Activism
Our friends and colleagues from No Future, in collaboration with “People of Baikal,” have released a documentary titled “Punk or Aikhal: How an Anarchist Escapes the Cops.” It tells the story of Aikhal Ammosov, a Yakut punk, anarchist, and anti-war activist who miraculously escaped the Russian police: first from a pretrial detention center in Kazakhstan, then hitchhiking to Berlin without documents or guarantees, fueled only by the belief that he would remain free. In the film, you can see the first days of his new, complicated freedom in Berlin.
Nottoday is publishing a text about Aikhal and the film “Punk or Aikhal: How an Anarchist Escapes the Cops,” which is already available to watch on the No Future YouTube channel.
“You’ve been released temporarily, don’t get too happy,” Russian cops told Aikhal Ammosov the first time he was let out of pretrial detention. These words are especially relevant if you are a Yakut punk, anarchist, and performance artist with a criminal case on your back. They are especially relevant if your last name has already been filed in a folder alongside words like “extremism,” “anti-war agitation,” and “f*ck the empire.”
“I thought I needed to do some kind of protest action when they started bringing ‘Cargo 200’ [war casualties] back to Yakutia and unloading them at night so people wouldn’t see. This was in the spring of 2022. They buried them quietly, in silence. The media didn’t write about it. That’s why I decided to take action.”
Part of a monologue by Aikhal Ammosov, source: No Future
Aikhal is not a hero of a Netflix drama. He just wanted to play loud music, spit on the war, and stage protests that made the Russian media itch and the cops do what they call “work.” The result: multiple arrests in his homeland, a year in a Kazakhstani prison at Russia’s request, a document-less escape, and finally—Germany.
“I don’t miss Russia, because I never lived in Russia. I miss Yakutia, because it’s my native land. I lived there my whole life. I would like to return and set up a rehearsal space, a recording studio, and open a label to promote young rock bands. There are so many people in Yakutia right now playing rock music.”
Part of a monologue by Aikhal Ammosov, source: No Future
And now—the documentary. Uncut, unpolished, unfunded. Honest and a bit gritty.
From the first frames, it’s not a cliché story of an immigrant in hostels looking for work, but a chronicle of those first days in a new, formally safe country where you are supposedly no longer under threat.
The film is filled with Aikhal’s stories: about the prison in Kazakhstan, escaping without documents, why so few people know about the Yakut people, and footage from an anti-war demonstration where you can march without the fear of being tackled for a sign or a thought spoken aloud.
“When I was released, the mobilization began. Everyone was in a panic, everyone was running, the men were all sitting at home or had already left somewhere. There wasn’t a soul in the city, just tons of cops. I started walking around the city. They asked me: ‘Why the f*ck are you walking here?’ And I said: ‘What, I can’t walk in my own city?’ Later they told me: ‘We’re going to jail you; one way or another, you’ll be in prison. You’ve been released temporarily, don’t get too happy.’”
Part of a monologue by Aikhal Ammosov, source: No Future
Yes, he is in Berlin. Yes, he is not in prison. But what do you do and how do you fill your days when you are at liberty and free? Aikhal reflects on this in the film: will he continue his activism? Will he play punk rock in Berlin? You can find all this out in the film “Punk or Aikhal: How an Anarchist Escapes the Cops.”
The filmmakers don’t hide it—it was shot on the fly, edited from scratch, with absolutely zero budget. You can feel it. But that’s exactly why it’s worth watching: it’s a living sketch of Russian reality, protest, punk rock, and freedom.
If you’re tired of standard success stories in emigration and the sterile faces of the opposition, turn on this movie.
If you don’t yet know who No Future are, you urgently need to read Nottoday’s interview with them: “This kind of f*ckery cannot be defeated in silence.”.
And the full film “Punk or Aikhal: How an Anarchist Escapes the Cops” is already available on the No Future YouTube channel.