Yesterday Maskouski District Court of Brest ruled that a double issue ##7-8, 2008 of a Belarusian intellectual journal ARCHE contained extremist materials and thus was subject to confiscation and destruction. Just a week back, I visited a presentation of Aleh Latyszonak’s book “The Soldiers of the Belarusian People’s Republic “where I bought this yet-untabooed issue. Who would’ve thought, now I am a proud owner of an extremist magazine… So let me walk you through the stuff that the Belarusian court found extreme and inappropriate for the Belarusian readers to see.

ARCHE

First, a bit of prehistory. The European Radio for Belarus reports, on October 24, last year, a Brest customs officer Renata Nyadbaeva decided that information in the issue number 7-8 of “ARCHE” “could damage national interests of the Republic of Belarus.” 10 copies of the magazine found in the baggage of historian Ales Pashkevich were seized for expert examination. The regional KGB department asked the court to recognize confiscated magazines extremist materials and destroy them.

The court hearing was held behind the closed doors. A KGB representative and ARCHE lawyer were allowed in, nobody else was. According to the lawyer, the judge asked no questions, just heard the sides. Then the decision was announced. The ARCHE issue was found extremist. ARCHE lawyer Pavel Sapelka states that the ruling was illegal.

The editor-in-chief of the journal Valer Bulhakau has called charges absurd. As said by him, there is a practice of one hand washing the other in state agencies, and the KGB wants to assume functions of an ideological censor, reports the European Radio for Belarus.

But what is so extreme about this issue of ARCHE? Just a portion of the issue was dedicated to the Belarusian parliamentary election last fall, which was called not democratic and not free by the OSCE. Most of the issue was about the history of Belarus as part of the Great Duchy of Lithuania and other history-related stuff.

The department of KGB in Brest oblast actually presented its “expert opinion,” in which they elucidated what in particular they did not like about this issue. Here are the extremist parts as interpreted by the KGB:

“According to the analysis we have conducted, the magazine contains materials discrediting the activities of the Belarusian governmental authorities, strengthening the social and political tensions and confrontation in the society, stirring up the unlawful deeds, mass disorder and thus endangering the security of Belarus in the political sphere. In particular:

- The article “Parliamentary Election: Belarusian Tranquility, European Intrigue?” (author Vitali Silitski, pp.11-16) states that “the practical absence of intrigue and serious expectations as it comes to the feeble executive and passive approach of the opposition to the electoral campaign leaves the society no choice but to accept the authorities’ offers. In particular, there is practically no resistance to the early vote campaigns…”

- The article “The Round Table. The Echo of Explosions: Why the Authorities Suspected the Opposition?” (pp.17-27) contains an opinion about the incumbent government that “behind its façade, it is stricken with the moral degradation (which since recently is overtly showcased) and moral depravity, which goes hand in hand with the general corruption.

- The article “The Minsk Maneuver. Lukashenko Uses the Election to Gain Leverage in Negotiations with the EU” (authors Balasz Jarabik and Alastair Rabagliati, pp 28-32) states that “the authorities used the explosion to justify their usual tactics of pressurizing the opposition, intimidating the potential rivals and hampering any opposition activity.

- The article “The Remembrance of Victims and the Remembrance of Executioners” (author Andrej Rasinski, pp.33-50) the KGB operatives and Nazis are proclaimed to be allies: “An ally Nazi and a chekist leaned over the map.”

That’s it. The above enumerated extracts are too extreme for the Belarusian KGB. Well, similar recriminations against the Belarusian and Soviet authorities can be found in most independent media in Belarus. ARCHE, of course, provides a more scientific and intellectual breath to the general mistrust in the Belarusian electoral system, the morale of the authorities, and the history of KGB.

I bet the last extract (about the KGB-Nazi alliance) was the most provocative for a KGB expert’s eye, but I think it’s more than that. The Belarusian government fears the rise of the new elites. ARCHE authors are mostly educated abroad, sophisticated experts in different fields ready to challenge the dogmas of the Belarusian ideology. ARCHE has become an unparalleled intellectual playground for the Belarusian independent thought, a safe haven for controversy, discussion of topics ranging from public policy to religion, from Belarusian history to geopolitics. ARCHE also remains the only regular intellectual periodical in the Belarusian language.

Most certainly, it provokes the authorities. ARCHE cover illustrations are often challenging and controversial. It feels like the editorial stuff gambles on every issue – the bet is on whether the authorities would ban this issue, or if not, how about the next one? Let us make it even more defiant. And I must give ARCHE editors a credit for that. They deliver.

Last week, I attended a presentation of Aleh Latyszonak’s book “The Soldiers of the Belarusian People’s Republic.” The event had been supposed to take place at Hlybokaje Catholic church. However, when the local authorities read on westki.info (a regional site I happen to edit) about the event, the head of the ideology department Cherepkovsky invited the senior priest and categorically insisted on prohibiting the event to be held in the church. The church priest had to comply.

Luckily, local NGO activists were quick to offer an alternative venue to the event organizers and the presentation was held in spite of the hindrances. Hlybokaje residents quickly bought up a whole load of books and magazines even before the event officially started. I was one of the last ones to come up to Valer Bulhakau, the editor of ARCHE, for my share of new literature. He told me about the magazine’s problems and praised the civil society of Hlybokaje for self-organization and solidarity. I bought several books and magazines, including the infamous issue that would be proclaimed extremist in about a week. OK, am I supposed to expect KGB agents to come knocking on my door to confiscate the issue? Just in case, I’ll go give it a good read.