My short bio: Hi, I'm Kaur Kender, an ad-man become writer become social activist. I quit my short study of semiotics and became an advertising executive, then working in venture capital. Back in web 1.0 days I pushed e-commerce projects and formed a frankly unsettling relationship with the political elites of my country, Estonia: an obscure, noirish place in Eastern Europe.

My years of shit-peddling turned me into a provocative writer, then a full on citizen activist. Last three years I've been busting out gonzo journalism moves from writing a public letter to Russia’s éminence grise Vladislav Surkov to posting sexy, shirtless pictures of Stalin online.

I'm a speaker against Estonia’s apartheid-like state structure, war on drugs, HIV epidemic and fentanyl deaths. A member of the vilified ZA/UM movement, my platform of choice is the web 2.0 unique Nihilist.fm of which I am chief editor.

I am being being censored by having my book banned because I've been working to expose the 3-Methylfentanyl situation in Estonia. The book I wrote is called Untitled 12 in 2014 and now it is published in English.

The book, literary fiction, includes graphic descriptions of events that happen in Estonia. One of them is about sexual child abuse and now I am being sued for production of child pornography and will potentially be sentenced to 3 years in prison because of it.

They want to silence me and are doing everything in order to stop me from doing my work to spread the word about the corruption going on in Estonia. There is a huge Fentanyl problem in Estonia. As you might know Estonia has the #1 drug ODs per capita in Europe and that is because of the lack of drug education, harm reduction and also because there is no Heroin, only Fentanyl (mostly 3-methyl-butyr-fentanyl). I have been campaigning and raising awareness about these problems for quite a while now and someone doesn't like that and is trying to shut me up.

PEN International Estonian chapter made public announcement that this is a clear case of political persecution because of my active aggressive fight against the war on drugs and other political statements.

We have done a lot to help with the Fentanyl problem in Estonia. Estonain media has been mostly silent about Fentanly epidemic for the past 15 years. I and Nihilist.fm have brought this topic to the daylight and now Fentanly is a household name. We fought to introduce filters to Estonia and are now trying to get HAT (Heroin-Assisted Treatment) running. We are campaigning and meeting up with people for HAT and we are slowly succeeding.

There is still a lot of work to do and we are trying to raise awareness of the situation in Estonia, how and why there is no heroin, why Estonia is #1 in drug deaths and what we can do about it, how there is so much corruption and nothing is being done about it.

AMA!

EDIT: Thanks everybody. It's been amazing ride. Putin should also do his AMA in reddit. Big up, and thanks everybody for kind words. I'll get some sleep now and then I'll try to check back here if there was something I missed. Thanks again. I'm humbled.

EDIT: Also to clarify a bit. I was indeed in US while i wrote final version of this fiction. I was vacationing in Detroit December 2014. And i published it while I was there. Published it on our blog nihilist.fm hosted in UK. So yes, I was physically in US while publishing UNTITLED 12. But Estonian prosecutor didn't care about it much cause I published it in Estonian language and that's all the jurisdiction they need. But in a sense it is a piece of American transgressive literature, not very good maybe but still a literature, nothing more, nothing less. Only written in Estonian and now hacked to English. And sold by Amazon.

EDIT: Estonia's leading Human Rights activist wrote about my case.

FINAL EDIT: Well, thanks people, it was fun and thanks for the kind words. Still some Estonians feel really butt hurt and attack me with the same vitriol Kazakhs would have attacked Sacha Cohen's Borat if he'd been unlucky to be one of them. Well guess what, I'm not going away. But many others fellow Estonians - thanks. Your support means a lot to me.

My Proof: https://twitter.com/kaurkender/status/720590813437288448

Comments: 2421 • Responses: 53  • Date: 

anotheraccounttospam802 karma

How the fuck are you potentially getting charged for child pornography? Regardless of what you wrote, that is stupid, but what did you write about sexual abuse against children?

EDIT: I do think his writings are fucked up, but I don't think it should be illegal. In Estonia it is illegal, not much he can do.

kkender524 karma

I'm an author of 11 books. Most of them transgressive. I wrote about junkies, perverts, murderers mostly. This story is about Estonian Psycho. He is a rich national Estonian who is addicted to internet porn and sex. So as his addiction goes worst he escalates raping, killing senseless amount of people and kids. So this is grotesque satire of Estonian society. It's horror story by design. But as PEN International said: this is all political persecution

CL0N210 karma

I've heard that the Estonian authorities haven't caught a single shipment of Fentanyl, how is that possible?

kkender159 karma

TRUE! They've been telling us 15 years that fentanyl is produced in Russia. But there is no fentanyl epidemic in Russia! It's the same absurd situation as Germany produced Mercedes but you found Merc's ONLY in Poland roads.

SubsetSubsetSubset34 karma

How did you end up so fascinated by these situations? Is it just that you wanted to make your country better?

kkender83 karma

I don't really care about countries, but I do care about people. I've seen quite a lot young people to die. And I got three sons, growing up on the same streets in Tallinn where fentanyl reigns supreme.

Futurewise25 karma

Have you or your family been threatened in any sort due to your actions and how do you manage it?

kkender35 karma

I was warned many times by "kindly ones" that I should make a deal with prosecutors that my case will not go away and I will be found guilty. I didn't. So court will start May 2th.

roinloin9 karma

Hi. We're you shocked to find out how the world works? Or rather, how it doesn't work? Can you emigrate or otherwise leave?

Check this-https://www.reddit.com/r/hbt/comments/45ky2k/volare/

Short thread that starts off topic but gets there fast, linked to another shortish thread. Takes guts to get thru both but if you can, use it to Fuck those assholes right back.

kkender11 karma

Hah, I've been often asked that why don't I leave Estonia. Mostly by enemies but lately more and more friends ask about it. They are worreid. But I think that if Estonia becomes even more like fascist Hungary and neo-nationalist hyper conservative Poland they will just kick me out one day.

102276 karma

How has your opinion changed about Jaak Madison after that funny incident on Twitter, where he tried to teach you through his weak insults?

kkender5 karma

haha, it was fun! I really liked the chance to tell him that it was Stalin who bullied Hitler to death!

Daseetmane6 karma

So how's the pushing of HAT going? I'm also Estonian and served 6yrs in prison for picking up a gram of trimethylfentanyl which was ment for my OWN PERSONAL USE! But no one believes you when you have enough doses in your pocket to kill more then a thousand intolerant people. Because in the eyes of the law, there's no such thing as tolerance. I love the fact that you speak what you have on your mind, stay strong brother!

Türa, ma saan täpselt aru mida sa mõtled ning ma olen jälginud läbi meedia, kui absurdsete asjadega sind üritatakse nikkuda. Fiktsiooni eest vangi? NAHUJ?

kkender2 karma

Thanks man, new minister Ossinovski clearly hears what we are talking and I'll have soon meetings with TAI and other people. It's baby steps but we are moving. Also, please write your story to nihilist, stories like this hel this fight a lot. Fucking 6 years is crazy. No one should be in prison because of any substance use.

Tegelt ka: kirjuta, nihikasse, sellest oleks kõva abi. Mul sõber Aednik tuli just välja, tõukas Tallinnas, ütles, et üle mõistuse palju on nüüd fentaga istuvaid. Ja arutud pikad srokid olematute koguste eest.

ottodv5 karma

I had my own no-so-great experience with the Estonian legal system recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/4efdam/estonia_now_officially_worst_country_in_eu_for/

Do you see any parallels with your case? Why do you think Estonian officials start these cases that clearly are bad for the reputation of the country? Do you believe the Estonian court system is really independent or do they just seek to find a way to justify whatever the state does? Will you take the fight on to the European Court of Human Rights?

kkender4 karma

I know your case very well and this is clear example of Police State in action. And Courts just rubber-stamping almost anything (95%) that comes to their tables. But I thinks Estonian state deserves bad reputation. There are great people in Estonia. But very corrupt and stagnant elites and officials. And I will take my fight to anywhere it takes, yes.

InformalCriticism4 karma

Have you "technically" broken any laws, or will prosecutors try to interpret your work as criminal when it is not?

Do courts in Estonia have the power of judicial review?

Will you be heard by a jury of your peers?

Do you think prosecution and conviction will give you greater platform on which to raise awareness?

Best of luck to you.

kkender2 karma

Thanks, all very good questions! There is no Jury, only Judge. In some perverse way ti is great platform but i wish noone such an platform, not even my haters.

I have not technically broken any laws. Literary fiction is free art.

Kapuman3 karma

What made you want to study Semiotics, and how has experience in that discipline affected or influenced what you are doing now?

kkender6 karma

My parents took me to walk when i was very little kid, maybe 4 or 5 and there was this guy with the huge mustache and my parents told me: "this is the smartest person in Estonia and one of the smartest in the world, and he is a "semiootik"!" This man was Yuri Lotman, he lived not that far form where we lived in Tartu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Lotman

So when after some 20 years I found out that his son Mihhail Lotman is professor of semiotics it was no brainer.

Twist of fate is that now one of my best friends is Jüri Franciscus Lotman, son fo Mihhail.

DCS_Ryan2 karma

What is the current drug situation in Estonia like?

PotatoerDude2 karma

Have you ever tried any opioids?

kkender3 karma

Yes. Codeine, Heroine.

areola-aviator2 karma

"Beginning in 2015, Canada has seen a widespread issue of fentanyl overdoses country-wide. Authorities suspect that the drug is being imported from Asia to the West Coast by organized crime groups in powder form and being pressed into pseudo-OxyContin tablets.[64] - Wikipedia.

"Primary Canadian exports to Estonia include machinery, lumber, toys and seafood and fur products. These exports totaled $22.9 million in 2012. Canada mainly imports telephone sets, mineral and chemical and food products, as well as fishing articles. These imports totaled $48.4 million in 2012." -http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/baltic_states-pays_baltes/bilateral_relations_bilaterales/estonia_relations_estonie.aspx?lang=eng Woah....wonder if this is related. Canadians could be getting the source of the drug wrong?

Edit: I'm not one for conspiracy theories but still kind of intrigued

kkender2 karma

Chemists tell me that producing fentanyl is not that difficult. All you need are good precursors and one magnetic mixer and patience. All relations happen in 30-60c and in 48 hours you'll have your first fentanyl. I never tried. But that would explain why border controls never catch any fentanyl in Estonian borders.

Fahsan3KBattery2 karma

Does Fentanyl get you high? My understanding is that the reason it was a popular medication is because it's slow release and doesn't have much of a peak: maximum pain relief for minimal high.

Also I understand you get fentanyl lolipops and fentanyl skin patches. Neither sound that useful or convenient for a junkie. How do they use them? Can they be boiled up?

kkender2 karma

high as a kite yes. but high is very quick and tehcno, or so i've been told

Zeroboy271 karma

Would you rather fight 1 horse sized duck or 25 duck sized horses?

Bonus round: they're hopped up on fentanyl.

kkender8 karma

Ducks and horses and people who do fentanyl are most peaceful kind, they don't wanna fight. They wanna nod and nod and get another hit.

hullwtf1 karma

Mis sa arvad, kui suur on tõenäosus, et sa kinni lähed?
Oled sa mõelnud kunagi mõne oma raamatu filmiks teha või on sulle pakutud sellist varianti?
Mis su lemmik videomäng on?

kkender3 karma

juristid ütlevad, et 95% keissidest, mis jõuavad kohtusse mõistetakse süüdi. nii et ma ei tea. aga kui mind selle looga süüdi mõistetakse siis on mul 100% kinniminek varsti. esiteks on mul ju selliseid lugusid veel. ja mis sa arvad, mida ma siis edasi kirjutama hakkan? tseki seda: see on ju sama haige kui U12 - http://nihilist.fm/inim-inetus/

SirLordBoss0 karma

First, I just want to thank you for your amazing bravery, the world needs more like you, wheredo you find the strenght to continue everyday, despite knowing the risks you're taking?

Secondly, what can I, a European citizen, do to help you out?

kkender1 karma

Thanks for the kind words!

Maybe contact your local PEN and tell them about my fight, maybe they can show some support!

http://www.pen-international.org

Endless_Vanity-8 karma

Are videos on /r/watchpeopledie coming from your country and if so, why? Why do villages just decide to murder anyone on the street and get away with it?

kkender3 karma

I don't know. what i do know is that people who should get and punish these criminals -police, prosecutors, courts - are busy with me.