Viešų renginių programa

22.09, 17.00-19.00, ECS, 3.5

Round table "Lessons of the Polish Solidarity for the Belarusian revolution of 2020"

The round table aims at the discussion and comparison of the experience of the struggle for freedom and democracy during the period of activity of the Solidarity movement with the events of the "Belarusian revolution" of 2020, taking into account the horizontal nature of its occurrence. The values of those who sided with the Solidarity movement and their opposition to communist ideology, the experience of organizing mass resistance and communist reaction, mass emigration and ideological pressure in the conditions of "military communism": all these elements remind the events of recent Belarusian history. How this experience can be useful for understanding the events of the past and present is the prospect of entering into a national dialogue, inevitable in such socio-political conflicts, the role of political and social leadership and the structure of horizontal protest as a factor of mass protest and resistance to authoritarianism.

Participants from the Polish side:

Bogdan Barusewicz – Polish politician and historian, a member of the democratic opposition during the Polish People's Republic. Deputy of the Diet of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd convocations (1991–2001), senator of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th convocations (since 2005). In 2005–2015, the Marshal of the Senate of the 6th, 7th and 8th terms, since 2015, the Vice-Marshal of the Senate of the 9th and 10th terms. In 2013–2020, he was the vice-president of the Civic Platform.

Aleksander Hall – Dr. Hab. in humanities, former minister in the government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki, deputy of the 1st and 3rd Legislative Diets.

Bożena Rybicka-Grzywaczewska — a Polish public activist and member of the democratic opposition during the communist period. During the August events of 1980, she took part in a strike at the Gdansk shipyard, and later began to participate in the activities of the Solidarity movement, as the personal secretary of the trade union leader Lech Walęsa.

Participants from the Belarusian side:

Aliaksandr Dabravolski — Belarusian politician, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus of the 13th convocation, also in 1989-1991 he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Alina Koŭšyk – Belarusian politician, journalist.

Moderator – Paviel Barkoŭski (philosopher, Professor)

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23.09, 17.00-18.30

1. M2WS, cinema hall

Program of book presentations

17.00-17.10 Presentation of the almanac "CTRL+S. Heritage as a test".

The presenter is Sciapan Sturejka (European Humanities U.)

The title of the almanac «CTRL+S» – кампутарная каманда «захаваць» is an attempt to break out of semantic clichés, to find a new language for working with cultural heritage that does not ignore the reality of the 21st century.

The purpose of the publication is to show the European perspective of the heritage of Belarus through research and discussion of its intellectual and social potential, as well as against the background of the challenges faced by the Belarusian society in 2020-2022. A copy of the beautiful color almanac will be available during the presentation.

17.10-17.35 Book publications by the Museum of the Second world War in Gdansk. Presented by Dmitry Panto.

"Destroyers are on the offensive. Soviet anti-religious print of 1918-1941" (Gdansk, 2023).

A new album published by the World War II Museum in Gdańsk features previously unpublished posters, graphics and caricatures created by Soviet propagandists. Their goal was to undermine positions and even completely exclude religion from social and cultural life. This is an important document of the era, which testifies to the extent of the threat to the Soviet worldview - not only in the USSR, but also in Europe as a whole.

"Deportations to the East" is the first volume of the book series "Collections of the Second World War Museum in Gdańsk". The publication presents museum exhibits related to the deportation of the Poles to the East. The catalog includes artifacts such as letters, photographs, drawings and handicrafts in exile that helped deportees survive in harsh foreign conditions.

The exhibits, presented in photographic form, are provided with a technical description and brief comments that tell about the history of the objects and their owners. The Polish-English edition of the catalog not only provides an opportunity to get to know the exhibits from the World War II Museum collection, but also highlights the context in which the presence of artifacts and their history are a true testimony of people's lives.

17.35-17.50 - Presentation of a collection of articles "Republic of Belarus (1990–1996): from a parliamentary republic to an authoritarian regime" (Krakow, 2022)

Presented by Viktar Šadurski.

The collection was published as part of the project of the Justus Liebig University (Giessen, Germany) "Republic of Belarus (1990-1996). From Parliamentary Democracy to Authoritarian Regime', funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. The head of the project is the professor of Eastern European history, Thomas Bohn.

The Belarusian and German authors of the collection are united by the fact that the Belarusian state and society in the late 1980s - the first half of the 1990s are at the center of their scientific analysis. When Belarusians return to the democratic agenda, they will without a doubt refer to the experience of this dramatic period, and will renew the discussion of the problems that were not solved by previous generations at a new level.

17.50-18.30 – Presentation of the publishing house "Viasna" (Prague)

1. The Song of Songs. Translation from the old hebraic language: Siarhiej Šupa. Introduction and comments: Halina Sinila. Publisher "Viasna", Prague 2022. 144 p.

Work on the translation, preface and commentaries was carried out as part of the "New Belarusian Bible" project under the leadership of Doctor of Philosophy and Sacred Theology Iryna Dubienieckaja. The project originated in 2012 as part of the annual Congress of Belarusian Studies in Kaunas. Then a working group was formed to prepare a new academic translation of the Bible into Belarusian. It included biblical theologians, linguists specializing in the languages of the Bible, theorists and practitioners of translation, Belarusian philologists, writers.

Presented by Karalina Mackievič and Siarhiej Šupa.

2. History of retail trade in Belarus in 3 volumes. Volume 1. Retail trade in pre-industrial Belarus. From the middle of the 13th century to 1861. (Under the scientific editorship of Professor Zakhar Shibeka.) "Viasna" Publishing House, Prague, 2023. 416 p. with illustrations.

The authors of the monograph study retail trade in Belarus according to a single structural model. It consists of five main directions. 1) Analysis of historiography and sources. 2) Overview of the consumer market, on which trade was formed and developed. 3) Conditions that traditionally existed or were created by the efforts of the authorities for the implementation of retail trade. 4) The retail trade itself with a personal emphasis on the activity and skill of traders. 5) And finally, an important actor of retail trade is also brought to the stage - the consumer with his relationship with traders and his role in the consumer market.

Presented by Zahar Šybieka, Racibor Biahun and Siarhiej Šupa.

2. M2WS, conference hall

Presentation of the "Belarusian Yearbook"

Since 2003, "Belarusian Yearbook" has been a joint action of the analytical community to compile, conceptualize and present the annals of the recent history of Belarus. This book presents a comprehensive analytical review of events and trends in various spheres of social and political life: foreign policy and economy, state institutions and civil society, education and culture.

There will be at the presentation authors of the Yearbook – independent analytics, scientists and experts:

Anaïs Marin – PhD, the UN special rapporteur on the issue of the situation in the field of human rights in Belarus, Chatham House Associate Fellow;

Hienadź Koršunaŭ – PhD in sociology, senior analyst of the Center of New Ideas, ex-director of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus;

Yevhen Mahda – PhD in Political Sciences, associate professor at Kyiv Politechnic Institute, expert iSANS;

Roza Turarbiekava – PhD in History, analytic at the expert web "Our opinion";

Anton Piankoŭski – expert in strategic communications, in 2014-2021 an employee of the public diplomacy department of the US Embassy in Belarus;

Natallija Rabava – sociologist, philosopher, master of business administration, BIPART;

Aliaksandr Aŭtuška-Sikorski – master of political sciences, in 2011-2017, an analyst of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies (BISS);

Moderator of the presentation – Vadzim Mažejka, editor and compiler of "Belarusian Yearbook 2023", coordinator of the Belarusian expert network "Our Opinion".

3. M2WS, small conference hall +3

Presentation of the research "Migration from Belarus to EU Countries (Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belgium, Czech Republic): Before and after 2020"

The migration of citizens of Belarus to the EU is not a new process, it began immediately after the collapse of the USSR. For a long time, this process did not arouse much interest of researchers, and at present there are practically no publications on the nature and composition of this migration. The situation has changed significantly since 2020. The political crisis in Belarus, and later mass protests, led to a broad mobilization of the Belarusian diaspora around the world, turning it into an important political phenomenon in modern Belarus.

Over the past few years, the political, cultural, and economic importance of the diaspora has grown, but until now not much has been known about its size, social and political structure. In recent years, specialized studies of the Belarusian diaspora have appeared, but most of them are focused on the politically active part of the emigration. This study aims to at least partially fill this gap.

The research is presented by Andrej Kazakievič, PhD in Political Sciences, director of the Institute "Political Sphere".

4. M2WS, lev. +2, aud. 1

Public debate "National revival or political liberation: what is our ultimate goal?"

The main questions are: what do Belarusians need today – revival, awakening or nation building, or is it mainly political changes, transition of power and economic reforms? How do we understand the Belarusian nation and how inclusive is it for us: is it possible to remain a "Russian Belarusian" today? National renaissance – how possible is it in times of wars and revolutions? What are the main goals and tasks facing the Belarusian nation and its culture today?

Moderator: Zmicier Lukašuk.

Participants: Alina Koŭšyk, Paviel Barkoŭski, Iryna Sidorskaja, Paviel Cieraškovič.

5. M2WS, lev. 0, secr.

Round table: "Belarusian Historians and current challenges"

Many historians were fired for supporting the 2020 protests, were arrested and/or were forced to leave Belarus to avoid repression. The adopted laws on the genocide of the Belarusian people and on preventing the rehabilitation of Nazism criminalize any attempt at a critical scientific understanding of the events of the Second World War and the history of Belarus. History and historical politics have been used before to discriminate against political opponents in Belarus and to limit freedom of research, but what scale has it taken after the protests of 2020 and the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine? What is happening to historical science in Belarus and how do the adopted laws and repressions affect historians? What challenges did researchers in Belarus face? What is the situation of historians in forced emigration? What forms of support and cooperation exist?

We will try to find answers to these and other questions in discussions with our experts:

Valier Bulhakaŭ, Białystok U.

Aliaksandr Dalhoŭski, History workshop, Minsk

Iryna Kaštalian, THE NEW INSTITUTE, Hamburg

Iryna Ramanava, Giessen U.

Aliesia Bielanovič-Pec, moderator

Organizers: German Society for the Study of Eastern Europe, the project Forum of Historical Studies of Belarus in cooperation with akno/ science at risk

6. M2WS, lev. +1/12, aud. 2

Belarusian studies at risk

Round table "What needs to be changed in the production of knowledge about Belarus in the international academy?"

Studies of Belarus, which are carried out in European and North American universities, have always been a marginal branch within the framework of area studies or Slavic studies and often represented Belarus through the prism of Russian studies. At the same time, Belarusian research conducted by Belarusian scientists is rarely published in English in international publications, remaining closed within the framework of "national science". Belarusian researchers often have neither institutional opportunities nor ambitions to engage in professional dialogue with foreign colleagues. As a result, today Belarus remains for the world at best just a "white spot", at worst - part of the cultural and political space of Russia.

The discussion aims at discussing (1) the current positioning of Belarusian research in the international academy, as well as (2) concrete steps that can/should be taken to change the situation with the production of knowledge about Belarus in European and global contexts.

In this regard, it is proposed to discuss the following questions:

- peculiarities of perception and study of Belarus in European academic contexts;

- gaps and obstacles in communication between the Belarusian and European/Western scientific communities;

- problems of integration of Belarusian scientists who are in forced emigration into the European/international academic context;

- how to promote the thematization of Belarus in the European/global academy?

Participants of the discussion: Jaraslava Ananka (Universität Leipzig), Taccjana Astroŭskaja (Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung, Marburg), Jakob Wunderwald (Universität Potsdam), Jaraslaŭ Kryvoj (Journal of Belarusian Studies (Brill) and the F. Skaryna Belarusian library and museum (London)), Lizavieta Lysienka (Universität Bonn), Nina Skiepjan (Základní škola Rabasova, Slaný).

Moderator: Taccjana Ščycova (European Humanities U., Vilnius).

7. M2WS, library

Presentation of progress on the project of the Constitution and bills for the development and addition of the project of the Constitution of the new Belarus.

Participants:

Aliaksandr Dabravolski

Valiery Žurakoŭski

Anatol Liabiedźka

8. M2WS, lev. +1/16, aud. 1

Round table "Lublin triangle as a new form of regional cooperation in Central Europe"

At the round table, we focus on the Lublin Triangle, an initiative that is one of several new forms of regional cooperation (Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine). Views on individual aspects of cooperation differ between the three states that make part of the triangle, and differ significantly from the Belarusian perspective. The symbolic value of this format stems from the common historical and cultural heritage. In practical terms, the creation of the Triangle is influenced by the general awareness of the threat from Russia, as well as common interests.

Moderator: Tomasz Stępniewski, prof. dr hab. at KUL, Institute of Central Europe and Lublin Catholic U., Poland

Participants:

Tomasz Błaszczak, Vytautas Magnus U. (Kaunas, Lithuania)

Walenty Baluk, prof. at Maria Curie-Skłodowska U. in Lublin, Poland

Jakub Lachowski, Institute of Central Europe and Maria Curie-Skłodowska U. in Lublin, Poland