Alena Hlahouskaya About Congress Of Belarusians Of World: Will Hopes Be Justified?

A historian from Poland constantly participates in all the Congresses of the Belarusians of the world in Minsk.

According to her, the atmosphere around these Congresses and in general the attitude of the authorities towards the Belarusian culture is deteriorating every year. Only recently there have appeared some signs of "warming". But will the hopes be justified? Alena Hlahouskaya does not see any reason to believe the words of the Belarusian authorities’ representatives, Rady Racyja reports.

– I have visited all the Congresses. Last time we had to wait half a day in Bialystok for the visa. This time, fortunately, I already had a visa, bought for 60 euros in advance. But my friend Hanna Sabetskaya, who was traveling as a delegate, had to go to the consulate four times to obtain the visa. And I had to write and prove that she is a prominent Belarusian translator and journalist, who had problems with obtaining a visa. Therefore, their declarations about starting a dialogue, remind me of the situation when in January I was not given a visa to the conference devoted to Bronislaw Tarashkevich at the Academy of Sciences of Belarus, where I had to present my precis, which, by the way, I have already published.

– Have not you been given a visa this year? How was the refusal explained?

– Nobody explained anything. They did not give it and that was all. And when I was not given a visa a couple of years ago, I wrote a letter asking to explain that decision to me, and I was not given any answer. So what kind of dialogue are we talking about here?

– So, you do not share the optimism of the delegates…

– Absolutely not. I am already an elderly person, I have a lot of experience in relations with Belarusians abroad and know what is happening here. I just remember the times when it was possible to come to Belarus freely. And when I actually do not have problems with visiting this country, I will say that something has changed here.

– Is this Congress interesting to you?

– Yes. I have been to all the Congresses of the Belarusians of the world. Moreover, I even produced documents for some of the Congresses, it seems, from the first to the fifth ones. Therefore, I think that such events must be attended regardless of views and positions. There is simply no other such forum.

– Such a forum makes a diagnosis of the state of the Belarusian culture in the world. What is your assessment?

– I think that at present it is even worse than it used to be. I have been observing the situation since the late 80's up to now. I've been visiting Belarus for about 30 years – libraries, archives, conferences. And I'm generally optimistic. But in today's situation, this optimism is increasingly difficult. Therefore, I would like everything to be fine. But, to me, there is no optimism here.