5 days Belarus, #1 - 2022

"And yet the energy of last summer has not disappeared. It is hidden and waiting. The country has changed, we will never be the same again. For those who have entered the stream of revolution, there is no turning back. "
Artur Klinau (Eight Days of Revolution: A Documentary Journal from Minsk, Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2021)

the historian Thomas Bohn once called Belarus a "white spot". Belarus has no longer been a white spot since 9 August 2020. After the rigged presidential election, thousands took to the streets and protested peacefully. The regime responded with brutal police violence, imprisonment and torture. Images of the peaceful protests by thousands of people with flowers, the Belarusian colours, songs and spontaneous encounters and their violent dispersal went around the world.

Despite all the violence, a courageous, non-violent and decentralised self-organised protest movement emerged in the weeks following the rigged presidential election, supported by all social classes. At the centre of the protest were women, who repeatedly and creatively challenged state power. Belarus showed that a new post-Soviet generation had grown up here, whose commitment to democracy, equal rights and participation should be seen in a broader context of European and global emancipation movements. Artists were significantly involved in the protests from the very beginning. Even in the run-up to the election, the arts supported and promoted democratic processes. Independent art venues created free spaces where civil society could meet. The young scene that developed here emancipated itself from the canons and traditions of the Soviet era and exchanged ideas with international colleagues about new artistic formats.

The major mass protests are history for the time being. The regime systematically purges and destroys all civil society involvement. Independent institutions and media are banned.

This makes it all the more important to maintain contact with civil society actors and artists from Belarus. Many actors have left the country in recent months and are now working in exile in Vilnius, Warsaw, Kiev and also in Germany. They continue to work and think about the future of their country.

For "5 Days Belarus", HELLERAU is inviting protagonists from the independent art and culture scene, as well as actors from NGOs and civil society from Belarus and places of exile of Belarusian artists, to Dresden in a series of events lasting several days with performances, lectures, talks, readings and workshops. In this way, HELLERAU aims to fill a gap in knowledge about the situation in Belarus, provide deeper insights, highlight historical and social contexts and create encounters.

So that the world does not forget Belarus

Poet Julia Cimafiejeva (*1982) and prose writer Alhierd Bacharevic (*1975) are among the best-known authors from Belarus. Julia Cimafiejeva's "Minsk.diary" and the poetry collection "Circus" and Alhierd Bacharevic's essay collections "You have already lost" and "Berlin, Paris and the village" have both been published in German by edition.fotoTAPETA Berlin. Bacharevic's magnum opus "Die Hunde Europas" will be published by Voland & Quist. Both authors have been invited to a reading and discussion at the "5 Tage Belarus" festival. Dramaturge Johannes Kirsten spoke with Alhierd Bacharevic.

Alhierd Bacharevic, you and your wife, the poet Julia Cimafiejeva, have been in Graz as "Writer-inExile" since the end of November 2020. That was exactly one year ago.

The term "writer-in-exile" is a bit "awkward": both parts are important, but the "writer" is often ignored and only the exile arouses interest. Fortunately, that's not the case with us. We have achieved a lot as writers this year. We came to Graz at the end of November 2020 psychologically wounded. What we experienced in Minsk is a huge trauma. Our literary work helped us to get through it.

Last year was also a year of numerous interviews: Julia and I have given more than 70 interviews for Western and Belarusian media. We have been living in safety for a year now. For us, Graz offers the best conditions for writing and living, so our most important mission now is to tell the world about Belarus, about the current situation, but not only about repression and terror, but also about the Belarusian language and culture. We were invited everywhere. Interest in Belarus was greater than ever before. Does it always have to be the case that the world is only interested in a country when fascism, terror and violence reign in that country? We are doing everything we can to ensure that the world does not forget Belarus. Sometimes you have to shout when the world doesn't hear us. Some of our texts are screams. Last year, Julia's brother and his wife were also arrested in Belarus just for playing music at the 2020 street protests. They are facing several years in prison. Now we are writing letters to them in prison. A new, very sad genre. It's been a long and very eventful year.

Has your writing changed?

Everything we wrote this year was and is dedicated to the events in Belarus in 2020-2021. We can't just focus on our personal experiences like we used to. There is too much pain, too much anger, the wounds are too deep. We are currently writing more essays, more journalism, more poems, because we can express our emotions better in these forms. It's not a good time for fiction. In order to write novels, you have to forget the events a little. But everything is changing very quickly in Belarus at the moment. We remember everything too much, nothing is forgotten. When we read the news or think about our compatriots, it hurts. I have noticed that I have been using the word "we" much more often in my writing for a year now. We feel much more unity with our readers right now. And I feel myself losing the irony, my saving and healing irony. It's really bad. How can literature be without irony? But I still don't know how to write ironically about Belarus. Belarusian literature always laughed at the state, but now we hate this regime. I agree with Julia when she says that Belarusian literature today could become the literature of contemporary testimonies. Julia's "Minsk. Diary", for example, describes our everyday life in Minsk in the summer and autumn of 2020 and also our life in Graz when we left Minsk. A poet has written a diary about everyday life and I, the novelist, write a lot of poetry and journalism. We choose new genres to express ourselves and write letters to our political prisoners - it's a great challenge for every author.

In the summer of 2020, people lost their fear for a brief moment. Now the fear is back. How can you get rid of the "stone of fear" that Julia Cimafiejeva writes about in a poem once and for all?

Fear is very natural for a person, it switches on the mechanism of self-preservation. Not only for a person, but also for a nation. On the one hand, the collective fear of Belarusians during Stalin's repressions and during the war contributed to our preservation as a nation. On the other hand, it helped the regime to hold on for so long. Julia's poem is actually a very painful reflection on this topic. The fear is deep within us. We can't imagine ourselves without it. Fear for themselves and their loved ones is driving thousands of Belarusians out of the country today. But in exile, they preserve the idea of Belarusian freedom, the idea of a new, different Belarus. History continues not only through the bravery of the people, but also through their fear. This is how I understand this poem. In the summer we overcame our fear and then the fear came back. Especially because we are human beings. It is impossible not to be afraid. It is important to accept your own fear. Intimidation is the policy of the powerful. The response is silence. Not fear. But you can be afraid and continue to resist with fear.

Has everything that was achieved in summer 2020 been lost today?

There are no more mass protests today, but the protest lives on in the consciousness of the people of Belarus. Life as before is impossible. People no longer believe the state and the propaganda. Any political, social, cultural activity in Belarus is now strictly forbidden. All NGOs have been destroyed. There is a moral unity of Belarusians against the dictatorship, an incredible interest in culture and language and a strengthening of national identity. In the summer of 2020, Belarusians recognised themselves and saw how many in Belarus are supporters of change despite all the propaganda incantations. For decades, this regime was sure that people were indifferent and not political. But in the summer of 2020, Belarus was also seen by the whole world. These are the most important achievements and accomplishments of the revolution.

What should future coexistence look like in a Belarus without Lukashenko?

Unfortunately, a Belarus without Lukashenko does not necessarily mean a free country. New criminals may take his place. Our task is to prevent this from happening. Of course, we dream of a democratic, European country without violence, of a parliamentary republic with strong self-government and without a censoring Ministry of Culture, of a country that is open to all, that comes to terms with its past, of a society that understands its historical responsibility.

I am afraid
I am at home.
I received my fear as an heirloom -
a family relic,
a valuable stone,
passed on
from generation
to generation.
from: "The Fear Stone" by Julia Cimafiejeva

Who, if not us. When, if not now.

By Marina Naprushkina

Mum
Mum proudly points to the white chrysanthemums in the crystal vase. From the demonstration, she says to me. You know Aunt Lena, she never misses a protest. Lena has a sister. She really is an activist. She just said: What, you're not coming? Of course I went along.

Friend
I'm scared. And how. But I know: I can't NOT go. Do you understand? My children make me a sandwich in the morning and say: Mum, take it with you if you don't come home tonight. I ask you, is that normal?

Video description #1
Evening light, in the courtyard of the prison building. Around twenty men in black clothing and police uniforms with batons in their hands. They are waiting. Some of them are wearing masks. People run into the picture as they are driven out of a car, one by one. They run with their hands behind their heads, heads down. As soon as a person comes running into the picture, the uniformed men beat them with batons. Put your head down, arsehole! Run, arsehole, faster! Come on, you bitch, faster! Screams of people, more blows. On your knees! On your knees! Screams. The beaten scream in pain. Just before the wall, one of the beaten men falls to his knees. About 30 people run through the "corridor". All of them? No, here comes the elite! Seconds later, another person runs into the picture. Head down, damn it! Run, you arse! On your knees! Scum! Here it is, here's the bitch, cattle, hit it, an encore please! It will be beaten. Faster, more, come on! Vitaĺ, are there any more? The recording stops here.

Aunt Tanja
I won't be able to get a headstone for Grandad this month. I couldn't get hold of anyone at the workshop. Then I found out that the two workmen were arrested the night after the election. One is in hospital, beaten, two ribs are broken.

Security
If you see barricades, OMON forces or possible provocations, don't let yourselves be driven into a corner. Scatter through the courtyards, choose detours and neighbouring streets. There are ten ways to get to Partyzanski-Allee! Download the city map to your device beforehand! Be careful, move in large groups and don't let yourself be abducted by unknown people in masks. In case of blockades, look for a diversion! And don't forget masks, hats and a spare mobile phone.

Image description #3
Several people are standing on the road and blocking traffic. They have stretched a banner across the road: 5 dead, 13,550 imprisoned, 450 cases of torture, 73 political prisoners. AND YOU ARE AFRAID

From the chat
I'll get back to you later. Both hands full of umbrella and flag.

Marina Naprushkina (*1981 in Minsk) is a visual artist, activist and author. she founded the Office for Antipropaganda in 2007 and the "New Neighbourhood/Moabit" initiative in 2013. she received the Sussmann Artist Award in 2015 and the ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture in 2017. She is developing a performative work for "5 Tage Belarus". The text excerpts are from "Who, if not us. When, if not now" by Marina Naprushkina, published in: Belarus! The female face of the revolution, edited by Andreas Roste, Nina Weller, Thomas Weiler, Tina Wünschmann; edition.fotoTAPETA, 2020