s5

A year or two after emigrating, she happened to be in Paris on the
anniversary of the Russian invasion of her country (Czechoslovakia). A
protest march had been scheduled, and she felt driven to take
part. Fists raised high, the young Frenchmen shouted out slogans
condemning Soviet imperialism. She liked the slogans, but to her
surprise she found herself unable to shout along with them. She lasted
only a few minutes in the parade.

When she told her French friends about it, they were amazed. ``You
mean you don't want to fight the occupation of your country?'' She
would have liked to tell them that behind Communism, Fascism, behind
all occupations and invasions lurks a more basic, pervasive evil and
that the image of that evil was a parade of people marching with
raised fists and shouting identical syllables in unison. But she knew
she would never be able to make them understand. Embarrassed, she
changed the subject.

Milan Kundera