Viasna protests against bans and censorship of musical bands
The Human Rights Center “Viasna”
Minsk, 18.03.2011
The Human Rights Center “Viasna” protests against the repeated emergence of the anti-Constitutional practice of bans and censorship of shows by musical bands and performers.
On 2 March, the media published a paper entitled “The List of Artists and Creative Ensembles”, featuring the names of both Belarusian and foreign musical bands, performers and other creative figures, including the famous bands NRM, Krama, Neuro Dubel, Krambambulia, Palats, Liapis Trubetskoy, performers Zmitser Vaitsiushkevich, actors of the Free Theatre, as well as a number of world-known figures and performers, e.g. Pet Shop Boys, Tru Thoughts, Wah Wah 45, 7 Samurai; Tom Stoppard, Kevin Kline, Samuel West, Jude Law, Kevin Spacey etc. The anonymous paper bans mentioning the artists’ names in the media.
Despite Minister of Information Aleh Praliaskouski’s refutation of involvement in the paper’s creation, the recent bans of a number of concerts and radio broadcasts of the artists mentioned in the list, indicate the reemergence of so-called “black lists” of banned musicians.
It should be noted that similar practice of bans used to be applied between 2004 and 2007, with the black list featuring the same Belarusian bands and performers, famous for their civil stand contrary to the official state ideology. It is this fact that in our opinion provoked the ban.
Considering all this, the Human Rights Center “Viasna” states the following:
Cultural pluralism, diversity of opinions and ideologies are one of the corner stones of democracy and should be treasured and protected by the State as unconditional values.
The existence of “black lists”, the practice of bans of shows, radio and TV broadcasts of musical and other works of art are nothing but a display of obscurantism, which draws Belarus back to its Communist past.
The above-mentioned lists go to prove that censorship still exists in the country, which is directly prohibited by the Constitution, that freedom of expression and creativity are brutally restricted.
The Human Rights Center “Viasna” considers the practice inadmissible and calls upon the Belarusian authorities to promptly put an end to it.
The Human Rights Center “Viasna” expresses its readiness to provide legal assistance to the blacklisted artists in protecting their Constitutional rights.
