Lands and Freedoms
We are circled in our living room, two glasses of cava down. The mood is both lighter and braver. Deeper. Emotion surfaces and there is dancing – a spontaneous tango between two male leader-followers. A delighted audience. Laughter. Then the conversation turns to something they have managed to avoid during the week they have been together. These friends of twenty-five years or more. College roommates, ex-lovers, friends of family. I can’t recall how the subject arose but suddenly here we are, talking about the war. Ground gained and lost. People returned or not. Talking about the generational trauma already present in three entangled countries. In three entangled histories. Amongst themselves, they speak Russian, but they all hold Belarusian passports that they can no longer use to go to Belarus. “It’s too dangerous” she says. We knew this, of course. Since the rigged elections in 2020, there has been no going…