“Before us, there was simply no other voice here”

How DIY media is re-educating pro-Putin leftists in Spain

The news about the cancellation of the anarchist event came to its organizers the day before the start from Spanish leftists. The emigrants who created media about repression in Russia in Madrid wanted to hold an event of solidarity with anti-authoritarians from Ukraine, show documentaries about the war and organize an exhibition of the artist David Chichkan, who painted pictures of the Russian invasion of Ukraine... until he was killed by the Russian military.

According to the co-organizer of the event from the media “ Ruins of the Kremlin ” ( “ Ruinas del Kremlin ” ), he was completely shocked when Spanish leftists suddenly began to disperse the narratives of Russian propaganda and at the last moment decided not to provide the pre-agreed platform.

No Future caught Nikita at the moment of “ sorting out the rubble ” of seitan sausages, which were now no longer useful for vegan cuisine. But the problem, of course, is not how to eat it, but how to help digest the mess in the head that Spanish leftists were left with after watching Russian propaganda and explain that this war is not at all about the freedom of choice of the residents of Eastern Ukraine, and Putin is not the main “ antagonist of Western hegemony. ” But the guys from “ Ruins of the Kremlin ” have a plan...

At first we were shocked by how widespread pro-Putin views were among the left-wing audience . Our language level was low and we could not convey information in personal conversations. We came to the conclusion that the best way to convey information about Russia, about crimes, about how far it is from the idealized image is through the media. This is how we launched Instagram and a telegram channel .

Our media team consists of three people : me, my girlfriend and another friend. We ended up here in different ways. My girlfriend and I lived in Georgia for two years, and when it became too similar to Russia, we moved to Spain. This happened a year ago. The third guy fled Russia as an LGBT refugee.

The decisive moment was a trip to a local punk bar . We came for the first time and had a blast: cool vegan food, low prices, “antifa” stickers, cool music. Then we come there with friends and see a bartender wearing a “Save the Children of Donbass” T-shirt with St. George ribbons. We were crazy about this, and we just got fired up - we started making media.

For example, in November there is an action in memory of the murdered anti-fascist Carlos . I thought that I would see people who were similar in views, but I see DPR/LPR flags at the beginning of the column and I’m crazy about it. They have this romanticization of the separatism of the LDPR, probably because in Spain separatist movements like the Basque Country are respected. They transfer the romanticization of the struggle for people's rights to Eastern Ukraine, completely ignoring the fact that it was captured by people like Girkin, who describes himself as a monarchist. They idealize the LDPR as some kind of communist project and admire the miners.

Plus, Russia Today has been broadcasting to the Spanish-speaking audience, especially Latin America, for a long time from a conditionally left-wing position: Putin is an antagonist of Western hegemony. Through Latin America it also reached the local left. We went to language courses and always heard: “How come you left Russia? Fuck everyone there, it’s a Soviet state.” They simply don’t believe that they discriminate because of their orientation or views. Spain is a fairly democratic state, and they do not understand the extent of the repression. We had a dialogue: we talked about a man being sentenced to 7 years for stickers. They asked us ten times: “Seven years for stickers? You're driving!" They just don't understand. Here, no one had dumbbells shoved up their ass like Artyom Kamardin, no one was tortured with electric shock on such a scale.

The leftists here are also against NATO. They believe that NATO is increasing the budget to the detriment of social services within the country. They ignore that NATO is doing this because of Russian aggression. Accordingly, in their minds, Putin is against NATO, and they support him. Recently there was a rally of young communists here against Zelensky’s arrival, saying he was demanding money for NATO.

A Kiev anarchist joined us, and the three of us simply told what was happening , showed posts and translations. Some people began to trust us. The apogee was that on May 1 we came out with banners “Putin is a murderer” and that the occupation from Palestine to Crimea is a crime. Several people from the language club where we practice Spanish joined us. These guys began to support us and even clashed with that social center over the cancellation of our event. If a person is not as repulsed as possible, something can be explained to him. But the language barrier makes it difficult to talk to everyone, so it’s more effective to make media.

What is the “Ruins of the Kremlin” media about? Having a leftist background, we understand what topics trigger leftists. We take Russian news (from the last 2-3 years) about the infringement of LGBT people, pressure on migrants and translate them. Surprisingly, the breakthrough was that the local Trotskyist party, represented in parliament, became interested in us. They say: “We are aware of the situation in Russia, it worries us, let’s consolidate.” This is one of our biggest breakthroughs.

The name “Ruins of the Kremlin” (Ruinas del Kremlin) was born from the desire to see the ruins of this symbol of Russian imperialism and coloniality, which existed under the Tsar, in the USSR, and now.

For the online format, we have Instagram and Telegram, where we make transfers. We also produce paper zines in A4 format. For example, in the summer there were three pride parades in Madrid, we made a zine about LGBT problems in Russia and distributed it at the march.

We met an international team from Valencia, which holds events in support of Ukrainian anti-authoritarian fighters . Together with them, we decided to hold a big event in Madrid: three films (about Russian imperialism, about the Kiev cooperative, about the evacuation from Mariupol), an exhibition of paintings by the deceased anarchist David Chichkan, a DJ from Kharkov, Ukrainian vegan food. We prepared everything, put up posters.

On Thursday evening, two days before the event, our comrade Max was invited to an assembly at the social center (in our opinion, a squat) “La Rosa”, where everything was supposed to take place. They started a long conversation with him, repeating Russian propaganda: “Putin is fighting NATO,” “there were Nazis in Ukraine,” “the 2014 coup was nationalist.” He answered reasonably. They told him: “We’ll think about it.” At night a message arrived: “We are not ready to accept you, you are still militarists.” The social center simply deleted the poster and did not give a public response.

We've lost money on groceries, and now we'll be eating seitan for a week. We published an open letter condemning this decision. The post about the cancellation had a huge reach, many angry comments addressed to the social center and words of support for us. Representatives of that same Trotskyist party approached us and offered to help us find another premises. The social center itself went silent.

We have a suspicion that they were put under pressure. There are left-wing football fans in Madrid who participated in the “Russian Spring” on the side of the separatists. Perhaps it was their pressure. Or the left simply doesn't want to fight among themselves over a topic on which there is no consensus, unlike Palestine.

Here the historical memory of the Civil War, during which the USSR helped, plays a huge role . Many do not notice that Stalin repressed other leftists (Trotskyists, anarchists), but they remember the help. In addition, 3,000 Republican children were taken to the USSR after Franco's victory. Stalin created excellent conditions for them, and they returned to Spain after his death with great love for Russia. Their grandchildren absorbed this idealized picture.

Plus, there was simply no other voice here before us. Russian immigrant leftists have little contact with the local environment. If you haven't heard an alternative point of view, you become weak simply from ignorance.

As for pro-Russian organizations like the Russia House, they are noticeable. For example, there is a movement here fighting repression, which in its zine posted articles in support of the arrested journalist Pablo Gonzalez and against the ban of Sputnik and RT in the EU, calling it censorship. Victoria Samoilova, the organizer of the “Immortal Regiment” in Russia, is also active.

It’s funny that last year the “Immortal Regiment” in Madrid was guarded by local anti-fascists. I stood with a banner, and opposite there was a dude who looked exactly like me (bald, with a mohawk), who called the police on the radio to detain me.

Our position is unchanged : we will honestly say that we support the “Solidarity Collectives” (Colsol), collecting for drones. You can’t fight for honesty and lie yourself. When we are told that Chichkan’s paintings with machine guns are a romanticization of war, we cite as an example the posters of “Mujeres Libres” (female revolutionaries of the civil war) with rifles - why is this ok, but ours are not? They answer us: “This is different,” but there is no clear answer.

We will hold events . If they are joint with Ukrainian comrades, Colsol’s priority is assistance. If ours, then help specific oppressed groups in Russia (for example, LGBT, political prisoners). Now we are planning a film screening about the repression of LGBT people in Russia - this is a topic that goes well with the Spaniards.

We work with enthusiasm when it comes to financing. The girl works in the media, I work part-time as a loader, the third friend is on welfare as a refugee. We don't push ourselves with deadlines so as not to burn out. Apply for a grant. I would like to have my own printer for zines and develop silk-screen printing. If it becomes possible to receive a small reward for your work in order to make the project more efficient, that would be great.

To publish materials more often, we need your donations. We will spend them on fees for authors, photographers and illustrators. Below are opportunities to donate any amount for the future No future.

You can give us some money or sign up for a regular donation in rubles

You can donate currency to us through our Patreon