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kritik

In Northern Norway, they have a festival that cracks the iron curtain

Even when the bridges burn, we must make an effort to cross borders, was the message at the Barents Spektakel in Kirkenes, 400 km north of the Arctic Circle. Here – in the biting cold – Russian shame, claustrophobic magnetic fields and censored sound art became the starting point for a very difficult conversation.

Af
  • Jakob Gustav Winckler
9. Marts 2023

»This is the world's most important festival«.

The grandeur was palpable in the last of the opening speeches for the 19th edition of the Barents Spectacle in the northern Norwegian city of Kirkenes. It was obvious that the speaker Knut Olav Åmas from the press freedom organization Fritt Ord was aiming to make the newspaper headlines. At times it almost seemed as if he was speaking directly to me – meaning the foreign press, which had been invited 400 km north of the Arctic Circle to the border town with its complicated relationship with its neighbor to the east.

It was close to an overstretch, when Åmas elevated journalism to »history’s first draft«. I guess that was the minimum one could do on this date: February 24 – one year after the Putin regime's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Most of us who stood in the bitter arctic cold waiting for the opening show to start had just come from a torchlight procession starting at the Russian Consulate General. In addition to the condemnations of the war, a large part of the demonstration speeches were filled with sympathy for the Russian population. Like Ukraine, Russia is also occupied, people said several times.

©  Ivaylo Donchev / Pikene på Broen
kritik

I Nordnorge har de en festival, der slår sprækker i jerntæppet

Selv når broerne brænder, må vi gøre en indsats for at krydse grænser, lød budskabet på Barents Spektakel i Kirkenes, 400 km nord for polarcirklen. I bidende kulde blev russisk skam, klaustrofobiske magnetfelter og censureret lydkunst udgangspunkt for en meget svær samtale.

Af
  • Jakob Gustav Winckler
8. Marts 2023

»Det her er verdens vigtigste festival«.

Storladenheden var til at tage og føle på i den sidste af åbningstalerne for den 19. udgave af Barents Spektakel i den nordnorske by Kirkenes. Taleren Knut Olav Åmas fra trykkefrihedsorganisationen Fritt Ord havde sigte mod avisoverskrifterne, fornemmede man. I momenter virkede det nærmest, som talte han direkte til mig – altså den udenlandske presse, der var blevet inviteret 400 km nord for polarcirklen til grænsebyen med det indviklede forhold til sin nabo mod øst. 

Det nærmede sig et overstretch, da Åmas ophøjede journalistikken til »historiens first draft«. Mindre kunne vel ikke gøre det på denne dato: 24. februar – et år efter Putin-regimets fuldskala-invasion af Ukraine. De fleste af os, som stod i den bidende polarkulde og ventede på, at åbningsshowet skulle gå i gang, kom lige fra et fakkeloptog med afmarch fra det russiske generalkonsulat. Udover fordømmelserne af krigen var en stor del af demonstrationstalerne belagt med sympati for den russiske befolkning. Ligesom Ukraine er Rusland også okkuperet, lød det flere gange.