A Square and A Man :: Charter'97 :: News

Time is testing us over and over again,
Are you ready to take to the streets ?
Will you ever dare take to the streets
At the appointed and crucial moment?
Alexander Galich

I am a Square and you know me well, don’t you? Your feet has been many times trampling upon the cobblestones of my body, beating their own rhythm on them. A rhythm, which is just as unrepeatable as personal fingerprints are.

I know you too. I saw you full of thoughts and reckless, frustrated and gleaming with joy, desperate and helpless…

Sometimes you were in solitude, just by yourself, but more often I saw you in a company of like-minded people. They referred to you as leader, compatriot, friend.

I also used to be different at different periods.

In ancient Greece they called me “Agora”. There, in a company of equal ones, you tried to pass one right decision. One decision for all. Although at times hot collective mind took over the cold thinking of individuals… Nevermind. But you gave it a try anyway.

Fiery Middle-Ages erected a scaffold upon my body. Axes, fire and sword blades – all these deadly tools hit you on the throat and burnt down your skin.

In 1415 they burnt you down alive on the square of the German town Konstants. You wanted the equality of parishioners and clergy and denounced the sale of indulgences… You were a Prague University rector. Your name was Yan and last name Gus. You lived only 45 years.

When an unknown old woman put an armful of dry firewood into the fire, you said “Holy innocence” and for the next twenty years the flames of this fire shone at your nation’s righteous strife.

In the year 1600 the fiery furnace was blazing at Rome’s square. Then your name was Jordano Bruno. You claimed that the universe is endless and the number of other words has no limits too. And your work “About heroic enthusiasm” warned the living ones about the potential auto-da-fe… You only turned 52. Now you are 455 and they still remember you, though they no longer remember your hangmen. Everyone forgot them in no time after you violent demise. So, it turns out, that they burnt themselves.

On March 10, 1864 you were standing on scaffolds, erected on the Vilnius marketplace square Lukishki, where your crusade for freedom found its end. In the text of the accusatory verdict they called you a nobleman. But one second before you died you shouted out aloud: “We’ve got no noblemen, everyone’s equal here!”

Your words rocked Belarus. Your name was Kastus Kalinovsky, 26 years of age.

Then you were few and never became a majority. But such issues aren’t solved by the majority vote but with the soul. Your souls thirsted for freedom and your conscience drove you onto the square.

On August 21, 1968 I was tortured in Prague. The Soviet tanks uprooted my ancient cobbles. Czech women were weeping and men helplessly squeezed their fists. And summer turned into a winter that day.

Four days later I suffered in Moscow, where eight desperate brave men laid down their lives for the freedom. It seemed as if their heart would jump out of their chests, that the state machine would suppress their will. But their names are in history textbooks, while their prosecutors are cursed. History put all things back to order: heroes were called heroes and bustards were called bustards.

In late 80ies and early 90ies I triumphed in Tbilisi and Vilnius, Budapest and Berlin, Bucharest and Prague, Warsaw and Riga, where you had taken to the streets with your friends and colleagues. You turned into a true owner of your country, your life and your future.

In 1991 you determined to change the course of your life by turning from the byroad to the main highway and I had little room to accommodate all of you, who came for the freedom in those days. Minsk was decorated with the acts of heroism and compassion and the Pagonya horseman rode all the way up to the Palace’s façade. You were victorious!

Today your country is again under the feet of a rascal and you again dream of freedom.

Put your shyness aside and stand to your feet!

You are a man!
And I am a square!
And I will always take your side!

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