annotation: I understand the following text as a part of campaigning against repression and not as person-cult for individual activists. There is no reason to focus on “very active” antifascists and biographies in an anarchist context, but it is very important to support active people against state (and capitalist) repression.
(source: http://khimkibattle.org/?p=2435&lang=en#more-2435)
Maxim Solopov is one of the most famous anti-fascists in Russia. Born in Moscow in 1989, he considers himself a social activist. He is currently completing a degree in Spanish and Latin American studies in the Department of History, Political Science and Law of the Russian State University for the Humanities , RGGU.
Maxim’s interest in social problems and processes is not limited to the academic and historical point of view. He formed many of his opinions while he was still in highschool, as he witnessed the changes taking place in his country, and became aware of the social forces at play wrangling for the ‘trophy of the popular conscience.’ It was as a consequence of these experiences and observations that his anti-fascist and humanitarian world views developed, alongside a readiness to fight for social justice and civil liberties.
In this context, it is of no surprise that Maxim took part in several anti -fascist celebrations on the 9th of May, Victory Day, the organizing of benefit concerts for World War II veterans, and the “Russians against fascism” street concert, organized on the 4th of November 2009, which has since become a significant counter-event to the annual Nazi march that takes place on the same day.
However, Maxim’s interests range further than anti-fascism to a wide spectrum of social issues, connected to various initiatives he has participated in. In his political activism, Maxim has come head to head with the authorities more than once. He has participated in the campaign against police brutality and the campaign to reform the police force, a collaborative project amongst various social initiatives. In November 2008 he helped organize a protest rally against the terrorizing of social activists and journalists, the main focus of which was protesting the assault committed against the editor-in-chief of the Khimki Pravda newspaper, Mikhail Beketov.
Maxim has also participated in campaigns against the illegal hunting of protected Argali sheep by high-level state officials in the Altai region, as well as against attempts by Christian hardliners to close down the 2×2 TV-channel for airing South Park. He was one of the organisers of the campaign against the revision of the Russian copyright law, and for the free distribution of information on the internet. In the framework of this campaign, a major street party was organized in Pushkin square in the center of Moscow on the same day as the start of court proceedings against Pirate Bay in Sweden.
Maxim is one of the activists, who has initiated and organised some of the major left-wing events that have raised raised the most relevant and important questions in contemporary Russia: freedom of speech and conscience, corruption, education, clericalization, counter-cultural alternatives, the global economic crisis, the raise of the ultra-right and so on.
As an active participant in the anti-fascist movement, Maxim has constantly been putting his own life on the line, and faced threats and attacks from Neonazis. For some of his comrades, these threats turned into action, putting Max in the position of having to organize commemorations of dead comrades, or setting up solidarity campaigns, such as the one in support of Alexey Olesinov, who was framed for his anti-fascist beliefs in 2008. Maxim also collaborated with the 19th of January Committee, which was initiated to commemorate the murders of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, who were assassinated by neo-Nazis in 2009.
Due to his balanced and well-argued position, public speaking and rhetorical skills, never hiding his face in spite of the danger to his life, he has become a public figure and face for the anti-fascist movement. He has often been invited to and appeared on TV and radio. TV-Channels Sovershenno Sekretno, BBC, TVC, NTV, Ren-TV, Stolica, ARTE and radio channels Echo of Moscow, RSN, Reuters, BBC, Radio Free Europe, Deutschland Radio Kultur and numerous print media have all interviewed him, viewing him as a link to the anti-fascist subculture, which Maxim attempts to open up and make easier to understand for the general public.
Currently, and due to the fact that he is a public figure, Maxim Solopov is being persecuted by authorities, who are attempting to make him pay for the action which took place against the Khimki city council on the 28th of July. This action was organized by anti-fascists in reaction to the ultra-right attack against defenders of the Khimki forest.
