No, Facebook, Telling a Nazi to Go Away from My Page Is Not Bullying Him
Recently I was blocked on Facebook for 24 hours for ‘bullying’ after I replied twice on my page and then banned the user I was replying to. This is not what a typical bullying is, is it? However, the story behind this block is worth sharing.
In 2014, an anarchist from Belarus Aleksey Bolenkov (or Oleksiy Bolenkov in Ukrainian transliteration), known in activist circles as Max Belorus, left Belarus for Ukraine. Bolenkov came here to support Euromaidan and then decided to stay, since the authoritarian Lukashenka regime is rather hostile towards any opposition (quite an understatement regarding the recent story of abduction of Roman Protasevich). In 2020, Bolenkov participated in Belarus protests from Kyiv and assisted new local Belarusian diaspora in integration to Kyiv life. He also used to promote anarchist worldview and to have some conflicts with local far-right, in particular, exposing their integration into a local Belarus diaspora. Bolenkov and his comrades exposed Sergey Korotkikh, a prominent neo-Nazi of Belarus origin and an alleged KGB / FSB agent, who has large political influence in Ukraine and is associated with Belarus Dom in Ukraine. Bolenkov’s warnings for migrants from Belarus not to do business with Belarus Dom and to rely on their support as little as possible are the most probable reason why he was requested to be deported to Belarus.
On April 22, 2021, Ukrainian security officials came to Bolenkov (and another Belarus migrant Artur Kondratovich). According to the SBU, Bolenkov poses a threat to Ukraine’s national security. Therefore, he had to leave the territory of the country within 24 hours. What exactly he has allegedly done?
In case materials, Bolenkov is said to have done:
- shouting “Avakov is a devil” at anti-police rallies;
- distributing anarchist pamphlets (not prohibited in Ukraine)
- arsoning cellular towers (not only he was not proven guilty, but not even accused or interrogated in it);
- and attacking a veteran and a former far-rightist Dmytro ‘Verbych’ Ivashchenko. Dmytro Verbych, then, recorded a video where he stated that Bolenkov never attacked him, and that he had no criminal, political, or personal complaints about Bolenkov.
So, in no crime in Ukraine Bolenkov is proven guilty or even officially accused, and deporting him to Belarus only because Belarus demands it means political persecutions. Bolenkov’s cause was supported by human rights defenders and civil society organizations: Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, Kharkiv Human Rights Group, No Borders Project, Zmina, Free Belarus Center and Educational Human Rights House in Chernihiv, Nihilist, Civil Podil.
On July 20, 2021, a court hearing on Bolenkov’s case and a rally in his support was attacked by a number of far-right (witnesses suggest up to 70 persons). On first seconds of the video, the person in gray pushes Bolenkov. This is Oleksandr Voitko, a member of far-right group C14 and a former instructor of Mohyla School of Journalism.
A year ago, Zaborona news outlet’s piece on Ukrainian far-right was removed from Facebook. Discovering the reasons of it, Zaborona discovered that official Facebook fact checker for Ukraine StopFake, a project by Mohyla School of Journalism has personal ties with some of Ukrainian far-right. The article also mentiones Voitko, whose boss from Mohyla School of Journalism Yevhen Fedchenko denied his colleague’s far-right views. The situation now seems to have a sequel.
Following the news coverage of the far-right attack at pro-Bolenkov rally (where several people were injured), I noticed that UKRINFORM piece on it was not complying to standards of journalism and wrote a post about it on Facebook. Voitko came to me to tell me Bolenkov is indeed a terrorist. In my first reply to him I told him he indeed belongs to a neo-Nazi group and actually belongs to jail not to my comments section, and in my second reply to him I told him to fuck off and then blocked him. Next day, I discovered this latter comment was reported to Facebook as ‘bullying’.
OK, Voitko, closely related to a Facebook partner organization, starts violent clashes, picks at me for my post about the clashes, and then Facebook bans me for ‘bullying’? A coincidence? I don’t think so. I suggest this is a targeted attack on me for my professional activity, and I also suggest StopFake abuses its control on Ukrainian Facebook segment, as Zaborona already suggested a year ago. I wrote an appeal explaining the context of the comment and my reasons for disagree with Facebook decision, however I don’t really believe the decision will be revised.
My Telegram channel on far-right in Ukraine and beyond (in Russian for maximizing educational impact): http://t.me/kyiv161
My Patreon: http://patreon.com/kyiv161
