News on the topic: culture
08.08.2008 Minsk: it is prohibited to hang paintings on the walls at BPF central office
On 8 August representatives of the fire security service of Savetski district of Minsk visited the central office of the Belarusian Popular Front Party. They held a check-up there and made several remarks to the secretaries of the office.
09.06.2008 Anzhalika Borys, head of Union of Poles in Belarus, gets fined for concert
Anzhalika Borys, head of the unrecognized by the authorities Union of Poles, has been sentenced to a fine of 1.4 million Belarusian rubles for having organized a concert of the well-known Polish band Lombard in Hrodna on 2 May.
03.06.2008 American Center for Education and Research to be closed in Belarus
The official website of the American Center for Education and Research has placed a short statement: ‘Since May 28 2008 the representative office of the American Center for Education and Research Inc. stops its activities in Belarus’.
28.05.2008 Public statement of Belarusian voluntary society for protection of monuments of history and culture
In 2004 the building which belonged to the voluntary society for protection of monuments of history and culture and was restored at the expense of the organization (as well as almost all buildings in this historical block), was unlawfully nationalized for the benefit of the state. The state proved to be shameless enough to make the former investor a renter. Then, executing a new presidential decree for economical liquidation of the civil society, the authorities refused to prolong the rent agreement to the voluntary society. Instead, it was proposed that the organization should leave its premises by 3 p.m. on 15 May 2008.
23.05.2008 Teachers protest against exclusion of ‘artistic culture of the world’ subject from curriculum
The teachers of the ‘artistic culture of the world’ subject from more than 20 cities of Belarus have signed an open letter to the national authorities and the Belarusian exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, asking to leave their subject in the school curriculum.
23.05.2008 Yury Istomin fined for concert of Polish band
Yury Istomin, chairman of Hrodna city branch of the United Civil Party, was fined 1 050 000 rubles (about 493 US dollars) for organization of the concert of the Polish band Transkapela in the UCP office on 13 May.
14.05.2008 Artists are squeezed out of their studios
The authorities have started an economical assault on artists by increasing the rent 10 times.
09.04.2008 Hrodna: historians refuse to participate in scientific conference
Ten Belarusian historians refused to take part in the international historical conference dedicated to the 880th anniversary of Hrodna after the doctors of historical sciences Ales Krautsevich and Ales Smalianchuk were deprived of the right to take part in it.
04.03.2008 Police Destroy 100 EU Flags
Partyzanski district court of Minsk refused to examine democratic activist Zmitser Barodka’s complaint on destroying by militiamen 100 EU flags, belonged to him.
19.02.2008 State Organs Decrease the Secured Zones of Kurapaty Mass Grave
Anton Astapovich, chairman of the council of the Belarusian voluntary society for protection of the monuments of history and culture, said to BelaPAN: ‘At the end of November 2007 I applied to the Ministry of Culture for permission to familiarize with the scheme of the secured zones of the Kurapaty forest and receiving a copy of this document, because on 20 May 2003 the Belarusian republican scientific center on the issues of historical and cultural heritage had adopted a scheme of the secured zones of the mass grave, which has not been presented to public.
19.02.2008 Presentation of ‘Shrek-3’ Cartoon and Meeting with Uladzimir Arlou Banned in Salihorsk
In the beginning of February Salihorsk organization of Young Front applied to the district culture department with the proposal to show the ‘Shrek-3’ cartoon in Belarusian language and combine it with a meeting with a well-known Belarusian writer and historian Uladzimir Arlou.
11.02.2008 BRSM Ordered Who to Send Valentines to
The Belarusian Republican Youth Union (pro-Lukashenka youth ‘state NGO’) holds an action dedicated to St. Valentine’s Day. Recently the regional structures of the organization have received the lists of the persons who they must send Valentine cards to.
05.02.2008 Hrodna: Authorities Try to Disrupt Live Performance of Belarusian Bard Shalkevich
In Hrodna the campaign Independence-2008 was started with the live performance of a Minsk band Rekha and bard Shalkevich. The event was timed to 170th birthday of the national leader Kastus Kalinouski.
01.02.2008 Monument to Social Benefits Demolished in Pruzhany
On 27 January in the town of Pruzhany youth activists of the United Civil Party put a monument to social benefits, which had been liquidated by the Belarusian authorities short before this. It was a concrete slab with the following inscriptions: ‘We love, remember and grieve’, ‘Benefits – 1975-2007”. Participants of the ceremony of the monument’s opening commemorated the lost benefits with a minute of silence and then laid flowers to the slab. The action was timed to 40 days after liquidation of the social guarantees.
16.01.2008 Activist demands to punish head of culture department
According to Leanid Autukhou, official Volha Kauryha violated Article 9.22 of the Administrative Code by creating “obsticles and limitations for the usage of the Belarusian language”.
