«Returnees, we will see an unfamiliar landscape on the streets of cities that have become foreign»

I sometimes hear: they say, we created so much good and convenient things in Belarus – stores, cafes, cultural spaces, educational services, internet projects, and useful civic initiatives, and now Belarus is left without all of this, why did "they" scatter everything to the winds, there were so many completely politically neutral things. Such bewilderment and despair is completely understandable to me personally.

But yes, for "them" these neutral things hold a danger that they understand perfectly and correctly. The danger is not in businesses, services, and events. The danger is in people who "want it the most" (I heard that said about me, heard enough of it in childhood and youth, internalized it).

We are ontologically alien to them. It's not about politics, but about identity. Nothing independent, special, or even slightly creative is needed, allowed, or safe. Why? Simply because it exists.

I remember when I was a teacher at school for a year and a half, the principal told me: "Aha, so you take the children to the cinema, museums, and the theater, but others can't, you are setting yourself against the collective with this cheap popularity of yours. Do you think you're a star?".

Why can't others? Only because they don't want to.

This current culture, like the one back then, is designed for those who don't want anything "extra". Anything that stands out with an "uncommon facial expression" is not even suspicious, but dangerous. And they will punish severely. Any deviation in facial expression must be punished.

That's why, seeing a Christmas ball with a portrait of Geniusz (until recently, not only a ball, but also a monument was allowed), they not only confiscate this ball that has suddenly become forbidden, but also close the store. That's why they come to a person who lamented the artistic merits of a broadcast by one of the propagandists.

It's not actions or even words that are dangerous, but deviations in the smallest details. Dissimilarity is already a crime.

What will happen next?

Well, it won't always be like this, little by little they will start to slow down. And in the cracks, in the openings of what is allowed, some other languages of culture will grow.

In five to seven years. But for now, yes, little by little, in kitchens, in private microscopic environments, this will develop.

I have no doubt that all this will not come from outside, it will grow from within. And we, who have returned, will see an unusual landscape on the streets of cities that have become unfamiliar. And God willing, we will be able to contribute a bit of our own. After all, we are also quietly breaking through the ice. Through a different one, though. But just as frozen.

If only these "uncommon people" here and there don't completely fall apart in their icy lives...

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