ABOUT THE EVENT
Sasha Razor and Lydia Roberts discuss the political crisis in the Republic of Belarus that ensued after the fraudulent presidential elections on August 9, 2020. The talk highlights the origin of the protest movement in the county, the role of women, the protest tactics and language, the dissemination of information during the internet blackout, as well as the nature of the state violence and conceptual frameworks for assessing and analyzing these historic events. The presentation concludes with a brief overview of literature, art, and protest music emerging from Belarus.

For a brief introduction, read Sasha’s editorial "The Lesson of Belarus" in the Los Angeles Review of Books (https: //lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/the-lesson-of-belarus/).

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS TO EXPLORE
Belarusian Literature:
Julia Cimafiejeva, “The Stone of Fear” (https: //lithub.com/the-stone-of-fear/ ) (trans. Valzhyna Mort)
Tatiana Zamirovskaya, “Dreams of Belarusian People About Alexander Lukashenko” (https: //pen.org/dreams-of-belarusian-people-about-alexander-lukashenko/) (non-fiction, trans. by the author)

Belarusian Art:
‘We're tired of dictatorship. We're turning a new page.' (https: //www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/12056/belarusian-artists-protests)5 Belarusian artists on fighting for their country's future (https: //www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/12056/belarusian-artists-protests)
“From the Sun City of Dreams to the City of Angels: a Conversation with Belarusian artist and author Artur Klinau” (https: //lareviewofbooks.org/article/from-the-sun-city-of-dreams-to-the-city-of-angels-a-conversation-with-belarusian-artist-and-author-artur-klinau/)
Belarusian Music
Belarusian cover of Viktor Tsoi’s song “Changes” [Peremen] (2020):
Liapis Trubetskoi “Not to be Cattle” [Ne Byts' skotam] (2011) (https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSwmW3OxquY)

DISCUSSANTS
Dr. Susan Kresin (https: //slavic.ucla.edu/person/susan-kresin/) is Senior Lecturer at the UCLA Department of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Languages and Cultures and the UCLA Russian Flagship Program (https: //international.ucla.edu/russianflagship) Student Coordinator. Her research interests include Slavic linguistics and Slavic language pedagogy, including use of internet resources, culturally oriented curricula, and teaching heritage students. Susan has led Czech and Russian language courses, as well as seminars on Slavic linguistics and cultures.

Dr. Sasha Razor (https: //slavic.ucla.edu/person/sasha-razor/) is a native of Belarus and an alumna of the Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies. Her research interests include avant-garde cinema and literature, Russian diaspora studies, as well as Ukrainian and Belarusian literature and culture. Sasha is a recipient of the 2020 ASEEES Internship Grant and is working at the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco. She is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Lydia Roberts (https: //slavic.ucla.edu/person/lydia-roberts/) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She researches Russian and Polish prison literature, particularly memoir and scholarship written in Gulag camps, as well as genocide and mass incarceration. Lydia was named a Eugene V. Cota-Robles fellow in 2016 and a U.S. Russia Experts Program fellow in 2018. Lydia has published in SoapEar, an L.A.-based music magazine, as well as the Los Angeles Review of Books.

 Download Podcast

Duration: 1:08:02