"The worst my future, the wider my smile"

The last word of the 21-year-old Yegor Zhukov. They want to put him for four years for "calls for extremism"

On December 4, in the Kuntsevsky District Court, the case of a 21-year-old student of the Higher School of Economics Yegor Zhukov continued. He is accused of public calls for extremism (part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code): the investigation believes that Zhukov wrote a video for his Yetube channel and told them about non-violent methods of protest because of the “political hatred and enmity to the constitutional system existing in the Russian Federation” and with the aim of “destabilizing the socio-political situation” in the country. The meeting took less time than the day before: about ten hours against 12. But the verdict Judge Svetlana Uknaleva decided to read on Friday, December 6. Before that, the prosecutors requested four years of general regime for the defendant. "Medusa" publishes the full text of the last word of Yegor Zhukov.

The trial that is happening now is devoted, first of all, to words and their meaning. We discussed specific phrases, nuances of formulations, methods of interpretation, and I hope we were able to prove to a respected court that I am not an extremist - both from the point of view of linguistics and from the point of view of common sense.

Now I want to affect things more fundamental than the meaning of words. I want to tell about the motives of my actions, since the expert also spoke about them. The motives are genuine and deep. Those that make me engage in politics. Motives, following which, including, I recorded a video for the Zhukov Blog channel.

And this is where I want to start. The Russian state today positions itself as the last defender of traditional values. A lot of attention, as we are told, is given to the family institution and patriotism. A key traditional value is called Christian faith. Your honor, it seems to me, maybe this is even good. Christian ethics includes two values ​​that are truly close to me. Firstly, this is responsibility. The basis of Christianity is a story about a person who decided to put the suffering of the whole world on his shoulders. A story about a person who took responsibility in the maximum possible sense of the word. In fact, the central idea of ​​the entire Christian religion is the idea of ​​personal responsibility.

Secondly, love. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the main phrase of the Christian religion. Love is trust, compassion, humanism, mutual assistance and care. A society built on such love is a strong society and, perhaps, the most powerful of all in principle possible.

But in order to understand the motives of my activity, it is enough to look at how the current Russian state - proudly exposing itself to the defender of Christianity, and therefore these values ​​- actually protects them. Before talking about responsibility, first, you need to answer the question of what the ethics of a responsible person is, what words he pronounces throughout his life. It seems to me that such: “Remember, your whole path will be filled with difficulties, sometimes unbearable. All your loved ones will die. All your plans will be broken. They will deceive and throw you. And you will not take away from death anywhere. Life is suffering. Smile off with this. But having reconciled with this, reconciled with the inevitability of suffering, they still took their cross on the shoulders and follow your dream, because otherwise everything will only get worse. Become an example, become the one you can rely on. Do not obey the despots, fight for the freedom of body and spirit, and the system of the country in which your children will be able to become happy. "

Do they teach us how? Do children in schools learn such ethics? Do we honor such heroes? No. The situation in the country destroys any possibilities for human prosperity. 10% of the most wealthy Russians concentrated in their hands 90% of the country's welfare. Among them, of course, there are very worthy citizens, but the main part of this well -being was obtained not by honest labor for the good of people, but to banal corruption.

Our society is divided into two levels by an impenetrable barrier. All money is concentrated from above and no one will give it away from there. From below - without exaggeration - only hopelessness remained. Understanding that they have nothing to count on, realizing that no matter how hard they try, nor to themselves or their family will bring happiness, Russian men clean all the anger on their wives, either sleep or hang themselves. Russia is the first country in the world in the number of male suicides per hundred thousand people. As a result, a third of all families in Russia are single mothers with children. We want to ask, do we protect the traditional institution of the family?

Miron Fedorov [rapper Oximiron], who has come to my meetings more than once, very correctly and rightly remarked: we have alcohol cheaper than a textbook. The state creates all the conditions for the Russianman to always choose the second between the responsibility and irresponsibility.

Now about love. Love is impossible without trust. This trust is born during joint activities. Firstly, joint activity is a rare phenomenon in a country in which responsibility is not developed. And secondly, if joint activity is still manifested somewhere, then it immediately begins to be perceived by guardians as a threat. And it doesn’t matter what you do: whether you are helping prisoners, do you advocate for human rights, protect nature - sooner or later you will overtake either the status of a “foreign agent”, or you will be just like that. The state makes it clear to understand: “Guys, get into your minks and do not interact with each other. You can’t gather more than two on the street, we will put on a rally. It is impossible to work together on a social agenda, we will give the status of a “foreign agent”. ” Where does trust in such an environment and, as a result of love? Not a romantic, but a human humanistic love for a person.

The only social policy that the Russian state consistently pursues is a division. So the state divides us in the eyes of each other. In his eyes we have long been divided. How else to explain such a barbaric attitude towards people on his part? The attitude that every day is emphasized by beatings with batons, torture in the colonies, ignoring the HIV epidemic, the closure of schools and hospitals, and so on.

Let's look at ourselves in the mirror. Who did we become, allowing you to create this with us? We became a nation who was subject to taking responsibility. We began to love to love. More than 200 years ago, Alexander Radishchev, passing between St. Petersburg and Moscow, wrote: “I looked in the neighborhood of me - my soul was borrowed by human suffering. I turned my eyes into my inside - and saw that human disasters come from a person. ” Where are such people today? People whose soul also acutely hurts for what is happening in their native Fatherland. Why are there almost no left?

The thing is that it turns out: the only traditional institution that truly honestly honares and strengthens the current Russian state is autocracy. Autocracy that strives to break the life of anyone who sincerely wants good to his homeland, who is not shy about love and take responsibility. As a result, the citizens of our long -suffering had to learn that the initiative is punishable, that the authorities are always right, simply because it is bosses, that happiness here may be, and possibly, but not for them. And having learned this, they began to gradually disappear. According to the statistics of Rosstat, Russia gradually disappears at an average speed - minus 400 thousand people a year. People are not visible for statistics. So see them! It is spinning with powerlessness, it is freezing in unpolluted hospitals, these are killed by someone, these are killed by themselves ... people. The same as you and me.

Probably, by this moment the motives of my activity became clear. I really wish to see in my citizens two of these qualities - responsibility and love. Responsibility for themselves, for those nearby, for the whole country. Love for the weak, for the neighbor, for humanity. This is my desire - another reason, your honor, why I could not call for violence. Violence unties his hands, leads to impunity, and hence to irresponsibility. Exactly also violence and does not lead to love. And yet, despite all the obstacles, I have no doubt for a second that my desire will be fulfilled. I look ahead - over the horizon of years - and I see Russia, filled with responsible and loving people. It will be a truly happy place. Let everyone imagine such Russia. And let this image lead you in your activity just as he leads me.

In conclusion, I will say the following: if today the court nevertheless decides that these words are pronounced by a really dangerous criminal, the coming years of my life will be filled with hardships and hardships. But I look at the guys with whom I was brought by the “Moscow business” - at Kostov Kotov, at Samariddin Rajabov, and I see a smile on their faces. Lesha Minyailo and Danya Konon in the moment of our short communication in jail never allowed themselves to complain about life. I will try to follow their example. I will try to rejoice that this chance had fallen to me - to go through a test in the name of my close values. In the end, your honor, the worse my future, the wider the smile with which I look in his direction. Thank you!

Recorded Kristina Safonova