On 26th of January we've played at De Centrum squat in Bialystok. The place (uknown for us up to then) appeared to be hellishly great. The gig was a part of bigger feminist event consisting of: workshops, discussions, "Donna et Mobile" paintings exhibition (with a proper champagne... in plastic cups), projection of "Dziewczyny do wziecia" (one of polish cult comedies "Girls to take"), gigs of April, Silikon Fest & us, and a dance party for a dessert (which sadly ended pretty soon - about 4 a.m). Loads of attractions, loads of people - squat's record up to then, after 15 months of existence - and what more we didn't witness any clashes. Concluding - besides a shity percussion (we haven't played on such a piece o'shite in 6,5 years of F.O.M.'s existence), problems with finding people to be a doormen, and a constant lack of beer in the bar (guys were driving to the shop to buy 2 crates - obviously selling out in 3 minutes - at a time, would it be a problem to buy 10 or 20 of 'em?) - I believe it to be great party, and I strongly recommend visiting De Centrum. But I was going to write about something else, a week before mentioned show I got a phone call from the Belarusian girl asking if we could play a gig in Grodno (which is situated pretty close to Bialystok) on 27th of January. For the next two days we were doing what possible (mainly Michal had to rearrange his job timetable) to be able to go and happily confirmed our coming. Up to then none of us were in Belarus, and Lukaszenko's dictatorship was known to us from TV news, which we don't really trust or care about, so what we knew for sure was that we may expect long waiting at the border. I knew Contra La Contra band (ex Hate To State, Sasha - organiser of Grodno gig is a vocalist of C.L.C.) which were able to play a tour in Germany through some students exchange, so naively I thought that situation in Belarus is rather civilised, similar to Poland (of course I knew that economically it's much worse). I've read about switching off the electricity at the C.L.C. gig, but thought that it was some secluded situation (well, different things happen in Poland as well) and didn't remember about it at that time, so the only fear we had was about the car theft.

  In Bialystok we've met Sasha, Zenia (C.L.C. as well) and ten other people from Belarus. Zenia told us that they expect about 300 people at the gig, and that some 20 people are coming from Minsk (Belarusian capital) especially to see us. So in the morning, full of enthusiasm and curiosity, not caring about having not enough sleep , we woke up, took our gear downstairs (shit, does it have to be so high up? make some DIY lift or something...:-)), used the bathroom at the swimming pool next door to De Centrum to wash ourselves a bit, had a coffee and before 11 am off we went.

   We were told that border crossing at Kuznica Bialostocka is closed, so we had to go through Bobrowniki, what made our ride 50 or 60 km longer. The road is of a very high, international standard - half paved with cobblestones... . On the way we were stopped by the cops, and threaten with the ticket but managed to come out alive (and with no less money than before) though. Well, pigs are intelligent as some say… At the border we stopped in the queue and waited. That took a long time - judging by the amount of cars before us we thought that it's going to last an hour or so... we didn't know the system. The system is that polish border officer lets five cars in, stops the rest for about fifteen minutes and so on - it was more than an hour. By that time we watched VIP priest going through without waiting. At last we were given a form to fill, number and nationality of passengers, numbers and trade mark of the car etc. We haven't met something like that, but considered being not amazed to be a good way to take things. It appeared that it was only the beginning, with the form we had to drive to the proper crossing - there another queue (much shorter) and a passport control. It was for the first time in my border-crossing experience that we had to walk out of the car for an officer to be able to take a close look at our faces… After examining our faces officers decided to check on our car, if it's not stolen and so on, took passports and car documents and told us to wait. After a long (loooong) time they came and checked car's shell numbers and disappeared again. After another period of time they've le us to go for vouchers (kind of a visa). And another surprise, at the border crossing you can find a bank, bar, money exchange facility, but you can not find vouchers, you've got to go back a kilometer to buy them. Back we went, and back again and asked the customs guy to put a stamp on the equipment list (to avoid paying any border taxes or whatever on the way back). Well, as one could expect the answer was: alright, stand over there and wait, some young chop will come and do it. We're waiting and waiting and waiting...and the same guy came and said that we need to fill another form. We tried to explain that we did it on the western border many times with absolutely no problems, but the guy said that eastern border is something very, very different (yeah, we've noticed) and he has to call the boss. Another fifteen minutes and "some young chop" came and said that there is a form for such matters, but musical instruments are not being taxed so we don't need to fill it. Half an hour wait to hear that! Anyway - further we went, another officer takes form with car numbers and our nationalities and we said good bye to Poland. Belarusian one at the start looked similar, officer gave us some forms(a bit bigger ones), and we drove up to passport control. Again we had to walk out of the car and show our faces. It appears that standard car insurance - green card is not valid in Belarus, we had to buy some car insurance for 8$. The lady in the insurance company box has written some document on the comp with one finger, we've paid and drove along ignoring us row of custom officers up to the last obstacle. Officer there told us that besides stamp in the passport, insurance, and that form from the beginning we need the stamp from "ignoring custom officers". Those bastards didn't say a word cause they knew that we have to go back. Not knowing if we've got to cry or laugh we drove back, and Tomek asked for a stamp. He was given a two pages form to fill... . Questions in Russian (not that similar to Polish), and next to easy things (like name, address etc.) loads of unidentified written objects, not a chance to deal with that. Asked for help, the officer says, that we have to deal with it ourselves or go back to Poland. Up to than we have lost a lot of time, and a gig was going to start in about half an hour, and we had another 65 kilometers to drive. Lucky for us we've managed to find some civilian to help us, wrote what he told us (risky, considering behaviour of the border staff). We gave the form to the officers and they asked what kind of music we play, heavy metal - we say, have you got any promotion? - they ask. We didn't know what they mean so they've explained - free posters or better - tickets for a gig. We deprived them of hope, got the fucking stamp, and after five hour we left that fucking bureaucratic hell (well heaven rather, it's hot in hell they say, and it was fucking freezing there). Further road we made with no problems, we've lost the way in Grodno for a moment but found it quickly. The gig was about to happen in the big discotheque in the park in the center of the city (close to the pretty Lenin's monument). Lots of people in front of the club - besides punks some other people, who came to have fun, not caring who, and what plays. The crew stayed in the car and Spiekly with me went for a reconnaissance, We squeezed through the crowded entrance to find ourselves in total darkness inside. Fortunately we found four of our friends from Gdansk, who came independently by the train (with no problems), and they told us that during the second of the bands' set (besides us Belarusian Basta Basta, Wytri Anus! and Polish Oreiro were to play) electricity was cut off. Sasha explained that she called the Electricity, and was told that it was the order from "you know who". Fucking hell. So there are countries - and I don't mean China, but the close ones - where punk rock is still treated as a threat to the state. "Welcome to Belarus" Sasha said... . We've waited for a while to see if the situation changes, but finally became convinced that we're not having a bad dream and that the show was really over. That was a pity, club's looks were great (I wish Polish clubs had such looks instead of their fancy, modern disco outfit), P.A. and drumkit were very good, and I haven't seen so many people at the gig for ages (and what more, I was told that they are mostly very enthusiastic about all the bands). Fucking hell. Zenia told us that once when they held illegal gig in garage the police cut off the electricity in the whole district. The other time, they arrested people coming back home from the gig, and tried to cause problems at university, work etc. Zenia thought that it was only silly games but changed his mind when it appeared that his mum was almost fired from the job. A bit of explanation - dictatorship does not stop with harrasing "guilty" people - it goes for the family, friends and long dead relatives. Punk gigs in Belarus are identified as "political meetings", and oposition to the power is treated not much better than in the dark times of Soviet Union.

  Deadly tired, we went to Sasha's home to eat something and went back on the road to home. Moods were shity (well, a bit better than before eating). From time to time we were passing some cars driving from the opposite direction (including two trucks, one with 3 small, dark lamps on a wire looking like Christmas tree decoration, and the other without lamps at all, with the pilot pointing a small electric torch at the road!!!). Noone drove in the same direction as us - nothing strange considering that on the border, among lots of cars only two had Polish plates and Belarusians mostly go to Poland for the markets. (what means that they go back much earlier). But when we reached the border (@ about 11 pm.) we saw the queue beginning few kilometers before crossing. A bit shocked we tried to use a free lane hoping that we could pass them all, but it quickly appeared that it was not possible. We reached traffic lights and were told that we have to go back to the end of the queue, and wait for the red car to come and give us the pass to cross the traffic lights. Once again, we saw only two Polish cars, including one from Gdansk. Tomas and Balon went to talk to the driver and he told them that it could be much worse, the queue was much longer sometimes. No surprise that not so many Poles go to Belarus, and if they do they choose the train. The driver also told them to expect to have to pay another 4 bucks, for some unknown reason.

  In the money exchange box I sold one buck and got 1650 Belarusian rubels, in another box were some not so vegan foods, and drinks. Among the others I saw vodka for 470 rubels - that means 28 cents!!! And next to it Smirnoff vodka for 33 000 rubels - 70 times more. Well, business is business.

  By that time, in the queue, we observed some undergoing activity - some gangster looking guys passing along the queue, bribing the police etc. It's hard to explain what we felt then, not enough sleep, and a day in the car surely caused physical exhaustion, but our psychical state was worse. Mixture of disappointment because of the gig failure, irritation after dealing with the border staff, and now the feeling of fear of the unknown. Well, sometimes facing the omnipotence of cops I felt being helpless, but this time it was much stronger. We didn't know how long it was going to last, were afraid that some Mafia would take interest in us (but mafia in Belarus appears to be not that strong, state mafia takes all), and feared another dealing with the custom officers. Having in mind omnipotence of Belarusian authorities we were afraid that they could try to demand a bribe, threat us with border taxes or whatever. In addition, one has to watch closely and change the position of the car in the proper moment, otherwise some five other cars will take one's place. In such moments it's not hard to take a position of "all knowing, civilised Europeans", so often met towards Polish people in the Western Europe up to not long ago (and not very rarely met now). Now many of us forget their trips to the West for the markets, and are pissed off because of Ukrainians and Belarusians occupying our markets, smuggling cigarettes, vodka or pirate CD's. Well, it seems absolutely normal when one knows the situation on the other side of the border. And from the individual's point of view quite profitable. Earnings in Belarus are horribly low, prices often higher than in Poland (we saw many people crossing the border with the bags of fruit and veggies, Sasha herself took some coffee on her way back to Poland), inflation is skyrocketing. From what Sasza says: two - three years ago she has spent about 13 $ for food monthly, now that's about 30 $.

  But let's go back to our trip. Bothered with tiredness and fears we've finally reached the border. With not much trouble (nor without bureaucracy)we managed to get all the stamps and reached final obstacle. There the officer asked about "smatravik". What the hell was that??? We shoved all the papers, stamps, vouchers, and the officer, laughing explained that "smatravik" was some guy who had to put another stamp somewhere. We went back, found him quickly, took the stamp and hurried back to Poland. Quick control on the Polish side and there we were. For the first time we were happy to be back in the motherland. It was 7.15 am... .

   Dont't think that we regret that trip or whatever. I believe that that was a priceless experience, which showed us what kind of shit exists right behind Polish borders. We admire and respect Belarusian punks who give their hearts to fight against fucking dictatorshit. Our thanks to Sasha and Zenia, and all the crew who arranged the show. We do appreciate the work that you did, and hope we'll be able to play at your town against all odds (but we'll take the train this time)

Wolf

P.S. A week after the gig I got an e mail from Sasha in which she wrote what happened after. Together with the club they decided to arrange the free gig two days later (Tuesday 29th of January) in recompense for the people who paid for the tickets on Sunday and didn't see the show. Unfortunately, on Monday pigs raided the garage (serving as the practice space for the most of local punk bands), garage was searched, Patlaty (guitarist of Antiglobalizator) was arrested and let out but charged with "being drunk, and resisting the police" - quite silly considering that Patlaty is straight edge. Against all odds Tuesday's gig happened and was quite good. Unfortunately (once again) after the gig, some secret police agents (who were present at the gig) brutally arrested Antiglobalizator's vocalist Boris, and 16 years old Oksana. It happened on the bus stop, both were beaten - like their friend Misha Nerush who came to the police station to ask for a reason of his friends' arrest. Misha was arrested for "swearing and rude behaviour in the center of the town". Oksana was let out, and received by the parents while the guys spent the night at the station, where Boris was beaten and tortured (with so called "elephant" - gas mask put on the head and the air inlet blocked), police were trying to force them to state that they're guilty of some "garage thefts". Both were charged with "being drunk and rude in public place". On Wednesday Boris was let out, and both - he and Oksana went to the doctor for examinations and are trying to charge the police with torturing. The very next day local police chief tried to convince Boris to resign, and on the 1st of February the case went to the court. I will try to keep you informed about the case. As Sasha writes, club took the side of the punks so they can organise further shows, hopefully without such attractions.