Yes, I’ve been meaning for a long time to write about *vatniks*—that is, about this trendy insult.
On the first (and so far only) day of the trial, Alexander Podrabinek passed me his book Dissidents through the lawyers, for which I’m grateful.
The book is interesting. We were stuck in court for several hours waiting for the decision, so I read it right away. And at that time, the use of the insult "vatnik" was really at its peak. Like, you’re Banderites (followers of Stepan Bandera, used as a political slur), and you’re vatniks. Even then it seemed to me like a rather dubious image—what’s so bad about a vatnik (a quilted padded jacket)? And then in the book I come across an "Ode to the Telogreika (quilted jacket)."
Wikipedia tells us that a *telogreika* and a *vatnik* are one and the same. So this can be considered an "Ode to the Vatnik":
Taken out of the rest of the work, it may not seem quite as striking, but in the context of descriptions of torture by cold and dreams of a quilted jacket that could only be obtained after coming down with tuberculosis, it becomes very powerful.
So "vatnik" is really a pretty misguided insult.
All in all, it’s an excellent book. It will be especially interesting for those who, like me, aren’t very familiar with the history of the dissident movement in the USSR. And of course, it’s an incredibly powerful way to restore your emotional balance—your own problems seem so ridiculous against the backdrop of what these same judges and prosecutors were doing to people not so long ago. Whenever you start feeling sorry for yourself, run and reread it.
And while I’m at it, a word about the Tatars—well, about one Tatar in particular.
(photo from the book Dissidents)
I didn’t even know—much to my shame—that this Dzhemilev, the leader of the Crimean Tatars, whom they’re always showing on TV, was a dissident, spent many years in prison, and went on a hunger strike with force-feeding for 9 (!) months. I learned that from Dissidents. I also recommend reading his “Rules of Life” in Esquire—it’s impressive.
I never liked—and still don’t like—the political position of the Crimean Tatars or of Dzhemilev himself, but as a person he is, of course, an extraordinary human being. Banning him from entering Russia was a foolish decision.
Buy *Dissidents*—it’s a good book.