Bamserne har slået til igen

THE TEDDY BEARS HAVE STRUCK AGAIN


ENGLISH TRANSLATION IN ITALICS


For en måneds tid siden diskuterede vi en sen aften, om vi kunne stole på fotos af bamser i faldskærme, der dalede ned over Minsk i Hviderusland med bannere i poterne. På det tidspunkt var der stort set kun materiale at finde på det svenske reklamebureau Studio Totals egen hjemmeside. Billederne kunne være konstruerede:

One late night a month ago we were discussing if we could trust photos of teddy bears in parachutes descending over Minsk, Belarus, with banners in their paws. At that time there was not much information to be had, and most of it came from the Swedish advertising agency Studio Total's own website. The images of the bears might very well have been fabricated:

Foto: http://www.studiototal.se/teddybears/

I mellemtiden er en diplomatisk krise opstået og tilspidset mellem Sverige og Hviderusland med henvisning til, at luftrummet over Europas sidste diktatur er blevet krænket af bamser.

In the meantime a diplomatic crisis has arisen between Sweden and Belarus regarding the airspace above Europe's last dictatorial regime stating that is has been violated by bears.

Foto: http://www.studiototal.se/teddybears/

Aktionen havde afsæt i en bamsedemonstration i Minsk, hvor arrangøren bagefter var blevet arresteret. Det har ingen bamse kunnet sidde overhørig: Bamserne slog til igen. Herhjemme har vi en lang og stolt historie for engagerede bamser. Mest berømt er Bamsernes Befrielsesfront.

The action was motivated by a demonstration in Minsk, which had consisted entirely of furry toys to prove that certain personalities are too innocent to be assaulted by the authorities. Only, the organizer got arrested, and when the word got out, it was more than any teddy bear could ignore: The bears struck again. In this country we have a long and proud history of dedicated teddy bears. Of highest fame is "The Teddy Bears' Liberation Front".

Peter Lautrop, Bamsernes Befrielsesfront - scan fra hans bog med samme titel fra 2011 ved Forlaget Politisk Revy.
- a scan from the book on "The Teddy Bears' Liberation Front" from 2011, published by Forlaget Politisk Revy.

De slog til første gang 1979 i Peter Lautrops streg og med tekst af Povl Høst-Madsen på Dagbladet Informations sider. 

They struck for the first time in 1979, drawn by Peter Lautrop with texts by Poul Høst-Madsen, on the pages of the daily paper "Dagbladet Information".

Peter Lautrop, Bamsernes Befrielsesfront - gengivelse fra hans bog med samme titel
fra 2011 ved Forlaget Politisk Revy.
The text says "teddy bear debate" a header in the paper from those days,
when letters poured in from the readers pro and against the actions of the bears.

På denne tid var Tvind endnu noget, der ikke blev kritiseret. Selvkritik var en ukendt størrelse for venstrefløjen, og ind på Informations sider rykkede nu en parallelverden, der til forveksling kunne kunne ligne vores, blot bestod den af småbitte væsener af gult plys. 

De besatte en soveby i Nordsjælland, hvor de iværksatte et kooperativ, der igen skulle få liv i byen. Avisen kunne dagligt rapportere fra besættelsen, statsministeren blev fløjet ind, politiet lagde en jernring omkring og journalister netop fra hjemvendt fra verdens brændpunkter, krøb på tværs af motorvejen for at komme ind. Altimens brød besættelsen sammen indefra. Bamserne begyndte at strides i interne magtkampe, så forsøget til sidst måtte opgives. 

At that time the cooperative "Tvind" was as yet considered to be beyond criticism. In fact self-criticism was an unknown occupation for the left-wingers and so a parallel realm entered the pages of "Information". It could be mistaken for our sphere only it consisted entirely of tiny creatures of yellow fluff.

They conquered a sleepy, nearly extinct rural community in North Zealand, north of Copenhagen. Here they launched a cooperative to make the community come to alive once again. The newspaper reported on a daily basis from the occupied community, how the prime minister was flown in, and that the police forces encircled them, while journalists just returned from the world's hotspots risked being run down while creeping across the highway to sneak in. Inside the occupation was breaking to pieces. Bickering, conflicts and eventually infighting broke out among the bears, so that the experiment had to be abandoned.

Peter Lautrop, Bamsernes Befrielsesfront - detalje, gengivelse fra hans bog med samme titel fra 2011 ved Forlaget Politisk Revy. Bamser gør, hvad bamser gør, og selv i samlet demonstration går de hver sin vej.

/ Each sign is different, saying "Black May 1" or "Violet May 1" while the one at the top says "Avoid all strife, each bear its own demonstration". Bears do what bears do, and

even in the amalgamation of a demonstration, they go in opposite directions.

Vi kunne sige, at et er en lidt anden type historie end faldskærmsbamser over Minsk, men bamser diskuterer ikke, de handler. De slår til, hvor menneskene nægter at se, hvad de har gang i, og sætter en utopi i værk, en spejlverden som er uantastelig på samme tid, som den blotter os. 

For en eftertid er det interessant at læse, hvordan Informations læsere forsøgte at give bamserne identitet, at tilskrive dem netop den identitet for en minoritet eller udstødt gruppe, som de selv advokerede for. Men som altid gled bamserne af. Selv i et højpolitisk felt kan de ikke gøres til genstand for andres interesser.

Så derfor, trods skærpet grænsekontrol henover julen 1979, kunne grænsebetjentene i Hälsingborg se spor fra små gule poter i sneen, bamserne var i Sverige:

One could say that this is a slightly different type of story than that of teddy bears parachuting into Minsk, but bears do not discuss, they act. They strike, where humans refuse to realise their doings, setting up a utopia, a mirrored world that is as unassailable at the same time as it exposes us.

Decades later it is interesting to read how the readers of "Information" tried to attribute an identity to the bears, ascribing to them the very identity of a minority or marginalized group, which they themselves advocated. But as always, the bears evaded all attempts. Even in a highly political arena they cannot be subjected to the interests of others.

And so, despite heightened attention at the borders, the police in Hälsingborg found prints of small yellow paws in the snow right days before Christmas 1979. The bears were in Sweden:

Peter Lautrop, Bamsernes Befrielsesfront - gengivelse fra hans bog med samme titel fra 2011

ved Forlaget Politisk Revy.

The text says "The Teddy Bears attack!! But where?. What will the intelligence do?" - advertisement for "Dagens Nyheter" in Sweden for the Christmas eve edition.

Ramsele blev til Bamsele. Forældrene til en skoleklasse på besøg i den nævnte by blev nervøse for de daglige rapporter fra Dagens Nyheter og så voksede hysteriet - de stakkels børn, hvad gør politiet og hvad gør politikerne? Der blev dog ingen diplomatisk krise med Danmark denne gang, da billeder kunne smugles ud fra den besatte by, hvor pensionisterne aldrig havde været gladere:

Small-town Ramsele became Bamsele, since teddy bear in Danish is a "bamse". The parents of a school class visiting in that very town grew anxious for the daily reports in the Swedish paper "Dagens Nyheter" and anxiety grew into hysteria: Those poor children, what does the police do and what about the politicians? Still, it created no diplomatic crisis with Denmark, since the paper could smuggle images out of the occupied town, in which the retired had never been happier:

Peter Lautrop, Bamsernes Befrielsesfront - gengivelse fra hans bog med samme titel

fra 2011 ved Forlaget Politisk Revy.

Bamsen er en ren, grafisk form. Den er en helhed i sig, om hvem ingen kan sige noget dårligt. Alligevel er den aldrig enkel, hver bamse har sin fortælling, som Peter Lautrop skærer direkte ind til. Som surrealt billedsprog er Bamsernes Befrielsesfront en af de stærkeste grafiske greb i efterkrigstidens bladtegning herhjemme. I 1998 spurgte Kim Behnke ligefrem i Folketinget, hvad Justitsministeren havde tænkt sig at gøre mod samfundets undergravende kræfter:

(...) hvorfor de under navne som f.eks. Bamsernes Befrielsesfront lavede hærværk mod tankstationer. I andre sammenhænge er det andre navne der bruges. Aktivisterne lægger ikke selv skjul på, at de bruger dette navnerytteri for at hindre eller besværliggøre myndighedernes opklaring og retsforfølgelse. (...) Hærværk, husbesættelser, tyverier og vold er altid en fast bestanddel af venstrefløjens aktivisters virke. (...) Der er aldrig foretaget en samlet kortlægning af, hvilke personer der har deltaget i disse ulovligheder eller foretaget en samlet opgørelse af, hvad venstrefløjens ulovligheder har kostet det danske samfund. Dertil kommer selvfølgelig, at mange af aktiviteterne har haft som erklærede mål at omstyrte det danske demokrati.      

Ministeren bedes ved besvarelsen tage højde for, at besvarelsen vil have stor interesse for historieforskningen.

A teddy bear is a graphically clear-cut shape. It constitutes a unity, of which no one can use angry words. Yet, it is never simple, each teddy bear has its own story, as Peter Lautrop accentuates. As a surreal piece of imagery "The Teddy Bears' Liberation Front" is one of the strongest graphic profiles of Late Cold War cartooning in this country. In 1998 the conservative, former right-wing politician, Kim Behnke, even brought them up in Parliament, when he asked in full seriousness what the Minister of Justice intended to do to those subversive forces undermining our society:

"(...) Why they under such names as "The Teddy Bears' Liberation Front" vandalized gas stations. In other contexts, other names are used. The activists does not even hide the fact that they play with names in order to prevent or impede official investigation and prosecution. (...) Vandalism, squatting, theft and violence are always a staple of leftist activists in action. (...) There has never been a comprehensive survey on the persons who took part in the illegalities or a complete evaluation of what the left's wrongdoing has cost the Danish society. Add to this, of course, that many of the activities have had as stated goal to overthrow the Danish democracy.

The Minister is requested to take into account that his answer will be of great interest for historical researchers."

Stærke ord om små bamser. Opdages vil de ikke, men for historieforskningen er de vitterligt et fund, som Peter Lautrop satte i værk. Måske er det Bamsele-bamser, som nu er draget videre til Minsk. Under alle omstændigheder har vi ikke hørt fra dem for sidste gang.

Strong words about small teddy bears. They do not intend to be found out, nor even found, but to historical researchers they are indeed a find, set in motion by Peter Lautrop. Maybe it is the Bamsele-teddy bears that have now moved on to Minsk. In any case, it is not the last time we have heard from the bears.

Foto: http://www.studiototal.se/teddybears/

Peter Lautrop (Tegninger) og Povl Høst-Madsen (Tekst): Bamsernes Befrielsesfront - hele historien. Med essay af Louise C. Larsen (København: Forlaget Politisk Revy, 2011).