Writers Cannot Collaborate with Regime Says Olga Ipatova :: Charter'97 :: News

On September 24 there opened in the Minsk Literature Palace an extra-curricular congress of the Union of Belarusian writers. During the opening ceremony the oldest popular Belarusian writer Yanka Bryl noted that “his generation of writers also experienced trials by versatile dictatorships, different temptations by wealth. Today’s writers also go through great testing of their ability to stand evil and survive”. Now former chairman of the Union of writers Olga Ipatova underscored in her speech that “realities show that the democratic writer cannot cooperate with the present-day undemocratic authorities”.

Such a conclusion, said the writer, is explained by the introduction of harsh censorship on the newspaper “Literature and art”. They also carried out “an unprecedented seizure of the Union’s facilities and prohibition to publish the articles, prepared by the former editorial boards, along with unleashing the harassment of free writers”. According to Ipatova, the authorities of Volozhin (Minsk regime) have been long persecuting famous Belarusian writer Yazep Yanushkevich, accusing him of barbaric actions on tombs’ demolition. “That’s unbelievable, for we know him as one of the most good-natured persons,” – noted Ipatova.

The reason for such a harsh state policy is the following, she said: “The union of Belarusian writers failed to transform into a stronghold of the regime and never formulated the general ideological concept after the presidential elections in 2001”.

In general, the congress, due to discuss the condition of national literature and its development perspectives, as well as to elect the chairman, attracted 290 out of 501 members. During the elections of the chairman they nominated five candidacies, three of which, including Ipatova, withdrew from the ballot. As a result, the new chairman of the Union of Belarusian writers was elected a 30-year old prosaic Ales Pashkevich.

Commenting to BelaPAN on the congress’s outcomes, the member of the Union Leonid Dranko-Maisuk said: “Many, myself included, worried that the upcoming event would be the last of its kind. However, our concerns were vain, for the organization will continue existence. Belarus needs the whole organization of writers, which would serve as a nucleus for the people, who are carriers of the Belarusian national mentality”.

As noted by the Union’s Council member Lyavon Borschevsky, the main positive feature of the event is the fact that the organization remains the most Belarusian and responsible of all public associations and that the Belarusian language preserved its dominance over the rest.