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Bialiatski, Belsat, Liberal Club – Digest of Civil Society

Notable events last week included transfer by Ales Bialiatski of his prize to Belarusian human rights defenders, reduction of Belsat broadcasting, and a new Belarusian initiative in Prague.

Ales Bialiatski awarded the Prize of the Peter Kelly. The ceremony was held...

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Ales Bialiatski

Notable events last week included transfer by Ales Bialiatski of his prize to Belarusian human rights defenders, reduction of Belsat broadcasting, and a new Belarusian initiative in Prague.

Ales Bialiatski awarded the Prize of the Peter Kelly. The ceremony was held on November 22, in Berlin. The award was given to a political prisoner Ales Bialiatski to recognize his merits in defending human rights in authoritarian Belarus. Ales Bialiatski refused to accept monetary component 10,000 euro, asking to transfer the funds to support human rights activity in Belarus.

Belsat reduces broadcasting. From November 26, the Warsaw-based independent TV channel Belsat is downsizing its broadcasting mode. Almost all of the regular programs are to leave in the forced vacation because they have no funding to the end of the year.

Liberal Club conference. On November 24, the International conference "In Defense of Liberalism in Eastern Europe" took place in the Minsk hotel "Europe". The conference is organised by NGO "Liberal Club" and aims to further develop the network of liberalism's supporters in Eastern Europe.

New centre of Belarusian emigration. On November 20, in Prague, six Belarusian organisations reached an agreement to cooperate as an "Alternative Belarusian Embassy" in the Czech Republic: Association "For Modernization", "Nash Dom", the NGO "Pahonia", etc. In response, the NGO of Czech Belarusians "Pahonia" made ​​a statement that the aforementioned meeting was "nothing more but a theatrical ostentatious staging, directed by political refugee Alexei Mikhalevich aimed to show him as a leader of the Belarusians in the Czech Republic".

Drupal-sliot. On December 15-16, in Minsk, the youth NGO "Falanster" conducts the 2nd Drupal-sliot. The event is organised as a social event which is to strengthen horizontal connections in the environment of drupal-developers (Drupal is an open source content management system) as well as other open source communities.

Green Alliance celebrated 5-year anniversary. On November 22, at the Minsk Gallery "Ў", the first Belarusian association of environmental organisations, activists and experts "Green Alliance" celebrated its 5-year anniversary. The activists presented the results of the current campaigns and introduced a new concept of "Green Alliance" – the development of regional networks to launch a broad national environmental movement.

The best video about CSO organisational capacityBelarus’ Capacity Building Market place was awarded in the framework of the 1st Forum of Organisational Development, which was held on November 19-20, 2012 in Kiev. The team of the Belarus’ Marketplace won the video contest "CSO organisational capacity" with a video report about the First Fair of Capacity Building in Minsk, on October 12, 2012.

Budzma’s talk shows. On November 21, in Mogilev, the campaign "Budzma" ("Be Belarusians!") began a series of talk shows and public presentations under the title "Culture improves life!", which are planned to be conducted in all Belarusian regions. The Mogilev talk show "The CIS Cultural Capital: initiative from top or bottom?" was devoted to the issue of giving the city the status of the CIS cultural capital in 2013.

Informal legal school for Roma people to be arranged in Gomel. On November 19, Gomel human rights activists announced the opening of a legal school for Roma. The decision was made based on the results of a roundtable discussion on Roma-related discrimination.

The 2nd Forum of Belarusian cyclists took place in Hrodna on November 24-25. The purpose of the Forum is to bring together the cyclists of Hroda and Belarus in order to influence the development of urban infrastructure. The Forum is organised by the “Velo-Grodno” initiative.

Weekend GDF events in Gomel. On November 24, Gomel Democratic Forum (GDF) hosts a round table devoted to youth politics in Belarus and organized by the movement "For Freedom". On November 25, GDF conducts a meeting of the youth club "Civilization" on the development of volunteerism in Homel region.

Roundtable on anonymous donations. On November 28, Legal Transformation Center and the Assembly of pro-Democratic NGOs conduct a roundtable "Anonymous donations in Belarus". The event will present an overview of the legal regulation and practical situation with anonymous donations in Belarus and abroad.

Educational websites' competition. 18 Belarusian websites take part in the "Best Website / Blog of non-formal education for 2010-2012". One of the nominees is a blog of the Golden Age University project aimed at working with the social, intellectual, and physical revitalization of Grodno elderly residents. Voting is available on the website of the 4th Festival of Non-Formal Education that will be held on December 7-9, 2012.

Forum of Volunteers in Minsk. On December 4, the 5th International Forum of Volunteers is to take place in Minsk International Education Center (IBB) The Forum focuses primarily on volunteer work with the elderly, in particular witnesses of the events of the II World War, as well as on interaction between the generations.

Small grant competition for Minsk and Minsk region. Registered and non-registered CSOs of Minsk and Minsk region are invited to participate in the competition of small grants "Support of civil initiatives that strengthen the values ​​of democracy and independence". The aim of the competition is to expand the values in civil activities. The maximum grant amount is $1,000.According to the newsletter belngo.info

Literature as tag clouds. KYKY.org established its method of reading of literary texts and transformed 10 classic pieces of Belarusian literature into the tag clouds. The results showed that the Belarusian literature revolves around the word 'WHAT'.

Belarus Digest prepared this overview on the basis of materials provided by Pact. This digest attempts to give a richer picture of the recent political and civil society events in Belarus. It often goes beyond the hot stories already available in English-language media.
 

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