#the novelist in wartime
Historic Photographs
The full Tiananmen Square Massacre ‘Tank Man’ photo, is more powerful than the cropped version.
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“Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg. Yes, no matter how right the wall may be and how wrong the egg, I will stand with the egg. Someone else will have to decide what is right and what is wrong; perhaps time or history will decide.”
…
“I have only one thing I hope to convey to you today. We are all human beings, individuals transcending nationality and race and religion, fragile eggs faced with a solid wall called the System. To all appearances, we have no hope of winning. The wall is too high, too strong – and too cold. If we have any hope of victory at all, it will have to come from our believing in the utter uniqueness and irreplaceability of our own and others’ souls and from the warmth we gain by joining souls together.
Take a moment to think about this. Each of us possesses a tangible, living soul. The System has no such thing. We must not allow the System to exploit us. We must not allow the System to take on a life of its own. The System did not make us: We made the System.”
Haruki Murakami, The Novelist in Wartime: a short speech in which Murakami explains his decision to accept a literary prize in Jerusalem during Israel’s military operation in Gaza…and why we need to fight the System. Worth reading in full.
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