Well, it finally happened. After over five years of generating revenue for Patreon, they've banned our account for "presenting an elevated risk." They "can't share specific details" and their "decision is final".
We never expected to last this long, to be honest. A popular, independent, crowd-funded media project run by actual Russians -- the whole premise is preposterous.
Our continued survival always felt like a glitch, an oversight on somebody's part. We used Patreon because it was convenient and because everyone knows about it; not because we harboured any illusions about its hospitality. Its track record on free speech speaks for itself. We always ran parallel channels for exactly this reason.
I've never been much of an entrepreneur. I really do lack the salesman genes. But I've always been proud of what we built with RWA -- something people genuinely appreciate, something with real-world value. Call me naive, but I always saw it as a way to cut through the media fog, to bypass the propaganda bubbles and just talk to the world directly. That's the part that mattered, and still does.
What can one say about the manner of execution? A form letter with no signature or explanation, no possibility of appeal, not even the courtesy of an accusation; one recognizes the style. When you get rugpulled like this, what is left is what's actually yours -- the work, the voice, the people who chose to listen: those are not stored on anyone's servers.
We're not giving up. Русские не сдаются, as you've certainly heard.
We're relaunching on Substack -- subscriptions are live, all podcast episodes will be hosted there, and we're getting back to longform writing. The road goes on. RWA is only getting stronger.
He definitely deserved his death. Should've been killed in a more cruel way.
Because he treated the entire country (especially the women) as his own property, enfored his retarded Islamic BS on numerous innocent and sane people even took their lives.
Rest in pisses.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Among the faithful are men who fulfill what they have pledged to Allah: there are some among them who have fulfilled their pledge, and some of them who still wait, and they have not changed in the least (Holy Quran 33:23).