Andrei Khrapavitski: Belarusian Presidential Election 2010 Blog

There’s been a lot going on in Poland over the last couple of weeks. All of a sudden, Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, who served as the director of TV Polonia (Public TV in Poland) and also as the director of Belsat TV, was fired from both her positions.

Belsat TV – set up by the Polish government and public television in Poland - symbolizes freedom for Belarusians, and Romaszewska-Guzy was a modernizer who sought to develop and foster free media in Belarus, writes Polskieradio.pl.

In solidarity with Romaszewska, Paval Mazheika, a popular talk show host on Belsat, announced his resignation from the channel.

Polska (Times) claims that the firing of the director of Belsat television, Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, proves that the new president of TVP public television in Poland supports President Aleksander Lukashenko, and is a major blow to free media initiatives in Belarus.

The president of TVP Piotr Farfal, who was recently appointed to the position, is described by the Polish media as “a former editor of a Polish neo-Nazi magazine.” Check out his bio, you’ll be surprised. Farfal was reportedly a skinhead and a radical Polish nationalist.

Gazeta.pl quotes Piotr Farfal as saying “I don’t see why TVP (Polish Television) should finance Belsat TV. [Polish] television does not have a spare dime for Belsat. If the government wants this channel, let them cover the full cost of its maintenance.” Farfał underscored that “In accordance with its bylaws, TVP is not an institution obliged to produce a channel broadcasting in a foreign language to non-Polish people.”

“The transmission is carried out first and foremost for Poles. Hence I agree to the need for additional financing of TVP Polonia, which is produced for Polish expatriates, but why should TVP produce television for Belarusians for our money – that I do not understand,” said Mr. Farfal.

I understand the economic crisis is the time when it is hard to justify maintaining a satellite channel for a foreign country (especially, if you have a rightwing point of view at the world around you). But how can a rightwing politician (with such credentials) or how, actually, any politician whatsoever be appointed to preside over the public television institution in a democratic country? That I do not understand.

It’s like driving in the opposing lane
It’s like waking up into another migraine
It’s the morning in Vilnius, the nation wakes up
Shakes off all its stilts but fails to stand up

It is so hard to see through this rain what’s at stake
When there’s nothing to give and too little to take
All is washed away, all goes down the drain
But you’re proud of your nation, proud of your chain

Like a dog on a leash, you are strapped to a place
You’re disguising your pain with a smile on your face
It’s the morning in Minsk, the nation wakes up
Shakes off all its stilts but fails to get up

They shenanigan us with those history books
We are under control of political crooks
We have slurred ourselves more than enough
But we can’t take a stand, we just cannot get up

“It’s no longer a question of print or online. It’s what you’re about online,” writes Dana Blankenhorn on ZDNet. Newspaper business is dying. I hear gloomy projections on print media market from all over: the United States, Estonia, Norway, Great Britain, Ukraine, etc.

In Belarus, independent newspapers do not turn profit; it’s even dubious to say there’s a media market in Belarus. The state-owned media are financially bolstered by the state, while few surviving independent newspapers are hampered by various unfair regulations, taxation policies, economic and legal obstacles making it impossible for them to succeed. But would they? Would the Belarusian press become successful if all the impediments were dropped? (more…)

Yesterday one Vilnius-based Belarusian publicist rebuked me for using a Belarusian form “Kaziuki”in my brief blog post about a famous Vilnius traditional fair Kaziukas. He argued that the fair which is centuries-old should be translated into Belarusian as Kaziuk (singular) because it is the correct interpretation of Kaziukas (singular, Lithuanian) while “Kaziuki,” the form I used, is plural. Before I tell you about our linguistic argument, here’s my video report from Kaziukas Fair 2009.

By the way, if you are in Vilnius, today is the final day of the fair. Don’t miss it!
(more…)

The pendulum has swung. The period of temporal calmness couldn’t last long. In fact, it had been unwise to trust the longevity of Belarus’s political liberalization. The new year has brought a worrisome trend of new politically motivated arrests, repressions against the opposition activists and attacks on the freedom of speech. (more…)

This poster in Dublin International Airport explains passengers of which destinations are eligible to buy goods at a local duty free shop.

But wait… Have a closer look. On this poster, the capital of Belarus, Minsk, is attributed to Russia.

OK, guys, very cute. Maybe, I should suggest that the Belarusian Airport comes up with something similarly insulting. How about hanging a map of Europe with Ireland marked as part of the United Kingdom?

The discrepant poster was spotted by a Belarusian traveler and a well-known blogger barilotti.