Translated material
Sons of freedom
How an American biker created a charitable army
Modern hybrid wars differ in that the parties to the conflict, as a rule, are more than two. And from all sides of the conflict, not so much regular armies of states are fighting as para -team formations: private military companies, partisan detachments, volunteer battalions. Sometimes military formations can consider themselves even charitable organizations. Matthew Van Dike, a biker from Baltimore, created a strange hybrid of a private military company and philanthropic NGOs. He drove on a motorcycle from Morocco to Afghanistan, was captured by Gaddafi, and now he was busy with the military training of the Iraqi Assyrians, who are fighting with the Islamic State, which was banned in the Russian Federation, for the money of Christian communities.
The possibilities of Instagram and Periscope breathed new forces into the genre of military report. They gave rise to the “military porn” genre - for those who like to watch shootings, lounging in front of the screen on the sofa. New technologies allow not only to watch live-ports like in the 90s, but to dive directly into the epicenter of shootouts. And Matthew Van Dike began to fix his life from an early age. Here he is a boy floating in the pool of the house, Maryland, he hangs out with his parents, and in a ridiculous cap he receives a diploma of a bachelor of political science. Now he was 37. And ten years ago, he decided that it was time to grow up.
Road-Muy in half with elements of the Middle Eastern Riot-Porno and the family chronicle would appreciate Jack Kerouac-as a result, these personnel formed the basis of the Point and Shoot film. The name can be translated in two ways: either “aim and shoot”, or “plunge and remove”. The compact soapses of Kodak in the West are called so-the Point-And-Shoot Camera.
Libyan adventure
In February 2011, an uprising began in Libya against the extravagant leader of Muammar Gaddafi, who even in the Kremlin preferred the Bedouin tent in the Toynitsky Garden. Despite the stable prices for oil and the social programs that were not bad for the African country, the Libyans were tired of the “Brotherly Leader and the Head of the Revolution” that ruled since 1969. Jamahiria, the local form of the state structure, was disgusting citizens of Libyan Jamahiria, especially since the Arabic spring - Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain sparkled nearby with intriguing examples.
Among those tired of the elderly Gaddafi there were several hippers, who had been friends before with Van Daik. He met these lovers of motorcycles during joint travels. In a conversation on Skype, Van-Dyke, who is in Iraq, recalls that he wanted to help friends fight for a just cause. In the end, the United States were born as a result of the revolution, the motorcyclist says, which means that the descendants of those revolutionaries need to help today, wherever the uprising flashes.
Among those tired of the elderly Gaddafi there were several hippers who were friends before with Van DaikuBy the beginning of the Civil War, Van-Daika had sands of sugars, Tehran’s streets, Nile and Euphrates. The American traveled over 50 thousand kilometers, and this motiveization was healed. The everyday life of the Libyan rebels turned out to be more fun - Safari on jihadmobiles, a selfie against a background of machine guns, dancing with "Kalashi". Judging by the newsreel of those days, the resident of Baltimore liked such a life more. He compares his participation in the war with the interbrides in Spain in 1936.
On the night of March 18, 2011, the UN Security Council forbade flights of Libyan aviation, and the next day of the Air Force of France and the United States began the Odyssey Dawn Operation to defeat the military goals of Gaddafi. The Van-Dayka camera carefully followed all the movements of the military, recorded a discussion of attacks, work in a dash, replenishment of a ammunition, and the guidance of a DShK machine gun. In Iraq and Afghanistan, Van-Dike talked tightly with American warriors who were not averse to teaching a fellow countryman to shoot from all available types of small arms. As a result, Matthew turned out to be more pumped in the theme of weapons than many Libyan revolutionaries.
During one of the battles, he was detained by loyalists. Six months of a loner in prisons “Maktab al-Nasser” and “Abu Salim” in the film Van-Daika are captured through the animation and memoirs of the American-he was preparing for the fact that he would remain in the prison forever. However, thanks to the successes of the rebels, he nevertheless went to freedom. “After the victory in Libya, I decided to devote my life to the revolution, because freedom is really the main thing, this is really a universal right that everyone should use,” Van Dike tells “such matters”.
After the victory in Libya, I decided to devote my life to the revolution, because freedom is really the main thingHe prefers not to enter into conversations about the revolutionary prospects in the States itself and about the sources of his own well -being. By the way, the war in Libya continues to this day. In 2015, the local branch of the Islamic State widely introduced itself to the world, executing 21 fisherman-Christian from neighboring Egypt on camera.
The next stop is Syria
“In 2012, I traveled a little on a motorcycle in Syria, so that in the vicinity of the city of Aleppo to make the film“ Never again: the History of the Revolution, ”says Van Dike. He shot from the standpoint of the Syrian Free Army - government journalists in response called him a propagandist and terrorist. The tape came out a year later, having received several prizes at film festivals and approval from human rights activists from the International Amnesty.
Syrian voyage was the last time Matthew was able to properly ride a motorcycle. “Then I still traveled to the United States once, but for the past few years I have never traveled on a motorcycle for pleasure - too little time, too much things. In short, not to the motorcycle now, ”says Van Dike.
Van Dike decided not to touch the camera after the Point and Shoot documentary, which in 2014 made on the material shot by Matthew, director Marshall Kerry, who twice claimed Oscars and Emmy. The film became the winner at the Tribek film festival in New York, but Matthew himself does not like the film. In one of the episodes of the film, he says: "For me, these are lessons of courage - I need more courage, which means that I need more trials." The director manipulated with statements and harshly neglected ethical moments, Van Dike says now.
Nevertheless, a year later the film “Seven Days in Syria” with the participation of Matthew was released on the screens. The director of the tape was the 27-year-old producer Robert Rippberger from Colorado. He made his first film at the age of 16, and became famous after work about Nelson Mandel and Cocoa collectors in Mali, who actually live in slavery.
The main acting person of Seven Days was the 55-year-old editor of Newsweek magazine Dzhanin diovanni. She collaborated with Times, New York Times and Guardian - covered the mess in Palestine, Kosovo, Bosnia and Chechnya. Out of the Syrian rebels with the crew, she stayed for only a week, and organized all the preparatory work within a month. The film was shown in Canada, USA, Denmark, Germany.
Rippberger believes that “seven days” is definitely his best film: “We demonstrated to people another reality - they showed the faces of those who opposed the authorities, the faces of those who still live in Syria, where life is terrible and the massacre continues.” Rippberger deals only that there are almost no films about the region besides its work and video reports from Vice magazine. And without Matthew Van-Dike, this only film would be impossible.
The great -grandson of freedom
In February 2015, Matthew Van Dike established the Son of Freedom. The name is a reference to the organizers of the Boston tea party of 1773. With the hands of veterans of the star-striped army, he helps local residents organize self-defense against jihadists. In total, half a dozen advisers work in the "sons", although over a thousand people sent a resume. Van Dike claims that instructors use all the knowledge of the war-from the “art of war” Sun Tzu to modern information about the tactics of rebels.
We showed people a different reality - showed the faces of those who opposed the authorities“We are helped by many veterans who had previously actively spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have appropriate experience, and the morals of people and the area are familiar to them. More specifically, I cannot talk about their experience and details of the biography, we must protect their lives, ”says Robert Rippberger in a conversation on Skype. At the request of Van Dike, he joined the organization at the beginning of the year as a spokesman.
Assyrians mainly use the AK-47C-this is a very popular weapon here. Assyrians get armored vehicles and optics for fighters through third hands, but the Assyrians get “kalashi” themselves. Van Dike says he prefers not to climb into the question of the origin of weapons. "Sons" also prepare combat advisers who help to fight at the front line. Today, more than four hundred people have passed the course - plans to train a couple of thousand fighters.
“New fighters to the detachment are recruited directly by the leadership of the units themselves - we are not engaged in recruiting. The Assyrian elders themselves choose among men who are already more or less trained, ”says Van Dike. “But if there are any problems with some recruits, then we certainly expel such people from the program and ask the community to deal with them.”
“Sons of Freedom” is not just a PMC [private military company] or NPO [non -profit organization], ”says Rippberger. - We are not just interested in the war, but we also do not want to limit ourselves to human rights when the machine guns are shielded. We are somewhere in the middle, let's say, we are a service. Service against ISIS. "
The work of the "sons of freedom" can be compared with the participation of foreigners in the forces of popular self -defense in Syrian Kurdistan (aka Rozhava). The Kurds of Syria even created a page on Facebook “Lions of Rozhava”, through which volunteers will coordinate from the end of October 2015. Among the recruited are American veterans, German bikers, Swedish anti -fascists and Turkish communists. Similarly, having written a message, both the St. Petersburg lawyer and the Donetsk militia were in Kurdistan.
“Yes, we have a common enemy - Igilovites, but specifically our mission is to help people free themselves and personally fight for their lives. We do not want to do it for them. This is not just the arrival of foreigners who want to shoot. In this, our mission is very different from Lviv. Our work leads to long-term and sustainable solutions to the safety problem in the region, ”says Van Dike.
According to the expert of the Center for the Strategic Conjuncture of Vladimir Neelov, a few months after the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, the number of PMC employees ranged in the region of 8-10 thousand people. By 2014, the number of employees decreased to two thousand, and by 2015 to 200. By 2016, due to growth in tension, the number of employees increased to two and a half thousand people.
Our mission is to help people free themselves and personally fight for their lives“The number of contractors is monitored by open reports of the Ministry of Defense, if we analyze the data for the tax year. The costs of Iraq and Afghanistan are going on a separate block, and since 2008 you can track both the list of companies and the number of employed employees. In the framework of cooperation with Iraq, contracts conclude the Ministry of Defense, CIA, State Department and the Ministry of Justice. In addition, the United States issues subsidies to the Iraqi government, so Baghdad already orders music. This is a hidden form of attraction, which does not appear in the reports, because such orders are no longer on the list of state budgets, ”says Neelov, the author of monographs dedicated to partisan actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
PMC on crowdfunding
The first campaign raised 426 thousand dollars from three thousand depositors, who went to study 25 people. The following fees were not so successful - at first they collected 145 thousand of the required 180, then 120 out of 250. At the beginning of August, 569 people gathered 87 thousand for the new round of crowdfunding for the “Sons of Liberty”.
“Sons”, according to Rippberger, help from 20 countries, but most often these are Christian fundamentalists - in the states of the communities of strict Protestants, ready to invest financially in support of fellow believers. At the same time, they are not embarrassed that the Assyrian Church of the East belongs to the jurisdiction of the Pope. At one time, it was the Protestants who actively helped Israel. The logic of such Protestant churches - the Holy Land should not be under the control of Muslims, and after the second coming, the Jews themselves believe correctly.
“My status of a public figure is extremely necessary to attract funds for the mission. In addition, my status allows you to be a protector of important things. For example, supporters of the Syrian revolution may ask me to help them raise money. And I, of course, support them! " -says Van Dike.
My status of a public figure is extremely necessary to attract funds for the mission“It is important for me to help people deprived of resources start resisting if they have a traction for this,” Rippberger says in turn. -For me, this is not a politician and not the support of the Christian co-religionist. No, this is just a desire to help people solve their problems, to repulse a rather crazy aggressors. ”
What awaits the Middle East further
He claims that it is Bashar al -Assad that is responsible for the current bloodshed, and the country needs complete restructuring of the management system. “If Assad left, when protests in Syria had just begun in 2011, then the country would not have plunged into the civil war, and the“ Islamic state ”would not have appeared,” the American is sure. He reluctantly answers the question of the role of the United States in the escalation of war and claims that only Assad and IG are to blame for the conflict, and in the fall of 2015, Russian aviation.
In the case of "sons", conspiracygologists can really find interesting details. Firstly, Matthew was wherever the Pentagon acted-Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now Syria. Secondly, at the beginning of the zero, he studied under the research program in the field of security at the diplomatic school at the University of Georgetown. It was founded by the Catholic priest Edmund Welsh, who influenced Senator McCarthy, the organizer of the “witch hunt”. At the same time, the organizers of the “Sons of Freedom” claim that, contrary to all speculations, they are completely independent, and to help volunteers fighting against the IG, state support does not need.
“This year, the presidential election, but for most candidates, the topic of IG is still not something primary. Most ordinary people in the United States, as in other countries, have not heard about the nuances of the Middle Eastern mess. Yes, definitely the topic of Islamism, terrorism and the struggle with it is present in political statements, but no specifics, everything is abstract, in general, this is not the main theme of the debate, ”says Rippberger. “Most of the acquaintances of the Americans know about the IS some common things, but thanks to the attacks and the number of refugees, Europeans are more in the topic.”
Now Rippberger dreams of making a film about refugees and thereby paying attention to their position. It is important not only to equip people, but also to train them to stand up for themselves, they speak independently of Rippberger and Van Dike.
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The material uses links to publications of social networks Instagram and Facebook, as well as their names are mentioned. These web resources belong to Meta Platforms Inc. - It is recognized in Russia as an extremist organization and is prohibited.