Film Story

What color is your passport?
What does it say about your country at the airport?
Does it represent you and what you stand for?
And if it does how long would it last for?
Would you allow yourself to suffocate without the air that you gasp for?
I bet not. Unless you have to.
What do I ask for?
You see, my passport for the lack of the right color in English is blue.
Light blue.
Like the vast sky of independency blue.
Like the sea of fresh water stretching endlessly blue.
Like the unity they tell us relentlessly blue.
“Democracy” screams at us helplessly blue.
Sounds perfect for school books, for national media.
By the way not my words.
Wikipedia.
Independent Kazakhstan sounds like a solid plan.
An opportunity land, a dreamland for the tribal community, for the clans holding the right cards in the right hands.
Like Richard Branson became the virgin man
Our guy and his clan assaulted virginity of this land.
Like a real con man never hesitated in executing the scam.
They pump their oil out of Caspian Sea
When digging the soil is a sole option to be
Hunger-free for most people.
They won’t spend their money on getting teachers fair pay.
They’d rather spend that same money on anti-Borat campaign
We brag about color of the sky on our flag
But Almaty’s become a gas chamber, in fact
It’s a miracle for those in critical condition to recover from COVID.
They don’t have money for the basics,
But the death reports won’t show it.
But for the monument and for the fireworks.
Ready to blow it.
I’m talking about ex-president if you didn’t know It.
And amidst this global awakening
When the world is shaking and breaking
the fundamental patterns of hate and discrimination,
and violation of human rights,
police brutality and the fear of heights.
Rises a fist.
Woman’s fist. A real leader’s fist.
A change maker fist.
A pattern breaker fist.
An activist who’s pissed but also ready to assist,
To open a dialogue that’s been missed,
To educate people on the difference between
Being heard versus being dismissed.
She leads the way out of the shade
And the shame people been witnessing along the way.
She wrote on a sign ‘From Truth You Don’t Run’
They assigned fifteen days behind bars.
Sorry, mom.
Piece of scum rolled over six pedestrians, killed one
How many days did he get?
Forty-five.
Done.
People protest for the right to protest
Without written permission ten days in advance,
To express their feelings without being oppressed.
What’s the government do?
They’re afraid, they suppress.
They protect their nest.
They catch her at the peak of emotional stress
When she snapped the hat off the bulletproof vest.
This is it. Finally, a perfect arrest.
Trying to put her in prison. Three years. For the truth.
This is no treason. This is abuse.
Reckless abuse, and power misuse.
All they want’s boasting headlines in the shower of news.
You’re crossing the line with the deaths and arrests.
Hiding and lying I guess that’s your best.
All you care about is your offshore funds and your ass
Plus what they will think about you in the west
Not your own people. It’s always the west.
I hope that the west will hold you accountable for the mess.
I hope that the press will strip off the nice dress
Will expose all political hoes
Because justice has to be on the side of those who need it the most.
The People.

Зачем собаке грызть собственный хвост?
Если возник вопрос,
Почему английский язык, ответ прост —
Они держат своих людей за грязь, за навоз.
Отговорки по ГОСТ, закупки по гос.
Не вопи и не вздумай повышать голос.
Горе от ума, от мозгов все беды.
Олар қазақша да, орысша да түсінбейді.
А вот запад. Западу смотрите в рот.
Западу нужен детальный отчёт.
Запах страха, ползёт по лицу соль и пот.
Пусть запад узнаёт, как вы раком народ.
Хватит, тридцать лет поиграли, нахапали славно,
Но помните…
What goes around, comes around
Закон бумеранга и кармы.

Translation from Russian:
Why would a dog bite its own tail?
If there’s a question why this is in English
The answer is simple
They think ill of their own people
Excuses by GOST, public procurement as planned
Don’t shout and don’t even think of raising your voice.
All the troubles from wit, all the pain from mind
They understand neither Kazakh nor Russian.
But the west. You’re infatuated with everything west.
The west would require a detailed report.
Sweat and salt on the face, smell of fear
Let the west know how you mistreat your own people.
Enough. You played with it thirty years
But remember…
What goes around comes around.
The law of the boomerang and of karma.

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This spoken-word poem was inspired by the original post of the2VVO where they question the purity of the sky on the Kazakhstan flag and what really hides behind pompous words.

Written and performed by Anatoliy Ogay.
Produced by Tatyana Kim.