Thread by @irgarner

Russia's favourite military pop star, Shaman, has gone full-on fascist in his latest video, "Us", a hymn to "Us: the great strength that has united our country for a thousand years!"

Just look at this. Fucking bonkers.

Shaman's previous stuff was all blood and soil native conservatism - "I am Russian" has become something of an official soundtrack to the war - but this is next level.

This dude is only 31. Pretty much a nobody before the war. Now pushed non-stop by government propaganda channels. He may not believe any of the patriotism nonsense - who knows? - but he's doing serious numbers: the new video has 665,000 YouTube views and 67,000 likes in *one day*

So maybe he's just making a quick wartime buck, but this is wild stuff. The language of us vs. them, 1000-year Reichs, the visions of perfect national symbolism and white male bodies? That's fascistic, gang.

Oh, and when Shaman's not releasing fascist pop anthems, he's performing in occupied Ukraine to get kids to join the state's military youth groups. unherd.com/2023/04/russia…

These are exactly the phenomena of fascist youth culture that I'm interested in in my new Z Generation book: a fascism that exists not so much in mass rallies and party institutions as constantly seeping through the permafrost of Russia's online cultures.

Here are the words to this cheery fash pop anthem.