Panel: “We believe, we can, we’ll win”: Art activism as a voice of society. Background and Situation in Belarus
In August 2020, hundreds of thousands of Belarusian citizens joined peaceful marches to protest against the rigged election results. The authorities, in turn, responded aggressively to the expression of civil position by Belarusians and brutally suppressed protests.
The protests continue to this day and their main calling card has become an unprecedented mass and peaceful character, and creativity. Art has become one of the most powerful ways of non-violent expression of civil position during the protests. The urban space has also been transformed by political street art and posters.
The purpose of the discussion is to introduce the audience to the background of the situation in Belarus and to analyze the role of art in Belarusian protest as a mean of nonviolent influence, as well as the results of the Belarusian protest movement and the impact for the Citizenship Education as such.
Pavel Latushka, fromer Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, Belarus (tbc)
Rusia, Shuma Project www.shuma.by, Belarus
Vladimir Tsesler, designer & artist, Belarus
Tatsiana Vadalazhskaya, Centre for European transformation, Belarus
Moderation: Rymma Mylenkova, NGO Lifelong Learning Center, Sumy State University, “academArt” gallery, Ukraine