"Now it is spring in Belarus and all the snow has gone." "The climate has changed here." "In the last 12 years, the climate has changed considerably." "Even palm tress are growing here now." "Soon the sea will be here." "Historically we used to have access to the sea." "But we don't now." "Soon they will dig channels to the sea and will create a branch of the Black Sea." "The fleet is here already." "They train in the swimming pool with those little ships." "They have already built the mountains as well." "I would suggest that they make an electric sun or even three suns, so that we can work at night." "What we joked about ten years ago, everything has come true." "Now it is real." "And now quietly..." "In order to love Belarus, our beloved country, you have to visit various other countries." "Then you will understand that under your feet there is the flat earth resting on three elephants." "Do not wait, there will be no surprise." "We cannot give concerts in Belarus." "Because we sing in Belarusian, we sing about how it really is there." "That is why we came to Poland." "As long as we are not allowed to sing the truth in Belarus, we will sing abroad." "Andrus, have you seen how nice it is?" "What a nice house this is!" "Look how many floors it's got!" "The country-bumpkins have come to town." "It's strange here." "There is no glass or concrete here." "There are no new buildings like in our country." "After the war, everything had been destroyed and they rebuilt old buildings, they did not build modern buildings." "I don't understand them." "And here they built, but did not plaster." "All this has to be destroyed and new things have to be built." " What did they call the street?" " Beer Street." "I understand the name Lenin Street, like in our country." "Partisans St., Communist St.," "Komsomol St., Revolution St..." "And here Beer Street." "How can you call a street like that?" "Music partisans." "The first concert we organized in a student club." "The strangest thing was that no permission was required." "Neither from the police nor the censor." "You just come and play." "Come and join us." "We're going to sing Belarusian songs." "I know Russian songs." " What about Belarusian?" " No, not Belarusian." "Let's sing the Russian ones then." "When I was a child I used to sing Russian songs, but I have forgotten them." "Let me remind you." "Let's sing together!" "You sing well, but not me." "Come on - let's go together." "We can do it together." "Don't just walk past!" "Come in!" "Do not film because Lukashenka will see it on television." "Belarus is alive!" "Are you afraid of Lukashenka?" "When he was elected President I fled Belarus." "Aren't you afraid?" "If you are afraid you will not change anything." "Belarus is a great country." "The cities are clean and Lukashenka is no slouch." "These are the two basic arguments, but how long can one rely on them." "In the Soviet Union there was an 'enlightened aim', so called 'communism'." "It was like a religion." "Communism declared that within 20 years there would be no need to pay in shops." "Everybody would be working and just taking what they needed." "And there is no religion now." "Now the ideology of the country..." "It is not based on anything." "The first point of the country's ideology says:" ""Strong Presidential power."" "The only sense of this religion's existence is strong Presidential power." "We'll march down the street together." "Nobody will say 'No' to us." "All the old companions." "We will shout: 'Forward'!" "The whole city will be ours." "Give me your hand." "Kuku ruku." "If you sing in Belarusian, they forbid it." "They forbid normal bands to sing." "There is only 'musical shite'." "In Belarusian you can only sing that everything is fine and our President is the best in the world." "Belarusian bands sing in Russian." "Now the Belarusian language has been abandoned." "It is not needed." "It is dying." "You cannot express your thoughts well in it." "Who speaks in Belarusian?" "Only the Opposition." "This language is imperfect." "It does not express our thoughts." "Why would you need the Belarusian language in Belarus, if there is perfect Russian there?" "In our country everyone is scared of politics." "That's understandable." "How many people have disappeared?" "And what?" "And everything is kept quiet." " Jura." "Where is your Dad?" " I don't know." "In civilized countries people don't just disappear." "I'd love Belarus to be such a country." "That is why we took part in the European Parade in Warsaw." "We are the Tarpacz band from Minsk." "We are going to play and sing for you." "Are we going to win?" "We will win, as always." "Play well, guys!" "Hurry up!" "Take me away from here as long as I'm breathing." "As long as there is bright light in my eyes." "The Belarusians on their way to freedom!" "Welcome Belarusians!" "Free Belarusians!" "Play for your country!" "Sound its freedom!" "They don't like anything." "Although the dogs are barking, the funeral procession keeps going." "We are together." "You cannot defeat us." "Those sounds arouse fear in Lukashenka." "Belarus!" "Be the next!" "When I think about what happened here I feel sad." "Because in Belarus there will not be something similar for a long time." "But we'd rather do something than just be sad." "That's why we've decided to organize a similar concert tour in Belarus in order to change the world." "I am a soldier." "A premature child of the war." "I am a soldier." "Mother - heal my wounds." "I am a soldier of a God-forsaken country." "I am a hero, but just let me know of which novel." "When will revolution come to your country?" "I don't know." "We are waiting ourselves." "The closer to the border, the more anxious I became." "Anxious, but also excited." "What will happen?" "I was born here." "In a country under the blue sky." "I was born here." "In a land of potatoes and co-operatives and dark bread." "I was born here." "In a country of informants and a lack of running water." "I was born here." "In a country of hundreds of destroyed churches." "Maternity ward, kindergarten, school and university." "I was born here." "I'm going to live here." "I'm going to live here." "We felt like real partisans when we crossed the border." "Partisans are the sons of Belarus." "There are millions of books written about it, millions of films made." "The Belarus Film Studio is called PARTYZAN-FILM." "In 1995, we wrote a song - 'Partisan'." "We partisans - the wood brotherhood." "We partisans hob-nob with war." "We partisans love our country." "We'll cleanse our country from the enemy gangs." "The lyrics express openly that you have to fight the enemy." "In fact, it talks about the war, about the past." "But it also relates strongly to the 90s, when huge demonstrations took place and 50,000 people were in the streets." "They felt like partisans, but did not know what to call themselves." "Then the partisans' movement progressed further." "As is expected of real partisans we played our music in the underground." "The first concert was supposed to take place in an ordinary disco." "Only the equipment had to be organized." "Belarus is a totalitarian country and it's necessary to leave it." "Yes, we're leaving." "And who is going to stay here when you leave?" "They will all stay." "They will not change their way of thinking." "They only throw up their hands." "Their way of thinking does not change." "Belarus is perfect for those who lack initiative and talent." "One does not like working." "Just steals something secretly." "Has got a country house..." "And 1985 Volkswagen Passat..." "For such people the situation is good." "The situation is good for the retired who are missing the old Soviet times." "The best citizen is one who is passive, no rational..." "He may be rational, but should not show it." "You should just go to work." "Get your salary." "Celebrate national holidays." "You must not suggest anything." "Sit still, you will be told what to do." "Freedom?" "I don't know it." "Freedom for us means to go to such concerts." "Hurry up!" "Take me away from here as long as I'm breathing." "As long as there is bright light in my eyes." "I'm going to emigrate to Poland." "I only wish that the President would let me out of here." "What would you change here?" "The President, of course." "Shit!" "You're going to broadcast it and he won't let me out." "We're not going to show it to him." "But he will see it anyway." "You think that ours is such a great country in which we elect the President ourselves." "But this isn't true." "He elects himself." "These are the cities, a shop and a post-office." "Everything OK, so why to change it." "Blue sky over a grey district." "Everything familiar, everything perfect." "Everyday routine and year-round, planned order old and new." "A buddy flees, we pretend." "True partisans." "Oh, the mice have chewed away." "Are there any girls?" "One of Belarus' greatest treasures is their girls." "They all have to be beautifully dressed, not like now." "They all want to go to Europe." "An end must be put to this." "There is a special programme of fighting human-trafficking." "It makes the girls aware that working abroad exposes them to violence." ""A surprise for you!" "Work abroad."" "You have to live for a few more years, for some colour revolution to take place." "No revolution can take place in our country." "The word 'revolution' is forbidden." "It's better not to use the word 'revolution'." "Hush!" "You're using it right now." "What about the October Revolution?" "It is great, socialist, it is the only one allowed." "Let's go to play in the streets." " Is it allowed?" " It is necessary." "After the successful concert at the disco, we wanted to take a step further." "We decided to organize a jam-session in the street." "Finally militia started gathering as well." "They didn't know what to do." "In the end they turned the street lamps off." "Let's light." "Every year it gets funnier." "But you're not laughing if you live here." "We're not going to leave as long as there are no tanks in the streets." "But the situation is getting more and more absurd." "If I leave the country, if the people who don't like the situation in Belarus leave" "who is going to stay?" "Those who don't care will stay, the indifferent ones." "The next concert has been planned for Baranowicze, but as usual at the last moment the club manager got scared" "and cancelled it." "I see." "What about tomorrow?" "I'll call you in 3 hours." "The concert has been cancelled for today, but tomorrow there's another concert and we can also play." "And what do you want?" "Are we going today?" "I'd play..." "After long discussion we decided to have a concert." "If not in the club, then somewhere else." "We had to find percussion from somebody." "Don't you know where you can find percussion in Baranowicze?" "There, over there." "We got the percussion from the woods." "It was buried, so we dug it up." "Are you coming tomorrow?" "See you tomorrow then." "Baranowicze" "The people have come!" "So have the militia." "There was a notice that the concert had been cancelled." "If we start shouting any slogans, there will be a problem." "If we just play they will not do anything to us." "The concert has been cancelled." "Belarus is alive!" "This is the square devoted to the memory of dead partisans." "We play for partisans." "We are partisans as well." "Listen, we are not allowed here." "Let's go over there." "When you suddenly sense communal smells and life tightens the loop, then you will understand that 3 tortoises are carrying flat earth as before." "Do not wait." "There will be no surprises." "Belarus is alive!" "Who is the boss here?" "How long are you going to be here?" "Half an hour." "If you are still here in half an hour, then we will take you." "Until 9.30 pm." "No. 9 pm." " At least up to 9.15." " No. 9 o'clock." "Okay then." "Nine o'clock." "Lift me above the earth." "Lift me into bright space." "Lift me above the ordinary." "Lift me - air balloon!" "Unexpectedly, our saxophone player was called up for the army." "It was a great loss for us, but there was nothing we could do about it." "He's going to spend the next three years of his life in the army." "J U S T I C E" "We did not give up, though one of us was missing, we continued on the tour." "He picks them up with flowers." "You don't have a chance!" "Two at a time?" "Individually!" "240 Belarusian cows crossed the river Bug into Polish territory in this way crossing the border." "When the Polish fed them and wanted to send them home, they did not want to go back." "Because they had seen a different world, the "sweet West"." "The same thing happens to our students." "There'll be no bloodless revolution in our country." "To each demonstration or opposition action" "OMON turns up within 15 minutes." "They have truncheons and helmets." "And what you can do?" "The last stage of our concert tour was a trip to Minsk." "The authorities didn't know who would take part in the concert, so we managed to go on stage." "Belarus is alive!" "It will be!" "Freedom!" "Why wait?" "We're tired of waiting." "The challenge is finally confronting us." "Is there enough strength to endure the pressure of the authorities?" "Not to break?" "Salvation is close." "Where is our white-red-white flag?" "Why don't we hear shouting:" ""Belarus is alive"!" "?" "Although officially there is a different flag in our country everyone knows that white-red-white is not only a colour, it's a symbol." "It's very important." "We will meet at 10 p.m. In Jakub Kolas Square." " Have you got permission?" " We aren't disturbing anyone." " You are disturbing the residents." " Nobody lives here." "Disperse!" "If you don't take them at once, we will take them." "They always told us go away when the white-red-white flag appeared." "But this is our country and we have the right to sing in Belarusian here, under our national flag." "A few months later we decided to fight for this right in the coming Presidential election." "On this musical meeting it is very dangerous." "But the opposition has promised us ministerial posts." "I was personally promised the post of the Minister of Culture." "And for me, there will be created the post of Minister for Propaganda." "Now let's greet the candidate of the Democratic Opposition" "Alexander Milinkievich!" "I welcome you!" "You represent the future of Belarus!" "Long live our beloved Belarusian rock." "We are going to sing a song "Three tortoises"." "But we are going to change the chorus." "We will sing:" ""Do not wait, enough of waiting"!" ""Do not wait, enough of waiting"!" ""Do not wait, enough of waiting"!" "Lift me above the ordinary." "Lift me - air balloon!" "Next stop:" "Free Belarus." "Each election in our country brings hope." "Elections today and tomorrow everything will change." "Tomorrow we will live in a normal civilized country." "I voted for the first time and I thought my vote would change history." "This election is organized not for us, but for the west." "Who will win?" "Everyone know who." "That is why this election is not needed for Belarusians." "Only for the observers, correspondents." "These dogs keep barking all the time." "So in order to stop them barking this election has been organized." "It was strange and unpleasant to find out that Lukashenka got 83%, because it is not true." "Shame!" "Shame!" "How is it possible?" "I voted against Lukashenka." "My friends voted against Lukashenka." "So who voted for him?" "How come he had 83%?" "They have announced lower results." "The results were 98% or 99,3% as in the Soviet Union," "but nobody will believe it." "That is why they said:" ""They were higher, but we announced lower"." "Maybe they were even over 100%." "But he will never admit, he had over 100%." "Rational man." "They have announced the results close to the truth." "We want the truth!" "Belarus is alive!" "Belarus is alive!" "We have won!" "We have overcome fear!" "Today we are the nation." "Today we are Belarusians." "On television they showed those tents." "They open a tent and there are syringes everywhere." "You can see heroin straight away." "You cannot tell where there's snow, where cocaine." "Condoms lying around and pornographic magazines." "Just imagine: -10 degrees, frost, it's snowing like crazy." "So what else can one do in a tent?" "Obviously having sex..." "That's how it was shown by our television." "I was sure that this time we would succeed because we wanted to change something so much." "But we didn't manage to change anything." "A militia man approached me, took my documents and asked me to follow him." "Lots of people were brought there." "We would stand together facing the wall." "Truncheons flying in the air." "Don't talk!" "Don't look!" "Then the protocol:" "Listing all the things, leaving our shoelaces." "It was unpleasant." "The next day came the trial." "They would deal with each case for 10 minutes." "Then my turn." "The militia man comes the one who stopped me and says: "She shouted and waved the flag"." "I wait a moment and the judge says "7 days imprisonment."" "So I was given 7 days." "According to the official version I used abusive vocabulary and also I shouted anti-national slogan: "Belarus is alive"." "I don't regret anything." "They ask if there is a dictatorship in our country." "What dictatorship?" "Democracy is flourishing in our country." "They ask if there is freedom in Belarus." "We say there is." "Someone would start singing and others would join in." "Then the next cell would join in then the whole floor was singing." "They would tell us to stop." "But how can you forbid us if we are already under arrest." "You cannot forbid to sing." "That is why we were singing." "In normal life 7 days is nothing, just one week." "There it seemed like an eternity." "The minutes and hours felt so long." "What I experienced there taught me that so little is needed to be happy." "A piece of bread and another person." "We thank NRM for such a song." "Good for them because they are our teachers." "What does NRM stand for?" " NRM means Independent Republic of Dreams." " Independent from whom?" "They will drink and drug themselves up completely."