Friday, March 18, 2016

THE BEAUTY, THE BEASTS, AND THE KNIGHTS WITH THE ROSES

                          beauty lounge
Recently Russia, a country that is frequently presented in the western media as the “absolute evil” and also a hotbed of nationalism and traditionalism, was shaken by a scandal. A scandal with all the needed ingredients: a beautiful woman, politics and of course.... Nazis!

It all started out with a beauty contest. A beauty contest sponsored by the Russian football league, in which only girls with ties to the fan groups or the teams themselves could take part. Olga was a beautiful, young Russian girl working in the official merchandise shop of CSKA Moscow, one of the biggest football teams in Russia. 

When the contest was organized she had absolutely no intention to take part in it, but some people from the Russian Football Union, the organization running the contest, called her boss and asked, "Why the hell is there nobody representing CSKA in the contest?" So, her boss practically forced her to take part, and even made her take two days off work (which were not compensated).

Unfortunately for her (and also her boyfriend as we will see a bit later) she got the distinction of "Miss Charming" a title decided by popular support, since the 1st prize was given (for political reasons, as many agree) to a non-Rrussian girl, who had little to do with football.

And then all hell broke loose!

A small group of people in the Russian equivalent of Facebook – "Vkontakte" – dug out some of her photos with nationalist/racialist aesthetics; a small group of people, but with the right connections to both the media and the elite cadres in the World of Russian football.

The first reaction of her boss was to tell her to "be careful on her way home." Some efforts were made to downplay the whole issue and cover it up in the usual #cuckservative way: photographing her as "best friends" with the non-Russian winner, then asking her to deny her views and beliefs in order to keep her all-important title. Her answer though was not the one those people are used to.

"I will not deny my views and beliefs, so take your shitty title back," was the most accurate translation from the Russian phrase she used. Those exact words were made public and that's when even more hell broke loose.

So far we know for sure that she lost her title (not that she really cares) but it didn't stop there. Her boyfriend lost his job at Mosgaz (Moscow City Gas Company), and a lot of threats were directed to her mainly from the internet. The football team CSKA Moscow offered no support, even though it was them that had forced her to enter the contest and become a public figure. 

The amount of public pressure from the media, not only in Russia, but internationally, since the "scandal" made headlines all over the West (which temporarily dropped its characterization of Russia as a monolithic fascist state), has been huge. The pressure exerted would make a lot of men crumble and take the path of self debasement, but, still, Olga remains steadfast even as she tried to avoid the unwanted attention.

Enter the shining Knights

In much of the West, the reaction of right wingers "outed" in this way would be to dash to a point as far as possible from the young woman, so as not to be "stained" from any guilt by association. Be it political parties or intellectuals, few are the people who would be able to stand by her.

Fortunately this did not happen in this case. Instead a group of about 40 people, mobilized by the White Rex organization, gathered to present the girl with a multitude of roses. White Rex is a dual purpose organization that actively promotes MMA events in Russia and Europe and also runs a clothing brand.


A simple show of support works wonders.
This supportive action was not announced, but spontaneously arose from a friendly circle that included football fans from CSKA Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow and Spartak Moscow. After taking some group pictures, Dennis Nikitin, representing the others went inside the CSKA shop where Olga still works and gave her the flowers in person. As he describes, "she was very happy, very grateful. I would say she is a very fragile looking girl with a strong inner pillar, as I call it, and really deserves my respect for not backing down under the preassure!"

It was not a big deal in any respect; just a small gesture: a bunch of people gave roses to a beautiful girl. But, still, that might be enough to "save the day" and give much needed support to a victim of one of our modern-day witch-hunts. Small as it was, things like this do matter. Leaving no one behind, leaving no one on his own.

Abandoning people when they face their sternest challenges is a disease in dissident movements world wide. Yet a single rose can do more than a hundred articles on the net. 

I have encountered this kind of negative phenomenon in a couple of cases in the Greek nationalist movement. I clearly remember one example when a young student in law school was photographed taking part in a nationalist rally. The leftist students' union gathered to discuss his removal and what other measures should be taken against him. The student was then a member of the youth organization of a right-wing populist party. What they did was denounce him and abandon him on his own. Now a successful lawyer with a PhD, that guy wants nothing to do with any nationalist movement. Would you blame him?

As we see in Olga's case, it is that kind of simple, human interaction with a person under attack from the establishment that creates the basis for a true resistance movement. And thus it is in our own interests that we both congragulate the guys over at WhiteRex for their action but also try to emulate them. If you want to learn more about WhiteRex, check their Facebook page or website.


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