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			siberie_inde_goulag

		CARNET DE ROUTE N° 9/58
					" SIBERIE - INDIA: along the footsteps of the gulags "
				18 to 25 June 2006 / MAGADAN-IAGADNOE-SUSUMAN, RUSSIA.     “ Are they forgetting ”   On board of a UAZ (1), we went for a tour of what remains of the Goulags in Kolyma in order to double check our existing knowledge with what exists in reality and to identify the camps that will indicate our point of departure for the expedition. Taking into consideration the historical defeat which awaits us, will we make it? On board of the UAZ that drives us through the Kolyma mountains, there is a general good mood, supported by the idea that we will soon see our first camps and be in touch with the horror that we have been reading about all these recent months. The kilome tres spent on an asfalted road quickly pass and we continue on a dirt road, whose current condition is better than the asfalted one. Our fixer, Kostya also constantly reminds us that: “there is no road and no bridge whose stones were not laid by the Zeks (2). Each of these sections, these bunch of tress, the embankments along the roads shows us the remains of the oppression. One has to get out of the van inorder to really grasp the human violence imprinted on nature here. We look for it also, but only rarely are we able to really see it, an old bridge here, telegraphic posts that pass by help in feed our imagination. A monument for the prisoners pass by which we like, but without speaking, Kostya stops at the ruins of one of the first camps. The only thing that remains here is a brick house, a couple of pieces of wood and some pieces of scrap metal. The area seems to be large, but not much different in appearance from areas of the Vanoise park in France where old houses have become destroyed over tim e. Up until now our imagination is fed by the picture of the camps that Varlam Shalamov described, one of the most important ex-prisoner authors who wrote about the Gulag. At this point we are standing on the ruins of what once was where his suffering took place so many years ago. Standing in the middle of these leftovers of wood, brick, slowly being eaten by new grass and moss, but even more infested by mosquitos we are silent. We see no high walls, no bars on the windows, the barbed wire and no watchtowe r. We see a piece of land that is covered in bulldozer tracks. It is here that Chalamov was, but what is here is in no way similar to what was here during his time. So we continue. We say nothing as we leave the camp and we don’t understand the terribl e reality of what we have just seen. We will have to maybe adjust the our own initiative for this trek at this point because we didn’t see anything that we were expecting and will have to accept the reality: there where humans have had easy acess, histor y disappears. But why? Is there no historical conscience here? Are they forgetting their history? After this journey and several long conversations we have come to a couple of theories for why what we have seen may be so: 1) the lack of money. In a country where much of its population lives on the border between the developed and developing world, d ilapidation and poverty are everywhere. Lack of funds makes it already difficult to maintain the roads and hospitals. Why would maintaining their historical heritage be possible when they clearly have other priorities?, 2) A lack of complete responsibili ty, symbol of this country, which generates a lack of decision taking, 3) The head of state refuses to take part in his history: he does not accept it and he does not reject it, 4) The abandonement of socialism for “russian capitalism” stimulates the nee d for seeking quick wealth. As the prisoners left behind their gold in the camp toilets during body searches, gold diggers meticulously scan all the camps to find the gold, probably with being conscious of the history that they are destroying in the proc ess. So, what to do? Do we just forget? Or should we fight to preserve the memory? Perhaps they could preserve the camps that are still in tact and far from other humans (2 to 3 days on foot) before it is too late? According to Igor, a geologist and security guard of the museum in Sussuman, « it was always a good option but very far from the political will ». It’s a little like these « abandoned cities to the four winds while there are still undamaged camps » says the mayor of Susuman. And ultimately the fin al point by Tatiana, a translator, « the violence of our regimes has made the people, as a whole, to become fatalist and submissive, but rebels in their individuality. However, the individuals are afraid to express their rebeldness for fear of what might come tomorrow ». It is the snake who bites its own tail. See you soon Guillaume et Cyril (1) UAZ : small Russian van. (2) zek : the Zeka means a prisoner of the Goulag     LA PHOTO DU JOUR
				L'expédition Paris-Kaboul. Dernières infos sur l'Afghanistan avec Le Point
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