Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
America and Russia - 2008
CNN's Matthew Chance interviewed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday August 28, 2008.
"We did not seek such conflicts," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told CNN's Matthew Chance.
Matthew Chance: Many people around the world, even though you're not the president of Russia anymore, see you as the main decision maker in this country. Wasn't you that ordered Russian forces into Georgia and you who should take responsibility for the consequences?
Vladimir Putin: Of course, that's not the case. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the issues of foreign policy and defense are fully in the hands of the president. The president of the Russian Federation was acting within his powers.
As is known, yours truly was at that time at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. This alone made it impossible for me to take part in preparing that decision, although of course, President Medvedev was aware of my opinion on that issue. I'll be frank with you, and actually there is no secret about it, we had of course considered all the possible scenarios of events, including direct aggression by the Georgian leadership.
We had to think beforehand about how to provide for the security of our peace-keepers and of the citizens of the Russian Federation who are residents of South Ossetia. But, I repeat, such a decision could only be taken by the president of the Russian Federation, the commander in chief of the armed forces, Mr. Medvedev. It's his decision.
Matthew Chance: But it's been no secret either that for years you've been urging the West to take more seriously Russia's concerns about international issues. For instance, about NATO's expansion, about deployment of missile defense systems in eastern Europe. Wasn't this conflict a way of demonstrating that in this region, it's Russia that's the power, not NATO and certainly not the United States?
Vladimir Putin: Of course not. What is more, we did not seek such conflicts and do not want them in the future.
That this conflict has taken place -- that it broke out nevertheless -- is only due to the fact that no one had heeded our concerns.
More generally, Matthew, I will say this: We must take a broader view of this conflict.
I think both you and your -- our -- viewers today will be interested to learn a little more about the history of relations between the peoples and ethnic groups in this regions of the world. Because people know little or nothing about it.
If you think that this is unimportant, you may cut it from the program. Don't hesitate, I wouldn't mind.
But I would like to recall that all these state entities, each in its own time, voluntarily integrated into the Russian Empire. Back in the mid-18th century, in 1745-1747, Ossetia was the first to become part of the Russian Empire. At that time, it was a united entity; North and South Ossetia were one state.
In 1801, if my memory serves me, Georgia itself, which was under some pressure from the Ottoman Empire, voluntarily became part of the Russian Empire.
It was only 12 years later, in 1812, that Abkhazia became part of the Russian Empire. Until that time, it had remained an independent state, an independent principality.
It was only in the mid-19th century that the decision was taken to incorporate South Ossetia into the Tiflis province. Within a common state, the matter was regarded as not very important. But I can assure you that subsequent years showed that the Ossetians did not much like it. However, de facto they were put by the tsar's central government under the jurisdiction of what is now Georgia.
When, after World War I, the Russian Empire broke up, Georgia declared its own state while Ossetia opted for staying within Russia; this happened right after the events of 1917.
In 1918, as a result of this, Georgia conducted a rather brutal punitive operation there, and in 1921, it repeated it.
When the Soviet Union was formed, these territories, by Stalin's decision, were definitively given to Georgia. As you know, Stalin was ethnically Georgian.
Therefore, those who insist that those territories must continue to belong to Georgia are Stalinists: They defend the decision of Josef Vissarionovich Stalin.
Yet, whatever has been happening recently and whatever the motives of those involved in the conflict, there is no doubt that all that we are witnessing now is a tragedy.
For us, it is a special tragedy, because during the many years that we were living together the Georgian culture -- the Georgian people being a nation of ancient culture -- became, without a doubt, a part of the multinational culture of Russia.
There is even a tinge of civil war in this for us, though of course Georgia is an independent state, no doubt about it. We have never infringed on the sovereignty of Georgia and have no intention of doing so in the future. And yet, considering the fact that almost a million, even more than a million Georgians have moved here, we have special spiritual links with that country and its people. For us, this is a special tragedy.
And, I assure you, while mourning the Russian soldiers who died, and above all the innocent civilians, many here in Russia are also mourning the Georgians who died.
The responsibility for the loss of life rests squarely with the present Georgian leadership, which dared to take these criminal actions.
I apologize for the long monologue; I felt it would be of interest.
Matthew Chance: It is very interesting that you are talking about Russia's imperial history in this region because one of the effects of Russian intervention in Georgia is that other countries in the former Soviet Union are now deeply concerned that they could be next, that they could be part of a resurgent Russian empire ... particularly countries like Ukraine, that have a big ethnic Russian populations, but also Moldova, the central Asian states and even some of the Baltic states. Can you guarantee to us that Russia will never again use its militarily forces against a neighboring state?
Vladimir Putin: I strongly object to the way this question is formulated. It is not for us to guarantee that we will not attack someone. We have not attacked anyone. It is we who are demanding guarantees from others, to make sure that no one attacks us anymore and that no one kills our citizens. We are being portrayed as the aggressor.
I have here the chronology of the events that took place on August 7, 8 and 9. On the 7th, at 2:42 p.m., the Georgian officers who were at the headquarters of the joint peacekeeping forces left the headquarters, walked away from the headquarters -- where there were our servicemen, as well as Georgian and Ossetian servicemen -- saying that had been ordered to do so by their commanders. They left their place of service and left our servicemen there alone and never returned during the period preceding the beginning of hostilities. An hour later, heavy artillery shelling started.
At 10:35 p.m., a massive shelling of the city of Tskhinvali began. At 10:50 p.m., ground force units of the Georgian armed forces started to deploy to the combat zone. At the same time, Georgian military hospitals were deployed in the immediate vicinity. And at 11:30 p.m., Mr. Kruashvili, brigadier general and commander of the Georgian peacekeeping forces in the region, announced that Georgia had decided to declare war on South Ossetia. They announced it directly and publicly, looking right into the TV cameras.
At that time, we tried to contact the Georgian leadership, but they all refused to respond. At 0:45 a.m. on August 8, Kruashvili repeated it once again. At 5:20 a.m., tank columns of the Georgian forces launched an attack on Tskhinvali, preceded by massive fire from GRAD systems, and we began to sustain casualties among our personnel.
At that time, as you know, I was in Beijing, and I was able to talk briefly with the president of the United States. I said to him directly that we had not been able to contact the Georgian leadership but that one of the commanders of the Georgian armed forces had declared that they had started a war with South Ossetia.
George replied to me -- and I have already mentioned it publicly -- that no one wanted a war. We were hoping that the U.S. administration would intervene in the conflict and stop the aggressive actions of the Georgian leadership. Nothing of the kind happened.
What is more, already at 12 noon local time, the units of the Georgian armed forces seized the peacekeepers' camp in the south of Tskhinvali -- it is called Yuzhni, or Southern -- and our soldiers had to withdraw to the city center, being outnumbered by the Georgians one to six. Also, our peacekeepers did not have heavy weapons, and what weapons they had had been destroyed by the first artillery strikes. One of those strikes had killed 10 people at once.
Then the attack was launched on the peacekeeping forces' northern camp. Here, let me read you the report of the General Staff: "As of 12:30 p.m., the battalion of the Russian Federation peacekeeping forces deployed in the north of the city had beaten off five attacks and was continuing combat."
At that same time, Georgian aviation bombed the city of Dzhava, which was outside the zone of hostilities, in the central part of South Ossetia.
So who was the attacker, and who was attacked? We have no intention of attacking anyone, and we have no intention of going to war with anyone.
During my eight years as president, I often heard the same question: What place does Russia reserve for itself in the world; how does it see itself; what is its place? We are a peace-loving state and we want to cooperate with all of our neighbors and with all of our partners. But if anyone thinks that they can come and kill us, that our place is at the cemetery, they should think what consequences such a policy will have for them.
Matthew Chance: You've always enjoyed over your period as president of Russia, and still now, a very close personal relationship with the U.S. President George W. Bush. Do you think that his failure to restrain the Georgian forces on this occasion has damaged that relationship?
Vladimir Putin: This has certainly done damage to our relations, above all government-to-government relations.
But it is not just a matter of the U.S. administration being unable to restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal action; the U.S. side had in effect armed and trained the Georgian army.
Why spend many years in difficult negotiations to find comprehensive compromise solutions to inter-ethnic conflicts? It is easier to arm one of the parties and push it to kill the other and have it done with. What an easy solution, apparently. In fact, however, that is not always the case.
I have some other thoughts, too. What I am going to say is hypothetical, just some suppositions, and will take time to properly sort out. But I think there is food for thought here.
Even during the years of the Cold War, the intense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, we always avoided any direct clash between our civilians and, most certainly, between our military.
We have serious reasons to believe that there were U.S. citizens right in the combat zone. If that is the case, if that is confirmed, it is very bad. It is very dangerous; it is misguided policy
But, if that is so, these events could also have a U.S. domestic politics dimension.
If my suppositions are confirmed, then there are grounds to suspect that some people in the United States created this conflict deliberately in order to aggravate the situation and create a competitive advantage for one of the candidates for the U.S. presidency. And if that is the case, this is nothing but the use of the called administrative resource in domestic politics, in the worst possible way, one that leads to bloodshed.
Matthew Chance: These are quite astounding claims, but just to be clear, Mr. Prime Minister, are you suggesting that there were U.S. operatives on the ground assisting Georgian forces, perhaps even provoking a conflict in order to give a presidential candidate in the United States some kind of talking point?
Vladimir Putin: Let me explain.
Matthew Chance: And if you are suggesting that, what evidence do you have?
Vladimir Putin: I have said to you that if the presence of U.S. citizens in the zone of hostilities is confirmed, it would mean only one thing: that they could be there only at the direct instruction of their leaders. And if that is so, it means that in the combat zone there are U.S. citizens who are fulfilling their duties there. They can only do that under orders from their superiors, not on their own initiative.
Ordinary specialists, even if they train military personnel, must do it in training centers or on training grounds rather than in a combat zone.
I repeat: This requires further confirmation. I am quoting to you the reports of our military. Of course, I will seek further evidence from them.
Why are you surprised at my hypothesis, after all? There are problems in the Middle East; reconciliation there is elusive. In Afghanistan, things are not getting any better; what is more, the Taliban have launched a fall offensive, and dozens of NATO servicemen are being killed.
In Iraq, after the euphoria of the first victories, there are problems everywhere, and the number of those killed has reached 4,000.
There are problems in the economy, as we know only too well. There are financial problems, the mortgage crisis. Even we are concerned about it, and we want it to end soon, but it is there.
A little victorious war is needed. And if it doesn't work, then one can lay the blame on us, use us to create an enemy image, and against the backdrop of this kind of jingoism once again rally the country around certain political forces.
I am surprised that you are surprised at what I'm saying. It's as clear as day.
Matthew Chance: It sounds a little farfetched, but I am interested because I was in Georgia in the time of the conflict, and the country was swirling with rumors. One of the rumors was that U.S. personnel had been captured in combat areas. Is there any truth to that rumor?
Vladimir Putin: I have no such information. I think it is not correct.
I repeat: I will ask our military to provide additional information to confirm the presence of U.S. citizens in the conflict zone during the hostilities.
Matthew Chance: Let's get back to the diplomatic fallout of this conflict, because one of the consequences is that action is being threatened at least against Russia by many countries in the world. It could be kicked out of the G-8 group of industrialized nations. There are threats it could have its contacts with the NATO militarily alliance suspended. What will Russia's response be if the country is diplomatically isolated as a result of this tension between Russia and the West?
Vladimir Putin: First of all, if my hypothesis about the U.S. domestic political dimension of this conflict is correct, then I don't see why United States allies should support one U.S. political party against the other in the election campaign. This is a position that is not honest vis-à-vis the American people as a whole. But we do not rule out the possibility that, as happened before, the administration will once again be able to subordinate its allies to its will.
So what's to be done? What choice do we have? On one hand, should we agree to being killed in order to remain, say, in the G-8? And who will remain in the G-8 if all of us are killed?
You have mentioned a possible threat from Russia. You and I are sitting here now, having a quiet conversation in the city of Sochi. Within a few hundred kilometers from here, U.S. Navy ships have approached, carrying missiles whose range is precisely several hundred kilometers. It is not our ships that have approached your shores; it's your ships that have approached ours. So what's our choice?
We don't want any complications; we don't want to quarrel with anyone; we don't want to fight anyone. We want normal cooperation and a respectful attitude toward us and our interests. Is that too much?
You have mentioned the G-8. But in its present form, the G-8 already doesn't carry enough weight. Without inviting the Chinese People's Republic or India, without consulting them, without influencing their decisions, normal development of the world economy is impossible.
Or take the fight against drugs, combating infectious disease, fighting terrorism, working on non-proliferation. OK, if someone wants to do it without any involvement of Russia, how effective will that work be?
That's not what we should be thinking about, and it's pointless to try to intimidate anyone. We are not afraid, not at all. What's needed is a realistic analysis of the situation, looking to the future so as to develop a normal relationship, with due regard for each other's interests.
Matthew Chance: The raw as you've mentioned areas of cooperation still between the United States and Russia, particularly for instance over the issue of Iran's very controversial nuclear program.
Are you suggesting that you may withdraw your cooperation with the United Nations in tackling that problem from the United States if the diplomatic pressure were to be ruptured up between Russian and the West?
Vladimir Putin: Russia has been working very consistently and in good faith with its partners on all problems, those that I've mentioned and those that you added. We do so not because someone asks us and we want to look good to them. We are doing it because this is consistent with our national interests, because in these areas, our national interests coincide with those of many European countries and of the United States. If no one wants to talk to us about these problems and cooperation with Russia becomes unnecessary, God bless, do this work yourself.
Matthew Chance: And what about the issue of energy supply, because obviously European countries in particular are increasingly dependent on Russian gas and on Russian oil. Would Russia ever use the supply of energy to western Europe as a leaver to apply pressure should the diplomatic tensions be ratcheted up?
Vladimir Putin: We have never done it. Construction of the first gas pipeline system was started during the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, and for all those years, from the 1960s until this day, Russia has been fulfilling its contract obligations in a very consistent and reliable way, regardless of the political situation.
We never politicize economic relations, and we are quite astonished at the position of some U.S. administration officials who travel to European capitals trying to persuade the Europeans not to buy our products, natural gas for example, in a truly amazing effort to politicize the economic sphere. In fact, it's quite pernicious.
It's true that the Europeans depend on our supplies but we too depend on whoever buys our gas. That's interdependence; that's precisely the guarantee of stability.
And since we are already talking about economic matters, I would like to inform you about a decision that will be taken in the near future. Let me say right from the start that it is in no way related to any crisis, not to the situation in Abkhazia nor in South Ossetia; those are purely economic matters. Let me tell you what it's about.
For some time, we have had a debate about supplies of various products from different countries, including the United States. And of course the debate is particularly intense, as a rule, as regards agricultural products.
In July and August, our sanitation services conducted inspections of U.S. plants that supply poultry meat to our market. It was a spot-check inspection. It revealed that 19 of those plants ignored the concerns that our specialists had raised back in 2007. These plants will be removed from the list of poultry exporters to the Russian Federation.
Twenty-nine plants were given warnings that they must, in the near future, rectify the situation that our sanitation specialists find unacceptable. We hope the response will be rapid and that they will be able to continue supplying their products to the Russian market.
That information has just been reported to me by the minister of Agriculture.
Let me say once again that I would hate these things to be lumped together: the problems caused by conflict situations, politics, economics, meat. They all have their own dimension and are unrelated.
Matthew Chance: Prime Minister Putin, this appears or may be interpreted in the United States as tantamount to economic sanctions. Specifically, one of these 19 agricultural enterprises been importing to Russia that you've found to be flawed?
Vladimir Putin: Well, I am not an agricultural expert. This morning, the minister of agriculture gave me the following information.
I have already said it and want to repeat it. In July and August of this year, spot checks were made at U.S. plants that supply poultry to the Russian market. It was found that some of the concerns raised by our specialists earlier, in 2007, had been ignored and that the plants had done nothing to correct the deficiencies identified during the previous inspections. For that reason, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to remove them from the list of exporters.
At 29 other plants, certain problems have been found. They have been properly documented, with instructions as to what needs to be changed in order for the previous agreements on deliveries from those plants to Russia to remain in effect. We hope that they will quickly rectify the problems identified during those checks.
It has been found that their products contain excessive amounts of some substances that are subject to certain controls in our country. They contain excessive amounts of antibiotics and perhaps some other substances such as arsenic. I don't know; it's for the agricultural experts to consider. This has noting to do with politics. These are not some kind of sanctions. Such measures were taken here on several occasions in the past. There is nothing catastrophic here. It just means that we should work on this together.
What's more, when the minister called me, he said, "Frankly, we don't know what to do. It'll look like sanctions, but we need to take a decision. Of course, we could take a pause, too."
I think they said it's arsenic. But we have our rules. If you want to export to our market, you must adjust to our rules. They know all about it. They were told about it back in 2007.
Matthew Chance: The U.S. won't like it.
Vladimir Putin: We too do not like some of the things being done. They need to work closer together with our Ministry of Agriculture. Such things have happened before.
We closed it, and then we allowed them in again. It happened not only with regard to U.S. suppliers but Brazilian, too.
Matthew Chance: To conclude --
Vladimir Putin: We could go on. I am in no hurry.
Matthew Chance: Prime Minister Putin, perhaps more than anyone else, you're credited with restoring a degree of international prestige to this country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, after the chaos of 1990s, are you concerned that you're squandering that international prestige by your actions over Georgia, by actions like these banning of bird meat imports from the United States? Is that something the concerns you?
Vladimir Putin: Well, I have told you that there is no ban on U.S. poultry. It's a ban on some plants that did not respond to our concerns for a whole year.
We have to protect our domestic market and our consumers, as is done by all countries, including the United States.
As for Russia's prestige: We don't like what's been happening, but we did not provoke this situation. Speaking of prestige, some countries' prestige has been severely damaged in recent years. In effect, in recent years our U.S. partners have been cultivating the rule of force instead of the rule of international law. When we tried to stop the decision on Kosovo; no one listened to us. We said, don't do it, wait; you are putting us in a terrible position in the Caucasus. What shall we say to the small nations of the Caucasus as to why independence can be gained in Kosovo but not here? You are putting us in a ridiculous position. At that time, no one was talking about international law; we alone did. Now, they have all remembered it. Now, for some reason, everyone is talking about international law.
But who opened Pandora's box? Did we do it? No, we didn't do it. It was not our decision, and it was not our policy.
There are both things in international law: the principle of territorial integrity and right to self-determination. What's needed is simply to reach agreement on the ground rules. I would think that the time has finally come to do it.
As for the public perception of the events that are taking place, of course this in large part depends not only on the politicians but also on how cleverly they manipulate the media, on how they influence world public opinion. Our U.S. colleagues are of course much better at it than we are. We have much to learn. But is it always done in a proper, democratic way, is the information always fair and objective?
Let's recall, for example, the interview with that 12-year-old girl and her aunt, who, as I understand, live in the United States and who witnessed the events in South Ossetia. The interviewer at one of the leading channels, Fox News, was interrupting her all the time. All the time, he interrupted her. As soon as he didn't like what she was saying, he started to interrupt her, he coughed, wheezed and screeched. All that remained for him to do was to soil his pants, in such a graphic way as to stop them. That's the only thing he didn't do, but, figuratively speaking, he was in that kind of state. Well, is that an honest and objective way to give information? Is that the way to inform the people of your own country? No, that is disinformation.
We want to live in peace and agreement; we want normal trade; we want to work in all areas: to assure international security, to work on problems of disarmament, on fighting terrorism and drugs, on the Iranian nuclear problem, on the North Korean problem which is now showing a somewhat alarming tendency. We are ready for all that, but we want this work to be honest, open and done in partnership, rather than selfishly.
It is wrong to make anyone into an enemy; it is wrong to scare the people of one's own country with that enemy and try to rally some allies on that basis. What we need is to work openly and honestly on solutions to the problem. We want that and we are ready for that.
Matthew Chance: Let's go back to the assertion that the U.S. provoked the war. Diplomats in the United States accuse Russia of provoking the war by supporting the separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by arming them, by increasing forces in the territories and by recognizing their institutions ... basically giving them the green light to go ahead and operate de facto. Wasn't it Russia that really caused this conflict?
Vladimir Putin: I can easily reply to this question. Since the 1990s, as soon as this conflict started, and it started in recent history because of the decision of the Georgian side to deprive Abkhazia and South Ossetia of the rights of autonomy. In 1990 and 1991, the Georgian leadership deprived Abkhazia and South Ossetia of the autonomous rights that they enjoyed as part of the Soviet Union, as part of Soviet Georgia, and as soon as that decision was taken, ethnic strife and armed hostilities began. At that time, Russia signed a number of international agreements, and we complied with all those agreements. We had in the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia only those peacekeeping forces that were stipulated in those agreements and never exceeded the quota.
The other side -- I am referring to the Georgian side -- with the support of the United States, violated all the agreements in the most brazen way.
Under the guise of units of the Ministry of the Interior, they secretly moved into the conflict zone their troops, regular army, special units and heavy equipment. In fact, they surrounded Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, with that heavy equipment and tanks. They surrounded our peacekeepers with tanks and started shooting at them point blank.
It was only after that, after our first casualties and after their number considerably increased, after tens of them had been killed -- I think 15 or 20 peacekeepers were killed, and there was heavy loss of life among the civilian population, with hundreds killed -- it was only after all that that President Medvedev decided to introduce a military contingent to save the lives of our peacekeepers and innocent civilians.
What is more, when our troops began moving in the direction of Tskhinvali, they came across a fortified area that had been secretly prepared by the Georgian military. In effect, tanks and heavy artillery had been dug into ground there, and they started shelling our soldiers as they moved.
All of it was done in violation of previous international agreements.
It is of course conceivable that our U.S. partners were unaware of all that, but it's very unlikely.
A totally neutral person, the former Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Zurabishvili, who is I think a French citizen and is now in Paris, has said publicly, and it was broadcast, that there was an enormous number of U.S. advisers and that of course they knew everything.
And if our supposition that there were U.S. citizens in the combat zone is confirmed -- and I repeat, we need further information from our military -- then these suspicions are quite justified.
Those who pursue such a policy toward Russia, what do they think? Will they like us only when we die?
Matthew Chance: Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.
"We did not seek such conflicts," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told CNN's Matthew Chance.
Matthew Chance: Many people around the world, even though you're not the president of Russia anymore, see you as the main decision maker in this country. Wasn't you that ordered Russian forces into Georgia and you who should take responsibility for the consequences?
Vladimir Putin: Of course, that's not the case. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the issues of foreign policy and defense are fully in the hands of the president. The president of the Russian Federation was acting within his powers.
As is known, yours truly was at that time at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. This alone made it impossible for me to take part in preparing that decision, although of course, President Medvedev was aware of my opinion on that issue. I'll be frank with you, and actually there is no secret about it, we had of course considered all the possible scenarios of events, including direct aggression by the Georgian leadership.
We had to think beforehand about how to provide for the security of our peace-keepers and of the citizens of the Russian Federation who are residents of South Ossetia. But, I repeat, such a decision could only be taken by the president of the Russian Federation, the commander in chief of the armed forces, Mr. Medvedev. It's his decision.
Matthew Chance: But it's been no secret either that for years you've been urging the West to take more seriously Russia's concerns about international issues. For instance, about NATO's expansion, about deployment of missile defense systems in eastern Europe. Wasn't this conflict a way of demonstrating that in this region, it's Russia that's the power, not NATO and certainly not the United States?
Vladimir Putin: Of course not. What is more, we did not seek such conflicts and do not want them in the future.
That this conflict has taken place -- that it broke out nevertheless -- is only due to the fact that no one had heeded our concerns.
More generally, Matthew, I will say this: We must take a broader view of this conflict.
I think both you and your -- our -- viewers today will be interested to learn a little more about the history of relations between the peoples and ethnic groups in this regions of the world. Because people know little or nothing about it.
If you think that this is unimportant, you may cut it from the program. Don't hesitate, I wouldn't mind.
But I would like to recall that all these state entities, each in its own time, voluntarily integrated into the Russian Empire. Back in the mid-18th century, in 1745-1747, Ossetia was the first to become part of the Russian Empire. At that time, it was a united entity; North and South Ossetia were one state.
In 1801, if my memory serves me, Georgia itself, which was under some pressure from the Ottoman Empire, voluntarily became part of the Russian Empire.
It was only 12 years later, in 1812, that Abkhazia became part of the Russian Empire. Until that time, it had remained an independent state, an independent principality.
It was only in the mid-19th century that the decision was taken to incorporate South Ossetia into the Tiflis province. Within a common state, the matter was regarded as not very important. But I can assure you that subsequent years showed that the Ossetians did not much like it. However, de facto they were put by the tsar's central government under the jurisdiction of what is now Georgia.
When, after World War I, the Russian Empire broke up, Georgia declared its own state while Ossetia opted for staying within Russia; this happened right after the events of 1917.
In 1918, as a result of this, Georgia conducted a rather brutal punitive operation there, and in 1921, it repeated it.
When the Soviet Union was formed, these territories, by Stalin's decision, were definitively given to Georgia. As you know, Stalin was ethnically Georgian.
Therefore, those who insist that those territories must continue to belong to Georgia are Stalinists: They defend the decision of Josef Vissarionovich Stalin.
Yet, whatever has been happening recently and whatever the motives of those involved in the conflict, there is no doubt that all that we are witnessing now is a tragedy.
For us, it is a special tragedy, because during the many years that we were living together the Georgian culture -- the Georgian people being a nation of ancient culture -- became, without a doubt, a part of the multinational culture of Russia.
There is even a tinge of civil war in this for us, though of course Georgia is an independent state, no doubt about it. We have never infringed on the sovereignty of Georgia and have no intention of doing so in the future. And yet, considering the fact that almost a million, even more than a million Georgians have moved here, we have special spiritual links with that country and its people. For us, this is a special tragedy.
And, I assure you, while mourning the Russian soldiers who died, and above all the innocent civilians, many here in Russia are also mourning the Georgians who died.
The responsibility for the loss of life rests squarely with the present Georgian leadership, which dared to take these criminal actions.
I apologize for the long monologue; I felt it would be of interest.
Matthew Chance: It is very interesting that you are talking about Russia's imperial history in this region because one of the effects of Russian intervention in Georgia is that other countries in the former Soviet Union are now deeply concerned that they could be next, that they could be part of a resurgent Russian empire ... particularly countries like Ukraine, that have a big ethnic Russian populations, but also Moldova, the central Asian states and even some of the Baltic states. Can you guarantee to us that Russia will never again use its militarily forces against a neighboring state?
Vladimir Putin: I strongly object to the way this question is formulated. It is not for us to guarantee that we will not attack someone. We have not attacked anyone. It is we who are demanding guarantees from others, to make sure that no one attacks us anymore and that no one kills our citizens. We are being portrayed as the aggressor.
I have here the chronology of the events that took place on August 7, 8 and 9. On the 7th, at 2:42 p.m., the Georgian officers who were at the headquarters of the joint peacekeeping forces left the headquarters, walked away from the headquarters -- where there were our servicemen, as well as Georgian and Ossetian servicemen -- saying that had been ordered to do so by their commanders. They left their place of service and left our servicemen there alone and never returned during the period preceding the beginning of hostilities. An hour later, heavy artillery shelling started.
At 10:35 p.m., a massive shelling of the city of Tskhinvali began. At 10:50 p.m., ground force units of the Georgian armed forces started to deploy to the combat zone. At the same time, Georgian military hospitals were deployed in the immediate vicinity. And at 11:30 p.m., Mr. Kruashvili, brigadier general and commander of the Georgian peacekeeping forces in the region, announced that Georgia had decided to declare war on South Ossetia. They announced it directly and publicly, looking right into the TV cameras.
At that time, we tried to contact the Georgian leadership, but they all refused to respond. At 0:45 a.m. on August 8, Kruashvili repeated it once again. At 5:20 a.m., tank columns of the Georgian forces launched an attack on Tskhinvali, preceded by massive fire from GRAD systems, and we began to sustain casualties among our personnel.
At that time, as you know, I was in Beijing, and I was able to talk briefly with the president of the United States. I said to him directly that we had not been able to contact the Georgian leadership but that one of the commanders of the Georgian armed forces had declared that they had started a war with South Ossetia.
George replied to me -- and I have already mentioned it publicly -- that no one wanted a war. We were hoping that the U.S. administration would intervene in the conflict and stop the aggressive actions of the Georgian leadership. Nothing of the kind happened.
What is more, already at 12 noon local time, the units of the Georgian armed forces seized the peacekeepers' camp in the south of Tskhinvali -- it is called Yuzhni, or Southern -- and our soldiers had to withdraw to the city center, being outnumbered by the Georgians one to six. Also, our peacekeepers did not have heavy weapons, and what weapons they had had been destroyed by the first artillery strikes. One of those strikes had killed 10 people at once.
Then the attack was launched on the peacekeeping forces' northern camp. Here, let me read you the report of the General Staff: "As of 12:30 p.m., the battalion of the Russian Federation peacekeeping forces deployed in the north of the city had beaten off five attacks and was continuing combat."
At that same time, Georgian aviation bombed the city of Dzhava, which was outside the zone of hostilities, in the central part of South Ossetia.
So who was the attacker, and who was attacked? We have no intention of attacking anyone, and we have no intention of going to war with anyone.
During my eight years as president, I often heard the same question: What place does Russia reserve for itself in the world; how does it see itself; what is its place? We are a peace-loving state and we want to cooperate with all of our neighbors and with all of our partners. But if anyone thinks that they can come and kill us, that our place is at the cemetery, they should think what consequences such a policy will have for them.
Matthew Chance: You've always enjoyed over your period as president of Russia, and still now, a very close personal relationship with the U.S. President George W. Bush. Do you think that his failure to restrain the Georgian forces on this occasion has damaged that relationship?
Vladimir Putin: This has certainly done damage to our relations, above all government-to-government relations.
But it is not just a matter of the U.S. administration being unable to restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal action; the U.S. side had in effect armed and trained the Georgian army.
Why spend many years in difficult negotiations to find comprehensive compromise solutions to inter-ethnic conflicts? It is easier to arm one of the parties and push it to kill the other and have it done with. What an easy solution, apparently. In fact, however, that is not always the case.
I have some other thoughts, too. What I am going to say is hypothetical, just some suppositions, and will take time to properly sort out. But I think there is food for thought here.
Even during the years of the Cold War, the intense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, we always avoided any direct clash between our civilians and, most certainly, between our military.
We have serious reasons to believe that there were U.S. citizens right in the combat zone. If that is the case, if that is confirmed, it is very bad. It is very dangerous; it is misguided policy
But, if that is so, these events could also have a U.S. domestic politics dimension.
If my suppositions are confirmed, then there are grounds to suspect that some people in the United States created this conflict deliberately in order to aggravate the situation and create a competitive advantage for one of the candidates for the U.S. presidency. And if that is the case, this is nothing but the use of the called administrative resource in domestic politics, in the worst possible way, one that leads to bloodshed.
Matthew Chance: These are quite astounding claims, but just to be clear, Mr. Prime Minister, are you suggesting that there were U.S. operatives on the ground assisting Georgian forces, perhaps even provoking a conflict in order to give a presidential candidate in the United States some kind of talking point?
Vladimir Putin: Let me explain.
Matthew Chance: And if you are suggesting that, what evidence do you have?
Vladimir Putin: I have said to you that if the presence of U.S. citizens in the zone of hostilities is confirmed, it would mean only one thing: that they could be there only at the direct instruction of their leaders. And if that is so, it means that in the combat zone there are U.S. citizens who are fulfilling their duties there. They can only do that under orders from their superiors, not on their own initiative.
Ordinary specialists, even if they train military personnel, must do it in training centers or on training grounds rather than in a combat zone.
I repeat: This requires further confirmation. I am quoting to you the reports of our military. Of course, I will seek further evidence from them.
Why are you surprised at my hypothesis, after all? There are problems in the Middle East; reconciliation there is elusive. In Afghanistan, things are not getting any better; what is more, the Taliban have launched a fall offensive, and dozens of NATO servicemen are being killed.
In Iraq, after the euphoria of the first victories, there are problems everywhere, and the number of those killed has reached 4,000.
There are problems in the economy, as we know only too well. There are financial problems, the mortgage crisis. Even we are concerned about it, and we want it to end soon, but it is there.
A little victorious war is needed. And if it doesn't work, then one can lay the blame on us, use us to create an enemy image, and against the backdrop of this kind of jingoism once again rally the country around certain political forces.
I am surprised that you are surprised at what I'm saying. It's as clear as day.
Matthew Chance: It sounds a little farfetched, but I am interested because I was in Georgia in the time of the conflict, and the country was swirling with rumors. One of the rumors was that U.S. personnel had been captured in combat areas. Is there any truth to that rumor?
Vladimir Putin: I have no such information. I think it is not correct.
I repeat: I will ask our military to provide additional information to confirm the presence of U.S. citizens in the conflict zone during the hostilities.
Matthew Chance: Let's get back to the diplomatic fallout of this conflict, because one of the consequences is that action is being threatened at least against Russia by many countries in the world. It could be kicked out of the G-8 group of industrialized nations. There are threats it could have its contacts with the NATO militarily alliance suspended. What will Russia's response be if the country is diplomatically isolated as a result of this tension between Russia and the West?
Vladimir Putin: First of all, if my hypothesis about the U.S. domestic political dimension of this conflict is correct, then I don't see why United States allies should support one U.S. political party against the other in the election campaign. This is a position that is not honest vis-à-vis the American people as a whole. But we do not rule out the possibility that, as happened before, the administration will once again be able to subordinate its allies to its will.
So what's to be done? What choice do we have? On one hand, should we agree to being killed in order to remain, say, in the G-8? And who will remain in the G-8 if all of us are killed?
You have mentioned a possible threat from Russia. You and I are sitting here now, having a quiet conversation in the city of Sochi. Within a few hundred kilometers from here, U.S. Navy ships have approached, carrying missiles whose range is precisely several hundred kilometers. It is not our ships that have approached your shores; it's your ships that have approached ours. So what's our choice?
We don't want any complications; we don't want to quarrel with anyone; we don't want to fight anyone. We want normal cooperation and a respectful attitude toward us and our interests. Is that too much?
You have mentioned the G-8. But in its present form, the G-8 already doesn't carry enough weight. Without inviting the Chinese People's Republic or India, without consulting them, without influencing their decisions, normal development of the world economy is impossible.
Or take the fight against drugs, combating infectious disease, fighting terrorism, working on non-proliferation. OK, if someone wants to do it without any involvement of Russia, how effective will that work be?
That's not what we should be thinking about, and it's pointless to try to intimidate anyone. We are not afraid, not at all. What's needed is a realistic analysis of the situation, looking to the future so as to develop a normal relationship, with due regard for each other's interests.
Matthew Chance: The raw as you've mentioned areas of cooperation still between the United States and Russia, particularly for instance over the issue of Iran's very controversial nuclear program.
Are you suggesting that you may withdraw your cooperation with the United Nations in tackling that problem from the United States if the diplomatic pressure were to be ruptured up between Russian and the West?
Vladimir Putin: Russia has been working very consistently and in good faith with its partners on all problems, those that I've mentioned and those that you added. We do so not because someone asks us and we want to look good to them. We are doing it because this is consistent with our national interests, because in these areas, our national interests coincide with those of many European countries and of the United States. If no one wants to talk to us about these problems and cooperation with Russia becomes unnecessary, God bless, do this work yourself.
Matthew Chance: And what about the issue of energy supply, because obviously European countries in particular are increasingly dependent on Russian gas and on Russian oil. Would Russia ever use the supply of energy to western Europe as a leaver to apply pressure should the diplomatic tensions be ratcheted up?
Vladimir Putin: We have never done it. Construction of the first gas pipeline system was started during the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, and for all those years, from the 1960s until this day, Russia has been fulfilling its contract obligations in a very consistent and reliable way, regardless of the political situation.
We never politicize economic relations, and we are quite astonished at the position of some U.S. administration officials who travel to European capitals trying to persuade the Europeans not to buy our products, natural gas for example, in a truly amazing effort to politicize the economic sphere. In fact, it's quite pernicious.
It's true that the Europeans depend on our supplies but we too depend on whoever buys our gas. That's interdependence; that's precisely the guarantee of stability.
And since we are already talking about economic matters, I would like to inform you about a decision that will be taken in the near future. Let me say right from the start that it is in no way related to any crisis, not to the situation in Abkhazia nor in South Ossetia; those are purely economic matters. Let me tell you what it's about.
For some time, we have had a debate about supplies of various products from different countries, including the United States. And of course the debate is particularly intense, as a rule, as regards agricultural products.
In July and August, our sanitation services conducted inspections of U.S. plants that supply poultry meat to our market. It was a spot-check inspection. It revealed that 19 of those plants ignored the concerns that our specialists had raised back in 2007. These plants will be removed from the list of poultry exporters to the Russian Federation.
Twenty-nine plants were given warnings that they must, in the near future, rectify the situation that our sanitation specialists find unacceptable. We hope the response will be rapid and that they will be able to continue supplying their products to the Russian market.
That information has just been reported to me by the minister of Agriculture.
Let me say once again that I would hate these things to be lumped together: the problems caused by conflict situations, politics, economics, meat. They all have their own dimension and are unrelated.
Matthew Chance: Prime Minister Putin, this appears or may be interpreted in the United States as tantamount to economic sanctions. Specifically, one of these 19 agricultural enterprises been importing to Russia that you've found to be flawed?
Vladimir Putin: Well, I am not an agricultural expert. This morning, the minister of agriculture gave me the following information.
I have already said it and want to repeat it. In July and August of this year, spot checks were made at U.S. plants that supply poultry to the Russian market. It was found that some of the concerns raised by our specialists earlier, in 2007, had been ignored and that the plants had done nothing to correct the deficiencies identified during the previous inspections. For that reason, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to remove them from the list of exporters.
At 29 other plants, certain problems have been found. They have been properly documented, with instructions as to what needs to be changed in order for the previous agreements on deliveries from those plants to Russia to remain in effect. We hope that they will quickly rectify the problems identified during those checks.
It has been found that their products contain excessive amounts of some substances that are subject to certain controls in our country. They contain excessive amounts of antibiotics and perhaps some other substances such as arsenic. I don't know; it's for the agricultural experts to consider. This has noting to do with politics. These are not some kind of sanctions. Such measures were taken here on several occasions in the past. There is nothing catastrophic here. It just means that we should work on this together.
What's more, when the minister called me, he said, "Frankly, we don't know what to do. It'll look like sanctions, but we need to take a decision. Of course, we could take a pause, too."
I think they said it's arsenic. But we have our rules. If you want to export to our market, you must adjust to our rules. They know all about it. They were told about it back in 2007.
Matthew Chance: The U.S. won't like it.
Vladimir Putin: We too do not like some of the things being done. They need to work closer together with our Ministry of Agriculture. Such things have happened before.
We closed it, and then we allowed them in again. It happened not only with regard to U.S. suppliers but Brazilian, too.
Matthew Chance: To conclude --
Vladimir Putin: We could go on. I am in no hurry.
Matthew Chance: Prime Minister Putin, perhaps more than anyone else, you're credited with restoring a degree of international prestige to this country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, after the chaos of 1990s, are you concerned that you're squandering that international prestige by your actions over Georgia, by actions like these banning of bird meat imports from the United States? Is that something the concerns you?
Vladimir Putin: Well, I have told you that there is no ban on U.S. poultry. It's a ban on some plants that did not respond to our concerns for a whole year.
We have to protect our domestic market and our consumers, as is done by all countries, including the United States.
As for Russia's prestige: We don't like what's been happening, but we did not provoke this situation. Speaking of prestige, some countries' prestige has been severely damaged in recent years. In effect, in recent years our U.S. partners have been cultivating the rule of force instead of the rule of international law. When we tried to stop the decision on Kosovo; no one listened to us. We said, don't do it, wait; you are putting us in a terrible position in the Caucasus. What shall we say to the small nations of the Caucasus as to why independence can be gained in Kosovo but not here? You are putting us in a ridiculous position. At that time, no one was talking about international law; we alone did. Now, they have all remembered it. Now, for some reason, everyone is talking about international law.
But who opened Pandora's box? Did we do it? No, we didn't do it. It was not our decision, and it was not our policy.
There are both things in international law: the principle of territorial integrity and right to self-determination. What's needed is simply to reach agreement on the ground rules. I would think that the time has finally come to do it.
As for the public perception of the events that are taking place, of course this in large part depends not only on the politicians but also on how cleverly they manipulate the media, on how they influence world public opinion. Our U.S. colleagues are of course much better at it than we are. We have much to learn. But is it always done in a proper, democratic way, is the information always fair and objective?
Let's recall, for example, the interview with that 12-year-old girl and her aunt, who, as I understand, live in the United States and who witnessed the events in South Ossetia. The interviewer at one of the leading channels, Fox News, was interrupting her all the time. All the time, he interrupted her. As soon as he didn't like what she was saying, he started to interrupt her, he coughed, wheezed and screeched. All that remained for him to do was to soil his pants, in such a graphic way as to stop them. That's the only thing he didn't do, but, figuratively speaking, he was in that kind of state. Well, is that an honest and objective way to give information? Is that the way to inform the people of your own country? No, that is disinformation.
We want to live in peace and agreement; we want normal trade; we want to work in all areas: to assure international security, to work on problems of disarmament, on fighting terrorism and drugs, on the Iranian nuclear problem, on the North Korean problem which is now showing a somewhat alarming tendency. We are ready for all that, but we want this work to be honest, open and done in partnership, rather than selfishly.
It is wrong to make anyone into an enemy; it is wrong to scare the people of one's own country with that enemy and try to rally some allies on that basis. What we need is to work openly and honestly on solutions to the problem. We want that and we are ready for that.
Matthew Chance: Let's go back to the assertion that the U.S. provoked the war. Diplomats in the United States accuse Russia of provoking the war by supporting the separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by arming them, by increasing forces in the territories and by recognizing their institutions ... basically giving them the green light to go ahead and operate de facto. Wasn't it Russia that really caused this conflict?
Vladimir Putin: I can easily reply to this question. Since the 1990s, as soon as this conflict started, and it started in recent history because of the decision of the Georgian side to deprive Abkhazia and South Ossetia of the rights of autonomy. In 1990 and 1991, the Georgian leadership deprived Abkhazia and South Ossetia of the autonomous rights that they enjoyed as part of the Soviet Union, as part of Soviet Georgia, and as soon as that decision was taken, ethnic strife and armed hostilities began. At that time, Russia signed a number of international agreements, and we complied with all those agreements. We had in the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia only those peacekeeping forces that were stipulated in those agreements and never exceeded the quota.
The other side -- I am referring to the Georgian side -- with the support of the United States, violated all the agreements in the most brazen way.
Under the guise of units of the Ministry of the Interior, they secretly moved into the conflict zone their troops, regular army, special units and heavy equipment. In fact, they surrounded Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, with that heavy equipment and tanks. They surrounded our peacekeepers with tanks and started shooting at them point blank.
It was only after that, after our first casualties and after their number considerably increased, after tens of them had been killed -- I think 15 or 20 peacekeepers were killed, and there was heavy loss of life among the civilian population, with hundreds killed -- it was only after all that that President Medvedev decided to introduce a military contingent to save the lives of our peacekeepers and innocent civilians.
What is more, when our troops began moving in the direction of Tskhinvali, they came across a fortified area that had been secretly prepared by the Georgian military. In effect, tanks and heavy artillery had been dug into ground there, and they started shelling our soldiers as they moved.
All of it was done in violation of previous international agreements.
It is of course conceivable that our U.S. partners were unaware of all that, but it's very unlikely.
A totally neutral person, the former Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Zurabishvili, who is I think a French citizen and is now in Paris, has said publicly, and it was broadcast, that there was an enormous number of U.S. advisers and that of course they knew everything.
And if our supposition that there were U.S. citizens in the combat zone is confirmed -- and I repeat, we need further information from our military -- then these suspicions are quite justified.
Those who pursue such a policy toward Russia, what do they think? Will they like us only when we die?
Matthew Chance: Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
"God & man" in Dostoevsky's quotes
Quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky
-A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion.
-Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.
-Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
-Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.
-Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.
-If there is no God, everything is permitted.
-If you were to destroy the belief in immortality in mankind, not only love but every living force on which the continuation of all life in the world depended, would dry up at once.
-It is not possible to eat me without insisting that I sing praises of my devourer?
-It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man's life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.
-Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.
-Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys.
-Man, so long as he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship.
-Men do not accept their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and worship those whom they have tortured to death.
-Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.
-One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.
-Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up.
-Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!
-Realists do not fear the results of their study.
-Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.
-The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.
-The formula 'Two and two make five” is not without its attractions.
-The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.
-The soul is healed by being with children.
-There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.
-There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.
-To live without Hope is to Cease to live.
-To love someone means to see him as God intended him.
-We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.
-A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion.
-Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.
-Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
-Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.
-Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.
-If there is no God, everything is permitted.
-If you were to destroy the belief in immortality in mankind, not only love but every living force on which the continuation of all life in the world depended, would dry up at once.
-It is not possible to eat me without insisting that I sing praises of my devourer?
-It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man's life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.
-Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.
-Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys.
-Man, so long as he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship.
-Men do not accept their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and worship those whom they have tortured to death.
-Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.
-One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.
-Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up.
-Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!
-Realists do not fear the results of their study.
-Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.
-The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.
-The formula 'Two and two make five” is not without its attractions.
-The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.
-The soul is healed by being with children.
-There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.
-There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.
-To live without Hope is to Cease to live.
-To love someone means to see him as God intended him.
-We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.
the BANK & the sharecroppers
John Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath Chapter 5
The owners of the land came onto the land, or more often a spokesman for the ownerscame. They came in closed cars, and they felt the dry earth with their fingers, andsometimes they drove big earth augers into the ground for soil tests. The tenants, fromtheir sun-beaten dooryards, watched uneasily when the closed cars drove along thefields. And at last the owner men drove into the dooryards and sat in their cars to talkout of the windows. The tenant men stood beside the cars for awhile, and then squattedon their hams and found sticks with which to mark the dust.In the open doors the women stood looking out, and behind them the children—cornheadedchildren, with wide eyes, one bare foot on top of the other bare foot, and thetoes working. The women and the children watched their men talking to the owner men.They were silent.Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and someof them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were coldbecause they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold.And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves. Some of them hatedthe mathematics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshipped themathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling. If a bank or afinance company owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank—or the Company—needs—wants—insists—must have—as though the Bank or the Company were amonster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take noresponsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, whilethe banks were machines and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner menwere a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters. The owner men satin the cars and explained. "You know the land is poor. You've scrabbled at it longenough, God knows."The squatting tenant men nodded and wondered and drew figures in the dust, and yes,they knew, God knows. If the dust only wouldn't fly. If the top would only stay on the soil,it might not be so bad.The owner men went on leading to their point: "You know the land's getting poorer. Youknow what cotton does to the land; robs it, sucks all the blood out of it."The squatters nodded—they knew, God knew. If they could only rotate the crops theymight pump blood back into the land.Well, it's too late. And the owner men explained the workings and the thinkings of themonster that was stronger than they were. "A man can hold land if he can just eat andpay taxes; he can do that.""Yes, he can do that until his crops fail one day and he has to borrow money from thebank.”“But—you see, a bank or a company can't do that, because those creatures don'tbreathe air, don't cat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. Ifthey don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat. It is a sad thing,but it is so. It is just so."The squatting men raised their eyes to understand. "Can't we just hang on? Maybe thenext year will be a good year. God knows how much cotton next year. And with all thewars—God knows what price cotton will bring. Don't they make explosives out ofcotton? And uniforms? Get enough wars and cotton’ll hit the ceiling. Next year, maybe."They looked up questioningly."We can't depend on it. The bank—the monster has to have profits all the time. It can'twait. It'll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can't stay onesize."Soft fingers began to tap the sill of the car window, and hard fingers tightened on therestless drawing sticks. In the doorways of the sun-beaten tenant houses, womensighed and then shifted feet so that the one that had been down was now on top, andthe toes working. Dogs came sniffing near the owner cars and wetted on all four tiresone after another. And chickens lay in the sunny dust and fluffed their feathers to getthe cleansing dust down to the skin. In the little sties the pigs grunted inquiringly overthe muddy remnants of the slops.The squatting men looked down again. "What do you want us to do? We can't take lessshare of the crop—we're half starved now. The kids are hungry all the time. We got noclothes, torn an' ragged. If all the neighbors weren't the same, we'd he ashamed to go tomeeting."And at last the owner men came to the point. "The tenant system won't work, any more.One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families. Pay him a wageand take all the crop. We have to do it. We don't like to do it. But the monster's sick.Something's happened to the monster.""But you'II kilI the land with cotton.""We know. We’ve got to take the cotton quick before the land dies. Then we’ll sell theland. Lots of families in the East would like to own a piece of land."The tenant men looked up alarmed. "But what’ll happen to us? How’ll we eat?""You’ll have to get off the land. The plows’ll go through the dooryard."And now the squatting men stood up angrily. "Grampa took up the land, and he had tokill the Indians and drive them away. And Pa was born here, and he killed weeds andsnakes. Then a bad year came and he had to borrow a little money. An’ we was bornhere. There in the door—our children born here. And Pa had to borrow money. Thebank owned the land then, but we stayed and we got a little bit of what we raised.""We know that—all that. It’s not us, it’s the bank. A bank isn’t like a man. Or an ownerwith fifty thousand acres, he isn’t like a man either. That’s the monster.""Sure," cried the tenant men, "but it’s our land. We measured it and broke it up. Wewere born on it, and we got killed on it, died on it. Even if it’s no good, it’s still ours.That’s what makes it ours—being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makesownership, not a paper with numbers on it.""We’re sorry. It’s not us. It’s the monster. The bank isn’t like a man.""Yes, but the bank is only made of men.""No, you’re wrong there—quite wrong there. The bank is something else than men. Ithappens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it.The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but theycan’t control it."The tenants cried, "Grampa killed Indians, Pa killed snakes for the land. Maybe we cankill banks—they're worse than Indians and snakes. Maybe we got to fight to keep ourland, like Pa and Granpa did."And now the owner men grew angry. "You’ll have to go.""But it's ours," the tenant men cried. "We—""No. The bank, the monster owns it. You'll have to go.""We'll get our guns, like Granpa when the Indians came. What then?""Well—first the sheriff, and then the troops. You'll be stealing if you try to stay, you'll bemurderers if you kill to stay. The monster isn't men, but it can make men do what itwants.""But if we go, where'll we go? How'll we go? We got no money.""We're sorry," said the owner men. "The bank, the fifty-thousand-acre owner can't beresponsible. You're on land that isn't yours. Once over the line maybe you can pickcotton in the fall. Maybe you can go on relief. Why don't you go on west to California?There's work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pickan orange. Why, there's always some kind of crop to work in. Why don't you go there?"And the owner men started their cars and rolled away.The tenant men squatted down on their hams again to mark the dust with a stick, tofigure, to wonder. Their sun- burned faces were dark, and their sun-whipped eyes werelight. The women moved cautiously out of the doorways toward their men, and thechildren crept behind the women, cautiously, ready to run. The bigger boys squattedbeside their fathers, because that made them men. After a time the women asked, Whatdid he want?And the men looked up for a second, and the smolder of pain was in their eyes. "We gotto get off. A. tractor and a superintendent. Like factories."Where'll we go? the women asked."We don't know. We don't know."And the women went quickly, quietly back into the houses and herded the childrenahead of them. They knew that a man so hurt and so perplexed may turn in anger, evenon people he loves. They left the men alone to figure and to wonder in the dust.After a time perhaps the tenant man looked about—at the pump put in ten years ago,with a goose-neck handle and iron flowers on the spout, at the chopping block where athousand chickens had been killed, at the hand plow lying in the shed, and the patentcrib hanging in the rafters over it.The children crowded about the women in the houses. What we going to do, Ma?Where we going to go?The women said, We don't know, yet. Go out and play. But don't go near your father. Hemight whale you if you go near him. And the women went on with the work, but all thetime they watched the men squatting in the dust—perplexed and figuring.The tractors came over the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects,having the incredible strength of insects. They crawled over the ground, laying the trackand rolling on it and picking it up. Diesel tractors, puttering while they stood idle; theythundered when they moved, and then settled down to a droning roar. Snub-nosedmonsters raising the dust and sticking their snouts into it, straight down the country,across the country, through fences, through dooryards, in and out of gullies in straightlines. They did not run on the ground, but on their own roadbeds. They ignored hills andgulches, water courses, houses.The man sitting in the iron seat did not look like a man; gloved, goggled, rubber dustmask over nose and mouth, he was a part of the monster, a robot in the seat. Thethunder of the cylinders sounded through the country, became one with the air and theearth, so that earth and air muttered in sympathetic vibration. The driver could notcontrol it—straight across country it went, cutting through a dozen farms and straightback. A twitch at the controls could swerve the cat', but the driver's hands could nottwitch because the monster that built the tractor, the monster that sent the tractor out,had somehow got into the driver’s hands, into his brain and muscle, had goggled himand muzzled him—goggled his mind, muzzled his speech, goggled his perception,muzzled his protest., He could not see the land as it was, he could not smell the land asit smelled; his feet did not stamp the clods or feel the warmth and power of the earth. Hesat in an iron seat and stepped on iron pedals. He could not cheer or beat or curse orencourage the extension of his power, and because of this he could not cheer or whipor curse or encourage himself. He did not know or own or trust or beseech the land. If aseed dropped did not germinate, it was nothing. If the young thrusting plant withered indrought or drowned in a flood of rain, it was no more to the driver than to the tractor.He loved the land no more than the bank loved the land. He could admire the tractor—its machined surfaces, its surge of power, the roar of its detonating cylinders; but it wasnot his tractor. Behind the tractor rolled the shining disks, cutting the earth with blades—not plowing but surgery, pushing the cut earth to the right where the second row of diskscut it and pushed it to the left; slicing blades shining, polished by the cut earth. Andpulled behind the disks, the harrows combing with iron teeth so that the little clods brokeup and the earth lay smooth. Behind the harrows, the long seeders—twelve curved ironpenes erected in the foundry, orgasms set by gears, raping methodically, raping withoutpassion. The driver sat in his iron seat and he was proud of the straight lines he did notwill, proud of the tractor he did not own or love, proud of the power he could not control.And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in hisfingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lustedfor the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread.The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, ithad no prayers or curses.At noon the tractor driver stopped sometimes near a tenant house and opened hislunch: sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper, white bread, pickle, cheese, Spam, a pieceof pie branded like an engine part. He ate without relish. And tenants not yet movedaway came out to see him, looked curiously while the goggles were taken off, and therubber dust mask, leaving white circles around the eyes and a large white circle aroundnose and mouth. The exhaust of the tractor puttered on, for fuel is so cheap it is moreefficient to leave the engine running than to heat the Diesel nose for a new start.Curious children crowded close, ragged children who ate their fried dough as theywatched. They watched hungrily the unwrapping of the sandwiches, and their hungersharpenednoses smelled the pickle, cheese, and Spam. They didn't speak to the driver.They watched his hand as it carried food to his mouth. They did not watch him chewing;their eyes followed the hand that held the sandwich. After awhile the tenant who couldnot leave the place came out and squatted in the shade beside the tractor."Why, you're Joe Davis's boy'!""Sure," the driver said."W ell, what you doing this kind of work for—against your own people?""Three dollars a day. I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner—and not getting it. I gota wife and kids. We got to eat. Three dollars a day, and it comes every day.""That's right," the tenant said. "But for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty familiescan't eat at all. Nearly a hundred people have to go out and wander on the roads foryour three dollars a day. Is that right?"And the driver said, "Can’t think of that. Got to think of my own kids. Three dollars a day,and it comes every day. Times are changing, mister, don't you know? Can't make aliving on the land unless you've got two, five, ten thousand acres and a tractor. Cropland isn't for little guys like us any more. You don't kick up a howl because you can'tmake Fords, or because you're not the telephone company. Well, crops are like thatnow. Nothing to do about it. You try to get three dollars a day someplace. That's theonly way."The tenant pondered. "Funny thing how it is. If a man owns a little property, thatproperty is him, it's part of him, and it's like him. If he owns property only so he can walkon it and handle it and be sad when it isn't doing well, and feel fine when the rain fallson it, that property is him, and some way he's bigger because he owns it. Even if he isn'tsuccessful he’s big with his property. That is so.”And the tenant pondered more. “But let a man get property he doesn’t see, or can’t taketime to get his fingers in, or can’t be there to walk on it—why, then the property is theman. He can't do what he wants, he can't think what he wants. The property is the man,stronger than he is. And he is small, not big. Only his possessions are big—and he's theservant of his property. That is so, too."The driver munched the branded pie and threw the crust away. "Times are changed,don't you know? Thinking about stuff like that don't feed the kids. Get your three dollarsa day, feed your kids. You got no call to worry about anybody's kids but your own. Youget a reputation for talking like that, and you'll never get three dollars a day. Big shotswon't give you three dollars a day if you worry about anything but your three dollars aday.""Nearly a hundred people on the road for your three dollars. Where will we go?""And that reminds me," the driver said, "you better get out soon. I'm going through thedooryard' after dinner.""You filled in the well this morning.""I know. Had to keep the line straight. But I'm going through the dooryard after dinner.Got to keep the lines straight. And—well, you know Joe Davis, my old man, so I'll tellyou this. I got orders wherever there's a family not moved out—if I have an accident—you know, get too close and cave the house in a little—well, I might get a couple ofdollars. .And my youngest kid never had no shoes yet.""I built it with my hands. Straightened old nails to put the sheathing on. Rafters are wiredto the stringers with baling wire. It's mine. I built it. You bump it down—I'll be in thewindow with a rifle. You even come too close and I'll pot you like a rabbit.""It's not me. There's nothing I can do. I'II lose my job if I don't do it. And look—supposeyou kill me? They'll just hang you, but long before you're hung there'll be another guy onthe tractor, and he'll bump the house down. You're not killing the right guy.""That's so," the tenant said. “Who gave you orders? I'll go after him. He's the one to kill."“You're wrong. He got his orders from the bank. The bank told him, 'Clear those peopleout or it's your job.' ""Well, there's a president of the bank. There's a board of directors. I'll fill up themagazine of the rifle and go into the bank."The driver said, "Fellow was telling me the bank gets orders from the East. The orderswere, 'Make the land show profit or we'll close you up.' "“But where does it stop? Who can we shoot? I don't aim to starve to death before I killthe man that's starving me.""I don't know. Maybe there's nobody to shoot. Maybe the thing isn't men at all. Maybe,like you said, the property's doing it. Anyway I told you my orders."“I got to figure," the tenant said. "We all got to figure. There’s some way to stop this. It'snot like lightning or earthquakes. We've got a bad thing made by men, and by Godthat's something we can change." The tenant sat in his doorway, and the driverthundered his engine and started off, tracks falling and curving, harrows combing, andthe phalli of the seeder slipping into the ground. Across the dooryard the tractor cut, andthe hard, foot-beaten ground was seeded field, and the tractor cut through again; theuncut space was ten feet wide. And back he came. The iron guard bit into the housecorner,crumbled the wall, and wrenched the little house from its foundation so that it fellsideways, crushed like a bug. And the driver was goggled and a rubber mask coveredhis nose and mouth. The tractor cut a straight line on, and the air and the groundvibrated with its thunder. The tenant man stared after it, his rifle in his hand. His wifewas beside him, and the quiet children behind. And all of them stared after the tractor.
The owners of the land came onto the land, or more often a spokesman for the ownerscame. They came in closed cars, and they felt the dry earth with their fingers, andsometimes they drove big earth augers into the ground for soil tests. The tenants, fromtheir sun-beaten dooryards, watched uneasily when the closed cars drove along thefields. And at last the owner men drove into the dooryards and sat in their cars to talkout of the windows. The tenant men stood beside the cars for awhile, and then squattedon their hams and found sticks with which to mark the dust.In the open doors the women stood looking out, and behind them the children—cornheadedchildren, with wide eyes, one bare foot on top of the other bare foot, and thetoes working. The women and the children watched their men talking to the owner men.They were silent.Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and someof them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were coldbecause they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold.And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves. Some of them hatedthe mathematics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshipped themathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling. If a bank or afinance company owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank—or the Company—needs—wants—insists—must have—as though the Bank or the Company were amonster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take noresponsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, whilethe banks were machines and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner menwere a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters. The owner men satin the cars and explained. "You know the land is poor. You've scrabbled at it longenough, God knows."The squatting tenant men nodded and wondered and drew figures in the dust, and yes,they knew, God knows. If the dust only wouldn't fly. If the top would only stay on the soil,it might not be so bad.The owner men went on leading to their point: "You know the land's getting poorer. Youknow what cotton does to the land; robs it, sucks all the blood out of it."The squatters nodded—they knew, God knew. If they could only rotate the crops theymight pump blood back into the land.Well, it's too late. And the owner men explained the workings and the thinkings of themonster that was stronger than they were. "A man can hold land if he can just eat andpay taxes; he can do that.""Yes, he can do that until his crops fail one day and he has to borrow money from thebank.”“But—you see, a bank or a company can't do that, because those creatures don'tbreathe air, don't cat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. Ifthey don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat. It is a sad thing,but it is so. It is just so."The squatting men raised their eyes to understand. "Can't we just hang on? Maybe thenext year will be a good year. God knows how much cotton next year. And with all thewars—God knows what price cotton will bring. Don't they make explosives out ofcotton? And uniforms? Get enough wars and cotton’ll hit the ceiling. Next year, maybe."They looked up questioningly."We can't depend on it. The bank—the monster has to have profits all the time. It can'twait. It'll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can't stay onesize."Soft fingers began to tap the sill of the car window, and hard fingers tightened on therestless drawing sticks. In the doorways of the sun-beaten tenant houses, womensighed and then shifted feet so that the one that had been down was now on top, andthe toes working. Dogs came sniffing near the owner cars and wetted on all four tiresone after another. And chickens lay in the sunny dust and fluffed their feathers to getthe cleansing dust down to the skin. In the little sties the pigs grunted inquiringly overthe muddy remnants of the slops.The squatting men looked down again. "What do you want us to do? We can't take lessshare of the crop—we're half starved now. The kids are hungry all the time. We got noclothes, torn an' ragged. If all the neighbors weren't the same, we'd he ashamed to go tomeeting."And at last the owner men came to the point. "The tenant system won't work, any more.One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families. Pay him a wageand take all the crop. We have to do it. We don't like to do it. But the monster's sick.Something's happened to the monster.""But you'II kilI the land with cotton.""We know. We’ve got to take the cotton quick before the land dies. Then we’ll sell theland. Lots of families in the East would like to own a piece of land."The tenant men looked up alarmed. "But what’ll happen to us? How’ll we eat?""You’ll have to get off the land. The plows’ll go through the dooryard."And now the squatting men stood up angrily. "Grampa took up the land, and he had tokill the Indians and drive them away. And Pa was born here, and he killed weeds andsnakes. Then a bad year came and he had to borrow a little money. An’ we was bornhere. There in the door—our children born here. And Pa had to borrow money. Thebank owned the land then, but we stayed and we got a little bit of what we raised.""We know that—all that. It’s not us, it’s the bank. A bank isn’t like a man. Or an ownerwith fifty thousand acres, he isn’t like a man either. That’s the monster.""Sure," cried the tenant men, "but it’s our land. We measured it and broke it up. Wewere born on it, and we got killed on it, died on it. Even if it’s no good, it’s still ours.That’s what makes it ours—being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makesownership, not a paper with numbers on it.""We’re sorry. It’s not us. It’s the monster. The bank isn’t like a man.""Yes, but the bank is only made of men.""No, you’re wrong there—quite wrong there. The bank is something else than men. Ithappens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it.The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but theycan’t control it."The tenants cried, "Grampa killed Indians, Pa killed snakes for the land. Maybe we cankill banks—they're worse than Indians and snakes. Maybe we got to fight to keep ourland, like Pa and Granpa did."And now the owner men grew angry. "You’ll have to go.""But it's ours," the tenant men cried. "We—""No. The bank, the monster owns it. You'll have to go.""We'll get our guns, like Granpa when the Indians came. What then?""Well—first the sheriff, and then the troops. You'll be stealing if you try to stay, you'll bemurderers if you kill to stay. The monster isn't men, but it can make men do what itwants.""But if we go, where'll we go? How'll we go? We got no money.""We're sorry," said the owner men. "The bank, the fifty-thousand-acre owner can't beresponsible. You're on land that isn't yours. Once over the line maybe you can pickcotton in the fall. Maybe you can go on relief. Why don't you go on west to California?There's work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pickan orange. Why, there's always some kind of crop to work in. Why don't you go there?"And the owner men started their cars and rolled away.The tenant men squatted down on their hams again to mark the dust with a stick, tofigure, to wonder. Their sun- burned faces were dark, and their sun-whipped eyes werelight. The women moved cautiously out of the doorways toward their men, and thechildren crept behind the women, cautiously, ready to run. The bigger boys squattedbeside their fathers, because that made them men. After a time the women asked, Whatdid he want?And the men looked up for a second, and the smolder of pain was in their eyes. "We gotto get off. A. tractor and a superintendent. Like factories."Where'll we go? the women asked."We don't know. We don't know."And the women went quickly, quietly back into the houses and herded the childrenahead of them. They knew that a man so hurt and so perplexed may turn in anger, evenon people he loves. They left the men alone to figure and to wonder in the dust.After a time perhaps the tenant man looked about—at the pump put in ten years ago,with a goose-neck handle and iron flowers on the spout, at the chopping block where athousand chickens had been killed, at the hand plow lying in the shed, and the patentcrib hanging in the rafters over it.The children crowded about the women in the houses. What we going to do, Ma?Where we going to go?The women said, We don't know, yet. Go out and play. But don't go near your father. Hemight whale you if you go near him. And the women went on with the work, but all thetime they watched the men squatting in the dust—perplexed and figuring.The tractors came over the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects,having the incredible strength of insects. They crawled over the ground, laying the trackand rolling on it and picking it up. Diesel tractors, puttering while they stood idle; theythundered when they moved, and then settled down to a droning roar. Snub-nosedmonsters raising the dust and sticking their snouts into it, straight down the country,across the country, through fences, through dooryards, in and out of gullies in straightlines. They did not run on the ground, but on their own roadbeds. They ignored hills andgulches, water courses, houses.The man sitting in the iron seat did not look like a man; gloved, goggled, rubber dustmask over nose and mouth, he was a part of the monster, a robot in the seat. Thethunder of the cylinders sounded through the country, became one with the air and theearth, so that earth and air muttered in sympathetic vibration. The driver could notcontrol it—straight across country it went, cutting through a dozen farms and straightback. A twitch at the controls could swerve the cat', but the driver's hands could nottwitch because the monster that built the tractor, the monster that sent the tractor out,had somehow got into the driver’s hands, into his brain and muscle, had goggled himand muzzled him—goggled his mind, muzzled his speech, goggled his perception,muzzled his protest., He could not see the land as it was, he could not smell the land asit smelled; his feet did not stamp the clods or feel the warmth and power of the earth. Hesat in an iron seat and stepped on iron pedals. He could not cheer or beat or curse orencourage the extension of his power, and because of this he could not cheer or whipor curse or encourage himself. He did not know or own or trust or beseech the land. If aseed dropped did not germinate, it was nothing. If the young thrusting plant withered indrought or drowned in a flood of rain, it was no more to the driver than to the tractor.He loved the land no more than the bank loved the land. He could admire the tractor—its machined surfaces, its surge of power, the roar of its detonating cylinders; but it wasnot his tractor. Behind the tractor rolled the shining disks, cutting the earth with blades—not plowing but surgery, pushing the cut earth to the right where the second row of diskscut it and pushed it to the left; slicing blades shining, polished by the cut earth. Andpulled behind the disks, the harrows combing with iron teeth so that the little clods brokeup and the earth lay smooth. Behind the harrows, the long seeders—twelve curved ironpenes erected in the foundry, orgasms set by gears, raping methodically, raping withoutpassion. The driver sat in his iron seat and he was proud of the straight lines he did notwill, proud of the tractor he did not own or love, proud of the power he could not control.And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in hisfingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lustedfor the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread.The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, ithad no prayers or curses.At noon the tractor driver stopped sometimes near a tenant house and opened hislunch: sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper, white bread, pickle, cheese, Spam, a pieceof pie branded like an engine part. He ate without relish. And tenants not yet movedaway came out to see him, looked curiously while the goggles were taken off, and therubber dust mask, leaving white circles around the eyes and a large white circle aroundnose and mouth. The exhaust of the tractor puttered on, for fuel is so cheap it is moreefficient to leave the engine running than to heat the Diesel nose for a new start.Curious children crowded close, ragged children who ate their fried dough as theywatched. They watched hungrily the unwrapping of the sandwiches, and their hungersharpenednoses smelled the pickle, cheese, and Spam. They didn't speak to the driver.They watched his hand as it carried food to his mouth. They did not watch him chewing;their eyes followed the hand that held the sandwich. After awhile the tenant who couldnot leave the place came out and squatted in the shade beside the tractor."Why, you're Joe Davis's boy'!""Sure," the driver said."W ell, what you doing this kind of work for—against your own people?""Three dollars a day. I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner—and not getting it. I gota wife and kids. We got to eat. Three dollars a day, and it comes every day.""That's right," the tenant said. "But for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty familiescan't eat at all. Nearly a hundred people have to go out and wander on the roads foryour three dollars a day. Is that right?"And the driver said, "Can’t think of that. Got to think of my own kids. Three dollars a day,and it comes every day. Times are changing, mister, don't you know? Can't make aliving on the land unless you've got two, five, ten thousand acres and a tractor. Cropland isn't for little guys like us any more. You don't kick up a howl because you can'tmake Fords, or because you're not the telephone company. Well, crops are like thatnow. Nothing to do about it. You try to get three dollars a day someplace. That's theonly way."The tenant pondered. "Funny thing how it is. If a man owns a little property, thatproperty is him, it's part of him, and it's like him. If he owns property only so he can walkon it and handle it and be sad when it isn't doing well, and feel fine when the rain fallson it, that property is him, and some way he's bigger because he owns it. Even if he isn'tsuccessful he’s big with his property. That is so.”And the tenant pondered more. “But let a man get property he doesn’t see, or can’t taketime to get his fingers in, or can’t be there to walk on it—why, then the property is theman. He can't do what he wants, he can't think what he wants. The property is the man,stronger than he is. And he is small, not big. Only his possessions are big—and he's theservant of his property. That is so, too."The driver munched the branded pie and threw the crust away. "Times are changed,don't you know? Thinking about stuff like that don't feed the kids. Get your three dollarsa day, feed your kids. You got no call to worry about anybody's kids but your own. Youget a reputation for talking like that, and you'll never get three dollars a day. Big shotswon't give you three dollars a day if you worry about anything but your three dollars aday.""Nearly a hundred people on the road for your three dollars. Where will we go?""And that reminds me," the driver said, "you better get out soon. I'm going through thedooryard' after dinner.""You filled in the well this morning.""I know. Had to keep the line straight. But I'm going through the dooryard after dinner.Got to keep the lines straight. And—well, you know Joe Davis, my old man, so I'll tellyou this. I got orders wherever there's a family not moved out—if I have an accident—you know, get too close and cave the house in a little—well, I might get a couple ofdollars. .And my youngest kid never had no shoes yet.""I built it with my hands. Straightened old nails to put the sheathing on. Rafters are wiredto the stringers with baling wire. It's mine. I built it. You bump it down—I'll be in thewindow with a rifle. You even come too close and I'll pot you like a rabbit.""It's not me. There's nothing I can do. I'II lose my job if I don't do it. And look—supposeyou kill me? They'll just hang you, but long before you're hung there'll be another guy onthe tractor, and he'll bump the house down. You're not killing the right guy.""That's so," the tenant said. “Who gave you orders? I'll go after him. He's the one to kill."“You're wrong. He got his orders from the bank. The bank told him, 'Clear those peopleout or it's your job.' ""Well, there's a president of the bank. There's a board of directors. I'll fill up themagazine of the rifle and go into the bank."The driver said, "Fellow was telling me the bank gets orders from the East. The orderswere, 'Make the land show profit or we'll close you up.' "“But where does it stop? Who can we shoot? I don't aim to starve to death before I killthe man that's starving me.""I don't know. Maybe there's nobody to shoot. Maybe the thing isn't men at all. Maybe,like you said, the property's doing it. Anyway I told you my orders."“I got to figure," the tenant said. "We all got to figure. There’s some way to stop this. It'snot like lightning or earthquakes. We've got a bad thing made by men, and by Godthat's something we can change." The tenant sat in his doorway, and the driverthundered his engine and started off, tracks falling and curving, harrows combing, andthe phalli of the seeder slipping into the ground. Across the dooryard the tractor cut, andthe hard, foot-beaten ground was seeded field, and the tractor cut through again; theuncut space was ten feet wide. And back he came. The iron guard bit into the housecorner,crumbled the wall, and wrenched the little house from its foundation so that it fellsideways, crushed like a bug. And the driver was goggled and a rubber mask coveredhis nose and mouth. The tractor cut a straight line on, and the air and the groundvibrated with its thunder. The tenant man stared after it, his rifle in his hand. His wifewas beside him, and the quiet children behind. And all of them stared after the tractor.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Emperor & Worker
Imparat si Proletar
de Mihail Eminescu 1874
Pe bãnci de lemn, în scunda tavernã mohorâtã,
Unde pãtrunde ziua printre ferestri murdare,
Pe lângã mese lunge, stãtea posomorâtã,
Cu-fete-ntunecoase, o ceatã pribegitã,
Copii sãraci si sceptici ai plebei proletare.
.
Ah! -- zise unul -- spuneti cã-i omul o luminã
Pe lumea asta plinã de-amaruri si de chin?
Nici o scânteie-ntr-însul nu-i candidã si plinã,
Murdarã este raza-i ca globul cel de tinã,
Asupra cãrui dânsul domneste pe deplin.
.
Spuneti-mi ce-i dreptatea? -- Cei tari se îngrãdirã
Cu-averea si mãrirea în cercul lor de legi;
Prin bunuri ce furarã, în veci vezi cum conspirã
Contra celor ce dânsii la lucru-i osândirã
Si le subjugã munca vietii lor întregi.
.
Unii plini de plãcere petrec a lor viatã,
Trec zilele voiaose si orele surâd.
În cupe vin de ambrã -- iarna grãdini, verdeatã,
Vara petreceri, Alpii cu fruntile de gheatã --
Ei fac din noapte ziuã s-a zilei ochi închid.
.
Virtutea pentru dânsii ea nu existã. Însã
V-o predicã, cãci trebui sã fioe brate tari,
A satelor greoaie carã trebuie-mpinse
Si trebuiesc luptate rãzboaiele aprinse,
Cãci voi murind în sânge, ei pot sã fie mari.
.
Si flotele puternice s-armatele fãloase,
Coroanele ce regii le pun pe fruntea lor,
S-acele milioane, ce în grãmezi luxoase
Sunt strânse la bogatul, pe cel sãrac apasã,
Si-s supte din sudoarea prostitului popor.
.
Religia -- o frazã de dînsii inventatã
Ca cu a ei putere sã vã aplece-n jug,
Cãci ar lipsi din inimi speranta de rãsplatã,
Dupa ce-amar muncirãti mizeri viata toatã,
Ati mai purta osânda ca vita de la plug?
.
Cu umbre, care nu sunt, v-a-ntunecat vederea
Si v-a fãcut sã credeti cã veti fi rãsplãtiti...
Nu! Moartea cu viata a stins toatã plãcerea --
Cel ce în astã lume a dus numai durerea
Nimic n-are dincolo, cãci morti sunt cei muriti.
.
Minciuni si fraze-i totul ce le statele sustine,
nu-i ordinea fireascã ce ei a fi sustin;
averea sã le aperi, mãrirea a-a lor bine,
Ei bratul tãu înarmã ca sã lovesti în tine,
Si pe voi contra voastrã la luptã ei vã mân.
.
De ce sã fiti voi sclacii milioanelor nefaste,
Voi, ce din munca voastrã abia puteti trãi?
De ce boala si moartea sã fie partea voastrã,
Când ei bogãtia cea splendidã si vastã
Petrec ca si în ceruri, n-au timp nici de-a muri?
.
De ce uitati cã-n voi e numãr si putere?
Când vreti, puteti prea lesne pãmântul sã-mpãrtiti,
Si nu le mai faceti ziduri unde sa-închid-avere,
Pe voi unde sã-nchidã, când împinsi de durere
Veti crede c-aveti dreptul si voi ca sã trãiti.
.
Ei îngrãditi de lege, plãcerilor se lasã,
Si sucul cel mai dulce pãmântului i-l sug;
Ei cheamã-n voluptatea orgiei zgomotoase
De instrumente oarbe a voastre fiici frumopase;
Frumusetile-ne tineri bãtrânii lor distrug.
.
Si de-ntrebati atunce, vouã ce vã rãmâne?
Munca, din care dânsii se-mbatã în plãceri,
Robia viata toatã, lacrimi pe-o neagrã pâne,
Copilelor pãtate mizeria-n rusine...
Ei tot si voi nimica; ei cerul, voi dureri!
.
De lege n-au nevoie -- virtutea e usoarã
Când ai ce-ti trebuieste... Iar legi sunt pentru voi,
Vouã vã pune lege, pedepse vã mãsoarã
Când mâna v-o întindeti la bunuri zâmbitoare,
Cãci nu-i iertat nici bratul teribilei nevoi.
.
Zdraobiti orânduiala cea crudã si nedreaptã,
Ce llumea o împarte în mizeri si bogati!
Atunci când dupã moarte rãsplatã nu v-asteaptã,
Faceti ca-n astã lume sã aibã parte dreaptã,
Egalã fiecare, si sã trãim ca frati!
.
Sfãrmati statuia goalã a Venerei antice,
Ardeti acele pânze cu corpuri de ninsori;
Ele stârnesc în suflet ideea neferice
A perfectiei umane si ele fac sã pice
În ghearele uzurei copile din popor!
.
Sfãrmati tot ce atâtã inima lor bolnavã,
Sfãrmati palate, temple, ce crimele ascund,
Zvârliti statui de tirani în foc, sã curgã lavã,
Sã spele de pe pietre pânã si urma sclavã
Celor ce le urmeazã pân’ la al lumii fund!
.
Sfãrmati tot ce aratã nândrie si avere,
O! dezbrãcati viata de haina-i de granit,
De purpurã, de aur, de lacrimi, de urât --
Sã fie un vis numai, sãfie o pãrere,
Ce fãr’ de patimi trece în timpul nesfârsit.
.
Zudutu dub dãrmãture gigantici piramide
Ca un memento mori pe al istoriei plan;
Aceasta este arta ce sufletu-ti deschide
Naintea veciniciei, nu corpul gol ce râde
Cu mutra de vândutã, cu ochi vil si viclean.
.
O! aduceti potopul, destul voi asteptarãti
Ca sã vedeti ce bine prin bine o sã ias’
Nimic... Locul hienei îi luã cel vorbãret
Locul cruzimii veche, cel lins si pizmãtaret,
Formele se schimbarã, dar rãul a rãmas.
.
Atunci vãveti întoarce la vremile-aurite,
Ce mitele albastre ni le soptesc ades,
Plãcerile egale, egal vor fi-mpãrtite,
Chiar moartea când va stinge lampa vietii finite,
Vi s-a pãrea un înger cu pãrul blond si des.
.
Atunci veti muri lesne fãrã de-amar si grijã,
Feciorii-or trãi-n lume cum voi ati vietuit,
Chiar clopotul n-a plânge cu limba lui de spijã
Pentru acel de care norocul avu grijã;
Nimeni de-a plânge n-are, el traiul si-a trãit.
.
Si boale ce mizeria s-averea nefireascã
Le nasc în oameni, toate cu-ncetul s-or topi;
Va creste tot ce-n lume este menit sã creascã,
Va bea pân-în fund cupa, pân’ va vrea s-o zdrobeascã,
Cãci va muri când nu va avea la ce trãi.
.
Pe malurile Seinei, în faeton de galã,
Cezarul trece palid, în gânduri adâncit;
Al undelor greu vuiet, vuirea în granit
A sute d-echipajuri, gândirea-i n-o însalã;
Poporul loc îi face tãcut si umilit.
.
Zâmbirea lui desteaptã, adâncã si tãcutã,
Privirea-i ce citeste în suflete-omenesti,
Si mâna-i care poartã destinele lumesti,
Cea grupã zdrentuitã în cale-i o salutã.
Marirea-i în tainã legatã de acesti.
.
Convins ca voi el este-n nãltimea-i solitarã
Lipsitã de iubire, cum cã principiul rãu,
Nedreptul si minciuna al lumii duce frâu;
Istoria umanã în veci se desfãsoarã,
Povestea-i a ciocanului ce cade pe ilãu.
.
Si el -- el vârful mândru al celor ce apasã --
Saluta-n a lui cale pe-apãrãtorul mut.
De ati lipsi din lume, voi cauza-ntunecoasã
De rãsturnãri mãrete, mãrirea-i radioasã,
Cezarul, chiar Cezarul de mult ar fi cãzut.
.
Cu ale voastre umbre nimica crezãtoare,
Cu zâmbetu-vã rece, de milã pãrãsit,
Cu mintea de dreptate si bine râzãtoare,
Cu umbra voastrã numai, puteri îngrozitoare,
La jugu-i el sileste pe cei ce l-au urât.
.
Parisul arde-n valuri, furtuna-n el se scaldã,
Turnuri ca facle negre trãsnesc arzând în vânt --
Prin limbile de flãcãri, ce-n valuri se frãmânt,
Rãcnete, vuiet de-arme pãtrund marea cea caldã,
Evul e un cadavru -- Paris al lui mormânt.
.
Pe stradele-ncrusite de flãcãri orbitoare,
Suiti pe baricade de bulgãride granit,
Se misc batalioane a plebei proletare,
Cu cusme frigiene si arme lucitoare,
Si clopote de-alarmã rãsunã rãgusit.
.
Ca marmura de albe, ca ea nepãsãtoare,
Prin aerul cel rosu, femei trec ce-arme-n brat,
Cu pãr bogat si negru pe urme se coboarã
Si sânii lor acopãr -- e urã si turbare
În ochii lor cei nergi, adânci si desperati.
.
O! Luptã-te-nvãlitã în pletele-ti bogate,
Eroic este astãzi copilul cel pierdut!
Cãci flamua cea rosã cu umbra-i de departe
Sfinteste-a ta viatã de tinã si pãcate;
Nu! nu esti tu de vinã, ci cei ce te-au vândut!
.
Scânteie marea linã si placele ei sure
Se misc una pe alta ca pãturi de cristal
Prin lume prãvãlite; din tainica pãdure
Apare luna mare câmpiilor azure,
Împlându-le cu ochiul ei mândru, triumfal.
.
Pe undele încete îsi miscã lagãnate
Corãbii învechite scheletele de lemn;
Trecând ncet ca umbre -- tin pânzle umflate
În fata lunei care prin ele-atunci strãbate,
Si-n roatã defoc galben stã fata-i ca un semn.
.
Pe maluri zdrumicate de aiurirea mãrii
Cezaru-ncã vegheazã la trunchiul cel pãcat
Al salciei pletoase -- si-ntinse-a apei arii
În cercuri fulgerânde se pleaca lin suflãrii
A zefirului noptii si sunã cadentat.
.
Îi pare cã prin aer în noaptea înstelatã,
Cãlcând pe vârf de codri, pe-a apelor mãriri,
Trecea cu barba albã -- pe fruntea-ntunecatã
Cununa cea de paie îi atârnã uscatã --
Mosneagul rege Lear.
.
Uimit privea Cezarul la umbra cea din nouri,
Prin creti ai cãrei stele lin tremurând transpar,
I se deschide-n minte tot sensul din tablouri
A vietii sclipitoare... A popoarelor ecouri
Par glasuri ce îmbracã o lume de amar:
.
"În orice om o lume îsi face încercarea,
Bãtrânul Demiurgos se opinteste-n van;
În orice minte lumea îsi pune întrebarea
Din nou: de unde vine si unde merge floarea
Dorintelor obscure sãdite în noian?"
.
Al lumii-ntregul sâmbur, dorinta-i si mãrirea,
În inima oricãrui I-ascuns si trãitor,
Zvârlire hazardatã, cum pomu-n înflorire
În orice floare-ncearcã întreagã a sa fire,
Ci-n calea de-a da roade cele mai multe mor.
.
Astfel umana roadã în calea ei înghetã,
Se petrificã unul în sclav, altu-mpãrat,
Acoperind cu noime sãrmana lui viatã
Si arãtând la soare-a mizeriei lui fatã --
Fata -- cãci întelesul I-acelasi la toti dat.
.
În veci acelasi doruri mascate cu-altã hainã,
Si-n toatã omenirea în veci acelasi om --
În multe forme-apare a vietii crudã tainã,
Pe toti ea îi însalã, la nime se distainã,
Dorinti nemãrginite plantând într-un atom.
.
Când stii ca visu-acesta cu moarte se sfârseste,
Cã-n urmã-ti rãmân toate astfel cum sunt, de dregi
Oricât ai drege-n lume -- atunci te oboseste
Eterna alergare... s-un gând te-ademeneste:
"Cã vis al mortii-eterne e viata lumii-ntregi
de Mihail Eminescu 1874
Pe bãnci de lemn, în scunda tavernã mohorâtã,
Unde pãtrunde ziua printre ferestri murdare,
Pe lângã mese lunge, stãtea posomorâtã,
Cu-fete-ntunecoase, o ceatã pribegitã,
Copii sãraci si sceptici ai plebei proletare.
.
Ah! -- zise unul -- spuneti cã-i omul o luminã
Pe lumea asta plinã de-amaruri si de chin?
Nici o scânteie-ntr-însul nu-i candidã si plinã,
Murdarã este raza-i ca globul cel de tinã,
Asupra cãrui dânsul domneste pe deplin.
.
Spuneti-mi ce-i dreptatea? -- Cei tari se îngrãdirã
Cu-averea si mãrirea în cercul lor de legi;
Prin bunuri ce furarã, în veci vezi cum conspirã
Contra celor ce dânsii la lucru-i osândirã
Si le subjugã munca vietii lor întregi.
.
Unii plini de plãcere petrec a lor viatã,
Trec zilele voiaose si orele surâd.
În cupe vin de ambrã -- iarna grãdini, verdeatã,
Vara petreceri, Alpii cu fruntile de gheatã --
Ei fac din noapte ziuã s-a zilei ochi închid.
.
Virtutea pentru dânsii ea nu existã. Însã
V-o predicã, cãci trebui sã fioe brate tari,
A satelor greoaie carã trebuie-mpinse
Si trebuiesc luptate rãzboaiele aprinse,
Cãci voi murind în sânge, ei pot sã fie mari.
.
Si flotele puternice s-armatele fãloase,
Coroanele ce regii le pun pe fruntea lor,
S-acele milioane, ce în grãmezi luxoase
Sunt strânse la bogatul, pe cel sãrac apasã,
Si-s supte din sudoarea prostitului popor.
.
Religia -- o frazã de dînsii inventatã
Ca cu a ei putere sã vã aplece-n jug,
Cãci ar lipsi din inimi speranta de rãsplatã,
Dupa ce-amar muncirãti mizeri viata toatã,
Ati mai purta osânda ca vita de la plug?
.
Cu umbre, care nu sunt, v-a-ntunecat vederea
Si v-a fãcut sã credeti cã veti fi rãsplãtiti...
Nu! Moartea cu viata a stins toatã plãcerea --
Cel ce în astã lume a dus numai durerea
Nimic n-are dincolo, cãci morti sunt cei muriti.
.
Minciuni si fraze-i totul ce le statele sustine,
nu-i ordinea fireascã ce ei a fi sustin;
averea sã le aperi, mãrirea a-a lor bine,
Ei bratul tãu înarmã ca sã lovesti în tine,
Si pe voi contra voastrã la luptã ei vã mân.
.
De ce sã fiti voi sclacii milioanelor nefaste,
Voi, ce din munca voastrã abia puteti trãi?
De ce boala si moartea sã fie partea voastrã,
Când ei bogãtia cea splendidã si vastã
Petrec ca si în ceruri, n-au timp nici de-a muri?
.
De ce uitati cã-n voi e numãr si putere?
Când vreti, puteti prea lesne pãmântul sã-mpãrtiti,
Si nu le mai faceti ziduri unde sa-închid-avere,
Pe voi unde sã-nchidã, când împinsi de durere
Veti crede c-aveti dreptul si voi ca sã trãiti.
.
Ei îngrãditi de lege, plãcerilor se lasã,
Si sucul cel mai dulce pãmântului i-l sug;
Ei cheamã-n voluptatea orgiei zgomotoase
De instrumente oarbe a voastre fiici frumopase;
Frumusetile-ne tineri bãtrânii lor distrug.
.
Si de-ntrebati atunce, vouã ce vã rãmâne?
Munca, din care dânsii se-mbatã în plãceri,
Robia viata toatã, lacrimi pe-o neagrã pâne,
Copilelor pãtate mizeria-n rusine...
Ei tot si voi nimica; ei cerul, voi dureri!
.
De lege n-au nevoie -- virtutea e usoarã
Când ai ce-ti trebuieste... Iar legi sunt pentru voi,
Vouã vã pune lege, pedepse vã mãsoarã
Când mâna v-o întindeti la bunuri zâmbitoare,
Cãci nu-i iertat nici bratul teribilei nevoi.
.
Zdraobiti orânduiala cea crudã si nedreaptã,
Ce llumea o împarte în mizeri si bogati!
Atunci când dupã moarte rãsplatã nu v-asteaptã,
Faceti ca-n astã lume sã aibã parte dreaptã,
Egalã fiecare, si sã trãim ca frati!
.
Sfãrmati statuia goalã a Venerei antice,
Ardeti acele pânze cu corpuri de ninsori;
Ele stârnesc în suflet ideea neferice
A perfectiei umane si ele fac sã pice
În ghearele uzurei copile din popor!
.
Sfãrmati tot ce atâtã inima lor bolnavã,
Sfãrmati palate, temple, ce crimele ascund,
Zvârliti statui de tirani în foc, sã curgã lavã,
Sã spele de pe pietre pânã si urma sclavã
Celor ce le urmeazã pân’ la al lumii fund!
.
Sfãrmati tot ce aratã nândrie si avere,
O! dezbrãcati viata de haina-i de granit,
De purpurã, de aur, de lacrimi, de urât --
Sã fie un vis numai, sãfie o pãrere,
Ce fãr’ de patimi trece în timpul nesfârsit.
.
Zudutu dub dãrmãture gigantici piramide
Ca un memento mori pe al istoriei plan;
Aceasta este arta ce sufletu-ti deschide
Naintea veciniciei, nu corpul gol ce râde
Cu mutra de vândutã, cu ochi vil si viclean.
.
O! aduceti potopul, destul voi asteptarãti
Ca sã vedeti ce bine prin bine o sã ias’
Nimic... Locul hienei îi luã cel vorbãret
Locul cruzimii veche, cel lins si pizmãtaret,
Formele se schimbarã, dar rãul a rãmas.
.
Atunci vãveti întoarce la vremile-aurite,
Ce mitele albastre ni le soptesc ades,
Plãcerile egale, egal vor fi-mpãrtite,
Chiar moartea când va stinge lampa vietii finite,
Vi s-a pãrea un înger cu pãrul blond si des.
.
Atunci veti muri lesne fãrã de-amar si grijã,
Feciorii-or trãi-n lume cum voi ati vietuit,
Chiar clopotul n-a plânge cu limba lui de spijã
Pentru acel de care norocul avu grijã;
Nimeni de-a plânge n-are, el traiul si-a trãit.
.
Si boale ce mizeria s-averea nefireascã
Le nasc în oameni, toate cu-ncetul s-or topi;
Va creste tot ce-n lume este menit sã creascã,
Va bea pân-în fund cupa, pân’ va vrea s-o zdrobeascã,
Cãci va muri când nu va avea la ce trãi.
.
Pe malurile Seinei, în faeton de galã,
Cezarul trece palid, în gânduri adâncit;
Al undelor greu vuiet, vuirea în granit
A sute d-echipajuri, gândirea-i n-o însalã;
Poporul loc îi face tãcut si umilit.
.
Zâmbirea lui desteaptã, adâncã si tãcutã,
Privirea-i ce citeste în suflete-omenesti,
Si mâna-i care poartã destinele lumesti,
Cea grupã zdrentuitã în cale-i o salutã.
Marirea-i în tainã legatã de acesti.
.
Convins ca voi el este-n nãltimea-i solitarã
Lipsitã de iubire, cum cã principiul rãu,
Nedreptul si minciuna al lumii duce frâu;
Istoria umanã în veci se desfãsoarã,
Povestea-i a ciocanului ce cade pe ilãu.
.
Si el -- el vârful mândru al celor ce apasã --
Saluta-n a lui cale pe-apãrãtorul mut.
De ati lipsi din lume, voi cauza-ntunecoasã
De rãsturnãri mãrete, mãrirea-i radioasã,
Cezarul, chiar Cezarul de mult ar fi cãzut.
.
Cu ale voastre umbre nimica crezãtoare,
Cu zâmbetu-vã rece, de milã pãrãsit,
Cu mintea de dreptate si bine râzãtoare,
Cu umbra voastrã numai, puteri îngrozitoare,
La jugu-i el sileste pe cei ce l-au urât.
.
Parisul arde-n valuri, furtuna-n el se scaldã,
Turnuri ca facle negre trãsnesc arzând în vânt --
Prin limbile de flãcãri, ce-n valuri se frãmânt,
Rãcnete, vuiet de-arme pãtrund marea cea caldã,
Evul e un cadavru -- Paris al lui mormânt.
.
Pe stradele-ncrusite de flãcãri orbitoare,
Suiti pe baricade de bulgãride granit,
Se misc batalioane a plebei proletare,
Cu cusme frigiene si arme lucitoare,
Si clopote de-alarmã rãsunã rãgusit.
.
Ca marmura de albe, ca ea nepãsãtoare,
Prin aerul cel rosu, femei trec ce-arme-n brat,
Cu pãr bogat si negru pe urme se coboarã
Si sânii lor acopãr -- e urã si turbare
În ochii lor cei nergi, adânci si desperati.
.
O! Luptã-te-nvãlitã în pletele-ti bogate,
Eroic este astãzi copilul cel pierdut!
Cãci flamua cea rosã cu umbra-i de departe
Sfinteste-a ta viatã de tinã si pãcate;
Nu! nu esti tu de vinã, ci cei ce te-au vândut!
.
Scânteie marea linã si placele ei sure
Se misc una pe alta ca pãturi de cristal
Prin lume prãvãlite; din tainica pãdure
Apare luna mare câmpiilor azure,
Împlându-le cu ochiul ei mândru, triumfal.
.
Pe undele încete îsi miscã lagãnate
Corãbii învechite scheletele de lemn;
Trecând ncet ca umbre -- tin pânzle umflate
În fata lunei care prin ele-atunci strãbate,
Si-n roatã defoc galben stã fata-i ca un semn.
.
Pe maluri zdrumicate de aiurirea mãrii
Cezaru-ncã vegheazã la trunchiul cel pãcat
Al salciei pletoase -- si-ntinse-a apei arii
În cercuri fulgerânde se pleaca lin suflãrii
A zefirului noptii si sunã cadentat.
.
Îi pare cã prin aer în noaptea înstelatã,
Cãlcând pe vârf de codri, pe-a apelor mãriri,
Trecea cu barba albã -- pe fruntea-ntunecatã
Cununa cea de paie îi atârnã uscatã --
Mosneagul rege Lear.
.
Uimit privea Cezarul la umbra cea din nouri,
Prin creti ai cãrei stele lin tremurând transpar,
I se deschide-n minte tot sensul din tablouri
A vietii sclipitoare... A popoarelor ecouri
Par glasuri ce îmbracã o lume de amar:
.
"În orice om o lume îsi face încercarea,
Bãtrânul Demiurgos se opinteste-n van;
În orice minte lumea îsi pune întrebarea
Din nou: de unde vine si unde merge floarea
Dorintelor obscure sãdite în noian?"
.
Al lumii-ntregul sâmbur, dorinta-i si mãrirea,
În inima oricãrui I-ascuns si trãitor,
Zvârlire hazardatã, cum pomu-n înflorire
În orice floare-ncearcã întreagã a sa fire,
Ci-n calea de-a da roade cele mai multe mor.
.
Astfel umana roadã în calea ei înghetã,
Se petrificã unul în sclav, altu-mpãrat,
Acoperind cu noime sãrmana lui viatã
Si arãtând la soare-a mizeriei lui fatã --
Fata -- cãci întelesul I-acelasi la toti dat.
.
În veci acelasi doruri mascate cu-altã hainã,
Si-n toatã omenirea în veci acelasi om --
În multe forme-apare a vietii crudã tainã,
Pe toti ea îi însalã, la nime se distainã,
Dorinti nemãrginite plantând într-un atom.
.
Când stii ca visu-acesta cu moarte se sfârseste,
Cã-n urmã-ti rãmân toate astfel cum sunt, de dregi
Oricât ai drege-n lume -- atunci te oboseste
Eterna alergare... s-un gând te-ademeneste:
"Cã vis al mortii-eterne e viata lumii-ntregi
Priest & Philosopher
PREOT SI FILOZOF
de Mihail Eminescu 1874
Ca' n-avem sfintii vostri, voi ne mustrati, preoti,
Desi de-a voastra tagma suntem si noi cu toti...
Si noua vanatoarea de aur si marire
Ne'nsamna-n asta lume a Raului domnire.
Si noua-ghesuirea pe drumul spre placere
In suflet naste scarba si inimei durere.
Si noi simtim ca suntem copii nimicniciei,
Nefericiri zvarlite in brazdele veciei...
Si sufletul-ne'n tremur, ca marea se asterne
Taiat fiind de nava durerilor eterne;
Ca unde trecatoare a marei cea albastre,
Dorinta noastra, spuma nimicniciei noastre.
Si noi avem o lege - desi nu Dumnezeu -
Simtim ca Universul purtam si pre ni-i greu:
Stim a fi stranepotii acelui vechi pacat
Ce semintia Cain in lume-o a creat.
De n-o'mbracam in pilde e semn c-am inteles,
Ca'n noi este credinta ce-n altii e eres.
Caci eretic ii tiranul ce Crucii se inchina
Cand hoardele barbare duc moarte si ruina.
In van cu maini uscate se roaga, tinand strana,
Deasupra lui cu aripi intinse sta Satana.
Degeba linga patu-i alaturi sta sicriul
Cand gloatele-i pe lume au tot intins pustiul.
Ce Dumnezeu e-acela care-ar putea sa-l ierte
Ca tari intregi schmbat-au in intinsori deserte?
Si eretic e-acela ce rasa v-o saruta
Cand ura-n a lui suflet, de veche, e statuta?
In van cercati a-i drege caci rai raman de-a valma
Si trebuie ca soarta sa-i spulbere cu palma,
Din visul sa-i trezeasca cu care-i inconjoara
Demonul lumii-acestei - comedia-i bizara.
Nu ne mustrati! Noi suntem de cei cu-auzul fin
Si pricepuram soapta misterului divin.
Urmati in calea voastra multimii de absurzi
Si compuneti simfonii si imnuri pentru surzi.
Ascuteti adevarul in idoli, pietre, lemn,
Caci doar astfel pricepe tot neamul cel nedemn
Al oamenilor zilei sublimul adevar -
Ce voi spuneti in pilde, noi il avem din Cer.
de Mihail Eminescu 1874
Ca' n-avem sfintii vostri, voi ne mustrati, preoti,
Desi de-a voastra tagma suntem si noi cu toti...
Si noua vanatoarea de aur si marire
Ne'nsamna-n asta lume a Raului domnire.
Si noua-ghesuirea pe drumul spre placere
In suflet naste scarba si inimei durere.
Si noi simtim ca suntem copii nimicniciei,
Nefericiri zvarlite in brazdele veciei...
Si sufletul-ne'n tremur, ca marea se asterne
Taiat fiind de nava durerilor eterne;
Ca unde trecatoare a marei cea albastre,
Dorinta noastra, spuma nimicniciei noastre.
Si noi avem o lege - desi nu Dumnezeu -
Simtim ca Universul purtam si pre ni-i greu:
Stim a fi stranepotii acelui vechi pacat
Ce semintia Cain in lume-o a creat.
De n-o'mbracam in pilde e semn c-am inteles,
Ca'n noi este credinta ce-n altii e eres.
Caci eretic ii tiranul ce Crucii se inchina
Cand hoardele barbare duc moarte si ruina.
In van cu maini uscate se roaga, tinand strana,
Deasupra lui cu aripi intinse sta Satana.
Degeba linga patu-i alaturi sta sicriul
Cand gloatele-i pe lume au tot intins pustiul.
Ce Dumnezeu e-acela care-ar putea sa-l ierte
Ca tari intregi schmbat-au in intinsori deserte?
Si eretic e-acela ce rasa v-o saruta
Cand ura-n a lui suflet, de veche, e statuta?
In van cercati a-i drege caci rai raman de-a valma
Si trebuie ca soarta sa-i spulbere cu palma,
Din visul sa-i trezeasca cu care-i inconjoara
Demonul lumii-acestei - comedia-i bizara.
Nu ne mustrati! Noi suntem de cei cu-auzul fin
Si pricepuram soapta misterului divin.
Urmati in calea voastra multimii de absurzi
Si compuneti simfonii si imnuri pentru surzi.
Ascuteti adevarul in idoli, pietre, lemn,
Caci doar astfel pricepe tot neamul cel nedemn
Al oamenilor zilei sublimul adevar -
Ce voi spuneti in pilde, noi il avem din Cer.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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