Mikalai Dziadok | Nikolay Dedok*

Mikola was born on 23 August 1988 and has lived in Minsk for most of his life. He is a lawyer and political scientist by training but was recently engaged in journalism and had a personal blogging project.

Political views

Mikola got excited about anarchism in his teens. It all started with punk rock and drinking beer but over time Mikola started reading a lot and also producing his own texts. He joined the movement in Minsk and was a co-founder and participant of many groups and organisations. He was propagating ‘militant anarchism’ – an approach which criticised lifestyle activism and subcultural looks that is repellent to the masses and promoted an image of a well-read, strong and charismatic activists who are good at both agitating and fighting cops and neo-Nazis if necessary.

Mikola was detained in 2010 and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for a series of direct actions. He was released in 2015 and left for Lithuania to finish the university. He was critical of the movement and decided to engage in a personal blogging project that developed from lengthy analytical texts to video content that explained anarchism to the audience. As a political scientist, he was interested in the Middle East, its history and present. He wrote a paper on decision-making in Hamas and was learning Arabic.

He also wrote a book about his prison experience, see links below.

Between his prison terms, he was working on a book on history of Belarusian anarchist movement in 2000-2010.

* Mikola was critical of intersectionality and ‘identity politics’ and adhered to Bookchin-style social anarchism.

Detention and conviction

Mikalai Dziadok was detained late in the evening of November 11, 2020. He was tortured for several hours and forced to give passwords to his encrypted devices. Mikalai was accused of gross violation of public order, calls to the change of the regime via internet and possession of Molotov cocktails (he claims they were planted during the search).

The investigation believed that Dziadok repeatedly called for illegal actions on his Internet pages, including participation in protests and resisting cops. Dziadok was forced to go underground before the protests started avoiding preventive arrest.

In October 2021, Mikalai was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment.

Detention conditions

Even though he was sent to a low-security facility, very fast, they transferred him to prison, which means that he is entitled to just one family visit and a few food parcels per year. He has trouble getting books he wants and the correspondence only works with his immediate family. Two of his lawyers had their license canceled by the state. Most of the time, he stays in a punishment cell or experiences pressure from the administration or cellmates (at the cops’ request).

Family

Mikola has a partner who is studying to be a psychotherapist, taking care of their cat, and does a lot to support Mikola on a daily basis. His father and mother are separated. The father used to be a judge for many years, now both parents are retired. Mikola’s sister lives in Germany with her family.

In his letter, Mikola wrote:

I recently calculated that I have spent a total of 6.5 years behind bars. That's ⅕ of my lifetime. 

For some reason, many people think that years in prison are "wasted years, lost time, etc." Honestly, I don't consider those years lost at all. Even during my first term I decided not to waste a single day in captivity. And it wasn't necessarily studying and training. Thinking, meditating, dreaming – all these things are also good for you if you are self-conscious.

My life may not always be comfortable, but it is always full of meaning.

Mikola’s book is available for download here and for purchase here

Mikola Dziadok on Wikipedia

Mikola Dziadok’s writings on the Anarchist Library

Mikola’s YouTube channel

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