BELARUS DIGEST

Belarus and Ukraine are celebrating the 19th year of their independence in 2010. Kiev decided to schedule the fireworks for August 24. On this day in 1991, spurred by the “mortal danger surrounding Ukraine” after the USSR August coup, the Ukrainian Rada passed the Act of Declaration of Independence.

Back in 1991, Belarusian parliamentarians followed Ukraine’s example. The very next day, they gave the status of a constitutional law to the Declaration of Belarusian State Sovereignty, adopted on July 27, 1990. But today, Minsk celebrates neither August 25th nor July 27th. The authorities don’t even commemorate the creation of the Belarusian People’s Republic on March 25th, 1918. Instead, independence day celebrations are held on July 3rd, the date marking the liberation of Minsk from the Nazi troops in 1944.

Whatever the wisdom of choosing one or the other date to commemorate, one can’t help comparing the goals of Belarusian and Ukrainian policymakers expressed 19 years ago and as their successes in actualizing these goals.

In fact, the differences in Minsk’s and Kiev’s interpretations of independence and sovereignty date back to 1990, when the Soviet Union still existed. One need only compare the two states’ respective Declarations of State Sovereignty, passed in the same political environment by the national parliaments of Belarus and Ukraine within a day from each other. The two documents are similar in structure and in language, which makes their idiosyncrasies stand out even more.

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In the world dominated by the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric and memories of bloody nationalist wars, nationalism is considered dangerous. However, the sentiment has become a highly positive phenomenon, and even, to an extent, a requirement at the international summer school “Belarus in the European Context: Current Discussions on Nation-Building,” organized by the Institute for Historical Research on Belarus and Philosophy Department of the European Humanities University (EHU) last week. Opening the school on August 2, Zahar Sybeka of Belarusian State Economic University said, tongue-in check, that all school participants were “nationalists.” The following six days proved him right as they showed their passion for the Belarusian culture and history and their concern about the country’s future.

Fittingly, the school was held in “Kernavės Bajorynė”, next to the highly symbolic UNESCO World Heritage Site that has become a treasure trove for archeologists. The event brought together intellectuals from Belarus, Poland, Latvia, Russia, and Lithuania to debate the development of Belarusian identity and the Belarusian national idea. The researchers also discussed the role of social groups in cities and villages, the role of history and memory in Belarus’ national identity, as well as the issues of nationalism, Europeization, and democratization.

Although the school guests were divided into experts/tutors and participants, their roles have merged in heated discussions. Everybody had an opportunity to present and defend his/her work and comment on the others’ research.

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Sergey Yenin, a vice chairman of the LGBT Human Rights Group GayBelarus.By and co-organizer of the Slavic Pride in Minsk shares his first-hand experience.

Gay Pride March took place in Minsk on May 15. After some 200 meters, it was broken up by the riot police with twelve participants arrested after scenes of reported police violence.

According to UKGayNews*, these are probably the most dramatic 1,000 words written about a Gay Pride event anywhere in the world this year.

Arrested, Beaten, Threatened, Jailed and Sent for Trial Just for Taking Part in Slavic Gay Pride
…Yet PROUD of what we all accomplished in Minsk

By Sergey Yenin

MINSK, May 19, 2010 – This is an account of the most dramatic 48 hours in my life as a gay activist in Belarus.

There were four of us in the taxi. Myself, Logan (and Australian filmmaker), Jack (his boyfriend) and Chad (a photographer working on a project Walk with Pride). I couldn’t help shivering in anticipation of the upcoming Pride march and the possible extreme few hours that I would probably face. But I couldn’t let my friends worry as well. The taxi driver noticed that something was really wrong with the place he had to drop us off.

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According to GayRussia*, the city authorities have banned this weekend’s Slavic Gay Pride March, using an obscure law that says public events are not allowed near underground pedestrian crossings and metro stations.

On May 8, organisers received notification of the ban signed by the deputy head of Minsk City Executive Committee Mikhail Titenkov, who is notorious for banning all public events of LGBT community in Minsk.

And the co-organisers described the reason for the ban “absurd”.

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This Saturday, May 8, 2009, the EU Embassies in Washington, DC will open their doors to public as part of the Europe Week. The program of events in Washington, DC includes speeches, seminars and workshops on issues; film screenings, concerts and cultural events related to the European Union.

Universities, think tanks, other non-governmental organizations and the Embassies and Consulates of EU Member States around the United States will take part in Europe Week, hosting events designed to create a better understanding of the European Union.

The local chapter of the Belarusan-American Association (BAZA) is using this opportunity to hand-deliver a letter from Belarusians in the United States, urging EU member states to support human rights and democracy in Belarus.

“Last year’s letter delivery was very successful. BAZA members were able to cover many Embassies and in some cases to hand letters to Ambassadors personally. The EU Open House* provides a great opportunity to express support for democracy and human rights in Belarus,” said Alice Kipel of the Belarusan-American Association.

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In his May 4 interview with the Reuters news agency, Belarusian president again tried to pose as a strong figure independent both of the West and Moscow. However, while he briefly lashed out at Russia for its ousting Kyrgyz president last month, the main target for his criticism was the West. Alyaksandr Lukashenka believes that he has given the West a lot of important favors, yet did not get enough in return. He feels “deceived.”

According to him

If we tomorrow would make our political system as in Ukraine, then you [Western politicians] would applaud us and praise us everywhere. We, however, do not want it, because we have seen what happened in Ukraine, and what is happening there until now. You want to send us the same way. You know, it is more than strange, I absolutely do not understand, why do you need it? Why do you need an unstable center of Europe?

The interview, indeed, showed rather cynical attitude of Belarusian leadership in relations with the West – EU, USA, some international organizations and many Western countries. Adamantly refusing to undertake any significant political and social liberalization in the country and avoiding transparent economic reforms, Lukashenka is going to become acceptable for the West through providing security and stability on eastern borders of Europe, preventing Russian incursions in the former Soviet Union and making his own deals with unscrupulous Western businesspeople behind the doors closed for public.

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By lhar Lalkou

Belarusian society is deeply split. Less than a decade after the establishment of an independent Republic of Belarus, one part of society is so radically separated from the other that if a casual observer were to overhear conversations and read articles by the two groups, it could be concluded that they live in different worlds. Of the parameters that identify a nation, place of residence is the only thing these two groups have in common. They differ by language, their historical memory, identity (despite the fact that both call themselves Belarusians, the meaning is completely different), relations with other nations (dose and distant), their vision of the country ‘s future development, etc.

It sometimes seems that these two groups would feel more comfortable in two different countries. The two Belaruses already have two totally separate sets of national symbols. One set comprises the knightly emblem Pahonya (a knight on horseback against a red shield) and the white, red and white flag. The other set comprises’ a traditional Soviet shieldless emblem look-alike framed by a garland and a red and green flag with an ornamental pattern. The Pahonya was inherited by Belarus from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), a state in which the ancestors of most Belarusians dominated during the greater part of their history (in the 13″‘-18″ centuries).

Together with the white, red and white flag, the emblem was adopted as the national emblem of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BPR), the first state to appear on these lands after the break up of the Russian empire. These symbols are still used by the BPR government-in-exile that had to leave Belarus in 1920 under the blows of Soviet Russia’s Red Army. These symbols were also the first state symbols of the independent Republic of Belarus between 1991 and 1995.

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Members of the Belarusian-American Association responded to the new attack of the government of Belarus on the constitutional rights of their citizens by staging a protest in the very center of Washington, DC. The Russian service of the Voice of America covered the event supported by the Reporters Without Borders and WE REMEMBER Foundation.

Behind the extensive control over Internet access and online content that President Lukashenka has the obvious intention to reduce free expression in Belarus. Last year, the government claimed that China was a model in terns of Internet control. This year, President Lukashenka signed a decree subjecting online access in internet cafes to an identity check or to prior online authorization that depends on the applicant.

VB

Read more about this event and the problem in Russian at VOANEWS.com.

A new monograph, Writing in a Cold Climate: Belarusian Literature from the 1970s to the Present Day, by Prof Arnold McMillin, a distinguished researcher of Belarusian literature, has been published in the UK.

This is a pioneering work of such kind in English, up-to-date and reflecting on Belarusian literature through the eyes of the western scholarship. The book launch will take place in London on 25 February, 5.30 pm (Masaryk Room, floor 4, SSEES, 16 Taviton St, WC1H 0BW).

In the publisher’s words:

Belarusian literature, which survives and, indeed, flourishes in the face of unfavourable domestic political conditions, deserves to be far better known in the West. It continues to flourish as an important aspect of national consciousness in a semi-denationalized state, and at its best can compare with the literature of its Slav neighbours including Russia.

The present monograph, the first of its kind, attempts to describe and assess the work of nearly two hundred writers and literary groups, ranging over poetry, prose and drama. The coverage includes provincial as well as metropolitan literature and groupings, and pays particular attention to seven outstanding authors of the period, to historical writing which is particularly important in a country where history has been suppressed and denied, and to the youngest generation of talented poets and prose writers born in the early 1980s at the very end of the Soviet Union’s existence.

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6:30 p.m., November 23, Monday
Rayburn House Office Building, U.S. Congress
Independence Ave. and South Capitol Street, Washington, DC 20003

The Third Way Belarus and Belarusan Museum in New York in cooperation with the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) and the German Marshall Fund of the United States will hold an opening reception of Art Against Dictatorship Exhibition on Monday, November 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the foyer of Rayburn House Office Building.

Among the speakers at the event will be Pavel Marozau, Chair of the Congress of New Belarusian Diaspora in Europe and the United States and Belarusian dissident; Representative of U.S. Helsinki Commission; Representatives of the Belarusian Diaspora in US and Belarusan Museum in New York; Anastasios Sarikas, a well-known lawyer and supporter of Belarusian Art Movement; Belarusian artists Ales Shaternik, Yahor Batalyonak, Belarusian-American artists Yelena Tylkina and Yulia Shaternik. There will be photos and videos about the current situation in Belarus.

The dictatorship of President Lukashenka’s regime over the past 14 years has dramatically marginalized the diversity of Belarusian national culture and arts. Those artists who tried to express their freedom through the language of arts have been subjected to continuous marginalization and suppression.

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Tuesday, November 17th 2009, 2pm-5pm

Location: Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and the Mortara Center for International Studies (3601 N. St. NW)
Evgeny Morozov, Andrew Carvin, Arvind Ganesan, Shanthi Kalathil, and Marc Lynch will discuss the evolving nature of authoritarianism in the age of social media and digital communications. The speakers will assess the impact of new communication technology on regime stability, free expression and civic engagement, and discuss the changing political environments in Russia, China, and Iran.
Session I: 2:00 PM  3:00 PM
Evgeny Morozov
Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University
Session II: 3:30  5:00 PM
Andrew Carvin
Senior Strategist, Social Media Desk, National Public Radio
Arvind Ganesan
Director of Business and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch
Shanthi Kalathil
Co-author, Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule
Marc Lynch
Professor, The George Washington University
This program is sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and the Mortara Center for International Studies at Georgetown University, with the generous support of the Schott Foundation and Yahoo!
This event requires a ticket or RSVP

Радыё Свабода і Інстытут падтрымкі дэмакратыі ва Ўсходняй Эўропе правялі дыскусію “15 гадоў, адлік працягваецца: унутры Лукашэнкавай Беларусі”.
У дыскусіі, якая адбылася ў Вашынгтонскім офісе нашага радыё, удзельнічалі беларускія апазыцыйныя палітыкі Вінцук Вячорка і Лявон Баршчэўскі, празь відэасувязь у Празе – дырэктар Беларускай рэдакцыі РС Аляксандар Лукашук, вёў дыскусію былы амбасадар ЗША ў Беларусі Майкл Козак.
Паглядзець відэафрагмэнт дыскусіі, дзе ўдзельнікі адказалі на пытаньні па-беларуску
Паводле Радыё Свабода