Miu mau live journal. Counterinsurgency measures are becoming more effective

1. World War II pork lard
For several decades, on the coast of St. Cyrus (Scotland), after severe storms, lard has appeared from time to time, which ended up at sea after a shipwreck at the height of the Second World War. More recently, water washed four more pieces onto land, which were shaped like wooden barrels, where they had apparently been stored all these years.

Strange “relics” began appearing on the shores of St. Cyrus after a merchant ship was sunk by bombs in the area during World War II. It is believed that with each storm, the sunken ship systematically loses a certain part of its fatty cargo.

Local residents know this and claim that the fat is well preserved and suitable for use, despite the crust of shells that has formed on it. Large pieces were a real find during the war, when lard was unavailable to most people.

2. Baleshar
In 2005, Scotland was hit by a severe storm. It killed five members of one family living on the island of Benbecula, and also exposed pure ruins that had been hidden from human sight for 2,000 years. Local residents have always known that the shores of Baleshar Island hold some kind of ancient secret, however, large pebbles and sand did not allow them to get to the bottom of it.

After the storm, people were extremely surprised when they discovered unknown structures on the beach. Fearing that another powerful storm could destroy the ruins they had found, archaeologists immediately began studying them. They determined that two circular buildings on the shore belonged to the Iron Age.

3. Shipwreck in Alabama, USA
The hull of a ship that was wrecked in Alabama long ago washed ashore when Hurricane Isaac hit the state. The remains, however, did not look very impressive.

Two mysteries immediately arose around the discovered ship. The first is its name and origin. According to local historians, it is the schooner Rachel, which sank during the First World War. Others, however, believe that this unknown vessel dates back to the times Civil War in USA.

But if this is indeed the remains of the schooner Rachel, then the second question arises: what kind of cargo was she carrying? It was built to transport lumber, but was in use during Prohibition.

Built during the war, the 45-meter-long, three-masted wooden ship was wrecked during a severe storm in 1923. The crew of the ship decided to burn it on land after saving the cargo (according to rumors, it was illegally transporting alcohol).

4. Storms in the Irish province of Connacht, Ireland
In 2014, the coast of the Irish province of Connacht was hit by severe storms, which resulted in an archaeological tragedy. The weather damaged and destroyed valuable historical treasures. However, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. In return, archaeologists discovered new, intriguing finds. Eerily, two cemeteries have appeared on the surface, which belong to a medieval monastery discovered in the 1990s. Other "gifts" included sunken houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as a Neolithic bog dating back 6,000 years.

In this case, nature took away something, namely kjokkenmedings, kitchen heaps, which gave us an idea of ​​​​what our ancestors ate and what their lifestyle was like. All coastal Kjökkenmedings, from Galway Bay to Dogs Bay, were destroyed, including the oldest archaeological site, which dates back to the end of the Mesolithic era.

5. Bombs from World War II
In 2014, unusually strong storms in the UK caused the Thames to flood. They also helped discover an ominous find - the storage site of 244 bombs from the Second World War. They lay in a heap where there are always a lot of people - on the beach.

Some of the bombs were made in Germany, others were left over from military exercises by the British Army. They lay there for several decades and began to show around mid-December 2014, when the weather began to deteriorate sharply. Almost every day, the Southern Submariner Division of the Royal Navy received reports that another bomb had been found.

The military personnel safely disposed of the found shells, but who knows how many more are left there. Last year, 108 World War II bombs were found on British beaches.

6. Mysterious Mill
A historical piece of South Carolina's past came to light after flooding hit Richland County. When the water receded, archaeologists discovered wooden beams and steel nails on the ground. The discovery was impressive because these objects became the first real clues that helped determine the location of a known archaeological site.

Before the centuries-old timber was found, it was believed that Garner's Mill once stood on the site of the creek, a hazy part of the country's past. Experts don't know what she produced. The history of the community that owned the mill and lived on this territory in the 18th century also remains a mystery.

The wooden beams, weighing one tonne each, were discovered after severe flooding forced them to the surface from the ground in which they had been lying all along. They may have served as a track road that led to Winnsboro or a long-gone bridge.

7. Valuable ichthyosaur skeleton
Christmas 2014 in Dorset, England presented fossil hunters with a rare and valuable gift. After a strong storm on the coast, they discovered the skeleton of an ichthyosaur.

The skeleton reached a length of 1.5 meters and was very similar to a dolphin, but in fact belonged to a predatory marine reptile. Complete skeletons of this species are rare, so this find caused a sensation. However, part of the ichthyosaur's snout was still missing.

Professional fossil hunters knew the reptile's skeleton might be lost to science as another powerful storm loomed. It took several days or even weeks to carefully remove the fossils from the shore, but they did it in just eight hours due to the urgency of the situation. When the next storm began, the ichthyosaur skeleton, which was about 200 million years old, was already safe.

8. Finds in Galway Bay (Iceland)
After a storm hit the Galway Bay coastline, local residents were able to see an ancient landscape come to life. About 7,500 years ago, the water level rose so quickly that it destroyed a huge forest of oaks, pines and birches. Recent bad weather has exposed petrified tree stumps that were nearly a century old when they died.

A huge peat cover was also discovered (once organic matter from forest litter). Under it, one of the local residents found a wooden artifact measuring 1 by 1.5 meters.

After carefully studying it, archaeologists concluded that it was part of an oak road that was used 4,500 years ago. This artifact also served as evidence that in the Neolithic or Bronze Age, even before the formation of Galway Bay, people lived in the forest.

9. Underwater forest
There is a time capsule off the coast of Alabama, USA. The primeval forest was preserved under oxygen-free marine sediments for as much as 50,000 years. Hurricane Katrina blew away sand and exposed large numbers of cypress stumps.

They are so well preserved that if you make a cut on them, you will immediately smell the smell of fresh cypress sap. The girth of some stumps reaches 2 meters. From the growth rings one can determine that they are thousands of years old. These finds are invaluable to researchers because they contain thousands of years of weather history in the Gulf of Mexico.

The fauna of the flooded forest has changed somewhat. Crustaceans, sea anemones and some fish species thrive here. There are concerns that the original appearance of the trees will not last long - just a few years. As the forest turns into an artificial reef, sea ​​life gradually destroys the wood.

10. Tree-youth
After a 215-year-old tree was uprooted by a severe storm in Ireland, the skeleton of a murdered medieval youth was discovered in its roots. By pure chance Around 1800, someone planted a beech tree on the grave of a young man. Its roots subsequently grew into the remains of the young man, which, by the way, told scientists very interesting story.

To a young man was about 17-20 years old. He ate fairly well and most likely belonged to the upper class of society. However, he suffered from a spinal disease, which appeared due to the fact that as a child he was forced to do backbreaking physical work.

Let's discuss searching for magic in everyday events and ordinary things (series of publications). With whom? Today my guest is an illustrator, writer and popular blogger. You can interact with her work on the website miu-mau.net.

About a different everyday life

When I look at your work, I immediately understand: " Yana perceives the world completely differently than others". At the same time, you constantly turn to scenes from ordinary life, to everyday things. Please tell us about how to learn to see “other everyday life”? Where is this magic hidden?

With magic, everything is very simple here, you need to look at the world around you with curiosity. In fact, it sounds banal, but many people have not noticed anything around them for a long time, hastily moving between home, work and shopping. One of the most effective remedies for depression is daily walks of 5 kilometers. In any direction. And it doesn’t matter where to go or why. This works because, during any more or less long walk, a person begins to look around. If not on the first day, then on the tenth. Even if you “formally” walk along the same route, it doesn’t matter at what pace, sooner or later the melancholy will set in, and the person will raise his head and start looking around. And what he notices - be it birds singing in the trees, or a shop window on the corner - these are new impressions. Impressions that awaken our interest in life. People who often walk leisurely, at least for a few blocks in the area, begin to “bring home” news and small discoveries: there, it turns out, a house was demolished, and here, it turns out, a store has closed and a cafe has opened. There are ripe plums under the neighbor's tree, and blackberries grow near the supermarket, and no one picks them.

If you develop the habit of looking around, various bushes, stumps, and funny objects will begin to catch your eye. These are the ones noted in real life things are usually the most interesting thing in an artist's work. Some glass that casts an unusual shadow on the table: you notice it, sketch it, use it in an illustration, and then someone says: “ How can you draw so vividly?!".

When I am asked this question in front of my mother, she always answers: " She saw this somewhere in real life, that’s why it’s so expressive and interesting!".

What does the expression “look into the details” mean to you?

My grandfather was a criminologist, so for me “peeling into details” is such an interesting sport. At the same time, I try to learn about a person’s history from various details. (Or sometimes not about a person.) So the house was demolished, the facade of the neighboring house, which used to be a wall, remained, and the outlines remained on the wall different rooms, and rectangles with different wallpapers. You stand and look - someone there had green wallpaper with flowers, and the neighbor had minimalism, everything was white. And the floor below has not been renovated for a long time, everything has been darkened for a long time, shabby. Can you imagine what stood against the background of this wallpaper?

Or you walk through cemeteries, reading names and phrases on monuments. Are you trying to imagine: " What happened there?", "Who were they to each other?", "How did it end?", "A husband and wife bought two graves nearby, he died 30 years before her, she was buried there, but with a new name. Did she have another husband later? Or five more?"And sometimes some meaningful phrase is written. Or a homemade bench stands in front of one grave, and in a special way everything is decorated - it’s clear that someone goes there to sit for a long time. Little things like this tell whole stories. In theory, the pictures should be like this too.

Or you look at people - what they’re wearing, what they’re holding in their hands, where they’re going. You think about who this person works and what he lives on. He's wearing a homemade hat - did he get it from a flea market? Or did his beloved knit it for him? Or did you knit it yourself? Found it in a trash bin? Someone forgot in the cafe where he works as a waiter?

My grandfather liked to tell half of his biography about him when he saw a military man somewhere (it would seem that everyone has the same uniform!). Hole from an asterisk - demoted, did something (a list of what must be done to deserve this). The shirt is wrong - it means he works in such and such a place, because in one or another, they would not be allowed to come to work in such and such a place. Hands covered in ink - writing documents somewhere. There were many such details. I was terribly interested in how much he noticed. And my grandfather told me that there was a man walking down the street, he met another for the first time in his life... in 5 minutes they quarreled, one killed the other. And running. He will most likely be found in half a day. You just need to carefully collect all the details, think about what follows from what, and reach those who will tell you everything.

Yana, you are talking about a view of the world that may seem “too magical”, overly playful, even childish to many... But, apparently, it is precisely this position that allows you to find new ideas. How to explain this paradox to “adult and serious guys from business”?

It seems to me that “adult and serious guys from business” is also some kind of myth. I had the opportunity (and still have the opportunity) to collaborate with the most powerful and successful sellers and businessmen in Germany, Russia and America. And all senior managers or owners of entire empires are exactly the same - “storytellers”, “children at heart”, “idealists” and a little romantic. It seems to me that otherwise they would not be good businessmen. Moreover, I sometimes met people that I sincerely wondered how this person runs such an empire, and whether someone does all the “serious” work for him, because, compared to their romanticism, I am generally the most terrible soulless cynic.

How do you perceive time? What is time for you?

Time is a resource. And one of the most merciless. The same resource as money, strength, health, real estate, place, natural resources or work force. Only you can, theoretically, suddenly get more money from somewhere, or successfully multiply it, meet an investor who will invest in your business, and immediately your resources will become easier. And time is very categorical - as much as there is, no more is given. We can delegate some tasks to free ourselves up more time for things that no one else can do for us. But sooner or later we will run into this “our own” - something that lives at the expense of our handwriting, or at the expense of what is refracted precisely through the prism of our perception. For a person, no one will paint his pictures, write his books, or live out his calling - and here we run into time. There is not an infinite amount of it. You can't fit more than a dozen hours of work into a day. You can’t fit more than that many books, paintings and articles into a year. Therefore, I am constantly busy distributing my time, and thinking about what I would definitely like to squeeze into it, and what won’t work out.

At the same time, time still has such a magical ability to stretch when you sometimes treat it generously. Sounds funny. But sometimes you can work incredibly productively for several days or weeks only if you take a good rest before (and after that, too). Without thinking at all about how much precious time it costs.

About creativity

How would you describe your artistic style? Let your answer consist of five adjectives and comments to them.

Bright. Cheerful. Kind. Feminine. I won’t comment on anything here, but instead of the last adjective I’ll write about lines and contours.

There is no separate word for this (or there is, but it is not an adjective) - but it is important. I spend more than half the time working on each picture (whether it be an illustration or a painting) on ​​the lines. For me this is very important - what thickness they have, how the thickness of the lines relates to each other. What is the scope of the lines, the movement, how the line becomes thicker or thinner “in flight”. From my videos you can see that I often swing, draw a long arc, then erase it, and draw again - 5-6 times. Until then, the scope and movement will be exactly what you need in character. Because my lines are always quite thick, it is sometimes difficult to draw very small parts(for example, many very small people or houses). You have to convey the character in just a few simple lines. Every millimeter matters here - so that a tiny hand, drawn with a line that is a third of the thickness of the hand, looks alive.

Many people are surprised - like a cat drawn with three lines, and when you get to watch the process, it turns out that I could delve into these three lines for hours.

What's happening in your inner world, in consciousness when you draw? What dynamics are born there?

It depends on what phase I'm in. While I'm coming up with a plot, I'm very emotional about the process. Sometimes I laugh out loud, I am happy when I manage to come up with some kind of joke, or somehow develop a story, I vividly imagine the picture of what I am drawing. For example, I remember drawing pictures for a set of pillows, where I had to depict an antique chair in three different phases - and on it a growing cat, which, as it grows, destroys this chair with its feline games. I remember how I literally experienced the collapse of this chair - I drew it myself, and I myself tore it and tore it to pieces, enthusiastically imagining how the cat had been doing this for years.

And when everything is decided with the drawing, it is drawn completely, and you need to paint it, this is often a huge pile of routine work. Watch! It often happens that I finish my work, but my thoughts are already on the next task (because there I have to come up with ideas again). There is often a feeling that I am internally waiting for everything to be completed on this task so that I can quickly move on to inventing something new. Sometimes something new seems more attractive than something with which everything is already clear. The main thing here is not to lose vigilance, and still finish what you started well.

As a child, I even had a rule, instilled by my mother: " Pleasure must be earned". In this case, what was meant was to honestly finish one thing well, so that then with a clear conscience you can rush to the next one.

There are many erotic motifs in your works. Why? What idea or feeling do you want to convey this way?

Erotic pictures were the first thing I learned to entertain viewers with. It was when I was a child that I discovered different houses art samples, which I was curious to look at and sketch. And when my classmates and neighbors discovered this hobby, it turned out that my pictures were the most valuable commodity! I somehow remembered then that erotic pictures are a genre that always interests everyone and is always in demand. It’s interesting to play with the audience through them (to provoke different feelings in them and see what happens).

Over time, I very strictly separated erotic pictures made for work for money, and any lyrical pictures drawn for myself and a loved one (these are never published and remain at home, or with those to whom they were drawn). For money, I am ready to evoke any feelings in anyone, regardless of whether I like to experience this myself. This is a professional ambition - to be able to draw anything. And for myself, of course, I try to evoke in one particular person exactly those feelings that I would like to experience for myself or share with him.

How would you recommend “tasting” your paintings?

I don’t advise it at all - let them look at it as they want. And how they can. At some point I realized that this was still a world inaccessible to me, also full of surprises - other people looking at my paintings. Sometimes you listen to who sees what in my works - there is no limit to surprise. Often they see dramas that are not there, and numerous meanings that I did not intend to put there. What can you do - someone else's soul - darkness. For my viewers - mine, and for me - the soul of the viewers.

About the muse

I can’t resist asking a banal question: how to stimulate the arrival of the Muse?

Free time! Doing nothing!

If a person can’t think of anything, doesn’t want anything, and doesn’t do anything, it means he’s tired, busy, and his head is full of problems. Once you have a good rest somewhere, for example, on the beach, after a day or two (well, or depending on the degree of fatigue), fantasies suddenly begin on the topic “what will I do as soon as I get to the table/paper/computer/canvases again?” Now, if these fantasies have begun, and the desire to work, it means that the person has had enough rest (And I also believe that a person is most productive if he did not use an alarm clock, and slept exactly until the moment he got up, because he did not want to stay in bed, but I wanted to get up and do something.)

What space creates a feeling of warmth for you? How is this space designed? What type of beauty does it contain?

Spaces can be very different, and I understand that each person has their own. Moreover, all people evolve, and they may want something that recently did not seem very attractive. I, too, have changed my mind about my personal spaces many times as my life has progressed. I spent my childhood in the East, where I was taught that the standard of a cozy space is something thickly hung with bright embroideries, carpets, and objects of folk art. Then I moved to Europe and began to understand the beauty of empty rooms and surfaces, bare walls. Before, I didn't think such things as " I couldn’t live like this because I don’t understand how to take care of it". Now this is important for me, because I cannot live and work in cluttered and dusty rooms, I always want order and cleanliness. In a tidy and clean room, my work progresses better, and I have more health and strength. But I have There are still a lot of small materials for work, beautiful objects needed for work, and a lot of my own goods. So I probably stopped somewhere in the middle, between the “painted mansion” and an empty room.

And there are some cities that have a completely magical effect on me: I want to stay there forever and just relax my soul. Everything there is so beautiful, cozy, warm. For example, a square in the center of Bukhara, with a minaret. Or Khiva. Siena, Florence. I also love the desert. 🙂 (Few people understand me here at all.) I used to miss the Central Asian deserts, then I found the same beauty, and even cooler, in Nevada. 🙂 Most people in the desert have a hard time and struggle with the environment. But I feel good there, I stock up on energy and desire to live and create there.

I am a creative person. Time management doesn't suit me!

Let's leave it to the managers. I understand them perfectly. It’s easy to put something like “attend a business meeting” or “send a business proposal” into your planner. But how do you plan for an impulse of the soul, a sudden insight, or late-night gatherings with other artists during which so many brilliant ideas were born?!

Artist and writer Yana Frank shows how to set up time management so that it doesn't harm your creativity.

Yana Frank

What do we know about the artist?

Lives alone. Creates at night. Eating Doshirak. Clumsy, disorganized, disheveled. Always in the clouds. He doesn't care about ordinary life. He is waiting for the muse.

Well, am I right? Is this the picture in your head?

Yana says that it’s not only ordinary people who think this way. The artists themselves see themselves in exactly the same way. Majority.

But not all. Yana also met organized creators. They are often laughed at by their colleagues, but years later they are the ones who achieve success. Their works are valued higher than the works of “true” creators. You can trust Yana - she has been moving in these circles since her student days.

This led her to this conclusion:

After thinking about everything, I came to the conclusion that chaos contains nothing comfortable or inspiring and has nothing to do with freedom. Yana Frank

What do Jana Frank and David Allen have in common?

GTD by David Allen is the most popular time management system in the world.

Many, however, turn their noses up at her. Why? Answer: The system is too focused on doing all the little things. I don't want to redo everything. I don't want to be a robot!

Or something like that.

In fact, experienced GTD users know that the main slogan of the GTD system is this: transfer all the routine to the system in order to FREE YOUR HEAD for great thoughts.

Isn't that what all creative people want?

Uncleaned room, crowded Mailbox, unwritten ideas - all this pulls the artist down, returning him to mortal earth. It prevents the artist’s brain from truly creating. This routine constantly reminds us of itself, even if subconsciously. After all, problems remain, they have not been solved. And the more the artist brushes them aside, the more these matters make themselves felt. Non-urgent and small “mosquitoes” turn into “pterodactyls” that strive to chop off the entire head.

Yana suggests putting this whole routine into a planner. In her case, a large lined notebook. She believes that routine tasks should be done regularly so that they become a habit. In order not to experience emotions when performing them, do not waste precious energy.

The pangs of creativity

Well, okay, creativity is cleared of routine. Can I create?

Yeah, but not everything is smooth here either. How to deal with distractions? How to deal with creative crisis?

Yana also examines these and many other problems of creators in the book.

Who is this book for?

This is not a system like GTD. It's more of a manifesto. About the organization of creativity.

And this is written for people who do not believe that clear planning and creativity are compatible. These people at one time read several popular books on time management. We saw all these examples from the life of white collar workers. And they got scared. And they gave up on time management.

It is precisely these people that Yana convinces to change their minds.

In the end she shows her heroic example. Yana survived terrible disease(cancer). And she not only survived, but continues to create with amazing productivity:

• More than 100 paintings and 1,000 illustrations.
• 8 books.
• Yana is one of the most popular bloggers on the Runet with tens of thousands of subscribers.
• And with all this, she raised a son.

Thus, it is also a motivational book. If Yana could do it, then so can you.

And it also seemed to me that the book was written for women)) It’s not for nothing that on Ozone there is simply an overwhelming number of reviews from them.

Results

Yes, routine gets in the way of creators. But instead of running from it, try to organize it and do it regularly.

Free your head for creativity!

I pushed my art studies into an etching press
everything that was possible, everything that came to mind, was smeared with paint, wax, gasoline, kerosene, drying oil, aniline, glued to paper, smoothed with a rag to cardboard, rolled through a press, ironed, impregnated with PVA, varnished, rolled onto glass, printed on canvas, sewn, tied... Then when I arrived here, I still had a phase of experiments lasting 3-4 years, when everything possible from fabrics was stuffed into color and black-and-white copiers and printers , films, cardboards and boards to parts of plants and small objects. And what was printed on paper was transferred to other materials using the same gasoline, kerosene, iron, etc... And all this was also multiplied by sealing in films, rolling in plexiglass and two-component masses... in short, I tried everything I could .
Most of it is to do and calm down.

A: What do you work in Lately?

M: Lately I have been painting in oils, drawing illustrations with simple ink on paper or cardboard, drawing in notebooks with gouache and tempera, colored pencils and waterproof felt-tip pens. Sometimes, out of old habit, I glue something into notebooks with almost tape, I make collages, I can glue a dried plant or sew a button, but only this way, sometimes, for fun...
I like to paint with oils, but it requires special treatment- In recent years, I’ve gotten used to sitting down somewhere in a corner, quickly pulling out two boxes of pencils and paints, and drawing something. But with butter it doesn’t work like that, you have to position yourself normally, you can’t get away with a corner of the table. But the material is beautiful and “grateful”.
I love gouache because it allows you to paint a plane evenly, and it doesn’t bother me that it changes color when it dries, although many people criticize it for this. I also like to paint in the “old Soviet way” with titanium white mixed with Lelingrad watercolors. Because the resulting paint is of the same quality as good tempera, and there are many good colors.
I love simple honey mascara. Because it shines and does not dissolve with water after drying.

I can't cope at all different materials, from which they make something three-dimensional. Although my dad is a sculptor and knows how to sculpt anything, he did not pass on this talent to me - when I have a piece in my hand
clay, I don’t know what to do with it, and even if I figure out what I want, I absolutely cannot achieve it. But I can knit any shape from wool or sew from fabric. Most of all I love working with fat people
coat draperies, or with “boiled wool”, they can be given any shape, up to a ball....

A: Do you have any all-time favorite techniques and materials?
Or does everything happen in influxes, periods?

M: There are influxes, but there are some techniques that I “remain faithful to” and to which I return again and again (I just listed them)

A: Anything special you love from materials? any special brands of pens or brushes, paper?

M: Copic markers, Faber Castell pens, Karismacolor wax pencils and Da Vinci brushes

A: Having found your LiveJournal, the first thing I came across was discussions about costumes, modern clothing - collections of famous fashion designers - and ancient, historical costume. Where does this love come from in you?

M: I learned to sew as a child and sewed everything in the world for myself. When I arrived in Germany, the first thing I did was go to work in an atelier where they sewed licensed models for couture, because my art education was not completed, but I knew how to sew and was looking for a job. At this job I learned to sew “at the highest level” and completely fell in love with this craft.

A: Is it true that you don’t wear trousers at all? :) (I know, I like this feature we have in common :))
Why is this so? Why do you only wear skirts - is it more comfortable for you, or is it more beautiful, or do you have some kind of concept of femininity - and is this wearing conceptual?

M: My friend and teacher Abdullah once bitterly noted that the feminine principle was too developed in me, and the masculine principle was completely absent. And indeed, I love and wear only very “feminine” clothes, and trousers do not seem like that to me. I have one pair of jeans, and leather trousers made by maniac friends, but I left the house in them twice.
I have “woman’s curves,” as my cousin, a fashion designer, calls it, and I mostly wear “woman’s dresses” that go with them. :-)

A: Are you left-handed? I guess this from the fact that all the profiles in your drawings are turned in a different direction than I’m used to. Have you always been left-handed? Have you been retrained? How does this relate to your work?

M: Yes, left-handed, and always was left-handed. I tried to relearn at school with combat and a real war, and in the first 2 grades I even achieved good success, but then I broke my right hand, and then I lied that I couldn’t write to her anymore, so that they would leave me alone and let me write with my left. Later I discovered that I can write upside down, from bottom to top, from top to bottom, from right to left and from left to right, “mirror”, in a circle, from left to right and at the same time upside down, with both hands.

A: Wow!
Is it easier or harder for you than for right-handers?

M: How much easier or harder it is to work - I don’t know. Some things just don't work in my left hand, so I take them in my right hand, no problem. For example, I cut with scissors with my right hand; most normal scissors still don’t work with my left hand. I sew with both hands equally well and grab the needle with one hand or the other - as it is more convenient. And I cut with a knife different hands. For example, I cut bread with my left hand, and peel potatoes with my right...
And I always hold the mouse in my right hand, I don’t know how it happened. At the same time, I’m pretty smart at wielding and drawing with a mouse :-)

A: In addition, I read in your hundred facts a description of how you see the world - and I was amazed. This is your vision - does it somehow influence your work? Maybe you see the drawing in a special way when you work on it?

M: My “very special vision” is due to the fact that, firstly, I simply see quite poorly (-6), and secondly, I have severe astigmatism. For work, this just means that I need to make sure that I look at what I am doing exactly through the middle of the glasses, and not somehow sideways or tilting my head, otherwise I will straight line I see an arc and draw crookedly accordingly... If I accidentally look at something from the side and not directly, I may “miss” my hand by a good half meter, or I may fail to pass through the doorway and “miss” so much that I hit my forehead on wall 30 cm from the door :-) But such things happen to me extremely rarely, for example, if I sleepily walk somewhere in the middle of the night.
But I really can’t look at my feet when I go down the stairs. The steps are far away, and you can only look at them from a wide angle (usually you don’t bend your nose to the steps), so they look so deformed to me and seem to be “in the wrong place” that I start stumbling and falling.

A: In your pictures there are practically only women. I know it's not you, they are not self-portraits in terms of appearance. But they all have something in common in appearance - where does this come from? Who are they?
And at the same time, your heroines often appear surrounded by the attributes of your life, so that they create the impression of self-portraits. Is this some special you?

M: I don’t think so, although they say that all artists draw themselves to some extent, and many also say that my girls are very similar to me. I used to draw a lot of men, but for some reason my men terrified the public, they were all so huge, gloomy, angular...
At some point, I simply stopped drawing them in illustrations, so as not to frighten the audience, there were only girls that everyone seemed to like. Lately I often think that this is wrong, and that I need to “return men to my pictures,” even if they turn out so scary and terrible.

A: What is your personal style as an artist? Are these any recognizable images? special features? degree of decorativeness?

M: Personal style consists of many parameters that are constantly repeated for a particular artist - technique of execution, materials, the nature of lines and strokes, ways to stylize objects, the degree of realism or conventionality, the shape of certain objects, repeated distortions (some have large bodies and small heads, at
someone's elongated figures with long fingers or feet, etc.), favorite colors or ways of combining colors...

A: Do you remember what you said about the illustrator’s marketability? What for successful sale the illustrator must have recognizable style and stick to it. Then the customer can point and say - I want it like this! if the artist is too diverse and can do it this way and that, this frightens the customer.
What do you think about this? Do you really need to settle on one style - and maybe even deliberately develop and create it?

M: To be sold? Certainly. The clearer. what the product is, the easier it is to sell it. The more you know about the illustrator's style, the fewer "surprises" and possible unplanned claims there will be when the work is ready. The more accurately an illustrator meets expectations, the shorter his path to the desired result that suits the customer, the more he can “produce” a product, the more it can be sold and the more interesting it is to those who sell his illustrations.

A: It seems to me that even if it's better for business, it's probably more boring for
artist?

M: Naturally. Usually where commercial success begins. the artist begins to feel sad. Where the artist has developed a specific, understandable style, created it from a set of techniques, the search ends for him and simply the production of numerous identical pictures begins. This is usually not interesting and you want to look for something new, invent, invent, but sellers don’t like anything like that.

A: What if he wants to try, experiment, be scattered?

M: Then the difficulties begin. Or you have to “give up” creative flights for the sake of making money. Either look for ways to develop a new style and find something new, so that customers don’t run away, or so that the old style transitions into the new one less noticeably, or we need to look for something completely new circle customers. This can almost never be done without a fight.

A: Or is it like in the joke about the competition of steppe musicians - the first place goes to the aksakal, who plays one note on his strings - tyn-tyn-tyn, and the second place goes to the younger ones, who plays two (higher and lower) - tan-tyn-tan- tyn. And when the correspondent asks about the reasons for this, the elder replies with dignity: he’s still young - he’s looking... And I found it!
That is, maybe a person with a style is one who has already played enough and has crystallized a style that is closest to him and works?

M: Maybe we are again confusing an artist with a professional illustrator?
If a professional illustrator has “played enough”, you can congratulate him on the fact that he “sailed to his shore”, and can now, without thinking about anything, produce pictures and money until his grave. If the artist has “played enough”, then you can sympathize with him, because all the most interesting things in his life are over.

A: Therefore, only the illustrator needs this, but the artist can be freer - and live in periods? He likes one thing - and at this time he is in the period of such a style, he likes something else - and a different style?

M: Naturally. An artist lives in periods. He does what he thinks is best, regardless of whether potential buyers will be offended by him. or not.

A: You live in Germany now. How long have you been there and how?

M: I came here almost 15 years ago, it’s a long, uninteresting story about “how” and “why”.

A: What is artistic setting in Germany? What is it like to be an artist there?

M: It is difficult to be an artist everywhere, but who cares if a person has no other options but to be an artist? :-)
In Germany, in general, the situation is “not very good”, including the artistic one. As I have already written in some articles, a continuous “festival of bad taste” has reigned here for quite a number of years, and what is exhibited as art in most cases is simply some kind of horror. Accordingly, the parameters for assessing art have become completely different, and the “market” makes demands on the artist that have little relation to real art.

A: And what is it like to be a Russian artist abroad? Is it difficult, are there any special difficulties - or does artistic language know no boundaries?

M: In my opinion, no one is particularly interested in what kind of artist you are. If an artist does something very strongly influenced by his folk traditions, close to his " folk art", usually practically no one understands him at all, and no one needs him. If he just makes art that does not have a specific national color, then its origin has little effect on sales or anything else.

A: How is your German - are you free to participate in artistic life, work, etc.?

M: I speak German fluently and without an accent.

A: Where would you like to go to live and paint - ideally, if you take your mind off the practical difficulties? I know that you love the heat - would you choose a place for its climate - or for some features of nature?

M: Where it's hot! Preferably 35 degrees or more, all year round. I would like to live where it is warm, has the opportunity to grow a huge garden, and of course it would be nice to also have the sea and a beach with sand nearby. And never see snow again in your life!

A: ABOUT! I completely agree with you about the snow! As one of my friends from warmer climes said: snow is something you need to come and see for three days a year.
But let's get back to you. You are a mysterious person. Your works are signed not with your name, but with a pseudonym. Have you stuck with your pseudonym - Miu Mau? Thousands of people know you by that name. Is it native to you?

M: Almost everyone calls me that. Only my parents still call me by name :-)

A: How long have you had it and how did it appear?

M: About 12 years ago.

A: Do they call you this in reality, and not in virtual communication?

M: Yes, I first had this nickname in real life (Chinese friends gave it to me) and then I started using it as a “nickname” on the Internet.

A: What do they call you when communicating? So I call you Miu for short, quoting someone from work, you say that they address you as Frau Mau. Is that what they really say directly?

M: Yes, at work, German-speaking employees called me Frau Mau or Miumau. Even the boss called me that, and could hardly restrain himself from introducing me like that at some important meeting to customers.
Russian-speaking friends incline this to Miu and Mau as they want, they say “Myava” or “Myafa” or “Miuchka” or “Myafochka”, there are a lot of all sorts of such options.

A: Miu, is it true that you can tell fortunes with cards - and not just cards, but Tarot cards? It seems to me that this is something special, separate from fortune telling on simple cards,
skill.

M: Is it true.
I think that cards are an oracle like all the others. IN regular maps, just like in Tarot cards, you can see everything that concerns a person in every detail. It's just a question of the right one
posing the question and time. True, we must give Tarot cards their due - there all the possible states that a person can be in are laid out on the shelves especially clearly, you can come to a very detailed forecast in a very short way.

A: I read somewhere from Osho that one of his students drew Tarot cards, and he was very supportive of her, saying that this was her own type of meditation. Did you draw for yourself?

M: No, what are you talking about! I take this too seriously to take the liberty of drawing a Tarot deck. This is not a joke. It seems to me that many artists did this completely in vain, demonstrating a very frivolous attitude towards this topic. These are not just 64 topics conveniently arranged into shelves for the illustrator. In order to draw all the cards, in theory, you need to experience all the states and situations described there, and who can boast of this? of those who drew on such a deck? And in general, I think that I should not do this at all. I want to draw a number of pictures that describe the meaning of this or that card, but the cards themselves
I won't draw.

A: Have you ever thought about writing a book? You have so much advice and thoughts scattered throughout your diary of a maniac designer, on LiveJournal, that these texts can be published directly.

M: book, for the most part I have already written consisting of texts from my website. All that's left is to finish a few pictures and fix a couple of little things in the text, and that's it. Now I’ll undergo treatment for a month, then Tyoma Lebedev will come to visit, and we’ll bring everything to fruition.

A: Does the idea of ​​writing books appeal to you?

M: Yes, it seems to me that I have been very lucky in life with interesting people and adventures. If I simply list all the key facts that I know about my relatives, starting with my great-grandmothers, I already get the ideal preparation for a detective novel. Half of my employers were such “strange birds” that a separate book could be written about them. And besides this, I had the opportunity to meet for my short life an incredible number of outstanding people. I recently wrote on my LJ that I received a letter from the writer Siri Hastvedt, she asked how I was doing and if I was going to write a book, although I hadn’t even talked to her about such plans. She wrote: “Damn it, you and I saw Carlos Castaneda alive, this alone is a reason to write a book!” And I think she's right.
Only now I have a lot of plans, and very few opportunities, so I’ll have to think very hard about where to start and what to do first. I will no longer be able to do 200 projects in parallel, as before.
Sadly, I had to come to terms with the fact that I have little energy at my disposal and can only really do anything for a couple of hours a day.

A: What would you want from the person who orders you a book? So he would come and say: write me a book... - about what?

M: I am not one of the people who knows how to write books to order. I'm not professional writer. I can write what is on my mind and then look for someone willing to publish it.

A: Some time ago you left your job, got out of the eternal rush and whirlwind of tasks, deadlines, projects. I wanted to do what I had planned for a long time, my own, interesting. And then I had to fight with hospitals, operations, weakness...

M: Yes. In principle, illness led me to the same thing: the cycle of tasks, deadlines, projects and all this running around lost its meaning. Now there is only a little strength left for the most important thing.

A: We were all very worried about you. But experiencing in our sense is one thing, but experiencing this time in your sense is completely different. But even from the hospital you responded to life with drawings. Did this experience really hinder you as an artist?

M: I wouldn’t say that I “responded to life with drawings”; in fact, it was that same “whining in pictures” that I myself don’t like so much. And there was probably no need to do this. My friend Semislav said correctly, because suffering and experiences are depicted, described in diaries and letters, they are only given even more form and materiality, and they become more real. We must try to distract ourselves from them, not think about them and do other things, at least in our thoughts, as often as possible.

M: Now my “art” is suffering, because... I can’t find the energy or time to draw, it’s been more than a month now. But now I have an excuse to tell everyone to hell at any moment and do only what I think is necessary, and not what other people think I should do. I'll use this to go about my business in peace when I get home.

A: What has changed in you, in your attitude towards life, towards the importance of things in this life?

M: Of course, a lot has changed in my attitude to life. To put it quite crudely, I now live “with one foot in the grave,” and unfortunately this will always be the case now - three serious operations have caused me more harm than the disease itself, and their consequences can no longer be treated. It is clear that no one knows exactly how long he has left to live, but I especially often come across reminders of death. When you live in this state, you often overestimate decisions - big and small.

I am, of course, a great optimist, and often spend my time carelessly, not thinking about anything “like that.” But I stumble upon my boundaries many times a day, and then I realize that everything in life has changed very much. Standing in a store among a bunch of products, I understand that 90% of everything that surrounds me there is life-threatening. And there are many such “little things” in my life now. I can no longer “just like that,” when passing by the refrigerator, put a piece of food into my mouth, or I can’t grab hold of some object that previously didn’t seem particularly heavy to me and move it to another place. And most importantly, I have very little strength at all, and I have to look very strictly at what I can do.
By washing the dishes one more time or doing some small thing that previously seemed completely insignificant and was done in 2 minutes in between, I deprive myself of the opportunity to do something more important.
I urgently need to learn not to worry about anything anymore (I laughed out loud when I wrote this phrase. This will probably be the most difficult task of all).
I need to learn not to waste energy on unnecessary emotions, movements, unnecessary things and “minor fussing”, maybe this way I will be able to free up a little more energy needed for business.

So far, even with the most strict selection of the “most important”, the result is 10 times more than I can do. I don’t know how to solve this issue yet. Apparently, look for secret sources vital energy, and at the same time weed out some other things as unnecessary, and try to organize the rest better. You are our master of organization, I will pester you so that you teach me how to do everything rationally and effectively!

A: Come on, of course! I'll be happy to help you :)
Thank you very much for your answers, for all the interesting thoughts in your articles. When I publish this text, you will already be gone for a month. I wish you to rest there from all the vanity and heavy thoughts, drive away the illness as far as possible, gain strength - and maybe start writing new book!

........................................ ..........

January 30th, 2015

One of the most powerful anti-colonial movements on the African continent in the post-war era became known as the Mau Mau Rebellion. It united representatives of the largest nations of modern Kenya, and then the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, who were not happy with British rule over this territory. The beginning of the Mau Mau movement dates back to the second half of the 1940s, when, in the wake of the end of World War II, national liberation movements intensified in almost all colonies of European states. By this time, the colonies already had their own national intelligentsia; many people from the colonies went through the fronts of World War II and gained an idea of ​​life in other countries, as well as experience communicating with European soldiers and officers of the left and democratic views. All this, together with the usual problems of social inequality and economic dissatisfaction in colonies, contributed to the development of national liberation movements.

Let's find out in more detail how it happened...

The emergence of Mau Mau

The backbone of the Mau Mau was made up of representatives of the Kikuyu people. This is the largest nation in Kenya. Currently, its population reaches 6 million people. They are mainly farmers and pastoralists who speak the Kikuyu language of the Bantu Benue-Congo language family. The Kikuyu have professed and continue to profess their traditional beliefs, while undergoing significant Christianization during the colonial period.
Yandex.Direct

Being the largest people in Kenya, it was the Kikuyu who stood at the origins of the country’s national liberation movement in the mid-twentieth century. This was explained by the fact that in colonial Kenya the Kikuyu found themselves in a very unfavorable economic situation. European farmers, with the permission and direct support of the colonial authorities, seized the best agricultural land for themselves. The Kikuyu were deprived of their economic base and were forced to work as farm laborers on European farms and plantations, or to become hired laborers. Moreover, a significant part of the Kikuyu were marginalized and joined the ranks of urban paupers, settling on the outskirts of Nairobi and forming slum settlements there with a large population subsisting on odd jobs, or even outright beggary and crime. Many Kikuyu were practically forcibly used by the British authorities for various works - and in agriculture, and in industry, actually turning them into an analogue of slaves.

The Mau Mau movement. “Kenya Safari” of the British colonialists Dedan Wachiuri Kimati (1920-1957) was also the founder of the Mau Mau movement. The founder of the Mau Mau movement was also a veteran of the Second World War. He was born in Nyeri, managed to graduate from a missionary school and get a job as a teacher in primary school. Then he went to serve in the colonial administration - that is, he began the path typical representative local educated stratum of the population. Like many Kenyans, Kimathi was conscripted into World War II and served in the British colonial forces. He became a participant in the rebel movement in the late 1940s and quickly rose to leadership positions as an educated person, especially with experience in military service. In October 1952, it was Kimathi who led the largest Mau Mau group operating in the area of ​​the wooded Aberdare Mountains.

The anti-British Kikuyu movement appeared back in 1920 - it was the Young Kikuyu Association, created in Nairobi by local residents. In 1922, her demonstration was shot by British police, and 25 people became victims of the dispersal of the demonstration. The political regime in the colony was tightened, but this rather played against the British. Instead of legalizing the opposition and having control over its sentiments, leaders and activities, the British authorities themselves contributed to the departure of anti-colonial activists underground.

The origin of the name "Mau Mau" is unknown. There are several versions. The first one is about what it is - common name the Kikuyu people by British colonialists. The second is that this is an abbreviation of the Swahili word “Mzungu Aende Ulaya, Mwafrika Apate Uhuru” - “Let the Europeans return to Europe, Let the Africans restore their independence.” Most likely, the British used the word “Mau Mau” to refer to the uprising on purpose - in order to create an image of savages for the rebels in the eyes of the world community, the suppression of which is not something shameful and inhumane. After all, in fact, the rebel organization was called quite modern and “civilized” - the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), practically - “Land and Freedom”. The Dini cults, whose followers more and more Kenyans became followers, played a certain role in its creation. These cults were clearly anti-British in nature, while at the same time attracting the local population with all sorts of benefits - healing illness, increasing reproductive capabilities, preventing the death of livestock, and so on. However, at the same time, cult leaders demanded from their adherents not to perform Christian rituals, not to wear European clothes, don't shave, don't speak English and so on. That is, if possible, deny as much as possible the orders and culture imposed by the colonialists.

The first news of the emergence of an insurgency in Kenya dates back to 1948, and by 1950 it intensified greatly. The burning of farms and households of Europeans began. In 1952, colonial governor Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya. This was due to the increased activity of anti-colonial forces. The governor requested additional troops, which were transferred to Kenya from other British African colonies and from the Suez Canal region. The troops transferred included both British and African units. The colonial authorities issued 183 arrest warrants for Kenyan oppositionists, and by the morning of October 21, 1952, about a hundred activists had been detained. However, the British authorities were unable to suppress the movement with these repressive measures, since the Mau Mau enjoyed widespread support among the population. In the colonial capital, Nairobi, there were massive arrests and searches, especially in the suburbs of the city, where migrants from villages, traditionally more prone to anti-colonial sentiments, lived.

Transition to guerrilla warfare

One of the main forms of Mau Mau activity was attacks on the farms of European landowners. Lived in the colony a large number of farmers - the British and representatives of other European nations who had impressive landholdings and used the labor of local farm laborers and servants. Last factor and set them up - the African servants sympathized with their fellow tribesmen - the rebels, and not with the European masters, and, when the opportunity presented itself, acted as gunners. However, we must pay tribute, not in all cases did African servants side with the rebels. So, when on October 29, 1952, as a sign of revenge for the start of mass repressions against the Mau Mau movement, the first white farmer, Eric Boyer, was killed, the rebels also killed his two African servants.

Attacks on European farms were carried out by mobile groups of about ten people. However, there were also much more massive Mau Mau attacks, in which hundreds of rebels took part. At the same time, the colonial authorities could not in any way protect the white population of Kenya. In response to the attacks, British authorities carried out raids on areas where the Mau Mau might be based. First of all, these were forested areas, especially in the area of ​​modern national parks Eburru and Aberdare.

June 1953 was marked by the appointment of General George Erskine (1899-1965) to the post of commander of troops in the region. The Mau Mau movement. “Kenya Safari” of the British colonialists He was an experienced soldier of the British army, during the Second World War he commanded a tank division that fought in North Africa, Italy and Normandy, then served as commander-in-chief of troops in Hong Kong, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Command of British troops. He was known not only for his combat experience, but also for his great connections in the British elite, which allowed him to act accordingly own point view, without much listening to the opinions of the public and parliamentarians.

At the same time, the Kenyan command was reassigned directly to London, whereas previously it was subordinate to the headquarters in Cairo. After this, police operations became significantly tougher. About 12 thousand Kenyans were held in filtration camps, arrested on charges of collaborating with the rebels. On January 15, 1954, Waruhiu Itote himself, one of the key leaders of the movement, fell into the hands of the police, whose interrogation helped the colonial authorities answer many questions regarding internal organization the insurgent movement, its provision of ammunition and food, base locations, and so on.

In order to achieve at least some results in the fight against the rebels, the British authorities extremely tightened the rules in the colony, trying to intimidate the local population. A decision was made to shoot on the spot any African who appeared in the areas where the Mau Mau were supposed to be based. However, since a significant part of the rebels were based in the suburbs of Nairobi, curfews and police sweeps gradually became integral parts of life for the African population of the capital. On April 24, 1954, a state of siege was introduced in the capital, after which total checks of the African population began. All suspicious Africans were sent to a filtration camp. At the same time, the construction of roads in forest areas began, and aircraft were taken into the air.

Counterinsurgency measures are becoming more effective

Realizing that army units and police alone could not solve the Mau Mau problem, the British authorities began to implement the old idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating counter-guerrilla units. They hired local criminals and amnestied rebels who, being Africans, knew the local trails much better and were engaged in catching fellow tribesmen. In 1953 this division was declared integral part African colonial troops. Thus, Kenyan society became divided. One part supported the rebels and supplied them with food and human resources, the other supported the colonial authorities. Naturally, an armed confrontation soon began between the two groups of the population. Counter-partisan detachments hunted the rebels and peasants who sympathized with them, simultaneously engaging in robberies and violence against civilians. In turn, the rebels punished cooperation with the authorities with death, including the burning of villages inhabited by “collaborators” and the destruction of peasants who refused to oppose the British colonialists.

Gradually, the British command showed increasing ingenuity in finding effective methods of counter-guerrilla warfare, turning, among other things, to the experience of fighting communist partisans in British Malaya. For reconnaissance operations against the rebel movement, the colonial authorities created special groups that operated under the guise of Mau Mau. These groups included 8-10 people. As a rule, their core consisted of Kikuyu who supported the authorities. Each group had a white leader. He made himself up to look like a black man, wearing a wig from the hair of a killed rebel or a hat. At the same time, a bodyguard fighter was assigned to the white commander, whose task was to divert attention from the commander and cover him in case of danger. The scouts dressed in clothes taken from the killed Mau Mau, which were deliberately not washed so as not to give away the clean smell of people masquerading as partisans living in the forest. Entering a Kikuyu village that sympathized with the rebels, the scouts asked for an overnight stay under the guise of “Mau Mau” and found out information. After this, the information was communicated to the counter-guerrilla teams. These teams usually consisted of 3 British policemen, 15 African policemen and a guide. In addition to these units, there were also self-defense units created by white farmers, who carried out independent raids on villages that supported the partisans, acting primarily to intimidate the local population.

British propaganda, in order to denigrate the Mau Mau in the eyes of the world community and reduce their support among the Kenyan population, constantly disseminated negative information about their activities, including accusing them of excessive cruelty, reprisals against civilians and even the use of witchcraft methods and black of magic. For Africans, the latest accusations were especially significant - many dark peasants stopped sympathizing with the rebels for fear of getting involved with sorcerers. They even managed to accuse the “Mau Mau” of bestiality, and for ritual purposes - obviously in order to present them as absolute savages, unworthy of pity from a civilized society.

However, the cruelty of the Mau Mau was exaggerated - over all the years of its existence, they killed only 32 European farmers and 49 Indians (in East Africa immigrants from India have always been a privileged class, second only to Europeans, and were engaged in business or served in the colonial administration). As for the civilian population, here the Mau Mau were more cruel - they killed 1,800 representatives of the Kenyan peoples who collaborated with the colonial authorities. In combat with the Mau Mau, 200 British military personnel, police officers, and about 500 Royal African Rifles, a local corps of colonial troops, were killed. It is not known that the Mau Mau attacked infrastructure or engaged in economic sabotage.

The British military and police acted no less, if not more brutally, than the rebels they suppressed. Thus, one of the white farmers described his participation in the abuse of a captured rebel: “By that time I had cut off his balls and ears and gouged out his eyes. It’s a pity he died before we got much information from him” (Elkins Caroline Britain’s Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya. - London: Pimlico, 2005.).

One British officer described his actions after capturing three famous Mau Mau:

I put the revolver right into his smiling mouth, said something, I don’t remember what, and pulled the trigger. His brain was scattered all over the police station. Two other Mickeys (a contemptuous term for Mau Mau) stood looking empty eyes. I told them that if they didn't tell me where to find the rest of the gang, I would kill them. They didn't say a word, so I shot them both. One of them wasn't dead yet, so I shot him in the ear. When the Sub-Inspector arrived, I told him that Mickey had tried to escape. He didn't believe me, but all he said was "bury them".

Electric shock was widely used in torture, as well as cigarettes and fire. Bottles, gun barrels, knives, snakes, lizards were inserted into the ripped open bellies of men and the vaginas of women.

The castration of captured rebels, and even civilians who were only suspected of sympathizing with the Mau Mau, became widespread in Kenya. This was the case with many men who were sent to a filtration camp on suspicion of sympathizing with the rebels. In general, the British colonialists were not in to a lesser extent, than the “uncivilized” Kenyan peasant rebels, showed sophisticated sadistic tendencies.

The colonialists claimed that 11,500 rebels were killed during punitive operations, and denied casualties among the black civilian population. Researcher David Anderson believes the real figure is probably more than 20,000. Another researcher has stated that the number of victims was at least 70,000, and even that it could be in the hundreds of thousands. However, this was convincingly refuted by British demographer John Blaker, based on census data and fertility calculations. Blaker believes that total number Africans killed amounted to about 50,000.

The colonial authorities were also concerned about depriving the rebels of access to food resources. First of all, along the forest in Aberdare they dug a defensive ditch with barbed wire, at certain sections of which there were police posts. Local peasants were prohibited from cultivating land near the forest and grazing livestock there. They also decided to resettle peasants from remote villages that were seen as potential rebel bases.

Suppression of the uprising

It should be noted that the harsh policies of the colonial authorities yielded certain results. The number of rebels has decreased significantly. In October 1956, Mau Mau leader Kimathi was captured. On October 17, he was wounded, but managed to escape into the forest. However, 28 hours of continuous travel through the forest did their job - he was greatly weakened, although he was able to hold out in the forest for 4 days until he was discovered by a policeman on October 21. In February 1957, Kimathi was executed. The Mau Mau movement is believed to have effectively ceased to exist in 1956, and the state of emergency in the colony was lifted in 1960. December 1963 was marked for Kenya with the official declaration of state independence.

In independent Kenya, the participants in the Mau Mau uprising did not immediately turn into national heroes. The first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, did not sympathize with the Mau Mau methods of warfare and prohibited their activities and mention of them. Moreover, Kenyatta did not want to quarrel with Great Britain - Kenya remained one of the “exemplary” African countries. It is noteworthy that Jomo Kenyatta himself spent seven years in exile before the declaration of Kenya's independence for belonging to the Mau Mau movement. Although, most likely, he was closed because he led the Kenya African Union party, the main opposition organization in the country, which posed perhaps a greater danger to the British than the activities of the rebel movement. In any case, it was Kenyatta who declared the independence of Kenya on December 12, 1963.

The Mau Mau movement. “Kenyan Safari” of the British colonialists Only after Kenyatta died, and then the political regime he founded changed, did the attitude of the Kenyan authorities towards this page in the history of the state change dramatically. In modern Kenya, the Mau Mau have become heroic. A special holiday “Heroes Day” was introduced on October 20, dedicated to memory"mau-mau". In 2003, the Mau Mau War Veterans Association was registered, one of the key tasks of which was to demand from the British authorities an official apology for their actions and payment of monetary compensation to rebels and their relatives who suffered from torture.

Until now, the British government has stubbornly refused to declassify information about the suppression of the Mau Mau uprising. Only in 2011, historians and public figures were able to obtain the right to use documents from secret British archives. The increased secrecy was due to the fact that the cruelty of the colonial authorities against the rebels and the local civilian population was many times greater than the known cases of criminal acts by the rebels. It is likely that the personality of one woman, who, according to official version, spent six months in a filtration camp of the British colonial authorities on suspicion of collaboration with the rebels, while being subjected to brutal torture. Her name is Sarah Onyango Obama (b. 1922). She is the grandmother of another, more famous Obama. However, the same story - about six months of imprisonment and torture - is also told about the grandfather of the American president, Hussein Onyanga Obama, who previously served as a cook in the British colonial troops, and then seemed to be a member of the Mau Mau movement. According to Sarah Obama's memoirs, Hussein was castrated during his stay in the filtration camp, like many other Kenyans suspected of participating in the national liberation movement.

Today, members of the Mau Mau are recognized by Kenyan authorities as heroes of the War of Independence who sacrificed their lives to free Kenyans from colonial rule. The Kenyan government has introduced a special holiday, Mashujaa Day (Heroes' Day), which will be celebrated annually on October 20. It is worth noting that Mashujaa Day replaced the holiday dedicated to the first President Kenyatta, who at one time condemned the Mau Mau terror.

In 2003, the Kenyan authorities officially registered the Mau Mau War Veterans Association. Its representatives are demanding compensation from Britain for torturing the rebels.

The declassification of the archives, which the Kenyan government also insisted on, was followed by the following “beautiful gestures” from Great Britain. In June 2013, Britain announced that it would pay compensation to more than 5 thousand Kenyan citizens who suffered from the actions of British colonial authorities during the years of fighting the insurgency. On December 12, 2013, the British authorities went even further and announced their readiness to open at their own expense a memorial in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, dedicated to the memory of Mau Mau fighters who died in the struggle for the independence and freedom of their native land.

The Mau Mau movement, of course, cannot be assessed unambiguously. Since the element of spontaneity was very high in it, and the rank and file, and many of the leaders, came from the archaic society of the Kenyan remote villages and from the marginal strata of Nairobi, there were also manifestations of cruelty and criminal behavior on the part of the rebels. Nevertheless, they tried as best they could to do their noble and respectable job - to defend the independence of their homeland from the British colonialists, who exploited the natural resources and population of Kenya. For this, the Mau Mau rebels earned a place in world history, as well as a certain respect. Another thing is the British colonialists, who, hiding behind the guise of civilization, committed unimaginable atrocities on the territory of the African continent.