MMA fighter Alexei Kudin took part in the August protests
A funny story[1] about how Belarusian professional MMA fighter Aleksey Kudin took part in the August protests. When the Belarusian riot police began to beat people indiscriminately, he answered. As a result, he knocked out five (!) cops. It turns out that it is quite possible to knock out a person with a blow of the palm on the helmet, but this, of course, if you weigh 110 kg and devoted your whole life to martial arts. Some local lieutenant colonel and, presumably, our compatriots on business trips, also received a knockout bream. With the help of firearms and numerical superiority, the hero was still detained. Then there was an accusation, a pre-trial detention center, house arrest and flight abroad (now he is doing well).
Reminiscent of last year's story[2], when a French heavyweight boxer barehanded the local cops in response to batons and gas. Then the citizens collected 200 thousand euros for the hero of the republic for legal assistance (as a result, they were sentenced to a year of restriction of freedom).
It is clear that these are isolated cases and a peaceful protest cannot (and should not) act by such methods. But this, firstly, is a little washing away the reputation of martial arts representatives, who in the post-Soviet space are too closely associated with titushki (pro-state bandits). As you can see, there are different people among the fighters: some beat fellow citizens on the orders of "The United Russia" (Putin's party ) (as in Yekaterinburg), others protect them from riot police. And the representation of fighters among the loyalist rabble is explained by the fact that hired infantry will always be looked for in boxing clubs, not chess.
Secondly, Kudin funny tells how the fighters dressed in armor preferred to bypass him. On the other side of the visor - the same people who are just as afraid and succumb to fear, despite the superiority in weapons. Hannah Arendt was right in her assertion that power and violence, although they go hand in hand, are at different poles. People with real power are confident in their position. But people who turn to violence are always afraid (no matter how they show violence against them). Ultimately, violence corrupts power.
Mihail Pojarsky 2020-12-12
