The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
"They Want to Take Your Soul / Don't Give It Away / … Don't Surrender, So Long as You Have the Strength"
A new song by Belarusian musician Max Korzh—in Russian but with pretty accurate English subtitles—with over 1.7M views on YouTube and Instagram since July 15; I take it that it's addressed to other Russians and Belarusians. The song's title is "protect her," and the "her" refers to one's soul (as in the lines that I quote in the title of the post); here's the full stanza in which this line is contained (for more, see the subtitles of the song itself, or if you know Russian, the Russian lyrics):
Тhe beasts аre raging on the screen
Brother, don't take someone else's—it's not yours
In front of you flashes someone's life
We didn't give it, and it's not for us to destroy
Youngster, this time everything is serious
They want to take your soul, don't give it away
Remember what I taught you
Don't surrender, so long as you have the strength
As I noted in my earlier post about Korzh's "he is right who is defending his home" song, I thought Korzh's anti-war position was especially noteworthy given that he apparently still lives in Belarus, and has had extensive plans to continue performing in Russia (though who knows whether that will still happen).
