Representatives of the “Party of the Dead” has held a protest. Our colleagues from Tomsk spoke about the meaning of political actionism with the founder of the “party” Maxim Yevstropov, a St. Petersburg artist, musician, philosopher, member of the Rodina art group, the initiator of the depressive demonstration in St. Petersburg called “Alas Parade” and part-time associate professor of Tomsk State University.
Almost 107 billion dead against 7 billion alive. The “Party of the Dead” is the largest party in the world. It has its own program: freedom, equality, anarchy. It also has a charter, which prescribes that no one has the right to speak on behalf of the dead.
“For example, it happened when the dead stand in support of the ruling regime, when the voices of the dead are used in elections, with the adoption of some laws … Since ancient times, the authorities have been trying to support their authority with the dead, present everything in such a way that the dead died for a reason. And for the sake of that everything was as it is,” says Maxim Yevstropov.
Skulls on sticks are a kind of response to the ‘Immortal Regiment’ movement. The procession in memory of the dead was born in Tomsk as a grassroots initiative. But it soon fell under the control of the state. Immediately, life began to disappear from it.
For life not to go away, the “party of the dead” decided to speak in Tomsk against the war.
“In modern Russia, there are attempts to use the dead to justify the militarized course and, in general, quite an aggressive policy … I was angered by the story of mercenaries in Syria … the state, when it was not yet clear what happened to them, hastened to declare them dead,” said Yevstropov.
The second event, which representatives of the “Party of the Dead” held in Tomsk, was a very short personal exhibition of Max Stropov in the “Urn” portable gallery. During a moment of silence, with witnesses present, they burned Phoenix in the trash and in the funeral urn. It was a symbol of rebirth from the dead.
Larysa Kanavalava, Tomsk, Belsat
