People have been pelting me with rotten tomatoes over my post “Freedom for Noize MC.” I’d like to explain my position more clearly. To recap, this is about Noize MC’s concert in Volgograd. During the performance of the song “Babki v shapku” (“Money in the Hat”), one of the musicians went out to the audience with a baseball cap and invited people to drop in some loose change. It’s a traditional bit they do at almost every concert. But the Volgograd cops didn’t get the joke and demanded that the begging stop. In response, the band’s frontman Ivan Alexeev called the police officers “animals with red cockades” and performed his song “Smoke Bamboo.” Here, watch from 5:10.
On top of that, Alexeev added a spoken rap passage to the song that really does sound fairly insulting toward the police officers who were at the concert. Watch from 8:20 in the same video. After the concert, Alexeev was detained, charged with petty hooliganism, and given ten days. Here you can see how a federal judge rejects the appeal and even lectures him—“a few words of my own.” So. Let’s set aside the question of whether this was a work of art or an actual unlawful act “directed against police officers.” Let’s say it was settled. Alexeev acted like a hooligan. He should be punished. And at that point the judge should hand down a punishment that takes into account the offender’s personality, the circumstances, and, most importantly, the social danger of the act. Is a musician performing profane rap really a socially dangerous phenomenon? Maybe yes—from an idealistic point of view—but definitely not in our real life. This music threatens no one, makes no one’s life worse. We don’t have any real problems because of it. I think a significant number of readers will be hearing about this group and this song for the first time from my post. Let’s compare. Take the group “Vorovaiki,” for example. I’m too lazy to google it, but I’m sure they’ve performed concerts in Volgograd. And I’m almost sure that half the personnel of the Volgograd Region Interior Ministry danced at their concerts, led by that fat-faced judge.
It seems to me that, theoretically speaking, those songs pose a greater social danger than Noize MC’s songs, though in reality they too pose almost none. Why is Noize doing 10 days while “Vorovaiki” perform at police corporate parties? Especially since the foul-mouthed hooligan apologized. In the video he apologizes while already sitting in a jail cell, but I’m sure he would have apologized in the courtroom too.
I sincerely hope those apologies were not the result of someone promising him ten days in a cell with tuberculosis patients or something like that. A fine. Three thousand rubles (about $100 at the time). That would be a fitting punishment for musician Alexeev’s antisocial behavior. But not arrest. The strictest, most conservative, but still honest judge could have given him one day—to think things over. And what really infuriates me—sorry for being emotional—is that some judge from Volgograd Region is up there acting smug. We all understand that he’s just currying favor with the local cops, the same ones he grills shashlik (barbecue) with while they sort out their little schemes. The news about Alexeev broke at the same moment the entire blogosphere was reading this post. A story of monstrous lawlessness taking place in that very same Volgograd Region. With the participation of the police, the prosecutor’s office, and the courts. And anyone who has dealt with Volgograd Region will confirm that this is exactly how it is. Power there belongs to gangsters and lawless thugs in uniform and black robes. So hearing “you will never do this again in our city” from a judge in Volgograd is simply laughable to me. If I call Alexeev a political prisoner, of course everyone will laugh. Frankly, it sounds funny to me too. But in principle, that’s exactly what he is. This foul-mouthed hooligan was punished not as the result of an honest and fair trial, but because some red-faced big shot said: “Who’s this? He called us animals? We’ll bury him. Grab him, boys, and meanwhile I’ll call Pal Semyonych at the regional court. I got his nephew off the hook once, so he’ll make sure everything is handled nicely in court. He’ll explain that the police stand guard over the people’s interests.” And that’s how it works. Foul-mouthed Ivan Alexeev called the cops “animals” and will spend ten days behind bars. Meanwhile, our hero warrant officer, who was also swearing in public and beating innocent people in the face with a baton, is doing just fine for now. He wasn’t arrested. And I’m sure it will take a lot of time to secure even the minimum punishment for him. And the son of the deputy head of the traffic police in Tatarstan ran over and killed a 15-year-old schoolgirl and got a three-year suspended sentence. Despite the fact that he had previously been the subject of no fewer than 45 administrative cases. He won’t spend a single day in jail. So think about whether foul-mouthed Alexeev was punished fairly. Update. There’s another video I hadn’t seen before. In it, the cops are told to get lost in no uncertain terms. Yes, the situation is harsher. But it doesn’t change the point. Five thousand rubles (about $170 at the time).
