Belarusian Language Society being squeezed by rental fees

Belarusian Language Society appeals for public donations following drastic increase in office rent rate.

The Francisak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society (BLS) has appealed for public donations following drastic increase in the office rent rate.

On April 1, the rent rate for the Society’s office on Rumyantsava Street in downtown Minsk was raised by 60 percent to 9.8 million rubels ($1,130) a month, the organization says in a statement, adding that the organization also has to pay for the telephone, utility and postal services.

“Despite the fact that many Belarusian citizens had appealed to the Presidential Administration and its property management department to preserve a low rent rate for the BLS, we have not received a favorable reply,” the statement says. “We need to collect 10 million rubels in donations and membership fees every month in order to retain our Minsk office in these conditions. If 5,000 lovers of their mother tongue each donate only 2,000 rubels every month, our organization will not perish and will once again manage to show its worth to the authorities. The names of the people donating what they can afford to save the BLS will be published by the newspaper Nasha Slova and will become historic evidence of citizens’ struggle for the right to be called human beings.”

Founded in 1989, the Francisak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society has about 6,000 members in Belarus and other countries, including Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, the United States, Canada, and Germany.