Protest at Belarus embassy in solidarity with prisoners of conscience

Posted: 18 February 2011 Actor Samuel West will hand in a letter of protest and address a demonstration outside the Belarusian embassy in London this Saturday 19 February at 2pm The protest is held in solidarity with all the victims of President Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus, particularly the prisoners currently detained by the secret police. The trials of the began this week. It is organised by The Belarus Committee, an influential group of NGOs including Amnesty International, Article 19 and Index on Censorship, together with individuals including Sir Tom Stoppard. Patrons include Vaclav Havel and Mikhael Gorbachev. The Belarus Free Theatre, who are amongst the most vocal opponents of Lukashenko’s rule, have been forced to flee Belarus after the KGB issued an arrest warrant for co-founder Nikolai Khalezin. Sienna Miller, who took part in an Index on Censorship benefit at the Young Vic with members of the Belarus Free Theatre in December, expressed her fears for the Free Theatre, adding: “Belarus is the last dictatorship in Europe. We cannot permit this behaviour to continue.” The Presidential elections last December were described by the OSCE as “seriously flawed”, with the count in half of the polling districts “bad or very bad”. During a post-election rally in Independence Square in Minsk the authorities arrested members of the country’s political opposition and civil society activists. Over 600 people were arrested that evening including Natalia Koliada from the Belarus Free Theatre and Index on Censorship award nominee Natalia Radzina. Currently, 33 prisoners are still kept in custody. Journalist Irina Khalip, the wife of Presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, and Presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu are both under punitive house arrest. They face up to 15 years in prison for orchestrating a “mass riot”. Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: “People have a right to peaceful protest, a right that is being exercised with sensational impact around much of the world right now. “While some governments are finally having to listen to the voices of their people, President Lukashenko’s regime continues to respond with beatings and arrests. We are calling on the authorities in Belarus to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally.” Irina Bogdanova, sister of detained Presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau, will attend the protest and is available for interview. She speaks fluent English.

Amnesty International UK - Protest At Belarus Embassy

Why Belarus Free Theatre deserves a standing ovation

Posted by

Laura Wade

Monday 13 December 2010

With performances held in secret and at considerable risk, the BFT is using the stage to fight censorship in a dictatorship. Its extraordinary work should be seen all over the world

Clear, visually inventive and rigorous ... Belarus Free Theatre at the Young Vic.
Photograph: Keith Pattison

 

A week ago last Sunday, on a night when most theatres are almost empty, the Young Vic in London was packed. Jude Law and Sienna Miller were appearing on stage together. Ian McKellen, Jonathan Dimbleby, Samuel West and Adjoa Andoh lent a hand. But the star turn was a company called Belarus Free Theatre. The standing ovation was for them, and the cheers lasted for minutes. Because by any measure, what it does is extraordinary.

 

Belarus Free Theatre is an underground group based in Minsk. "Underground" not because it's cool and edgy, but because Belarus is a dictatorship and any opposition, artistic or otherwise, can be swiftly and harshly silenced. Citizens of Belarus are subject to extreme censorship and human rights violations, to which other governments turn a blind eye. Resistance activists have mysteriously disappeared or been kidnapped, imprisoned and killed.

 

The BFT runs plays that tell people what's going on in their country. It is subject to continual harassment and death threats. But it doesn't stop. Most of its actors have been expelled from the state theatre for their involvement with the BFT, and are classified by the KGB as "unstable elements". Producer and writer Natalia Koliada and playwright Nikolai Khalezin have become human rights activists as well as theatre practitioners. They feel that their country has been forgotten.

I first encountered the BFT when director Lyndsey Turner and I visited Belarus last summer for a week of workshops with its young apprentices. On our last night in Minsk we saw the company play to a home audience. It wasn't just another night at the theatre.

The BFT has to perform in secret, at considerable risk: performances have been raided by police and multiple arrests made. Audience members are contacted by text message and told to meet at a secret location, from whhich they are taken to the show. At the moment the company uses a near-derelict house where two rooms have been knocked together; the audience, some of whom have travelled for hours to be there, squeeze on to benches at one end of the space and the play is performed at the other. The anticipation is palpable. At the end, the applause comes with a wave of relief, not just because the police didn't storm the building. Many of the audience have seen nothing like this before; to hear the problems of their country spoken about honestly makes them feel a little braver and less alone.

At the Young Vic evening organised by Index on Censorship, the BFT performed two pieces. The first was Numbers, a devised play that explores modern Belarus through statistics ("72% of Belarusians find it difficult to define the word 'democracy''', "13 model agencies, in collaboration with the ministry of culture, sold Belarusian young women into sexual slavery"). Then Discover Love, the story of Irina Krasovskaya and her opposition-activist husband Anatoly Krasovsky, who was kidnapped and murdered. This has particular poignancy after the recent suspicious death of Oleg Bebenin, a journalist and close friend of the BFT. The two pieces work powerfully together, guiding the audience through an abstract world of percentages into a devastating personal story.

The work of the BFT isn't just good considering the difficult circumstances under which it is created – it's good full stop. It's clear, visually inventive and rigorous, with humour next to deep sadness. It deserves to be seen all over the world. Who knows what might be achieved if people in Belarus were allowed free access to it?

What the company needs more than anything is the solidarity of the global theatre community. The more international friends the company has, the more likely that people in Belarus will join its struggle for democratic freedom (and the less likely that members of the company will disappear). There's a petition you can sign. The BFT will return to London next July for a week at the Almeida Theatre. You should go and see them there. And you won't be arrested for it.

British actors sign petition to support free Belarus

11:26, — 8.12.2010

Jude Law, Ian McKellen, and Samuel West and other famous actors signed the petition.
The Belarus Free Theatre showed two plays in London, “Discover Love” and “Numbers”.
It’s the first time when Hollywood stars, Jude Law, Ian McKellen, and Samuel West, and others, joined the theatre company on the stage. The actors expressed their solidarity both with the Free Theatre and the people of Belarus.
“It was a powerful event. Most of the expected actors came, only Kate Winslet was replaced by Sienna Miller. She and Jude Law played Iryna and Anatol Krasouskis. Another pair was Samuel West and Adjoa Andoh. The play “Numbers” from the trilogy “Zone of Silence” was showed first followed by “Discover Love”. The event was interesting both from artistic and public points of view. It was a fund-raising event and the actors thanked us for an opportunity to work together,” Mikalai Khalezin, director of the Belarus Free Theatre, emphasized.
We remind that “Discover Love” is based on a true story of Iryna and Anatol Krasouskis. Businessman and public figure Anatol Krasouski and politician Viktar Hanchar disappeared under mysterious circumstances in September 1999. The play-illustration “Numbers” along with “Childhood Legends” and “Others” form the trilogy “Zone of Silence”. The performance demonstrates manipulations with numbers in Belarus.
The audience of the theatre also expressed their support of the Belarusians.
“There were many journalist, politicians and lords, lawyers, human rights activists, actors, of course, and public activists. The event attracted 450 people.
We prepared a petition that was signed by some 60 actors. Moreover, it was signed by more than 100 public activists. This petition supports free Belarus and Free Theatre. Signatories include Kate Winslet, Jeremy Irons, and other stars. We are going to publish the full version of the petition soon,” Mikalai Khalezin told.