 17.00 in the building CSI "Memorial" took place a
collective viewing of video about anarchist actions. The first videocassette contained
records of actions of Petersburg anarchists - pickets of Anti-war Committee, May Day demonstrations
in 2003 and 2004, meetings of movement “For Election Boycott”, demonstration of
7.11.03, XVII congress of ADA etc. The Second one consisted of clips made by
Moscow collective "Indyvideo", mainly about actions in Moscow (happenings,
manifestations, performances, graffiti-campaigns on ecologist,
right-protecting, feminist and antimilitarist subjects), with addition of some
plots finished shot in other cities (Azov Anti-methanol Ecological Camp 2003,
demonstrations in Peterburg and Nizhniy Novgorod). Video viewing ended with display
of the French film about counter-summit against meeting of G-8 in Genoa. The concerts,
originally planned for November 6 and 7, were not possible to conduct that
days, because it turned out not possible to agree upon rent of location before
the 8th.
In the morning of
November 7, anarchists, participating in actions of festival, gathered near Concert Hall "October", whence was
planned to move to the city protest meeting – in common column with communists.
According to tradition of last two years, the arrangement with Committee of
Uniform Actions in Protection of the Social and Labor Rights of Citizens was
reached, according to which leaders of the Committee were official
co-organizers of the
demonstration and provided anarchists with a guaranteed place in the
column. However, when a group of approximately 80 anarchists, having lifted
black, red-black also it green-black banners headers, tried join the general
column, it was blocked by OMON patrol. Numerous attempts to explain to the
policemen the groundlessness, illegitimacy and criminal character of their
actions (an item 136 and item 149 of Criminal Code the Russian Federation), undertaken both participants of the anarchist block, and the
communists who have supported them (from the Committee (E.A. Kozlov and V.M.
Soloveichik) and “Worker Democracy”, brought no result. At first, the policemen
asserted that that question could be solved only by representatives of city
administration, that were present in that location. They soon appeared on a place
of the conflict, but the situation has not changed. In reply to stated in the nebulous
form assertion of official from Smolnyi that there are no legal obstacles for
participation of anarchists in demonstration, OMON lieutenant-colonels,
surrounding the anarchist block, declared that they need a command from their
direct heads (having thus shown that the OMON is not subordinated to city
authorities). After that the representative of city administration, wishing not
to argue with OMON, started to lay down some sort of idiosyncratic offers:
"Curtail flags, for a short while - and the police will remove the
cordon". But execution of the strange request of the official had no
effect on the behavior of policemen. The communistic column at this time passed
by, showing no reaction on the incident. While group of NBP surrounded by
police, having approximately same number as anarchists, anarchists began to declaim the slogan "Fascism
will not pass!". NBP began to scan same slogan, and NBP group passed by,
not confronted by the police (for a while). Appearing of colonel Kabatsky, the
commander of summary unit of St. Petersburg OMON, at the Concert Hall just added
to cops’ obstinacy. After 20-minute-long standing at concert Hall, when the
tail of the basic column turned from Ligovski to Nevskyi prospekt and
disappeared from a visibility range, it became finally clear, that joining of anarchist
group to the main column was not admitted. Then the two participants PLA, which
appeared to be in the external side of cordon, went to catch up with a column to
nevertheless join it in the area. The others - about 80 persons, surrounded by
the cops and supported by ten outside the cordon - were kept at the place for
about 25 more minutes. Only when the basic column passed the bridge through
Fontanka, OMON cordon was unblocked (as was found out later - to throw the same
unit against NBP). The unblocked anarchist column was pushed out to Nekrasov street;
when it was crossing street of Revolt, police escort was completely removed, and
comrades began non-authorized march, scanning slogans under the banners, to the
Palace square. However, vast majority of anarchists didn’t success to get to
the meeting: near the Palace square anarchists have run into a circuit of
"blue division", tried to find the other way and met all the same
OMON in the square near the Winter palace (which by this time had already dissipated
the column of NBP and now had being thrown against previous opponent). Almost
all anarchists stood most of the meeting near to the square; only eight person
from eighty managed to get in: two under a black flag in a red column, four in
the individual guerrilla and two that were late for the gathering. They distributed
to the area there about 30 newspapers and about 400 leaflets in an hour. By the
end of meeting, OMON started to push anarchists who had not got into the square
from the Winter palace aside the Admiralties; the cops behaved more and more
impudently. Taking into account the threat of mass arrest and impossibility of
break into Palace square, the group decided to cross Neva and to move to the Peter
and Paul’s Fortress. As a new place of disposition was chosen a park near the
monument to destroyer-ship "Stereguschiy". After the end of meeting, those
who managed to get on it also came there. In the park took place a brief
discussion, which has defined the further actions for the rest of day, and
first of all - ones connected with the fact,
that during movement to Palace square cops have arrested (and delivered to 76th
police department) four Moscow comrades. During the discussion, a group of anarchists under a black
flag organized distribution of the remaining leaflets among passers-by. After
finding out an exact site of arrested persons, the great bulk of comrades has
moved through Troitsky bridge and the Mars field to the "Memorial",
assuming therefrom to go to 76th PD together with legal experts. However, after
some minutes through mobile communication appeared a message that arrested
persons are released after check of documents. The last occasion of the day was,
as it was initially planned, the discussion on topic “Anarchy against the
regime of terror” (though, contrary to an initial plan, discussion took place
in "Memorial" in a mode of tea drinking and it has been devoted not
to the theory, but to the practical side – analysis of results of last day and
discussion, aiming to work out exact recommendations of struggle against police
arbitrariness during open street actions).
Day of November 8 began with the second planned
discussion: “Perspectives and strategy of anarchist movement”. Representatives
of three most widespread anarchistic tendencies of modern Russia took part in
the discussion: participants of the ADA / IFA (supporting the anarchist
organization making decision without voting, with a consensus), members of
"Independent Action" (anarcho-communists of platformist orientation,
having democratic intra-organizational structure), and anti-organisationist
comrades, grouping around Russian Indimedia, so-called "Tupikin mafia",
considering any organization immanently harmful and building their actions on
the base of DIY principles and only by informal interactions. Discussion began
at 12.00 and took two hours. Its purpose, obviously, was not to find the
certain compromise uniting everybody, but to compare positions. Those comrades
who have joined movement not long ago, had an opportunity to compare
distinguished positions and to estimate arguments of participants of dispute -
that, probably, wasn’t completely useless for them. After the polemic was over,
under the offer of the Finnish comrades were made two reports which originally
had not been included in the plan of festival, but certainly were of some
interest: about modern anarchist movement in Finland
and Romania. The further program was continued by excursion on the anarchist
points of the city - from a point at the subway station “Dostoevskaya”, where anarchist
demonstrations of 1992-2002 had usually begun, by former anarchical squat of
year 1991 in the Candle lane, to a former Palace of Culture Light Industry
Workers in the street of Truth, where in 1989-90 assemblies of Free Anarcho-Syndicalist
Association had taken place. At the same building a conference of Association
of Anarchists had been carried out in May 1990. The Association had been one
and a half month later reorganized in Association of Movements of Anarchists
(Associacia Dvizheniy Anarhistov, ADA). After that, the excursion continued to o the house 4 along the
Zaslonov street (from October of 1989 – to May of 1990 there operated three anarchist
squats: "Anarcho-club", "Zastava" and “KPZ”), further by
the subway to Gostinyi Dvor (formerly known as "Wall of Tears" and
being the main place of distribution of the anti-governmental periodical press
in Peterburg in 1990-2000) and to the building of Suvorov School on Sadovaya street
(where in XIX century had been situated Page Corpus in which Kropotkin had studied).
Due to the lack of time, only four anarchists have reached final point of
excursion - the Mariinsky palace (on adjoining of Herzen street
and Voznesenskiy Prospekt where in August 1991 under black flags stood anarchist
barricades).
The last – and,
maybe, the loudest - chord of "Black Petrograd " was a punk-rock
concert, that took place in the evening of November, 8, birthday of Nestor Makhno,
in club "Legend", near the subway station "Ladozhskaya".
All known reviews of the concert have extremely enthusiastic character.