Leanid Kalitsenia: Civic consciousness is about attitude, not form of activity

Civility is, first of all, revealed in the attitude and feelings of a person towards the world; whereas art is the best means to express feelings.

It is in this way that Leanid Kalitsenia, the member of the Association of Life-Long Learning and Enlightenment Board, developed the idea of a contest among art-products “Modern Belarusan Civility” in the talk with the EuroBelarus Information Service.

The fact that common people associate civility with the state and not in any way with public organizations is wrong, believes Leanid Kalitsenia. “The state is not interested in the presence of citizens in the country; it wants to see subjects”. He explained his decision to employ art for expressing the ideas of civility with the fact that “different types of art are the best means to express feelings”. “Civility means not only knowing your rights and being able to use them; it is also a certain manner of behavior, relationship and certain feelings”.

But how do creative people perceive the notion of civility? As many already have an idea that active civic stand can be punished.

 Unfortunately, in Belarus lots of people perceive civil consciousness as a form of activity and regular participation in problem-solving activity, - agreed Leanid Kalitsenia. – But we want to show that civility is, first of all, an attitude, which is revealed in conversations with other people and how it works”.

“We can talk about civic consciousness when a person bears responsibility not only for himself, but also for the country he lives in. And such attitude is incompatible with fuss and doesn’t require constant participation in problem-solving processes, but rather requires meditation, which takes time”, - emphasized the member of the Association of Life-Long Learning and Enlightenment Board.