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Belarus Creative OppositionCONTINUATION of an article in the Winter 2008 issue of BELARUSIAN REVIEW.Art from Anger Sasha, an18 year-old photographer, journalist and environmental activist, is already well-known in Minsk artistic circles. Although she is a freshman at the Visual and Cultural Studies Department of the exile European Humanities University, takes photos for the online art project “The City of Minsk” (http://horad.exe.by/), shoots video for the unique multimedia youth compact disc publication CDMAG, and publishes the fun-zine TRYZNAS*KEFIRAS, Sasha still does not consider herself “a super busy person.” Changing the color of her hair depending on her mood, Sasha is one of the most creative and talented people that I’ve ever met. She describes creativity as a buzz-word which isn’t really understood by many young people. “To be creative means not being afraid to do things in an unusual way, even when you don’t know what you will end up with,” - Sasha says. “And if you care about something, then you shouldn’t be lazy and only talk about your cause,” – she continues, now describing her views on activism. Sasha is a strong believer in a strong, direct connection between creativity and activism. Even traditional opposition demonstrations, in her opinion, become much more effective when something unusual happens during them, like “when anarchists began playing their drums during the Chernobyl Day and Social marches, catching everyone’s attention!” Sasha does things her own way. During a recent march against the regime’s cancellation of benefits for students and other vulnerable segments of society, she was part of a small group of young people who refused to follow the planned route and instead marched down one of Minsk’s main streets. Unlike most students, Sasha also lives her life according to environmentally friendly principles. She is inspired by many things, but one of her chief motivations is what a friend once called “positive anger” – a feeling of despair that pushes one to do something new. She also has a few favorite creative blogging communities, such as http://community.livejournal.com/4asapopi3 or http://community.livejournal.com/design_books, but says that her main “community” is the company of her friends. Sasha is often inspired by people, like a recent conversation she had with the owner of Lithuania’s largest photo studio. Sasha is one of hundreds of Belarusians studying at European Humanities University, a leading private institution which was shut down by Belarusian authorities in 2004 and now operates in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania. For Sasha, who graduated from an elite high school in 2007, studying at EHU was a conscious choice. “After hearing terrible stories about the Journalism Department at Belarusian State University or Cultural Management at University of Culture from my friends, I had no wish to apply there. So, I found a syllabus from EHU online and decided that it was the best place for me.” After a semester of commuting between Minsk and Vilnius, she still thinks it was the right choice. “First of all, something is always happening here and you don’t feel like you live in a can anymore,” – Sasha explains. “Secondly, I’m gaining precious experience from studying and living abroad. Even being just three hours from Minsk, I’ve begun looking at things from a different perspective.” Sasha hasn’t planned her future yet. She says that it isn’t easy for her even to make plans for next week. She is excited about her artistic projects, open to new ideas, and hopes someday to be publishing samizdat magazines and marketing the environmentally friendly soap she now makes at home for herself. Forever Young Only 18 years old, Vital Dabranach is already one of the veterans of the youth movement in Belarus. He became active in 2000 when, together with his teenage cousin, he began distributing an opposition newspaper. It didn’t seem like hard work because they were able to pass out several thousand copies in just a few hours by choosing the busiest metro stations and yelling that the paper contained a television program. As a reward for their good work, they got a CD with Belarusian rock music and asked for more papers. The next time, however, things turned out differently. The boys were attacked by fascist thugs, which are tolerated by the regime. Vital escaped and was hidden by some people in an apartment building. His cousin was brutally beaten, but survived. “This is when I started to realize that something was wrong in my country,” - he says. Vital made the decision to join the democratic movement on his own. During the 2001 presidential election campaign, he found an information leaflet about the “Vybiraj” (“Vote/Choose!”) get-out-the-vote civic initiative and dialed the contact number. This is how I met him, when he showed up at the “Vybiraj” office to pick up stickers, pins and other information materials. Five years later, 17 year-old Vital was one of the leaders of the tent city erected in Minsk’s main square during the demonstrations after the rigged presidential elections of March 2006. Back in 2001, Vital believed that victory was close. The election results came as a shock. Vital and his school buddies decorated a nearby bus stop with dozens of black ribbons, unable to believe that Lukashenka was still president. From 2001-03, Vital tried practically all of the major youth organizations, but did not fit in. So in December 2004, he founded his own organization – “Voka” (Eye). Voka’s mission is to promote Belarusian language and culture. During one of their first campaigns, its activists barraged Minsk’s FM stations with phone calls, spoke to DJs in Belarusian and asked them to play Belarusian rock music instead of Russian pop. The reactions were different, but the result was that more Belarusian songs began appearing on the air. On September 1st, the first day of school, Voka organizes different performances as a part of its campaign “I Want to Study in Belarusian.” This year they brought a mourning poster draped in black with the picture of a Belarusian language textbook to the Ministry of Education to raise public awareness about the disappearance of the Belarusian language from the state education system. Vital claims that his organization is more cultural than political. Yet, Voka’s activists have participated in all of the major political and civic political campaigns in recent years, including the 2006 presidential elections. Like many other young people, Vital was very disappointed with both the results of the elections and the reaction of the opposition leadership. But he isn’t giving up and is busy these days promoting Voka’s youth website (www.moladz.org), organizing the activities of a new Belarusian music fan club, and preparing a concert tour of young Belarusian bands, which will take place in March 2008 and is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the repressed Belarusian National Republic. He believes that, “if we want change to happen in Belarus, we must focus on working with the new generation of young people who are smart, educated, and in love with Belarus.” Bringing People Together Now 25 years old, Vola is the former head of the Belarusian Students’ Association, an artist, and a founder of the most popular Belarusian students’ web portal, Studenty.by. In May 2007, the portal was transformed into the online community Generation.by (www.generation.by). Its target group is Belarus’ Generation Y, young people born in the 1980s and 1990s who today are university and graduate students, young professionals, teachers, journalists, artists, designers and bloggers. “Like their peers around the world, Belarusian Ys have a sharp sense of their own personal freedom, are keen about new technologies, tend to be well-educated, and have a practical attitude towards life. The only difference, - Vola says, - is that Belarus’ Generation Y was born at a time of political and social turmoil. These young people are used to living in and adjusting to a constantly changing environment. These people want to be successful and are positive and optimistic. They set concrete goals and achieve them.” Generation.by was created as a communications platform to connect creative and curious young Belarusians who want to learn more and have something to say to the world. Updated daily, it contains original news, articles, interviews, photo blogs, cartoons, flash animation, and music. While popular among youth, Generation.by also serves as an important source of information about what is happening in youth life for other traditional and online media. Its materials are often reprinted and some of its products, such as a 2007 Christmas flash postcard http://newyear.studenty.by/), have become popular even in Russia and Ukraine. On September 19, 2007, the Belarusian Internet joined the rest of the cyber world in celebrating the birthday of the smiley face J. On that same day in 1991, Belarus’s historic national symbols – the white-red-white flag and the emblem of a knight on a horse – were adopted after the fall of the Soviet Union (these symbols were later banned by the current regime). “While our old print media was writing articles about the history of the symbols and bloggers were congratulating each other on the Day of the Smiley, we merged both celebrations into one. We created a collection of 15 funny Belarusian emoticons with white-red-white flags (http://generation.by/news1827.html), which became a big hit on the Belarusian Internet this past fall. Honestly, we didn’t expect such success,” – Vola says. What makes Generation.by really unique is the way it bridges online and traditional activism. The project is famous for its “Tuesday Meetings of Good People”: every second Tuesday, those who meet on the site in cyberspace physically come together. “This tradition is already three years old, - Vola explains. – It’s a chance for very different people to meet in an informal atmosphere, discuss the latest news, and share interesting ideas. Often the discussions develop into new projects.” Some Tuesday meetings are based on themes. Participants are, for example, asked to wear sneakers or a certain color. “Then it becomes a kind of a flash mob, symbolizing a gathering of people who are very diverse but have something in common,” – Vola continues. The most recent “Tuesday Meeting” took place simultaneously in Belarus, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands. The creators of Generation.by believe that there is a direct link between virtual and real life activism. The team takes part in many non-virtual artistic and civic projects, and works closely with colleagues from the traditional media to expose it to online journalism, blogging, Internet promotion and information security. Just last week, Generation.by launched an English-language version, so foreign audiences could learn more about Belarusian youth life, culture, and events (http://logbook.generation.by/). It is no wonder that “A good connection even offline” has become the informal slogan of the team. Only 30 herself, Iryna Vidanava is Belarusian activist who has been working with independent youth groups and publications for more than a decade. Source:Transitions Online, April 28, 2008 This article appeared in Belarusian Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2009 Belarusian Review All rights reserved. belarusianreview@hotmailcom Iryna Vidanava
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Belarusian Culture
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Contents
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Thoughts and Observations
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