Springtime for Skinheads: Murdering People for the Colour of their Shoelaces

October 22, 2008 – 2:12 am

I didn’t find out about this murder in Irkutsk, Russia, on the news. I discovered this first through the blog of a friend of a friend. An independent media source has highlighted this incident, the mainstream news is rather quiet.

Olga Rukosyla was sixteen years old. She enjoyed dressing like a punk, and wore red shoelaces which, to some, signify the famous “Antifa” (anti-facism) movement.

Indymedia reports that on the 8th of October, Olga was surrounded by three young men dressed, as witnesses say, in typical skinhead fashion. One of them grabbed her hand. She said something angrily to him. This was when the men surrounding her threw her on the ground and literally kicked her to death.

Three men, murdering a teenage girl in broad daylight.

Skinheads operate like packs of wild dogs. They prefer to outnumber their victims, and seem to forge bonds through frantic eruptions of group violence.

My neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine has been spray-painted with their slogans, and I’m afraid for the African and Asian kids living in the dorms around my building, for my Jewish neighbours, for my Arab boyfriend, who stays with me there sometimes. I’m afraid that my kid brother might wear the wrong t-shirt and piss them off.

How can we be safe when the only visible opposition seems to arise in the form of Antifa groups spraying their own slogans over Nazi ones? (Hey, kid who drew the gallows around the swastika that was spray-painted on my family’s garage - thank you.)

The terror skinheads have spread has inspired some to take their side, to excuse their actions, to even boldly proclaim that they are “ridding society of unsavoury elements” (i.e., they are ridding society of anyone who’s in any way different, be that due to skin colour or the colour of one’s shoelaces). Read More »

By Natalia Antonova | Posted in Columnist, Society, crime, essays, racism | Comments (4)

MTV Ukraine Makes a Mockery of Domestic Violence

September 17, 2008 – 3:27 pm

Last weekend, I was sitting in a restaurant in Kyiv, eating barbecue wings, and witnessing a new low in the world of Ukrainian media.

The recently launched MTV Ukraine was showing a translated program - it had something to do with hip hop. At the bottom of the screen there was listed something called “The Topic of the Day” - which is basically a question one can answer by texting an SMS to a certain number, if one is bored enough, I suppose. The answers themselves were being fed directly onto the TV screen.

Though I found it hard to believe at first, the topic was “Can you beat girls?”

Yep, there it was, staring me in the face.

I went up to the TV screen and snapped a couple of pictures with my phone. Meanwhile, my table companions quickly became animated as they realized what I was reacting to.

Read More »

By Natalia Antonova | Posted in Columnist, Entertainment, Society, europe, feminism, human rights, women | Comments (14)

Gods and Nymphs: The Myths and Realities of Modern Life and Love

July 21, 2008 – 6:53 am

A few months ago, I read that Russian women have lost the war against sexism, and that one of the symptoms of said defeat is the dominance of the Nymph - “a professional beauty,” the ideal partner for the modern man.

The author of the essay I’m quoting is Evgenia Pischikova, a funny, clever woman. While I found her perceptions of American feminism to be somewhat idealized, and some of her statements regarding modern Russian woman downright exaggerated, I nevertheless believe in the Nymph. I’ve seen far too many beautiful women, Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian, affect a soulless gaze in the presence of eligible bachelors to deny the Nymph’s existence.

Yet I do not think the story of the Nymph to be simple. Neither do I think that her tale is complete without a thorough discussion of her male counterpart - the God.

Now, the modern God, for the sake of Pischikova’s analogy, is pretty much any man who is, for some reason, desirable to the Nymph, usually marked by a paternalistic (or, as some people are fond of saying, “protective” attitude). We’re accustomed to believe that the God is wealthy, or well-off, and he generally is.

Modern Gods demand sacrifices as readily as the ancient ones. Read More »

By Natalia Antonova | Posted in Columnist, Society, europe, feminism, love, sex, women | Comments (5)

Holidays in the Carpathians: Bukovel

January 21, 2008 – 12:18 am

It seems that everyone with wheels in Kyiv went up the Carpathian mountains to celebrate the New Year. Sitting by the fireplace in a log cabin at the ski resort this season would have been something, but I didn’t not get there as planned. To be honest, it was a blessing to miss the frantic traffic and struggle to find a decent place to sleep.

After all, the good places are booked up there a year in advance.

illustration1byolechko

As a clever friend of mine recommended, it’s better to go up to the Carpathians a few weeks before the holidays, or else after the Orthodox Christmas (which is on the 7th of January, for all of those unfamiliar with the Julian calendar). So, I adjusted my plans.

Christmas time here offers the best entertainment for culture lovers, because the way the locals celebrate it has been preserved in its full glory: costumes, caroling, lavish food and all.

illustration3byolechko

The best way to get to the Carpathians from the capital is by car (it’s roughly a 7 hour drive to Yaremche). If you arrive to Yaremche by train (it would take a transfer or two to get there from Kyiv, as the railway system is still pretty inconvenient), you can hop on a cab for about 150 hrv to Bukovel.

This is actually reasonable, considering Yaremche is 40 min away. Obviously, putting so much effort into getting there means that this should definitely not be a weekend kind of trip. Better to stretch it out for 5 days or so, if you can. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Arts & Literature, Society, europe, painting, travel | Comments (1)