Behind the Iron Curtains Part 1 – Growing Up

These are my recollections of a life behind the iron curtains. I do not aim to give perfect and objective evaluation of anything, but to share my personal experiences and memories. It will explain why I just cannot get misty eyed over some ideas on the political left and why I loathe many ideas on the right.

Kids are kids everywhere, at least when they are not dying from malnutrition. In at least somewhat functioning society they like to play, run around and nag their parents with incessant questions about the mundane as well as the profound. “Mom, why is the grass green? Mom, why does rain fall down? Mom, what is a whore?”

Children in eastern bloc behind the iron curtains were not different. We liked to play and chat, and we did so whenever possible. But one thing that many children from that time shared, some more, some less was fear.

Fear of nuclear annihilation.

Later in life I learned that people in the West were afraid of those evil aggressive USSR commies who wanted to wipe them out and were held in check only by superior military power of magnificent NATO. Well, on our side of the border it was those trigger happy evil capitalists led by evil imperialist USA who were held in check by superior military power of magnificent Warsaw Pact. And in reality both sides committed war crimes and atrocities, there were no angels in the hot spots of the cold war.

Adults might have had their doubts and objections regarding the veracity of all this fear mongering, but for kids it was definitively all real. The regular “fallout drills” at school, regular alarm drills, signs how to react in case of nuclear attack hanging in every office. Once we were playing with my cousins in the garden and we heard a noise from the sky we did not know. What instantly gripped us was the fear that these are the nuclear missiles heading for Prague. Where I live this feeling was exacerbated by the very real presence of the iron curtains.

From every window of my house I see across the border to Germany. If I were to walk in a straight line in any direction from my property, I will end up in Germany within a day’s walk. Going mushroom hunting was allowed only in certain directions and certain areas of the forest were taboo. Big signs “Caution, State Border Ahead” everywhere. I still remember that one of the signs was riddled with bullet holes. The only time in my life I have seen a real thing riddled with bullets

And the curtains themselves…

Due to the signs and restrictions on movement, they were not usually seen in person and I never touched them. Mostly I knew they are there, somewhere in the forests. But the train track was driving very close o them, so whenever we were riding train to visit the inland, I could see them from the window.

Three meters high, double fence of razor wire. Roundup sprayed shooting corridors. And a macadam road for easy military access.

To a child, that was a terrifying sight. I loathe to see such structures being build again.

Helios Day Mood.

A special today, the original song by Tinariwen, and then again by a dedicated group of young men (explained below the second video, along with English translation.)

Tinariwen – Sastanàqqàm.

Tinariwen (+IO:I) – Sastanàqqàm.

“A thousand miles from their homeland in northern Mali, across a vast expanse of desert, the music of Tinariwen has found shelter in the hearts of six young musicians from M’hamid el Ghizlane. They were only boys when the desert rockers first visited their home, back in 2006, but they saw an immediate reflection of their own dreams and aspirations in the music they heard. In the years that followed they learned the Tinariwen songbook note for note, word for word, even though they couldn’t speak a word of Tamashek, the language of the Touareg.

When Tinariwen returned to M’hamid in 2016 to record a new album, those young disciples from M’hamid had achieved a remarkable mastery of the desert guitar repertoire. The torch had been passed from hand to hand and heart to heart across the great desert. The young musicians from M’hamid were invited to perform Abdallah’s ‘Sastaqanam’, standing in for their older brothers and playing with uncanny fidelity. But first the members of Tinariwen wrapped new turbans around the heads of their young acolytes, marking not only the passage from boyhood to manhood according to ancient desert custom, but also the transmission of their music across the generations, a transmission that is taking place in the hearts of youth from every corner of the great Sahara.”

SASTANÀQQÀM (I QUESTION YOU)

Ténéré, can you tell me of anything better
Than to have your friends and your mount,
And a brand new goatskin, watertight,
To find your way by the light
Of the four bright stars of heaven,
To know how to find water in
The unlikeliest of places,
And enlist the momentum of the wind
To help you move forward.

Tell me, Ténéré, how you and I
Can remain united, with no hate for each other.
Ténéré, I can now admit that
I have travelled far through this wide world.
Ténéré, I give you my oath
That as long as I’m alive,
I will always come back to you.

A very brief introduction

So. Testing, testing. Is this thing working properly?

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Caine asked for some help with blog content and after a consideration I offered to do it. She has handed me the keys to her blog and I will do my best to not scratch it. Hopefully my blogging skills are better than my driving (you really would not like to lend me your car, and I would never accept it).

Most people reading this blog know me already from comments. So just very briefly who I am:

I am male, Czech, living in CZ. First third of my life I lived behind the iron curtains – literally. After it fell I graduated in teaching of biology and chemistry, and I also briefly studied psychology and arts. Currently I am working in Germany and in the course of my work I often find myself in situations like in YouTube sketch “The Expert“.

You are free to guess who I can relate the most with. I have already once said about one of my managers that he is an incompetent buffoon with whom I refuse to work. I expected to be fired after that, but instead the boot has hit his ass.

My hobbies are gardening, photography, woodworking and knifemaking. In the past I was also drawing and painting, but alas I do not have time for that anymore. But I hope to have again sometime and I will post some of my former works. I was not magnificent, but I have on occasion managed to do a decent job of it.

Thinking under a tree

©Charly, all rights reserved.

Politically I am left of center in my country, but I would be considered to be a radical leftist in the USA.

I consider the most important skill to have to know when to shut up. It is also the most difficult skill to acquire and hone.

“You left us to die on battlefield like William Dafoe in Platoon.”

Oh my, the devoted, never say die Trumpholes are ever so upset, they have been betrayed! Even worse, they’ve been cucked by the Tiny Tyrant! Their tiny sky is falling.

Trump signed a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill at the White House this afternoon, which sent right-wing media figures who have established themselves as unabashed Trump defenders into a fit.

Earlier this morning, Trump had tweeted that he was considering vetoing the bipartisan omnibus spending bill because it did not address DACA recipients and lacked full funding for his promised southern border wall. Hours later, however, Trump signed the spending bill into law in what he said was a “ridiculous situation” and claimed he would “never sign another bill like this again.”

Naturally, pro-Trump pundits were furious that Trump had compromised with establishment Republicans and Democrats on a spending bill that appeared to contradict his campaign promises.

Just a few choice responses here, RWW has a full page of the wailing disappointment…

“I will never sign another bill like this again” Yeah, because you’ll be impeached. – Ann Coulter.

Disastrous decision @realDonaldTrump. The people advising u are idiots. Tough guy? Art of Deal? Worst negotiation EVER. U rolled over like a puppy to Marxists, frauds, traitors & corrupt greedy swamp. When I leave, u can turn out lights. #TRAGICMISTAKE – Wayne Allyn Root.

The title of this post was from yet another frothy tweet from Mr. Root, who couldn’t bother to get poor Willem Dafoe’s name right.

Well — @realDonaldTrump just signed his impeachment papers. The GOP will be slaughtered in the mid-terms. – Todd Starnes.

I have to say, I’m more than a bit amused. You can see all the other responses to this horrible betrayal at RWW.

The Colours of Memories.

From Nerd of Redhead: From Nerd of Redhead: colorful flowers in an urn for the Redhead’s grave display. The urn is cast aluminum with hummingbirds on it. The flowers represent those in the yard, those she liked (birds of paradise), or something that just looked good to me. A celebration of the color she brought to my life. So beautiful, click for full size.

© Nerd of Redhead, all rights reserved.