Belarusian Generation Y logbook

The topic of student expulsions on political grounds rose new debates in the Internet. The reason for that was the action of the Austrian National Union of Students OeH against the politically motivated student expulsions in Belarus. The action of OeH was organized in front of the building of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, where a conference “Belarus in Europe: Economic Co-operation and Political Debate” was held last Friday. In particular, the students were protesting against the fact that the organizers had invited Rector Shimov, known for expelling student activists, as a speaker. The action itself, as well as the information about it published by some Belarusian media, led to long online debates last week.

In short, what students did was to organize a small action in front of the conference venue before the conference started. They were holding a banner which said:”STOP political expulsions of students”, they had symbolic posters which reflected the only way to be a student in Belarus, and they were giving leaflets with the story of Rector Shimov to everyone entering or leaving the building.

The organizers of the controversial conference, where both supporters and opponents of the Belarusian regime were assembled, allowed the representatives of the student group to enter the conference hall and speak to the participants. Co-chairs of OeH, Lisa Schindler and Verena Szaby, gave a short statement in front of the conference by drawing their attention to the problem of students’ rights and organizations in Belarus, and the common practice of expelling student activists in the country. They also mentioned that Rector Shimov, who is known to be involved in such activities, is present in the conference and urged to ask him critical questions after his speech. Besides that, while Rector Shimov was speaking, the students unfolded the same banner “STOP politically motivated expulsions of students” to remind him of the responsibility for his actions against students rights.

The action itself would had probably not attracted that much attention in Belarus if the son of the mentioned rector, who is also a known blogger both in Belarusian and Russian blogging communities, did not post a big article in support of his father. f-f wrote that Shimov Sr. is a good professor who made much for Belarus while he was the minister of economy of Belarus and keeps working for it at the position of Rector. He added that the only thing he [his father] did which can be questioned is the expulsion of Tatsiana Khoma in 2005; all other accusations of an oppressor of students are false.

His post raised a lot of mixed reactions. For the first time people looked at the regime bureaucrats as people who are someone’s family members, arguing that besides making rare anti-democratic decisions they are also running the country and moving it forward. People were debating whether it is possible to remain a liberal when you work within the regime system and play by its rules.

Mr. Shimov Jr’s post was updated with positive feedback as people complemented on the respectful approach of a son who is protecting the image of his father, even though he works for the regime.

On the other hand, it also raised many negative replies. Many bloggers mentioned that it is through these small decisions of such people that the whole dictatorship system is based. If rectors and teachers protested against the orders to expel student activists and stood for academic freedom and independence of higher education from politics, it would be a huge support to the development of the democratic values in the Belarusian society. People cannot forgive such actions against democracy just because a person might have contributed positively into the development of the country. Putting up with oppression of students at universities and politically motivated expulsions is the same as supporting the system of fear and dictatorship.

The case of Rector Shimov, who is most often mentioned regarding only the expulsion of Tatsiana Khoma, keeps being interesting because it is unique. He was the first rector who made such a scandalous and obviously illegal decision to expel a student activist; he was the one in the middle of the most widely discussed media campaign with the expelled student; and he opposed discussing this topic with foreign diplomats when they asked for a meeting with him in 2005. And as a result now, after more than two years, he had to explain his actions in an international conference in Vienna.

By now, however, the blog community has moved to other topics of discussion. Nevertheless, the scandal of last weekend leaves the topic of new student expulsions with political motives in 2008 open for debate.

Video from the action of students in Vienna: