Spring Is Coming

That's good news.

Whenever I meet my acquaintances somewhere in town, talk of politics always starts after questions about the weather. Often people keep to the same pattern: "Yes, people are dying for changes. Yeah, everybody's tired of it. Yes, 95% of Belarusians are against the regime. No, there will be no changes. No, Yermoshina will still count as instructed. No, everyone will tolerate everything."

They talk about it in a fatal manner. They talk about the upcoming elections as about a change of seasons: "What changes can come if everyone knows what will happen? Every five years we have elections, 86 per cent of fake votes, street protests and silence for the next five years. Everybody has long been used to it like autumn comes after summer and winter comes after autumn".

Stop the discussion! The universe itself is already giving us signs. Well, for many thousands of years the autumn has been verging into winter in our latitudes. No one could even imagine that things could change. But they could. Yes, thousands of years later, we suddenly had spring after autumn. Winter no longer exists. If the change of seasons is not an eternal thing, what can we say about some collective farm power?

However, let's talk about the weather. No talks about power, taxes, pensions and communal services - spring is coming. It's high time. However, during that unlucky winter, I used to hear "well, where is the snow, where are the frost and the sun, where are the children sliding down the hills, what kind of winter is this, it's not the winter at all, but a joke". Only once winter did not come and everybody quickly forgot that the sun and frosty weather were not common and the snow was white not for long, but there was a hell of impounded melt of snow. When the sky, the earth and the soul are grey, when it seems that it will last forever and nothing will ever change, when we chose winter shoes not because they are beautiful and comfortable, but easy-care. One may stop believing not only in changes but in one's existence. This disbelief is like a bad story you have been put into and you can't get out of it. You drowse like you're in that swampy slush, and you dream of a pillow at best. All the rest becomes meaningless and beyond your reach.

Well, the good news is winter's off. It means that changes have already begun, and they're dramatic ones. Nature shows us our place: in Europe with warm snowless winters when people do not wear fur coats and boots, but jackets and sneakers. If it snows, it's an adventure and an anomaly. Guys, you are Europeans," the universe tells us, "and if you haven't realized it yet, no snow can prove it. If somebody longs for snow and frost - welcome to Siberia. There is much snow, severe frost and Siberians with rosy cheeks. They wear fur hats, gnaw icicles. We'll somehow live in our boring Europe with mild snowless winters.

However, a European country is not only climate and geographical coordinates. It is also a certain state system, free elections and civil rights. It will require our participation. This is our part of the job. By the way, I have long noticed that monologues like "nothing will ever change here, everything is predictable for many years to come" are usually uttered by those who never did a minor thing. They never came to the square, dumped ideologists at work, collected signatures, helped political prisoners, distributed leaflets - nothing at all. They only observed and made conclusions that there would be no changes. It's like the anecdote about a man who begged God to win the lottery for years, so in the end, the Almighty couldn't stand it and said: "Well, how can I help you if you never bought a lottery ticket in your life?!"

However, nature's observations: there are fewer of these "witnesses". The number of those who strive for changes, believe and are ready to fight for it, is increasing. After all, if the winter is defeated, we will defeat the collective farm dictatorship, won't we? Spring is coming.

Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org

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