The flag of the demonstrators was white, before the cloth was stained with blood, thus at least the legend recounts

And legends – sometimes teach us an important truth.

The flag of the demonstrators was white as peace, white as festival clothes and a wedding dress,

White as a shining light from within a circle of a people known as companions, the flag was white,

As a piece of blank paper that says to you: “Come and draw a picture, or write a poem, or an article,

Or a love letter, or an invitation to a wedding, or a mathematical equation –

Place your seal in the white space, create something”. The flag was white as the color of freedom.

Come the bearers of the white flags to give the world the message of freedom,

And the world welcomed you with a barrage of sheets, the socialist movement learnt,

In a hard and sad way, that the sun must shine firstly in red

In order that it will be able thereafter to illuminate in white; the white festival flags rolled up for safekeeping.

The red flag of struggle we will all spread out as part of the struggle for freedom

And this struggle is part of each of us. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow

There will be red flags. But today we will remember the white:

Today we will remember that the most important thing is not the protest but rather the glory; that the main thing is not the struggle –

And not even the victory of the struggle – but rather peace; that the main thing is not breaking the power of the oppressors

The main thing is freedom; and not the freedom of abstract ideas or ideals,

But rather the freedom of the lives of living people

Our world is bad and ugly and stupid. Specifically because of this and specifically today we will remember, that it deserves love

The world deserves to be loved, it deserves that humanity will love it, people deserve to be loved;

And not only because of what they could be, but rather also because of what they are, as they are, already now

The world deserves to be loved, and one who has ceased loving it, has also ceased being a socialist.

We love. And we will not stop loving.