25 Mar 2011
Апісаньне ўсіх сэрыяў і навіны праекту: paper.generation.by
And it`s the (unofficial) Independence Day again (to revise the historical background see my earlier posting). The pro-democratically-set part of Belarus is congratulating each other on this occasion, however, this year more quietly and symbolically than usual.
29 Dec 2010
December 19th, 2010, will remain in history as a day when “Last Dictatorship in Europe” seized to be just an expression once dropped by american diplomats. The regime showed its true face. It is clear that it will take more than a peaceful protest for a change because those in power will not be ashamed to use all methods to keep it.
Late at night between 19th and 20th, Aliaksandar Zimouski, the head of the state TV (who was taken off this position as of today), commenting the clashes at the Square of Independece said: “Now it is very important not to let the opposition make the picture work for them”. And that is exactly what the state media have been doing since then – presenting their own picture of the events to the people who live outside of Minsk and do not have access to alternative media. The ideologically correct picture was conveyed via discussions on talk shows showing videos with “violent protesters” , airing videos with some participants (including few former candidates) in which they condemn the protests and blaming some of the candidates for the violence; showing fake shots with bats, metal sticks and Molotov cocktails supposedly brought by the violent crowd of youngsters. At first even some foreign media were reporting about crashes started by the protesters even though it was a clear provocation from the side of special services.
By now one can find quite a lot of material both on YouTube and on major international websites about what happened. Still, we decided to put here a chronological description of some major events that happened since December 19th. Continue reading…
03 Aug 2010
As much as people like going abroad to see Europe or even farther if they are lucky (and no visas can stop that urge!) it seems that is becoming popular for Belarusians to travel around Belarus. And though tourism infrastructure leaves much to be desired; and very often what you find is just another small soviet town with the statue of Lenin on the central square named after him, or remainders of an old palace which is falling apart because of careless neglect – sometimes you get to see a small piece of old mosaic on a fallen wall or a cross carved on an ancient stone, and that makes you feel like you’ve travelled back in time and that you are part of history. These moments help us reinforce our identity as Belarusians, a people with history and culture to be proud of, things we want to keep for the future. One could say that such trips could be a prescription to cure the chronic national identity deficiency of Belarusians.
14 Nov 2008
One of the biggest problems of modern Belarus is the lack of national identity. And indeed, the first form that an identity takes is the name, and that is exactly the reason why dozens of stubborn Belarusians keep sending official emails and letters of clarification to foreign news agencies and newspapers, asking them to refer to our country as to “Belarus” and not Byelorussia, or Weissrussland or any other forms of White Russia, and to use adjective “Belarusian” instead of “B(y)elOrusSian”. If you came to this blog, you might know that Belarus is a separate country, but I met a frightening number of educated people abroad who asked me if Belarus is a region of Russia. At the end of the day, you don’t expect Belorussia be that different from Russia. But the truth is that it is!
To me as a person it is completely clear why some people can find it strange. After all in Belarusian we also translate the names of most of the countries. However, when many of the so called strong democracies speak of solidarity with troubled nations like Belarusians, it is natural to expect them to call us the way we find more appropriate, especially when there are strong political grounds for that. So, as the only acceptable excuse is that people just don’t know, I will try to clarify the background of this issue further in this posting. Continue reading…
25 Mar 2008
Today Belarusians are celebrating the 90th anniversary of the proclamation of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR). Although this is not an official holiday, people still celebrate it and remember it as an important date of national history. This day is traditionally commemorated through a big street action and a meeting in the center of Minsk. This year’s 25th of March is celebrated with particular enthusiasm because of its big date – the 90th anniversary, as events associated to Belarus are held not only inside the country but also abroad.
