Rainer Lindner: seems like Belarus lacks open discussions

At the end of Minsk forum eurobelarus.info inquired, what kind of impression did the event make on the seasoned participants and those who take part in it first time.

Ph.D. Rainer Lindner, the founder of Minsk Forum, “Science and Politics” fund: 

On changes in the country

 - The country became livelier. People became wiser, more open. Today, for example, a lawyer gave a speech about it – in terms of political prisoner defense… There are changes in the society… The topics, we discussed during that forum, are much tenser, much more acute than in previous years. So it seems to me, that regardless of the first impression of Belarus there are changes in the society – there is a politically active part. From another point of view, the passiveness of the majority also exists. We observe it in Ukraine. Even in the centre of the Orange Revolution, even there is a certain passiveness. People are just more interested in other matters: how to pay taxes, how to pay for housing, more earthly matters. Rising gas prices have meaning and consequences to every person in that country. Perhaps, this will be better seen in winter – last year the winter was pretty warm, this time it is going to be more severe, so gas prices will gain importance.

On changes in the state

 - I guess, during the third forum we witnessed the attempt to talk about the disappeared. Back then we’ve found out about the first occurrences. We have discussed that in a smaller group. And now look – a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative attended the forum and answered the questions about the political prisoners rather calmly.  Maybe he didn’t say much about them, but he never said there are none of them in Belarus.

On intellectual discussions

 - I’m a historian, so these “indoors” discussions, based on facts, between a small group of scientists, I like more. So I’m somewhat skeptical about the grand events of that kind. Naturally, we could’ve invited 300 more people – there were many, willing to attend. People are interested. They come here with enthusiasm during the three days, live discussions are conducted. Though I like small-group discussions between 20 intellectuals, but it doesn’t work out this way. It seems like Belarus lacks open discussions. I think, every format has its advantages. A big format, workgroups and small group discussions.

Ph.D. Tatsiana Vadalazhskaya, Sociology Institute of Belarusian National Academy of Sciences, participated in the forum for the first time as a member of “Society: examples of identity in history and present” workgroup. The topic of the report – “Generation as an instrument of research of challenge to Belarusian society”.

On forum

 - It feels like the forum has stable traditions. I felt the joy of the result – joy from certain achievements, gains of the forum in terms of atmosphere. It, firstly, refers to the variety of participants, because today the officials took a bigger part in the event. It seems like the forum is developing in terms of quality: the problems are discussed more thoroughly, and more serious problems – common both for us and Germany; we have a lot of common problems. Regardless of the differences between us.

On discussions

 - It seems to me, forum discussions, dialogues are worth developing. If we discuss our common problems, – not just similar, but common. For example the clash of citizenship and national identity. This problem is very acute both for Belarus and Germany. And if such kind of problems is discussed on the forum, the latter will develop with perspectives.

There were a few discussions in our workgroup, because the format and topicality were very diverse. On one side, there was a Social Security ministry representative Kohanau, telling about the legal basis of social security. On the other, several young people with a report on student exchange. There were also scientists, telling about the age peculiarities of national identity. It is a very diverse topic, and there were no cases when the opinions were contradictory – there was no basis for clashes in discussion. The discussions, arouse mostly on the question “what does the young generation need, what it has and what Belarus and the EU have to realize these needs”.

On the problem of national self-identification

 - The problem of national self-identification, giving a new sense to the term “citizenship” is very acute both to Belarusian and European intellectuals. It is connected with supernational institutions, identity policies’ appearing. According to our research, the young is a special group in context of this problem. Our youngsters are closer to identifying themselves as Europeans. And it could happen, that they become Europeans before they become Belarusians. This problem is very acute both for the EU and Belarus.

Julia Dranchuk

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