Rise and be gone?: Activists detained for spraying holy water on Lenin’s tomb
Move meant to symbolise an attempt to rid Russia from its Soviet past, which is beginning to assert itself again.
A YouTube video feature the artists spraying the five-litre bottles of holy water marked with a cross from a church across the square. PHOTO: UNVERSAL NEWS AND SPORT
Two performance artists were arrested after pouring holy water on the Red Square tomb of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and shouting “Rise and be gone!” reported Reuters. The stunt, filmed on Monday and posted on the internet, was cut short after two men detained the artists, who had passed through barriers cordoning off the red granite mausoleum, where Bolshevik revolutionary leader lies embalmed.
The men, who were identified as Oleg Basov, a dance teacher, and Yevgeny Avilov, a computer programmer, are members of the protest movement Blue Rider, reported the Telegraph. The video showed them taking water out of a church on January 19, a day when most Russian Orthodox faithful believe all water is holy, before pouring it on the walls and closed doors of the mausoleum.
Police monitoring website OVDinfo said the two artists had been charged with hooliganism and will be kept under arrest for 10 days. Activists from the group told Russian online news outlet Grani.ru that the stunt, titled ‘The exorcism: desecration of the mausoleum’, had meant to symbolise an attempt to rid Russia from its Soviet past, which was beginning to assert itself again.
Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrated Epiphany on Monday, which marks the baptism of Jesus in the Orthodox Church, reported the BBC. Irina Dumitskaya, of the Blue Rider group, said that the aim of the performance was “to demolish the myth that Lenin lives forever by attempting to resurrect him on the Epiphany holiday just as Lazarus was raised from the dead.”
In a video of the performance, which was posted on YouTube, the men are featured carrying five-litre bottles of holy water marked with a cross from a church across the square. They move barriers in front of the mausoleum and throw the water at the doors and steps, as they shout the chant multiple times before being arrested.
The group has been known for performing social gimmicks, including a performance in St Petersburg last year, where a man clad in military wear knelt on Ukraine’s flag and washed his face with blood. Interestingly, Moscow’s Red Square is also the location where a Pussy Riot protest song against President Vladimir Putin was performed in 2012. Two members of the all-female feminist punk group were imprisoned for the song.
Lenin’s embalmed body has been on display for more than 90 years since his death in 1924. Russians are split on his continued display in the mausoleum. A 2012 poll by independent polling centre Levada found that 25 per cent of the country thought his body should remain in the mausoleum, while 51 per cent thought he played a positive role in history. Lenin is still revered by many as the founder of the Soviet Union, and Putin still touts the former superpower’s achievements as a source of pride for Russians.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2015.
The men, who were identified as Oleg Basov, a dance teacher, and Yevgeny Avilov, a computer programmer, are members of the protest movement Blue Rider, reported the Telegraph. The video showed them taking water out of a church on January 19, a day when most Russian Orthodox faithful believe all water is holy, before pouring it on the walls and closed doors of the mausoleum.
Police monitoring website OVDinfo said the two artists had been charged with hooliganism and will be kept under arrest for 10 days. Activists from the group told Russian online news outlet Grani.ru that the stunt, titled ‘The exorcism: desecration of the mausoleum’, had meant to symbolise an attempt to rid Russia from its Soviet past, which was beginning to assert itself again.
Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrated Epiphany on Monday, which marks the baptism of Jesus in the Orthodox Church, reported the BBC. Irina Dumitskaya, of the Blue Rider group, said that the aim of the performance was “to demolish the myth that Lenin lives forever by attempting to resurrect him on the Epiphany holiday just as Lazarus was raised from the dead.”
In a video of the performance, which was posted on YouTube, the men are featured carrying five-litre bottles of holy water marked with a cross from a church across the square. They move barriers in front of the mausoleum and throw the water at the doors and steps, as they shout the chant multiple times before being arrested.
The group has been known for performing social gimmicks, including a performance in St Petersburg last year, where a man clad in military wear knelt on Ukraine’s flag and washed his face with blood. Interestingly, Moscow’s Red Square is also the location where a Pussy Riot protest song against President Vladimir Putin was performed in 2012. Two members of the all-female feminist punk group were imprisoned for the song.
Lenin’s embalmed body has been on display for more than 90 years since his death in 1924. Russians are split on his continued display in the mausoleum. A 2012 poll by independent polling centre Levada found that 25 per cent of the country thought his body should remain in the mausoleum, while 51 per cent thought he played a positive role in history. Lenin is still revered by many as the founder of the Soviet Union, and Putin still touts the former superpower’s achievements as a source of pride for Russians.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2015.