BELARUS!. Группа авторов

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СКАЧАТЬ expressed concerns

      by European politicians.

      So

      Shall I get used to the thought

      That I could be taken to prison

      By the men wearing black,

      By the men in plain clothes,

      By the men with four fat letters

      On their fat black backs?

      Otherwise, my country

      Won’t gain any freedom.

      And it could not work anyways,

      As usual.

      Shall I take it calmly that I

      Could be beaten and ultimately

      Found guilty for that because

      (They would say)

      I cried antistate slogans like “Freedom!”

      Or “Release all political prisoners!”

      Though I would not need to cry them out at all

      (Like my Facebook friends and thousands of

      Someone else’s friends)

      In order to be arrested or beaten.

      I won’t have to cry anything,

      I won’t have to do anything,

      Just stand silently, just be.

      I know I have to get used to that thought

      Just in case, because it’s so likely to happen.

      (Oh, my! I haven’t saved those telephones yet

      Whom to contact in case of detention.)

      I can’t say that in Belarusian,

      I can’t say that in Russian,

      I can’t say that in Ukrainian,

      Only in English: I am afraid,

      Only in German: Ich habe Angst,

      Only in Norwegian: Jeg er redd.

      That’s enough, for other variants,

      Please, use Google translate.

      The translations should be more

      Or less accurate. These are not

      Those strange East European languages

      With their funny Cyrillic letters.

      I’m afraid

      Like you would be in my place,

      If you lived in a country that is not free

      Where they’ve had the same president

      For 26 (!) years. Oh, my god! more than

      Two thirds of my life I’ve spent

      Under the power of a crazy person

      Whom I’ve never voted for!

      Sorry, it’s a long poem,

      Because it’s a long story,

      I spent more than two thirds of my life

      Under the power of the man

      I’ve never voted for,

      Who harassed and suppressed and killed

      (They say).

      And when I come to the literary festivals abroad,

      And when I speak English

      I try to tell the complicated history of my country

      (When I am asked)

      As if I am another person,

      As if I am like all those European poets and writers,

      Who do not have to get used to the thought

      That they could be arrested and beaten

      For the sake of their country’s freedom.

      As if my ugly history is just a harsh story

      That I can easily put out from the Anthology of

      Modern European short stories because

      It’s too long,

      And too dull.

      When I tell it in English,

      I want to pretend that I am you,

      That I don’t have that painful experience

      Of constant protesting and constant failing,

      That nasty feeling of frustration and dismay.

      I want to pretend that I have a hope,

      Because when I tell it in Belarusian

      I realize, we all realize, there is none

      We can look forward to.

      So forgive me my nagging in a half-broken English,

      My Eastern European neverending complaints,

      As having read the books you’ve read,

      I still want to have a hope,

      I still believe I have a right for a hope,

      That hope could build its nest

      On my roof and sing its songs

      In Belarusian

      (Not in Russian).

      EIN AUFSTAND DER FRAUEN

       Vorbemerkung

      Seit den gefälschten Wahlen in Belarus am 9. August 2020 bis zu dem Tag, an dem dieses Buch in den Druck geht, dem 3. November, sind 86 Tage vergangen. In dieser Zeit gab es Proteste und Demonstrationen in Minsk, in Homieĺ, in Brest, in Hrodna, in vielen Städten von Belarus. Zehntausende, Hunderttausende waren und sind auf den Straßen und Plätzen, Tausende wurden von OMON-Schlägern aufgegriffen, СКАЧАТЬ