You must not sleep!
Foto: My father, Rolf Hauge, and our border collie Zanto, around 1985
Disclaimer: I am Norwegian, I grew up in a free country built on independence, free speech, equality, and democracy. I have never experienced war. I have, however, grown up with a PoW survivor - my father. I have first-hand experience from living with the life-long impact of fascism/nazism, terror, and torture.
From I was about five years old and for the next fifteen years, my father spent the majority of his time on educating young adults and soldiers about what unleashed the Nazi regime, the horrors of war, and the massive Red Cross rescue operation, "The White Buses", which brought him and thousands of other Norwegians and Danes home in 1945. His motivation was to prevent fascism and nazism from tightening its claws on our world ever again.
You are probably trying to figure out the math here; I'm 48 and he would have been 101 now. Sadly, he passed away when I was 21.
Helplessly, I am now watching what used to be the most powerful nation on this planet turn into a fascist dictatorship within weeks. The extent of despotism, propaganda, and narcissistic manipulation is shocking. Why are the opposing voices so low-key?
Yes, I acknowledge that there is so much I don't understand about US politics. I am in many ways a complete ignorant. Still, why are the opposing voices so low-key?
The famous poem "You must not sleep!" by Arnulf Øverland was first published in 1936 in Norwegian in the magazine Samtiden, and later published in the poetry collection Den Røde Front (1937). Here is a translation by Kim Wingerei (Arnulf Øverland - Kim Wingerei - writer, translator, poet, traveller):
You must not sleep!
I woke up last night
from a dream so strange
a voice calling me from deep
I got up and I asked
what do you want?
You must not sleep,
you must not sleep!
it wasn’t just a dream!
Yesterday they sentenced me
last night they erected the gallows
this morning my time has come
The camp is full
cell after cell
cold concrete floors
we lay here waiting
not knowing who will be next
We scream, we groan
nobody hears us
nobody sees us
nobody knows
the fate that befalls us
You say that you do not know
such evil does not exist
decent people will save me
My brother
you have so much to learn
They told us to give our lives
to save our freedom
And now that we have
it was all in vain
the world has betrayed us!
You must not sleep
You must not go to your work
counting your profits
use your daily travails
to excuse your silence
You must not sit in the
comfort of your home
and say how you feel
for those dying abroad
You must not endure
so very well
the injustice
that does not affect yourself
Crying out with my very last breath
you must not sleep
you must not forgive!
They know what they do
fuelling the flames
of hatred and evil
enjoying the killing
taking pleasure in pain
wishing to see the end
in an ocean of blood
I did not understand
now it’s too late
My sentence just
my punishment deserved
I believed in progress
I believed in peace
in hard work, friendship and love
Now I know
that those not prepared to die together
they die alone
on the executioners block
I cry out in the dark
if only you could hear
save your children
the world is burning
You must not sleep
Shaking with cold
I get dressed
I walk outside
The dawn is near
The gallows await
You must not endure
so very well
the injustice
that does not affect yourself.
You must not sleep.
If you keep on ignoring the injustice done to others, then one day, when injustice befalls you, there will be nobody to help you. Courage is not about absence of fear, it is about doing what you believe is right even when you are afraid.
You must not sleep!