During the kick-off of Winternacht 1, publicist Bas Heijne brought the two literary giants Amos Oz and Adriaan van Dis closer together. What remains of their former idealism? Oz's barrage of wonderful one-liners proved difficult to tame and made for a hilarious but somewhat unbalanced conversation.
A recalcitrant teenager, Israeli Amos Oz ran away from home at the age of 15 and joined a kibbutz. He lived there for years. Adriaan van Dis, too, once spent 3 months on a kibbutz as a committed left-wing youth and then threw himself into the anti-apartheid movement. Oz wrote Among friends, a collection of stories about the oppressive loneliness of life in a kibbutz. And in Tick-tock processed Adriaan van Dis's experiences of the idealistic struggle in South Africa.
Oz is pleasantly cynical about his idealistic time in the commune. "Some kibbutzim were so leftist that they secretly dreamed of Stalin himself would visit them. And that he would then - after inspecting the tractors and a fiery canteen discussion on Marxist-Leninist doctrine - declare with awe that those Israelis had understood socialism better than the Russians. Things were not that bad in my kibbutz, but even though I lived in a semi-religious, social-anarchist variant, the overarching dream was that in that commune all human misery would be eliminated. My flight was a rebellion against my father and everything he - reactionary and bourgeois - stood for. But once in the kibbutz I found out, that what I was trying to escape in the 'old outside world' was also just happening in that kibbutz."
"The people in the kibbutz were convinced of the possibility of fundamentally changing human nature in one swift stroke. Human shortcomings like jealousy and selfishness would be gone forever. But that was an impossible ideal. In thousands of years, humans have changed very little. Just look at sex. We have been making love the same way since the time of King Solomon. The only difference being that now we might smoke a cigarette afterwards."
Expressing emotions or tenderness was also taboo in kibbutz life, Oz says. "In the commune, everyone was - supposedly - free and no one could be lonely anymore. The paradox was that we conquered the hills of social inequality, only to discover that still rocks of existential inequality stood in our way. Like the state of Israel, kibbutzim were born of a dream. But turning a dream into reality almost always ends in a big disappointment. As a writer, I am enormously fascinated by that strange paradox."
However, Van Dis looks back fondly on his kibbutz adventure. "After the war, I felt very connected to the Jewish people, and I wanted to help build their country. But soon I injured my crotch in an odd fall. I was considered by the local doctor as meshuge goi laughed at and saved from hard physical work. That togetherness was still very special. I also experienced that in South Africa. In the anti-apartheid struggle, the opposition formed a united front. But after the overthrow of the old regime, the differences between different tribes, cultures and population groups became much more pronounced. A new form of racism took its place."
Van Dis: "In the end, I felt out of place in Israel - because I am not Jewish - and in South Africa I was not black enough. But I still wanted to help. I wanted to believe in a better society and fight for it. In that respect, nothing has changed. When it comes down to it, I still take to the streets for my ideals."
"The enthusiasm of you Europeans is problematic," laughs Oz. "You guys can't measure up. You guys are always 120% pro, or 120% anti. At least, it seems that way sometimes. But the reality is much more complex and tragic. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not black and white, not a conflict from a Hollywood movie between absolute good or bad. Between the fanatical settler and the radical peace activist, there is not so much distinction. Even though they are miles apart ideologically, they envy each other's fanaticism."
"I write in Among friends with love about all those idealists. I love those people, and look at their fiery idealism with a mixture of irony and curiosity. In my work, I don't judge right or wrong. As a writer, I am more interested in the conflict between right and good."
After the applause, as the audience left the room, Van Dis muttered, "What was I actually sitting there doing?"
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