News on the topic: culture
15.10.2008 Krow: ‘Black lists have just changed their color’
Rapper Krow from Chyrvonym pa Bielamu band states that black lists have not disappeared, they… have just changed their color. ‘There are no blacklists any more, there are brown ones instead. Only some chosen persons, who have ‘repented’ have been crossed out from the lists that existed earlier,’ concluded the singer after sending his recordings to one of Belarusian radio stations.
13.10.2008 Teachers are prevented from attending action of Union of Poles in Belarus
About 100 teachers of Polish language haven’t been allowed to come to Hrodna for a concert organized by the Union of Poles in Belarus headed by Anzhalika Borys.
09.10.2008 Authorities blacklist more movies
Thanks to the vigilance of the Belarusian authorities new items are regularly added to the list of ‘extremist’ (prohibited) cinema and video production. At present this list includes the movie Lesson of the Belarusian Language by the Polish film producer Miroslaw Dembinski, the video recording of the concert Solidary with Belarus from Warsaw and even CDs with photos of the protest action during the presidential elections 2006. These materials were confiscated from Mahiliou journalist Alexander Burakou and were declared ‘extremist’ by verdict of a judge of Kastrychnitski district court of Hrodna Alexander Burakou.
08.09.2008 Orsha: police confiscate white-red-white flags at celebration of Military Glory Day
On 8 September Belarus celebrates one of its most important and legendary holidays, the Day of Belarusian Military Glory.
04.09.2008 Ministry of Justice demands that BPF remove white-red-flag from headquarters entrance
The central office of the Belarusian Popular Front was visited by a consultant of the department of non-governmental organization of the Ministry of Justice Alexander Kharyton.
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.
