Belarus’ Cultural Formation

The popular protests in Belarus are firstly and most of all a hopeful sign that you can fool some people some time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. As everybody, we are struck by the bravery of the protesters facing political oppression and state troops.

Today the EU Council meets as “the EU has called the Belarusian political leadership to participate in a genuine and inclusive dialogue with broader society to avoid further violence. The EU supports the Belarusian population in their desire for democratic change.” You can follow the video conference via this link.

In our publication Another Europe [2015] we included a text by visual artist and writer Artur Klinaŭ on ‘the personality of the (art) partisan as a leading character for accessing and understanding the mental landscape of Belarus .’ We have made the chapter – based on Klinaŭ’s publication PARTISANEN: Kultur_Macht_Belarus – available as a PDF for we believe it offers great insights in the Belorussian artistic mental landscape. “However, it soon became apparent to us that no real changes in Belarusian society would ever be possible without society first experiencing a revolution in its mentality, a complete reboot of its thinking process. “

We wish our friend all strength in dealing with his personal situation. In his guest contribution to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [paywall] Klinaŭ not only writes that what will happen in Belorussia will be determined by what happens in Europe, but also that his daughter is missing for days after an arrest.