Tracks East

„Warum hast du dich nicht mit Benzin übergossen und angezündet? Du bist so eine Pussy, so ein Versager“, heißt es im neuesten Song des russischen Rappers Noize MC. Er thematisiert Hass und Häme, mit denen Russen überschüttet werden, die nicht in den Ukrainekrieg ziehen wollen, und zu Hundertausenden ihr Land verlassen haben. „Tracks East“ widmet sich der Angst der Männer in Russland und der Ukraine. „Ich hoffe, dass wir eines Tages in unser normales Leben zurückkehren und unsere Traumata verarbeiten können“, sagt der ukrainische Informatikstudent Grisha aus Mariupol. Seit der Generalmobilmachung in der Ukraine am 25. Februar, die es Männern zwischen 18 und 60 Jahren unmöglich macht, das Land zu verlassen, gewährt er uns Einblick in sein Leben, über das seine Cousine Anna Zhukovets gerade den Film „From East to West“ dreht.

„Wo der Staat versagt, blockieren wir.“ Mit diesem Kampfruf besetzen junge tschechische Aktivisten den Betrieb der Kokerei Svoboda. „Tracks East“ ist mittendrin und fragt: Wie sehen die Post-Ost-Kreativen in Polen, Tschechien und der Ukraine die westeuropäische (Angst-)Debatte um Krieg, Gas und Strom? „Polen geht die Kohle aus. Warum? Weil wir eine unfähige Regierung voller Heuchler haben, die meinten, wir hätten Kohlevorräte für 200 Jahre“, sagt der 22-jährige polnische Rapper Asthma. Tracks-East-Reporterin Nicole Blacha trifft ihren Landsmann in Lodz, wo diesen Winter die Unis auf Online-Betrieb umstellen, da der Staat an allen Ecken und Enden Heizkosten sparen muss. Asthma hat mit seinem Album „Manifest“ der „lost generation“ Polens einen klimapolitischen Wutausbruch der Sonderklasse geschenkt.

Plötzlich ist sie wieder da – die Angst vor dem nuklearen Armageddon. Putin setzt auf die Drohung mit Atomwaffen, die Ukraine weiter auf Atomstrom. Diesem hochbrisanten Thema nähert sich das „Tracks East“-Team, das überwiegend aus der Ukraine, Russland, Polen und Kasachstan stammt. Und das auf eher ungewöhnliche Art und Weise: beim Pilzesammeln im Wald. Pilze erinnern das Team nicht nur an ihre Kindheit, sie erinnern nicht wenige auch an den Super-GAU in Tschernobyl 1986. An den kann sich wiederum der ukrainische Autor Mitya Churikov nur zu gut erinnern. Churikov spricht in seiner sehr persönlichen Reportage mit seiner Großmutter über die Zeit, in der die Katastrophe bei ihnen zu Hause Einzug hielt.

„Die Welt liebt die Demokratie nicht mehr. Sie wendet sich immer mehr der Diktatur zu.“ Das sind die Worte von Dmitri Muratow, Chefredakteur der regimekritischen Moskauer Zeitung Nowaja Gaseta, als man ihm 2021 den Friedensnobelpreis verlieh. In Belarus, Russland bestätigt sich diese Aussage. Dieses Mal blickt „Tracks East“ auch in den Iran.

Fragt sich nur, wer die Lizenz für diese Waffe hat? „Wir“ behauptet ein Komiker-Duo aus Belarus, die sogenannten Chin Chins, die „Tracks East“ launisch eröffnen. Als Chin wird in Belarus ein Regierungsvertreter bezeichnet, und genau diese persiflieren die beiden belarussischen Schauspieler in ihrer politischen Satire

Religion has played a major role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill supports the war - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is sending Muslim soldiers to Ukraine in a "holy war". We meet the Ukrainian muslim bloggers. Artist Masha Maroz takes us on a journey through the ancestral rites of Polesia and Mihaela Drăgan invokes Roma superstitions about witches.

Exiled in Latvia since 2022, Russian journalist Masha Borzunova and her team are on a mission to teach Europe what Russian state media propaganda actually looks like: Sinister, full of contradiction and absurd.

Addressing the issue of exploitation and power relations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Tracks East focuses on Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.

It will soon be a year since Russia invaded their country, but Ukrainians remain optimistic: 88% of them are convinced that within ten years their country will be a member of the European Union and will enjoy prosperity. And many Ukrainian artists, singers, inventors and entrepreneurs believe that their country should not be reduced to the role of victim. Musician Olga Osinnya meets people in Kyiv who are looking towards the future with hope.

In war it is often the children who suffer the most. Their stable home lives are destroyed and they have to flee. According to Ukrainian sources, 12,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia, the Kremlin says they have been ‘brought home’.

Should artists and musicians be active cultural warriors in the war in Ukraine? Or should art provide solace from the brutality of war? Tracks East focuses on artists from countries devastated by war and how they are received in the west.

In Ukraine, long-distance love is the new normal. Indie pop icon Ingret Kostenko had a meteoric rise to fame until the Russian invasion forced her to flee to Germany. The man she loved was a soldier at the front and she went home regularly to see him. This separation is the inspiration for Ingret’s music.

With Russian missiles raining down over their cities, Ukrainians have no choice but to take refuge below ground. After more than a year of war, basements, bunkers and metro stations have become more than just temporary shelters. Tracks East looks at what life is like underground.

Living through the brutal destruction of Mariupol or the massacre in Bucha has left mental scars in the Ukrainian population. Tracks East meets young people who are rebuilding their lives post-trauma, many using their passions to overcome their bad experiences.

How are young people in Moldova responding to the Russian threat to their country? DJ Borș returned to Moldova when the war in Ukraine began. Like many in her generation, she feels in a state of limbo because no one knows what tomorrow will bring. With her initiative "Make Borș Not War", she is revitalising the party scene in Chisinau.

Is pacifism still relevant as war rages in Ukraine? What is the point of peaceful demonstrations when the aggressor will stop at nothing? Tracks East gives a voice to the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian opposition and peace movements.

Can Russia be transformed from within? Russian journalist Mascha Borzunova and Russian actor Jean-Michel Scherbak give voice to people Putin wants to silence: dissidents, opponents and artists in Russia and in exile.

For many, the Eurovision Song Contest is the chance for a Pan-European party. But it is also highly political, especially for countries in Eastern Europe. When Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra won in 2022, it was a message of European solidarity against Russian aggression.

A new generation has come of age in Turkey that doesn’t want to live like their parents. On social media, on comedy stages and in rap music a counterculture is flourishing. Filmmaker Ufuk Cam goes to Turkey to uncover the local scene.

Increasing authoritarianism means that Russian citizens have to decide: Do they stay quiet and allow freedom to die? Or do they speak up and risk changing their lives for ever? Tracks East meets Russians that could not accept the Putin dictatorship and now live in exile.

Since the wars that devastated the Balkans in the 1990s, the international community has continued to associate Southeastern Europe with a powder keg. Tracks East has therefore chosen to give a voice to young artists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo who strive to portray a different image of this region of the world.

Since Russia invaded its neighbour Ukraine, many are demanding cultural institutions not to programme Russian works. Is leaving out Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" or Chekhov's "Three Sisters" already a form of cancel culture?

In many countries, the state wants to control your body: the clothes you wear, your facial hair and for women, even their pregnancies. Tracks East meets Polish journalist and mixed martial-arts fighter Maja Staśko to find out the situation in Poland and the world

The family should be a haven of peace, a model of cohesion. But what happens to this cocoon when it is shaken by political conflict and war? Some try to reinvent the bond while others cut ties.

Who am I and where do I belong? Tracks East brings together artists who are asking themselves the fundamental question of their origins and identity.

Summer in Europe is here, but with war raging in the east, is it even possible to go on holiday? In Ukraine some are trying to enjoy the beaches around Odessa and in the Russian resort of Sochi, the atmosphere is tense.