May Music But Not War Haunt Chechnya (and other conflict-afflicted places)
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RED SQUARE/ by David Wong (1992)
There’s a voice inside of me.
There’s a chain of thoughts of what it should be.
And I try to realize it’s meaning.
There’s a noise and it should cease.
It was always just a ridiculous scheme.
And I hope we’ll be seeing it for the last time.
Red square, painted red.
The kids there are scared to death.
Oh, let’s start by playing something new.
Oh, the red, red square, let’s paint it blue.
There’s a book that you should not read.
It’s so full of hate and idiocy
That I find so inconsistent of nature.
There’s a way of life for me.
There’s a world outside just waiting for me,
And I know it’s experiencing a lifetime.
Red square, painted red.
The kids there are so depressed.
Oh, let’s start by playing something new.
Oh, the red, red square, let’s paint it blue.
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RUSSIANS/ by Sting (1985)
In Europe and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats.
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mr. Khrushchev said we will bury you.
I don’t subscribe to this point of view.
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too.
How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?
There’s no monopoly of common sense
On either side of political fence.
We share the same biology,
Regardless of ideology.
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too.
There’s no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the president.
There’s no such thing as a winnable war.
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore.
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view.
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too.
We share the same biology,
Regardless of ideology.
What might save us me and you
Is that the Russians love their children too.
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Will the 21st Century be a tragic era? Hope not…! But since the event on Sep.11 last year, the curtain of sorrow and grief seemed to be drawn and the story of hatred and revenge began. In NY and Bali, thousands of innocent lives were taken away by veiled killers whose anger took their reason and compassion away.
Thousands of people died for other’s hatred and million of people live in their own dread. Though, still tens of thousands of people are struggling for their liberty and many of them are keen to exchange their death for the human value that has never come true. What happened and are happening in or out Chechnya tells sad stories about this. No one cares if no lives being sacrificed; no one knows if no violence being committed. However, no one outside their ethnicity would really realize their feeling and needs even if one tragedy followed by another. Their colonized destiny and the history of holocaust are just the short documentary films only played when a new extreme incident has be put on the international press. ONLY WHEN! Just because of this ONLY WHEN, the by-product of ignorance of outside world, anyone of us will possibly be the next sacrificed lamb for the wakening of the empathy for everyone on the same globe…
The two songs above were written by David Wong, a talented Chinese pop music artist, and Sting respectively. The red color in Red Square is artificial and hypocritical so Wong wanted to paint the blue of freedom on the Square to show the true color that humankind really desire. No fear, no threat, no more any superior power to stop a child playing on the square. Sting’s “Russians” was presented in the cold war period. Thus, Mr. Khrushchev, Oppenheimer and Reagan were showing up in his song. During the cold war, Mr. Reagan said we US would protect you other countries against communism. Money and fear make the world cleaved into two sides by buying and developing arms. Then the entire world madly and stupidly forgot that the people on the other side love their children as well. Two songs are both about Russia. The former challenged the state of Russia and the latter challenged the ‘free’ world. The targets are exactly different but the underlying philosophies are the same: humanity and reflection.
‘Oh, when will they ever learn…’ but when will we do learn not to neglect the world? We are never able to force others to learn any lesson, especially those most powerful, so all that we can do would be just play the music to clarify the dusty and noisy and weeping earth (and our minds). This is sad but what else can we do besides… just WATCHING?!
(This essay was finished on Oct. 25, 2002. Yet the number of deaths rose to 140, 90 hostages and 50 captors, since the siege taken place in the Moscow theater on Oct. 26. In addition, the number of deaths from the mysterious knockout gas used by the police is increasing.)
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