Dear friends,

For three decades, we have met with you thousands of times on the air and on the website of Svaboda, at book presentations of our "Library" and in the program "Zona Svaboda" on the Belsat TV channel.

For the past 25 years, I have had the honor of leading the Belarusian service of Radio Svaboda, and together with my talented colleagues, with your participation, contribute to the expansion of freedom in Belarus.

My work at Radio is coming to an end.

It included painful losses, untimely deaths of colleagues, violence, the destruction of offices, arrests, and prison terms for our brave journalists and their relatives, who are still behind bars.

There was a lot of joy from your assessment of our work, your support and love for Freedom.

Someday the full history of Radio Svaboda will be written - but for now, as a farewell, I would like to offer some fragments from my future book about my Svaboda, brief observations,

general and personal.

I do not urge you to stay with Svoboda - because it is a holiday that is always with us.

Yours truly, Alexander Lukashuk, director of Radio Svaboda (1998-2023).

"Freedom" or freedom

Freedom journalists are in prison, declared extremists, listed among terrorists, because the government recognizes our authority.

Not the fourth - the fourth press is done when there are the first three.

Just power — ideas, assessments, news, thoughts.

The hysterics of the current authorities of Belarus regarding the hand of Freedom, which seems to have directed demonstrations, conducted rallies, led protesters, stopped transport, is a reaction of fear.

When hundreds of people chant "Radio Svaboda, Radio Svaboda!", when a person in the "chain of solidarity" says that he came because he watched the stream of Svaboda and became ashamed to lie on the sofa, it is not the hand of Svaboda, but the hand of freedom.

Radio or mom

I think that Belarusian Svaboda is the most important radio in the whole world.

I think so not because half of my life is connected with this radio.

Because more is connected.

Somehow I got scolded by my mother for the first sentence of my precocious memoir, which began: "I was made by my parents..." Mother preferred forms like "I was born..." or "my mother gave birth to me..." She then made photocopies of this publication in "Dzeyaslov" and sent it to relatives, but carefully covered this passage with white paper.

Maria Lukashuk, mother of Alexander Lukashuk

But I had in mind the moment not of birth, but of birth, which, according to my calculations, fell on May 1954. I will not say exactly at 9:00 p.m. on the 20th, although why not - but exactly on May, when with the help of the Council of the BNR, Radio Svaboda, which was then called "Liberation", was born and went on the air.

So for me Svoboda is definitely the most important radio in the world.

And not only for me - my mother knew all the voices and loved all my colleagues.

Since 2015, her photo has been in my office together with the last word she wrote and asked to read at farewell.

The words "thank you", "happiness" and "love" are most often found there.

Svoboda and mom are both the main ones.

Entry or exit

To leave Belarus, in the early 1990s, a state permit - a visa - was required.

You could not come to work in Munich without an exit visa.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs refused me.

AVIR did not give an explanation.

Visas were also issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and were handled by a special deputy minister.

The deputy was so special that he shared the reception room with the minister himself.

I went to the reception and sat waiting for two hours, when the door of the minister's office opened, Pyotr Kravchenko, the first minister of foreign affairs of independent Belarus, came out and asked what I was doing here.

We were a little familiar from the time of my journalistic work, but more thanks to my participation in various informal activities, as any free activity was then called.

Kravchenko used to be the ideological secretary of the bitter party, he was involved in curbing this activity and caught the infection of Belarushchyna.

He spoke Belarusian, supported artists, was friends with writers.

The monument to Franziska Skaryn in Prague and the memorial plaque to the first Belarusian printer in Padua are his merits.

Having learned the reason for my gloomy waiting, the minister asked if I was going to work in the Belarusian editorial office, and disappeared behind the oak door, to soon leave with permission.

It was the strangest visa - from Belarus to Belarus.

Heaven or hell

If it is pedantic, then I was the seventh, ninth, eleventh and thirteenth director of the Belarusian Service - from 1998 to 2023.

My colleagues performed directorial duties when I flew on a scholarship to the Hoover Institute, then when I headed the Afghan service for more than a year, then when I worked as a radio editor-in-chief for six months.

Alexander Lukashuk in Afghanistan

Directorship is not the most heavenly occupation.

But it is impossible to explain why return is sweeter than parting, just as it is impossible to translate the word "vray" into other languages.

A little or a lot

I somehow calculated how much our budget provides for one resident of Belarus for a year - it turned out that you can't even buy matches for this money.

This is disastrously small for the war for people's attention.

However, let's not forget about the context: this is American taxpayers' money, which the US Congress generously allocates for foreign broadcasting in Belarusian and other languages.

And the broadcast is not about America, but about life in Belarus, its history, culture, literature, language.

Not for propaganda, but for professional journalism guided by the universal values ​​of democracy and human rights.

This is an expensive gift.

Politically or correctly

People of the word do not like political correctness, because they believe that it is a restriction of freedom of speech.

I treat political correctness like the rules of the road: they significantly limit freedom of movement and therefore make it possible.

But sometimes you need off-road.

You or you

Once an opposition leader printed an angry article about Radio Svaboda in an opposition newspaper: that's not right, it's not like that, everything is wrong.

I was stunned.

We were at "you", I helped him as much as I could, he seemed to have a friendly attitude towards me as well.

However, he could say everything alone.

I was a young director, imitating myself and could not understand what kind of fly stung him.

He did not understand that he was not only an anti-communist, a dissident and a nationalist, but also a politician, that he viewed the press as his own resource, everything that was useful was right, and the rest had no value.

When I understood this, the pain from the bite did not disappear, but transferred to another object - it hurt for him.

But then it passed.

It became as it should be in journalism.

We stood for "you".

Alexander Lukashuk with Genadz Buraukin and Ivonka Survila.

Prague, 2004

Art or fashion

A few years ago, people all over the world poured buckets of ice water on their heads - it was believed that this way we were helping something, I don't remember why.

We even shot such a clip for the beginning of the television season.

They stood in the yard of the radio under the cold autumn sky and poured water on their heads.

Then I lost my voice, and I didn't have to open the season.

A victim of art.

Or fashion.

Author or editor

Reading books and texts that are published without an editor and proofreader is like playing an out-of-tune piano.

They are like a tuner who doesn't have to be a keyboard virtuoso, but without his invisible work, no concert will take place.

"Library of Freedom" is made in Tarashkivitsa by people with an absolute linguistic ear.

And then in almost every book after release, I find at least one mistake.

Especially in their own.

Write or read

In the archives of the Hoover Institution, I found my last name among the recipients of American aid a hundred years ago.

He was surprised and wrote the book "Adventures of the ARA in Belarus" (PDF, Soundcloud), where he tried to reconstruct the history of the largest and most forgotten humanitarian aid to the population of Belarus in the 20th century.

Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus K. spoke at the presentation in Minsk and said that my work deserves the title of PhD.

Then Professor Sh. spoke, who did not agree with him, because it was necessary to give a doctor immediately.

Then the folk poet B., who had not read the book, but believed that he deserved the Nobel Prize, took the stage.

A year ago, I received a letter from America from a history professor at Washington State University who recommended the book to her students.

One girl made her topic the subject of her doctorate, and before the defense they mentioned that they didn't ask me for permission to quote and other copyrights.

I did not read that doctoral dissertation, but I remembered my presentation and sent permission and congratulations.

Nowadays, you can give a doctor for what you read.

And soon the Nobel.

Paths or dead ends

At the Hoover Institution, I met three world-renowned collaborators—historian Robert Conquest, physicist Edward Teller, and economist Milton Friedman.

After meeting everyone, I introduced something about my work as a director.

I asked Margaret Thatcher's former Conquest adviser if it was possible to walk across the Stanford University campus barefoot, not on the paths, but on the lawn.

- I don't think that God created me to walk on asphalt, - answered the author of "The Great Terror" and five books of poetry.

I asked Teller, who helped Einstein with calculations about the end of the world, why the arms race is so expensive, everyone is talking about the prices of the new generation of weapons - and whether it is not possible to jump immediately to the next new one.

- Where would you be if your mother skipped a generation?

asked the father of the American hydrogen bomb.

I asked the Nobel laureate Friedman, who in his youth was on an excursion to the Soviet Union and spent the night in my native Brest, to tell me what impressed him the most.

- Craving for knowledge.

I enter a public toilet, cubicles without doors, in each one a person is sitting and reading a newspaper.

Go your own way, don't look for detours, don't believe everything you see on your way - nothing but conclusions for journalism.

Communists or artillerymen

He had such a headache and blurred vision that he decided to go to the emergency room, it was not far from home in Prague.

First, as always, you need to show documents, and I only have the rights and certificate of a journalist of RSE/RS with me.

The doctor, a man in his fifties, turned the press card, then said to the nurse: Svoboda is an American station.

And then to me:

- Why are you bombing Serbia?!

The NATO operation to save Kosovo from the Serbian genocide has just begun.

The meaning of the question came to me with difficulty, but I got it.

And I also asked:

- Why do you cut kassavaras?

The doctor dropped the papers:

- I'm not a communist, but why are your bombers over Belgrade?!

- I'm not an artilleryman, but why are you carrying out ethnic cleansing with shells?

The doctor turned to the quiet nurse and gave several short angry commands in Latin, of which I only understood iniectio intravenosa.

That's it, I thought.

And, as you can see, he was wrong.

Alexander Lukashuk.

2006 year

Cry or laugh

Czesław Senyuch, a Polish-Belarusian and a famous writer, once sent me a letter in which he enthusiastically praised one of my books and apologized for getting to know me.

The first and only time I saw him was ten years ago on one of the Chernobyl roads in Minsk.

We were introduced, but it was not possible to talk.

I found out why from the letter.

After hearing my name and surname, he decided that I was scaring him, it was some kind of provocation, because it sounded like the name of the president of Belarus, and he ran away.

And how many times on the air of various American and European radio stations, which asked for comments, I was called by the presidential nickname, then they apologized.

I came up with a universal answer: the choice is small, there are only four men of truth - Matthew, Mark, John and Lukash, what do you want...

It's funny to you.

Sit or stand up

Somehow, the tyrant of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, was in Prague on a visit, and he was invited to the radio, to talks about the accreditation of journalists or rebroadcasting, I don't remember.

Unexpectedly, he was brought to a director's meeting.

And when Turkmenbashi entered, everyone who was in the hall, sitting at the oval table and nearby, stood up.

All but two people: the director of the Russian service, Mario Corti, and me.

Mario used to serve in the Italian Embassy in Moscow and helped to ship self-published books across the border, he was a talented writer and master pasta maker.

Vasily Bykov and I were visiting at his house (his wife translated Bykov into Italian), and he cooked spaghetti alle vongole for us.

I asked why he didn't get up.

The Romans, said Mario, pouring chianti, do not stand up to dictators.

I admitted that I was high, but then I fainted.

And everyone drank to the Romans.

Siarhei Naumchyk, Vasil Bykau and Aleksandar Lukashuk in the first days after the writer moved to Prague.

December 2002

Love it or hate it

- I hate you, hate you, hate you!

Even today, in anonymous comments on the Internet, you don't get such recognition every day.

And this was before Facebook, before the anonymous war of everyone against everyone - it was a post in a work email, in my name, with a return address and signed.

I did not know the author and had never been to his country.

A stranger from Sweden, angry at the loss of his hockey players at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, typed "Belarus" into Google, found my address on Svaboda and spewed out his resentment.

"And I hate you," I discreetly wrote back.

And he explained: how dare you, a democratic country, lose to the dictator's favorite toy, who skates over the future of my country with a stick.

- I love, love, love you!

- a Swedish fan wrote to me.

- I inquired about Belarus, what is happening in your country - really, how dare ours lose to yours!

"And I love you," I discreetly wrote back.

Is there or not

Your facts are not yours if they are facts.

There is truth.

There are protocols for its verification.

There is "Profession: Reporter", as Antonioni's best film was called.

The same as the professions of director, baker, doctor.

I asked a dentist I know if patients now order gold teeth.

No, he said, it's not fashionable.

And what is fashionable?

To be, answered the doctor.

There are facts.

9 or 4

Strategy is trying to write with nine letters what four are enough for.

Alexander Lukashuk speaks at the presentation of his own book "Tenth Floor".

Minsk, 2015

Tears or roses

The most accurate song about Belarusian journalism is "Kupalinka".

"Dark Night" is about working conditions.

"The rose is watered, the white pen pricks" is about the work itself.

"Flowers tear, wreaths twist, tears are shed" - about its results and consequences for everyone, from the reporter to the editor-in-chief.

And what, they cry from happiness.

George or Barack

George Bush called and asks: how are you?

I knew that I would call because his secretary called and warned that the 42nd president of the United States would soon be speaking with me.

But I didn't expect that Bush would ask how I feel, so I answered as it is - I'm a little worried.

- What is it?

Well, what can you say.

I ask if he understands who I'm talking to.

"Don't worry, Alexander," reassured the president.

- The main thing is, call me Barack, everything will be fine.

Bush called to read the names of political prisoners for our "Voices of Solidarity" program.

It turned out that he had a good phonetic hearing and articulation, and after a couple of attempts, everything worked out, he sounded completely clear in Belarusian.

Not to confuse names is a fine science;

understanding that names stay and people change is a science I'm still trying to learn.

The world or the universe

I believed and still believe that the Belarusian service is the center of the world.

Because each language service is bigger than the whole company, because it is a whole universe, and universes are like spheres - they cannot be more or less spherical than one another, just as one circle cannot be rounder than another, regardless of the diameter.

There are simply too many worlds.

Is it logical or correct

- Where is the logic?

- one is indignant about some problem at the editorial meeting.

- Your problem is that you are looking for logic, - says the other.

Guess who is younger and who is older.

And now the correct answer is: not only are they the same age, but they are also the same person.

I am myself.

Is it normal?

Alexander Lukashuk in the office of Radio Svaboda.

2014 year

Censorship or caesura

Рэдактура адрозьніваецца ад цэнзуры тым, што першая мае справу з прыгажосьцю, а другая з уладай. У герарахічных структурах яны могуць зрастацца, і тады перамагае сіла.

А выкінуць адну літару — і дыктатарскі слоўнік ператвараецца ў паэтычны. Толькі графаманы могуць дадумацца да такой бязглузьдзіцы. Не без таго...

Хэмінгуэй ці пэнсія

Гэтая думка Хэмінгуэя мне заўсёды падабалася: журналіст можа дасягнуць усяго, калі своечасова кіне журналістыку. Я чытаў яго рэпартажы — гэта былі стылёва адкрытыя творы, якія стваралі эфэкт тэлебачаньня задоўга да яго зьяўленьня. Бачыш рухі і колеры, чуеш гукі, пахне асеньнім часам, які канчаецца.
Бальшыня маіх знаёмых журналістаў ня кідалі свайго занятку, калі дасягалі пэнсіі.

І сам Хэмінгуэй журналістыку ня кінуў, а зрабіў яе літаратурай.

Сябе ня кінеш.

Загадка ці адгадка

Do not believe, do not be afraid, do not ask - the rules of life in prison.

Believe and do not be afraid to ask - rules for freedom.

Every time I asked for the impossible, it happened.

The US Congress congratulated the Belarusian service on its anniversary.

The former American president read the names of the candidates for president of Belarus in Belarusian.

The Nobel laureate, who refused the book at Svaboda, agreed.

The Minsk authorities provided a hall in the center of the capital, and the triumphal event in Minsk became the first and only public celebration of the award.

Alexander Lukashuk and Svetlana Aleksievich during the presentation of the book "Aleksievich on Freedom" in Minsk.

2016 year

And when he asked for the possible - to increase the budget, expand the staff, equip the studio - it was not possible.

There are some other rules that I haven't mastered in a quarter of a century.

The mystery of life.

Lie or be silent

Што нам рабіць, калі?.. Калі затрымаюць, калі пачнуць распытваць на мяжы, калі патрабуюць пароль, калі вядуць ператрус... Гэта штодзённыя пытаньні журналістаў падчас дыктатуры.

Параіць, што рабіць, амаль немагчыма. Але можна параіць, што не рабіць.
Першае — не нашкодзіць сабе. Другое — не нашкодзіць іншым. Трэцяе — не хлусіць.

Першыя дзьве прапановы пытаньняў звычайна не выклікаюць. Трэцяя зьдзіўляла. Але тлумачэньне задавальняла: прамаўчаць, не казаць усё, што ведаеш, не ініцыяваць размову, не дадаваць дэталі, тлумачэньні, імёны.

Не дапамагаць злу.

Золата ці брыльянты

Прасіце і дасца вам — залатая формула.

Мне бліжэйшая іншая, алмазная: не прасіце — і не адмовяць.

Сьмех ці сьлёзы

Я даўно не сьмяяўся так, як чытаючы біяграфію Вацлава Гаўла, напісаную яго сябрам Міхаэлам Жантаўскім. Хіба мо толькі калі чытаў самога Гаўла, яго ўспаміны «На Град і назад», дзе ўступленьне ў NATO суседзіць з пошукамі па ўсім прэзыдэнцкім замку міфічнага шлянгу паліваць кветкі. А крэдыт МВФ ледзь не зрываецца празь няправільны соўс для кнэдлікаў. Ліст Гаўла на кухню пра соўс можна было выдаць як прэзыдэнцкі дэкрэт.

І ні слова пра тое, як Гаўла цкавала чэская жоўтая прэса, як выварочвалася прыватнае жыцьцё, кпілі левыя і правыя палітыкі ў апошнія гады прэзыдэнцтва і пасьля. Ні слова пра тыдні пад кропельніцай, калі пераступіў мяжу сьмерці, адкуль вырвалі жонка і сябры, якія ў апошнюю хвіліну арганізавалі прыезд лекара з Амэрыкі.

Тых, хто нясе сьвятло, рэдка любяць усе. Занадта ярка, занадта добра бачна саміх сябе.

Alexander Lukashuk and Vaclav Havel.

2009 year

Burned out or glowing

In December 2011, I asked Vaclav Gaul to write a New Year's greeting to Belarusian police prisoners.

On December 15, his secretary sent me a congratulatory text.

This was not an impossible request - Havel had previously supported the Belarusian struggle for freedom.

But this message turned out to be the last that he wrote in his life.

Three days later, around 10 a.m. on Sunday, his breathing stopped.

Quietly, as if the candle had burned out, said the nun who was nearby.

It didn't burn.

Shining.

Losses or thanks

У Празе, недалёка ад Карлавага мосту, ёсьць кавярня з філязофскай назвай «Krásný ztráty» — прыгожыя страты. Напярэдадані новага 2012 году я быў там на сустрэчы з амэрыканскай сьпявачкай Джоан Баэз. Яна прыйшла да сяброў Вацлава Гаўла — Баэз ведала іх яшчэ з 1980-х, сьпявала на мітынгах і ў прэзыдэнцкім палацы, і цяпер яны сустрэліся ўпершыню бяз Гаўла.

Баэз была сяброўкай Гаўла (ня гёрлфрэнд — гэта з Бобам Дылянам і Стывам Джобзам, яна пра іх пісала ва ўспамінах, якія якраз выйшлі па-чэску, і публіка пыталася, з кім было лепш, яна адказала, што абодва былі цудоўныя чалавечыя істоты).

Я спытаў, якую песьню з свайго рэпэртуару яна б выбрала, каб перадаць палітвязьням у Беларусі. Баэз задумалася, а потым назвала гішпанскую баляду «Дзякуй жыцьцю» (па-гішпанску «Gracias a la vida»).

Дзякаваць жыцьцю, калі ты ў турме? Трэба быць сапраўды дзіўнай істотай...

Баэз патлумачыла:

— Гэта песьня пра тое, што каштоўнае ўсё, і добрае, і кепскае. Там падзякі нават альфабэту, маленькім птушкам і вялікім турбінам, усьмешкам і сьлязам, і сваім стомленым нагам, якія прайшлі столькі маршаў. Я выбрала б менавіта гэтую песьню — «Gracias a la vida».

Мы ўключылі песьню ў навагоднюю праграму для адзінаццаці вязьняў.
Я ня ведаў тады, што гэта была апошняя песьня чылійскай сьпявачкі Віялеты Пары, якая напісала яе ў 1966 годзе. У 1967-м Пара застрэлілася.

Пакуль жывеш — трэба дзякаваць. Але не за ўсё.

Кветкі ці дзяўчаты

Трэба было адправіць паштоўку Ігару Лосіку ў беларускую турму, і я зайшоў на паштамт у цэнтры Прагі, каб купіць марку. Паштовы работнік, сур’ёзны пэрсанаж, увесь у наколках, узяў паштоўку, але калі пабачыў адрас, паслаў у іншае акенца.

- Go to the philately department.

I only have stamps with flowers, but I have to go to prison with girls.

- We would like prisons like this, - Ihar's wife Daria said later.

She meant the kind where the postcards reach.

Above or above

In 2020, super-journalism was born in Belarus - Streams.

Of course, live reports from the scene of events are not a Belarusian invention, just like the election year is not their first appearance.

But both the term "super literature", created by Ales Adamovich on the eve of publicity, and the genre itself, which was awarded the Nobel Prize by Svetlana Aleksievich on the eve of the Belarusian revolution, were not born out of nowhere.

Only emptiness is born in an empty place.

Svoboda journalists conduct a video stream from the streets of Minsk in July 2020

Ужо ў 2017-м, падчас пратэстаў супраць дармаедзкага дэкрэту, відэастрымы сталі выходзіць па-за межы інфармацыйнай зьявы, уцягваючы людзей і ўладу ў свой вір. Гэта было нешта іншае.

У 2020-м стала відавочным, што менавіта. Узброеная сучаснымі тэхналёгіямі журналістыка пераставала быць над схваткай — ня трацячы аб’ектыўнасьці і бесстароннасьці, яна рабілася яе правадніком і самой падзеяй. Улады адчулі, што адбываецца нешта новае, але знайшлі толькі старыя словы: «рука Свабоды, рука Захаду, правакацыі, журналісты падбухторваюць, арганізоўваюць, вядуць».

Але што насамрэч адбывалася, калі відэастрымы Свабоды і іншых незалежных СМІ прыцягвалі дзясяткі, а потым сотні тысяч гледачоў адначасова і мелі мільённыя прагляды? Грамадзтва пераходзіла ў стан звышправоднасьці і інфармацыя станавілася рэчаіснасьцю. Аднолькавы ўзровень эмоцыяў мелі ўдзельнікі пратэстаў і назіральнікі. Прастора зьнікала, час ператвараўся ў рэзананс.

Але апроч дыгітальных тэхналёгіяў была яшчэ адна рэч. Гэта былі рэпартажы ня зь месца падзеяў, а з будучыні.

Звышжурналістыка — заўсёды з будучыні.

Тутэйшыя ці госьці

Каб не стракацець ініцыяламі, зразумелымі тузіну людзей, я стаў шукаць нейкае агульнае азначэньне для сваіх калег. Творчыя, інтэлектуальныя, яркія — сынонімаў шмат, але так гавораць пра многіх.

І толькі напісаўшы гэтую кнігу, празь небясьпеку назваць іх імёны я нарэшце адкрыў, што было агульнага ў сьвежа дэмабілізаванага салдата, які адной левай мог зрабіць дыгітальную рэвалюцыю, і былога дэпутата, які яшчэ да парлямэнту адной правай, бо пісаў артыкулы асадкай, мог спыніць атамную станцыю. Якая формула зьвязвала матэматыка-альгебраіста, чыю аналітыку вывучаў Пэнтагон, і мовазнаўцаў, якія стваралі народныя рухі. Чаму рэпартэрка, якая ніколі не вучылася на журфаку, аднолькава свабодна вяла рэпартажы з кароўніку, Нобэлеўскай цырымоніі і вулічных пратэстаў. Якім чынам інтэрвіюэры і вядоўцы жывога этэру гаварылі зь лекарамі, вязьнямі і прэзыдэнтамі так, быццам самі сядзелі, хварэлі і кіравалі краінамі. Што выкавала рымскі стаіцызм вясковага хлопчыка — кіраўніка бюро, аб які разьбівалася ярасьць дыктатара, яго міністраў і спэцслужбаў. Адкуль браліся гісторыкі, якія замянялі акадэмічныя інстытуты, рэдактары, якія стваралі новую рэчаіснасьць, прадусарскія каманды, якія не спажывалі, а прадукавалі энэргію.

Мае калегі не былі маімі сучасьнікамі. Гэта былі госьці з будучыні. Яны былі ўжо ў будучыні і таму маглі так. У рознай будучыні, хто далей, хто бліжэй, хто часьцей, хто радзей. (Некаторых даганяў час і наступала мінулае, але гэта шлях цела, а ня духу. І іншая гісторыя.)

Магу толькі ганарыцца часам, які дзякуючы ім і я правёў у будучыні.

Час ці якасьць

Памятаеце гэтую показку пра настаўніка і вучняў: столькі разоў ім тлумачыў, сам нарэшце зразумеў, а яны ўсё ніяк! Я столькі разоў карыстаўся паняцьцем «будучыня» ў гэтых нататках, што сам нарэшце зразумеў, пра што гаворка. Не пра пляны, не пра заўтрашнія праблемы ці перамогі, увогуле не пра час.

Пра якасьць. Пра зьмест і форму, хуткасьць і рэзананс, супраціўленьне і гармонію. Пра якасьць як сэнс нашага адзінага жыцьця.

Alexander Lukashuk and his predecessor at the position of director of the Belarusian service of Radio Svaboda Vyachka Stankevich.

2013 year

Defeat or birth

I was a freelance journalist three times: in Belarus during the publicity period of the 1980s and 1990s, during the directorship of the Afghan service of Radio Liberty in 2005–6, and again in Belarus in 2020.

I mean the power over reality that words have when freedom is born.

Freedom is always a birth and never a status quo, a condition, not conditions, its content is always the future, and this is the only guarantee that the past has.

You can say that each of my three times in freedom ended with her defeat.

The suppression of democracy in Belarus in the 1990s, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the dictatorship in Belarus in the 2020s.

And we can say that I was present at the miracle of the birth of freedom three times.

Profession or life

— Як ваша прафэсія журналіста паўплывала на ваша жыцьцё?

Такое пытаньне ў верасьні 2022-га мне задалі на лекцыі, зь якой я выступаў перад студэнтамі журналістыкі ў амэрыканскім ўнівэрсытэце ў Празе.
І я мусіў прызнацца, што ня ведаю, як адказаць.

У 2022-м зьявілася дасьледаваньне шчасьця, якое брытанскія сацыёлягі правялі ў трох дзясятках краінаў, апытаўшы каля ста тысяч людзей. У выніку складзены рэйтынг заняткаў і жыцьцёвых сытуацыяў, якія робяць людзей шчасьлівымі найбольш. Апошняе, 40-е, месца ў сьпісе занялі хваробы, пакуты цела. А на 39-м месцы рэспандэнты паставілі працу.

Я прачытаў і жахнуўся.

Маю веру ў чалавецтва вярнуў адзін таленавіты маладзейшы калега, якому я расказаў пра афронт перад студэнтамі.

Журналістыка, сказаў ён, гэта не прафэсія.

А й праўда.

Было ці будзе

Калі на тым сьвеце Сьвяты Пётра спытае, чым я найбольш ганаруся са зробленага на Свабодзе, я ня стану гаварыць пра дзясятак сваіх кніг і сотню выданьняў нашай Бібліятэкі, пасады, узнагароды і рэкорды, а папрашу паказаць кароткае відэа.

Embedshare

Людзі скандуюць «Радыё Свабода» падчас пратэсту каля будынку БТ

Embedshare

The code has been copied to your clipboard.

widthpxheightpx

• Падзяліцца на Фэйсбуку 
• Падзяліцца на Твітэры 

The URL has been copied to your clipboard

No media source currently available

0:000:00:150:00

Летам 2020-га наша здымачная група паехала да будынку дзяржаўнага тэлебачаньня, дзе сотні людзей пратэставалі супраць цэнзуры і перадвыбарчай хлусьні на экранах. Калі пабачылі нашых журналістаў і фірмовы знак Свабоды — аранжавую паходню, яны раптам пачалі скандаваць «Радыё Свабода! Радыё Свабода! Радыё Свабода!..»

20—30-гадовыя, прыгожыя, сьмелыя, шчасьлівыя, вясёлыя, яны былі Беларусьсю будучыні. Мае калегі, наша праца былі будучыняй.

Не магу глядзець гэтае відэа бязь сьлёз. Прабачце.

Мне ці не

Мы зайшлі ў хату, і гаспадар адразу паказаў мне на радыёпрымач — «мая Свабода», сказаў ён так, як гавораць пра нешта блізкае і дарагое. Дзядзьку было за семдзесят, прымач таксама быў вэтэранам.

Была восеньская раніца, туман, траву прыхапіла шэрань, але адчувалася, што дзень будзе сонечным. Я прыехаў у невялікае мястэчка пад Менскам да сваякоў, а яны паабяцалі свайму добраму знаёмаму, даўняму слухачу Свабоды, сустрэчу са мной. Мястэчка было багатае на гісторыю і знакамітых людзей, у тутэйшым касьцёле хрысьцілі вялікага нацыянальнага паэта, некалі тут былі свой тэатар, гімназія, суд, яшчэ гучала прыгожая беларуская мова.

Aleksandar Lukaszuk talks to senior listeners of Svoboda.

2010 year

We were walking down the street, when an uncle in a neat, once festive outfit, who was waiting by the baskets, greeted us and invited us to his yard.

We entered, I held out my hand, my uncle took it, but did not shake it - I did not have time to understand what was happening - but leaned down and kissed it.

I don't know how I got the tact not to take my hand away, not to protest, not to offend a noble person.

Apparently, he felt what was happening.

They didn't kiss my hand.

• Alexander Lukashuk

  Radio Svaboda journalist

  lukashuka@rferl.org

  Subscribe