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A BLOG IN STATU NASCENDI
Not a blog really, more a collection of random thoughts that can be used later to make the website as a whole more informative. There is no interactivity as yet, but I hardly expect anyone to read what is here anyway.
MONTH-BY-MONTH COMMENTARY
(offered in the hope that some of the material will assist in Lord Bell's efforts to promote President Lukashenka)
May 2008
15 May
The truth proved too much...
This relates to one of the entries for the week ending 26 April. Of course the cross has been torn down on the orders of the local authorities, and the author of the book (Кроў і попел Дражна - 'The Blood and Ashes of Drazhno') about the tragedy, Viktar Chursik, given 15 days inside. Fr Leanid, who consecrated the cross, has gone into hiding. There is a full report on the Svaboda website. There is a report in Russian from Komsomol'skaia Pravda v Belorussii here, including some eye-witness accounts and an opposing view of what occurred by the historian Emmanuel Ioffe.
As far as I can tell, Chursik's book must have appeared in April. The publication obviously aroused the Central Organ of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus, Во Славу Родины to ejaculate a counterblast on 30 April entitled 'По следам «мутной» сенсации' and penned by one Vladimir Kozhevnikov. This in turn led to a vigorous response in the weekly Наша Ніва under the title '«Во славу Родины»: Вёску Дражна спалілі паліцаі', together with some lively comment. Chursik has an interview here.
The logic is impeccable. If you got shot by the Soviet partisans, you must have been guilty of something, mustn't you?
Incidentally, there is a photograph of the cross actually being erected here. This website also has some other interesting publications put out by Mr Chursik's publishing firm.
14 May
(This is the anniversary of the 1995 referendum that changed the Belarus flag and national symbols)
Promises, promises...
Lukashenka promises to stand for a fourth term as President in 2011, according to the Svaboda website. Since some of the remarks made by Him in an interview to Reuters touch upon the United Kingdom, it is worth offering an English translation of the extracts provided by Svaboda. Straight, as they say, from the horse's mouth:
"We will hold elections in no worse a manner than the countries of the European Union. How you judge them is a matter for your conscience... I am today going to demand that all the relevant bodies in Belarus must conduct elections in such a manner as to make you ashamed to throw stones at us and to say that our elections do not accord to standards prevailing in Europe."
"If the rating of the opposition is currently at the level of an arithmetical mistake, how can they possibly win seats in parliament? An opposition like that cannot possibly be represented in parliament. And even if a few members of the opposition do win seats, our parliament will be none the worse for it - they will be in a minority anyway."
"But, and I must stress this, I am afraid. I am afraid that they will once again not get into parliament. Instead of working with the people, our opposition goes off to the USA, Great Britain and Germany begging for money. Who are they working for? Our opposition should now be out working with our citizens and seeking their support, not begging a few quid off of Great Britain. This opposition is corrupt."
"I tell you quite frankly, I would like people to support just a few members of the opposition. Then you would not be able to blame Me that there is no opposition in parliament. That all depends on the people. Anyone worthy of getting into parliament will win a seat."
"If things go on as they are now, both with me personally and in the country, then of course I will stand for a fourth term. If things change, the decision might be different. While I still have my health, people don't criticise me too strongly and the West is beginning to understand. That's possible. Count on the worst!"
"Let them make a start on sorting their own prisoners out, the prisoners in Guantanamo, in Afghanistan and so on. On the other hand We would not like the whole country to suffer because of six people. I, I Myself personally took the decision to free them. Five of them agreed, the sixth refused. He recently stated that the longer he stays in prison, the higher his rating becomes. That's his choice. I'm not going to drag him by his ears out of there. As of today we have no political prisoners."
[The one political prisoner 'who refuses to leave prison' is Alaksandar Kazulin. The idea, presumably, is to ensure that he stays there until the next presidential elections.]
Disingenuous, or what? First create the conditions in which it is impossible for an opposition to function effectively, then complain that the opposition does not function effectively? Who is He kidding?
9 May: Victory Day - Дзень Перамогі
No - not VE Day; that is on 8 May. 9 May is Victory Day for the USSR and its successor states. As an antidote to the schmalz put out by official TV channels in Belarus and Russia, read this series of interviews ('Another War. Other Victors') with veterans of World War II who fought in the Polish Armia Krajowa (Home Army) or the army of General Anders against the Germans and chose to remain or return to the places where they had lived before the war, despite the fact that the Polish frontier had moved westwards over their heads - following the 1939 agreement with the Foreign Minister of the chief 'fascist' himself, Adolf Hitler. Only those who fought in the Red Army, apparently, were on the right side. Not everyone has reason to celebrate victory.
Or to welcome rule by those who use the war for their own political ends. Why on Earth would anyone wish to restore the Stalin Line as a tourist attraction? It proved in the end to be as useful as the Maginot Line, but perhaps we ought not to mention that.
Chagall in Oxford
There is to be an exhibition of Marc Chagall's lithographs in the Jam Factory Oxford 3-14 May. Further details are available on the website.
The exhibition will then transfer to Fergus' Gallery in Stanford Dingley [no relation!] for the period 17-18 May. Information is available from Fergus Madden (fergusmadden@doctors.org.uk, phone: 0118 9744654).
April 2008
Last week of the month
The Son also rises - but which one and when?
Rumours that Lukashenka is training up his eldest son to take over as President have been circulating for a long time. According to the 28 April issue of the Belarus edition of Komsomol'skaia Pravda, Lukashenka is in fact reserving that role for his four-year-old son:
Глава государства также заявил, что «везде муссируется вопрос, что, якобы, эта организация ["Белая Русь" - JD] создавалась под будущего президента и что этим президентом будет мой старший сын Я уже сказал: младший сын будет президентом Беларуси».
The first person to add a comment on the article congratulates us on the creation of a 'байстручье царство' [Bastard Kingdom] in the centre of Europe.
The present Constitution requires anyone standing for election as President to be at least 35. Does that mean that we have another 31 years of AGL? Perhaps the Constitution will have to be changed?!
A boost for Anglo-Belarusian trade relations?
The Charter 97 website reports that representatives of the British firm Sepura ('Keeping you safe wherever you are') are in Minsk for talks with representatives of the Belarus forces of law-and-order, including the KGB. Presumably, their surveillance products are high on the agenda:
When stealth can make the world of difference to the success of an operation, the SRC3300 should be your choice of hand-held radio.
Small, light and with no display, sounds or interface that might give away its presence, the SRC3300 is the world’s best-selling covert operations terminal.
Worn on the body and controlled by a small remote control unit that fits in the palm, the SRC3300 is very discreet. It includes end-to-end encryption, emergency alarm, tone signal and long battery life to suit the needs of staff in military, police and anti-terrorist scenarios.
Add to the list 'anti-Lukashenka scenarios', and you get the picture. Our government may not let President Lukashenka and his top officials into the country because they are so undemocratic, but business knows what is good for us. Bravo, chaps!
Week running up to the Chernobyl anniversary (26 April)
Off to a good start
There is a report in Ezhednevnik, no. 401, 21 April, p. 5, of a proposal to open up some of the irradiated regions of Belarus, including the Palessie Nature Reserve, to foreigners to enjoy an 'extreme' experience lasting 1-2 days. Over this period, according to 'our medical data' the radiation will not have any effect on health. This bright suggestion comes from Nikolai Sergienko, Vice-Chairman of the Belarus Parliament's Standing Committee on Chernobyl-related problems, ecology and nature resources.
The reader is entitled to wonder what kind of 'extreme' experiences the foreign visitor may have in mind. Actually being in Belarus as a foreign tourist is probably extreme enough.
The truth will out
The same issue of Ezhednevnik reports that an Orthodox priest, Fr Leonid, on Saturday 19 April said prayers and blessed a newly-erected cross in the village of Drazhno, Minsk Province, in memory of the 25 villagers - including 15 women and children - killed during a punitive raid on 15 April 1943.
The nasty Nazis again? Wrong. The killers were from the 2nd Minsk Partisan Brigade. Officialdom still recoils from the very thought that the sainted partisans, the народные мстители ('popular avengers'), could in any way be put on a level with the German occupiers and their allies. The militia and representatives of the local administration sought to hinder the proceedings. Their efforts were somewhat thwarted by the presence of an eyewitness to the incident. How many other eyewitnesses are there to incidents of this kind? Are there any members of this particular partisan brigade/gang still alive?
I wonder how long it will be before Fr Leonid receives a threatening letter from his bishop.
19 April
Center for Belarusian Studies
Southwestern College, Winfield KS, USA, has established a Center for Belarusian Studies. The Center's website is http://www.sckans.edu/belarus/. Information about the founding of the Center can be found here. The inaugural lecture was given by Prof. Stanisłaǔ Šuškievič on 19 April.
Click here for a report of the occasion.
March 2008
28 March
The Army and Culture are One
This I cannot resist. According to the Belarus Defence Minister Leonid Mal'tsev the Belarusian Army and Belarusian Culture are as one. The text in full:
Министр обороны Беларуси Леонид МАЛЬЦЕВ в Колонном зале Дворца офицеров провел встречу с деятелями культуры и искусства. Как сообщила Национальная государственная телерадиокомпания Республики Беларусь, на встрече было заявлено, что белорусская армия и культура едины, а их взаимодействие направлено на формирование духовности и патриотизма. В качестве примера единения министр обороны продемонстрировал даже первый номер журнала «Армия и культура».(From Ezhednevnik, no. 384, 27 March, p. 5)
Есть много определений культуры. В самом общем плане культура – это нравственные, моральные и материальные ценности, умения, знания, обычаи, традиции. В связи с этим интересно: сможет ли хоть кто-нибудь объяснить смысл фразы «Белорусская армия и культура едины». А раньше у белорусской армии не было духовных ценностей и традиций?
Has Belarusian officialdom no sense of irony? What on Earth is going to be in this new journal?
27 - 29 March
Conference 'Belarus in Europe: Economic Cooperation and Political Dialogue'
The conference was held in the Institut für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa, Vienna, as the conclusion to a research project entitled 'Belarus: the writing on the wall'. The conference programme is available here.
Rector Uładzimir Šymaǔ of the Belarusian State University in Miensk will be present. An article on the Svaboda website goes into detail on the shameful ways in which he and the rectors of other Belarusian universities seek to stifle dissident students.
We can only hope that the information was passed to the conference organisers!
27 March
Business as usual - 'Масавая атака на незалежных журналістаў'
The Svaboda website reports attacks by the Belarusian KGB on independent journalists both in editorial offices and in their homes. The Belarus Ministry of Foreign Affairs justifies the involvement of the security heavies by stating that the journalists involved were not properly accredited and therefore working illegally.
The IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) has a report in English. The Associated Press report is here. There is additional English-language information on the website of the Belarusian Association of Journalists.
25 March - BELARUSIAN NATIONAL REPUBLIC
(For the 90th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the BNR on 25 March 1918)
ДЗЕНЬ ВОЛІ - FREEDOM DAY
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the Belarusian National Republic on 25 March 1918. Without this act there would have been no Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and no Republic of Belarus.
For the significance of the Declaration of Independence in the history of Belarus see this Wikipedia article and the website of the Rada (Council) of the Belarusian National Republic, especially the essay by Fr Alexander Nadson.
[I]
Transcript of broadcast on 20 February by Siarhiej Šupa on the Svaboda website. The broadcast itself concerns the early history of the idea of independence in 1916 and the reasons why Miensk and not Vilnia became the focal point of independent Belarus.
Here is the last sentence:
"Аднак з самой Беларусі БНР так ніколі й ня зьнікла, а ператварылася ў прывіда, які жыве ў беларускім доме сваім таямнічым жыцьцём і дагэтуль, праз 90 гадоў працягвае палохаць адных яго насельнікаў і навявае рамантычны настрой другім."
Exactly. The BNR has become like something out of Belarusian folklore, an apparition that frightens some people and makes others go all dewy-eyed. It is not clear who is frightened by the apparition, nor how the "romantic mood" of the others will be translated into a strategy for making the apparition become a reality. Sad. It all reminds me of The Canadian Boat Song:
From the lone sheiling of the misty island
Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas -
Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.
Several other programmes devoted to the anniversary of the BNR have been broadcast on the Radio Liberty Belarusian service in recent weeks. Without exception they have all been extremely well put together, but primarily for those who already have an interest in historical minutiae. Therein lies the real problem.
[II]
PavieƗ Jakubovič, editor of the Presidential Administration's newspaper Sovetskaia Belorussiia, is reported in issue no. 381 for 24 March of the internet daily Ezhednevnik as having held an editorial discussion on the question of the BNR where he said:
«БНР является частью истории белорусов. Да, романтическая идея, столкнувшись с реалиями 1917-1918 годов, была обречена на поражение, и потому судьбы людей, организовавших БНР, трагичны. Сам факт, что впервые в истории в 1918 году белорусы предприняли попытку создать независимое государство, заслуживает уважения».
The text of the round-table discussion is available here. For further consideration of what looks like yet another policy twist by the ruling regime see the blog entry of Jury Drakachrust, entitled 'БНР і Лукашэнка' on the Svaboda website.
[III]
There are video clips of the events of 25 March in Miensk here.22 March
A case of Preaching to the Converted?
I hope not. A conference entitled 'The past, present and future of Belarusian Statehood' was held in Prague under the patronage of the Czech Foreign Minister. There is a report on the Svaboda website.
Cui bono?
21 March
A case of Engage brain before opening mouth?
In an interview to a group of Austrian journalists Lukashenka is reported as having said 'Democracy in Belarus is the same as in Austria, almost identical. Democratic values in Belarus are as high as in any other European country', much to the surprise (at least) of Heinz Patzelt, Secretary General of Amnesty International Austria.
17 March
A seemingly trivial event?
The newspaper Salidarnaść has a report on a courageous and potentially harmful step taken by Hanna Leŭšukova in the city of Mahiloŭ. Hanna is in the tenth grade of secondary school and has just resigned as secretary of her school branch of the BRSM, Lukashenka's youth movement. She cites as her reason that young people are being compelled to become members of the organisation. The paper reports that teachers have been called to the head's office and threatened with dismissal if all the students in their classes do not join.
13 March
Promoting the unpromotable?
First reports appear of a meeting between Lukashenka and Lord Bell, Chairman of Chime Communications ('The Chime Group helps clients create, manage, monitor and market their businesses, brands and reputation both in the UK and internationally') and Image-Maker to the Great, but not necessarily Good. For information on Bell's earlier PR activities see an article from The Observer published in 2006. There was a robust reaction to the news on 17 March in The Guardian.
For a Belarusian reaction to the news see the transcript of a discussion broadcast on the Radio Liberty Belarusian service.
A snippet in issue no. 376 (17 March) of the internet-based daily Ezhednevnik reveals that approaches to PR firms have been made previously, although to none so prestigious.
12 March
A mystery disappearance
An American lawyer from the American Russian Law Institute and specialist on money-laundering, Emanuel Zeltser, arrived in Miensk from London and was promptly arrested, together with his secretary Vladlena Funk. The news did not filter through to the press until 17 March. Even later we learned that Zeltser was accused of forging documents. Some background information is available here (in English) and here (in Russian).
The name of Pavel Borodin crops up in the reports. He had some trouble with the Swiss courts back in 2000 and 2001 and is currently Secretary of State of the Russia-Belarus 'Union State'. See here for biographical notes (in Russian) up to 2001, or here for even briefer notes in English, but with links to newspaper articles on his Swiss tribulations.
The latest news I have is from the Svaboda website on 25 March. Emanuel Zeltser's brother Mark puts forward the suggestion that he may have been arrested in Belarus at the request of Boris Berezovsky, someone who in the past has made use of Lord Bell's PR services.
10 March
[I]
What proved to be a busy week started out with reports of a delegation of British businessmen in Minsk headed by Cecil Parkinson. Those who do not know or have forgotten who he was can click here. Quoth Cecil: 'The businessmen who arrive in Belarus to invest in the economy of the country are absolutely confident that the Government will fulfill all its obligations'. So that's all right then.
I would be most grateful for any information about the composition of the delegation. Will they, I wonder, heed the American warning?
[II]
The Svaboda website reports on the forthcoming (11-13 March) Belarus Days in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, lists who from the Belarusian opposition will be present and gives a programme of events. Fine, but the European taxpayer is presumably paying. How can we find out about the impact of these events? I contacted the ten MEPs for the South East of England with information about the Days; only one acknowledged receipt. It is safe to assume that none of them attended anything.
For how long will we have to fund the gravy trains of both Strasbourg and Westminster? That, presumably, is a matter for a real blog.
February 2008
23 February
This month was marked by the sad death on the 23rd at the age of 48 of Iryna Kazulina, wife of Professor Alaksandar Kazulin, one-time rector of the Belarusian State University in Miensk and a candidate in the presidential elections of 2006, now serving a five-and-a-half year sentence in a penal colony in Viciebsk province for organising a demonstration and march after the 2006 election. (For brief background information in English click here.)
On that same day Kazulin had asked for permission to phone home as he had heard that his wife had been taken seriously ill. Apparently, no phone could be found.
On the 24th the news was passed to Kazulin. The warden of the penal colony, Vital Ahniścikaŭ, refused to grant him bereavement leave (to which he may have been entitled under the terms of Article 94 of the Belarus Criminal Code?), because of numerous 'disciplinary violations'.
In Kazulin's own words:
"I said: 'That's it. Up until now, my wife's illness was holding me back. Now nothing is holding me back.' And I immediately went on a hunger strike. I ripped off all my prison tags and said I wasn't going to follow the colony rules anymore. Then I wrote a four-page letter declaring my hunger strike and explaining my illegal arrest, and the necessity of being at my wife's funeral..."
He signed his letter "the way I sign everything -- 'the illegally convicted A. Kazulin'."
Eventually, when talking about his short-term release Kazulin described the atmosphere in the colony in the following way:
"You can't imagine what it was like in the colony at that point. It was surrounded by riot police. Inside there were security guards everywhere. No one was allowed to move."
Earlier on the same day, his daughters Volha and Yulia Kazulina had appealed to the authorities in Miensk to release their father to enable him to attend his wife's funeral. They also organised a public gathering of remembrance for their mother. Some thousand people responded to the appeal and came out on to October Square, bearing lighted candles.
This numerically not large demonstration must have had some effect on the authorities. On 25 February Ahniścikaŭ received permission to release Kazulin for three days to attend the funeral on the 27th. Kazulin was driven to Miensk by the warden himself.
A four-minute video of Iryna Kazulina's funeral, produced by the weekly newspaper Naša Niva, can be seen on YouTube.
So what?
This whole sad episode reveals what happens to considerations of common humanity when everything in a country depends on the will of One Man. No one is willing to risk a career and perhaps freedom by making a decision that may run counter to His wishes.
We know from Kazulin himself that Lukashenka had attempted to do a deal with him in the week before his wife died. He could be released early and help his wife seek treatment abroad, but only, it was strongly implied, if the couple agreed never to return to Belarus.
If Lukashenka is so popular and firmly in control, why were the security precautions taken in the penal colony? What were the authorities afraid of? A mass attempt to liberate Kazulin? Perhaps the answer is to be found in a comparison between Kazulin and the other opposition candidate in 2006, Alaksandar Milinkievič.
Milinkievič gained more votes than Kazulin and is still at large, free to travel as the leading representative of the opposition to Lukashenka. It is Kazulin who is incarcerated. We can see both revenge (Kazulin had earlier been an ally of Lukashenka's) and fear (Kazulin is potentially a more dangerous rival than Milinkievič).
What of Kazulin's political future? Attempts to secure his release on what were obviously politically motivated charges continue (see Javier Solana's statement here). He undoubtedly gained a large measure of public sympathy, but for how long will that sympathy last? Kazulin himself is reported as having said:
"There were days when I received as many as 200 letters in jail. The strange thing was that almost all of them were from foreign countries. Belarusians still need to wake up."
22 February
CHRISTINE LINDEY
Aspects of Post-War Art in Belarus: An Illustrated Talk
(meeting held jointly with the Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies (SCRSS))
Christine Lindey's talk was very much worth the trip to Brixton. She succeeded in making the real connection between 'socialist realism' as a somewhat imprecise concept and the thorough grounding that artists in the USSR received in technique and the classical tradition. The question naturally arises: is it the 'done thing' to dislike socialist realist painting because of the political system in which such work was produced, or because we dislike the content, technique or some other artistic aspect of the pictures themselves? What, then, are we supposed to make of Alaksiej Maračkin's Plošča? (Click here for a reproduction of this picture; the image is on the website of the Belarusian Popular Front.) Do we like this picture because the heroic young people in the foreground are depicted holding flags of which we approve, rather than standing in front of a blast furnace with shovels in their hands? Incidentally, why the sword?
The views of the new generation of art critics in Belarus need to be considered. Two recent articles are, it seems to me, central:
- Пётра Васілеўскі, 'Восень патрыярха?.. Міхаіл Савіцкі: мастак пад Вавілонскаю вежай' [Piotra Vasileŭski, 'The Autumn of the Patriarch?..MichaiƗ Savicki: artist beneath the Tower of Babel'];
- Сяргей Харэўскі, 'Мастацтва таталітарызму', part 1 and part 2 [Siarhiej Chareŭski, 'Art in a totalitarian state']. Both parts of the article are reprinted in the collection Таталітарызм. Рэд. А. І. Анціпенка, Менск: Беларускі Калегіюм, 2007.
20 February
Марына Напрушкіна - Maryna Napruškina (born Miensk 1981, now living and working in Germany)
Article by Alena Struve on Svaboda website. Samples of paintings and installations here and here.
Great use of socialist realism to mock "Mein Präsident". It is not difficult to read "Mein Führer" behind those words.
11-23 February 2008
FREE THEATRE OF MINSK
The Free Theatre of Minsk gave some of the most gut-wrenching performances I have seen in a long time. This is theatre at its best - upsetting and unsettling. I feel sorry for anyone who missed the performances because the players chose Russian as their language. Russian - even Russian - can be a language in which it is possible to be passionate about liberty. Of course, it would have been splendid to have made Harold Pinter's words sound out in Belarusian, but what we had was truly an experience to last a lifetime. No wonder Luka and his merry men are so hostile!
Three items from The Guardian:
and one from the London Evening Standard.