Misha Verbitsky (, born June 20, 1969, in Moscow) is a Russian mathematician. He works at the

Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada The ''Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada'' (National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics) is considered to be the foremost research and educational institution of Brazil in the area of mathematics. It is located in the cit ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. He is primarily known to the general public as a controversial critic, political activist and independent music publisher.

Scientific activities

Verbitsky graduated from a Math class at the Moscow State School 57 in 1986, and has been active in mathematics since then. His principal area of interest in mathematics is differential geometry, especially geometry of hyperkähler manifolds and locally conformally Kähler manifolds. He proved an analogue of the global

Torelli theorem In mathematics, the Torelli theorem, named after Ruggiero Torelli, is a classical result of algebraic geometry over the complex number field, stating that a non-singular projective algebraic curve ( compact Riemann surface) ''C'' is determined b ...

for hyperkähler manifolds and the mirror conjecture in hyperkähler case. He also contributed to the theory of Hodge structures. His PhD thesis, titled ''Cohomology of compact Hyperkaehler Manifolds'', was defended in 1995 at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

under the supervision of

David Kazhdan David Kazhdan (), born Dmitry Aleksandrovich Kazhdan (), is a Soviet and Israeli mathematician known for work in representation theory. Kazhdan is a 1990 MacArthur Fellow. Biography Kazhdan was born on 20 June 1946 in Moscow, USSR. His father ...

. He has held different positions, most prominently at the

Independent University of Moscow The Independent University of Moscow (IUM) () is an educational organisation with rather informal status located in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1991 by a group of Russian mathematicians that included Vladimir Arnold (chairman) and Sergei No ...

(since 1996), the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

(2002–2007), and the HSE Faculty of Mathematics (since 2010). He currently works at IMPA in Rio de Janeiro.

Lenin

Verbitsky's webzine '':LENIN:'', started around 1997, is one of the oldest Russian online projects and has been hugely influential in the shaping of Russian

counter-culture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

. It was the first website in Russian to openly discuss topics considered taboo at the time, such as pornography and Right-wing extremism, and to create a milieu for the emerging counter-culture aesthetic. The site also contains the largest single collection of rare

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, Popular music, mainstream popular music culture. Underground styles lack the commercial success of popular music movements, and may involve the use of avant-g ...

from the ex-USSR and contemporary Russia.

Western counter-culture

While studying mathematics at

in the early 90s, Verbitsky was heavily influenced by Western counter-culture, especially

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esotericism, Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial ma ...

and industrial music, and was the first to introduce these concepts to post-Soviet Russia via his webzine. At the same time, Verbitsky developed his political views which can be described as a mixture of

Social Darwinism Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...

National Bolshevism National Bolshevism, whose supporters are known as National Bolsheviks and colloquially as Nazbols, is a syncretic political movement committed to combining ultranationalism and Bolshevik communism. History and origins In Germany Natio ...

and

Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. He is also a prominent supporter of the

anti-copyright Criticism of copyright, or anti-copyright sentiment, is a dissenting view of the current state of copyright law or copyright as a concept. Critics often discuss philosophical, economical, or social rationales of such laws and the laws' implem ...

movement, and has given lectures on the subject at various locations, including

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. His work ''Anticopyright: The Book'' is the only Russian publication placing concepts such as

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

and

copyleft Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...

into historical and cultural context.

National Bolshevik Party

After graduating from Harvard with a PhD, Verbitsky moved to Russia and became a close associate (though not a member) of

Eduard Limonov Eduard Veniaminovich Limonov (né Savenko; , ; 22 February 1943 – 17 March 2020) was a Russians, Russian writer, poet, publicist, political dissident and politician. He emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1974, but returned to Russia in 1991 ...

National Bolshevik Party The National Bolshevik Party (, NBP) operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of National Bolshevism. The NBP became a prominent member of The Other Russia (coalition), The Other Russia coalition of oppos ...

. His articles were published in a variety of newspapers and magazines, including ''Russkij Zhurnal'', ''Zhurnal.Ru'', ''Zavtra'' and ''Limonka''. When the National Bolsheviks split in 1998, he joined the

Eurasia Party The Eurasia Party () is a neo- Eurasianist Russian political party. It was registered by the Ministry of Justice on 21 June 2002, approximately one year after the pan-Russian Eurasia Movement was established by Aleksandr Dugin. History and ...

of Alexandr Dugin. Verbitsky has given numerous talks at the Novyi Universitet, Dugin's educational vehicle, and contributed to a variety of his publications such as '' Elementy'' and ''Vtorzhenie''.

Writing style

Verbitsky's provocative writing style can be described as both aggressive and ironic, a mixture of

gonzo journalism Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story using a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to have been first used in 1970 to descri ...

profanity Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...

and surreal exaggeration which instantly captures the reader's attention. The critical response to his writings ranges from anger and disgust to fascination and widespread imitation (for example, his catchphrases "So it goes, Misha" and "Kill, Kill, Kill" have been plagiarised all over the Russian web).

Ur-Realist Records

In 1998, Verbitsky founded the independent label UR-Realist Records to publish experimental and controversial underground music. Since then, over 40 albums have been released, including those of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

legend

Grazhdanskaya Oborona Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская оборона, , Russian for ''Civil Defense'', or ГО, often referred to as ГрОб, Russian for ''coffin'') was a Soviet-Russian rock band formed by Yegor Letov and Konstantin Ryabin ...

and the

neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrume ...

band Rada i Ternovnik.

Personal life

Verbitsky currently lives in Rio de Janeiro and teaches at IMPA. In December 2009, Yuri Kuklachev, the founder of the Moscow Cat Theatre, filled a defamation lawsuit against Verbitsky. Kuklachev was seeking to recover alleged damages caused by Verbitsky quoting previously published allegations of Kuklachev's animal cruelty in one of his blog posts; moreover, Kuklachev holds Verbitsky responsible for the expletive-ridden content of anonymous comments to the post in question. In 2012, Verbitsky was convicted without his knowledge of copyright infringement. He had posted a photograph of a Russian politician who claims that his beard is trademarked. The case has been appealed.

Bibliography

* '' Anticopyright: The Book'' (2002) * '':LENIN: an offering to Gods Unknown'' webzine * '' Against Culture'' + Pt. 2 * '' Chaos and Underground Culture''

References

External links

*
List of publications
in ''Russ.ru''

at Marat Guelman's art page {{DEFAULTSORT:Verbitsky, Misha 1969 births Russian counterculture of the 1990s Living people Writers from Moscow Russian Jews Harvard University alumni Intellectual property activism National Bolsheviks Russian bloggers Russian mathematicians Russian occultists Differential geometers Academic staff of the Higher School of Economics Soviet mathematicians Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada researchers Academics of the University of Glasgow Academic staff of the Independent University of Moscow