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Outrageous Acts of Spontaneous Sovereignty



Reports of a “Russian doomsday cult” having holed themselves up in remote cave to await the end of the world. It’s interesting to note that the way they are getting police to leave them alone - for now - is to threaten to blow themselves up.

It seems weird to me that this is what it takes nowadays to declare oneself independent: invoke the right of self-immolation. You have to hold the state hostage by threatening to reveal its one and only power publicly: brutality. Police, meanwhile, are guarding the cave (since the group contains four children) to make sure noone provokes them. So if you threaten to blow yourselves up, not only do you get left alone, but you get private police protection? Seems crazy to me. Supposedly the police are expecting them to come out when they run out of supplies. No word on how long that will be, but the “cult” apparently alleges that the world will end sometime in May.

Lots of interesting lines in this article, which is filed in Reuter’s “oh you kooky bastards!” category, “Oddly Enough”.

“They are simple Christians,” a local priest, Father Georgy, told NTV television station. “They say: ‘The church is doing a bad job, the end of the world is coming soon and we are all saving ourselves’.”

And also indicative:

Many Russians have refused new passports and taxpayers’ personal identification numbers, saying the figures contained “satanic” combinations of numbers.

Pyotr Kuznetzov, the group’s leader, has been - not surprisingly - diagnosed with schizophrenia, and it is said that “in the last few months he had been sleeping in a coffin.” In other words, it is only loonies and superstitious Christians who deny the authority of the state.

{See also: Ruby Ridge, Branch Davidian, Whiskey Rebellion}







4 Reader Responses

  1. jet Says:
    November 19th, 2007 at 6:24 pm

    I’ve always been interested in the Whiskey Rebellion (good name for a bar/venue btw). Look at how the two indivuals sented to death are referred to by Washington who pardoned them, from the wikipedia listing you linked to:

    The men were imprisoned, where one died, while two, including Philip Vigol (later spelled Philip Wigal), were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. Washington, however, pardoned them on the grounds that one was a “simpleton,” and the other, “insane.”

  2. Tim Boucher Says:
    November 19th, 2007 at 6:28 pm

    Yeah, WTF was the Whiskey Rebellion all about? I also read today that New England states almost seceded just before the War of 1812 and I’ve NEVER heard that in my life!

  3. Tim Boucher Says:
    November 19th, 2007 at 7:39 pm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu

    Sadhus are often sanyasi, or renunciates, who have left behind all material and sexual attachments and live in caves, forests and temples all over India.

    A sadhu is usually referred to as baba by common people. The word ‘baba’ means father, or uncle, in most Indian languages. Sometimes the respectful suffix ‘ji’ may also be added after baba, to give greater respect to the renunciate.

    There are 4 or 5 million sadhus in India today and they are still widely respected: revered for their holiness,[4] sometimes feared for their curses. It is also thought that the austere practices of the sadhus help to burn off their karma and that of the community at large. Thus seen as benefiting society, sadhus are supported by donations from many people. However, reverence of sadhus is by no means universal in India. Historically and contemporarily, sadhus have often been viewed with a certain degree of suspicion, particularly amongst the urban populations of India. Today, especially in popular pilgrimage cities, posing as a ’sadhu’ can be a means of acquiring income for beggars who could hardly be considered ‘devout.’

    {See also: holy fool}

  4. Thirtyseven Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

    Absolutely. In Vermont, we’ve often discussed getting nuclear warheads for the purpose of establishing an independent state, on the basis that we’re willing to remove the state altogether if anyone wants to subdue us again. It is only through being the craziest monkey in the jungle that you can eliminate conflict. Perhaps.

    Overall, though, I personally abandoned that train of thought because “independence” on the state level is too abstract to be involving weapons. You’re as free as you allow yourself to be, and as much as I love the state of Vermont, it’s just some lines on a map. The land itself has always been free and always will be.



SURROUND YOURSELF WITH STRENGTH.