Round table on Belarusan national identity took place in Minsk

The round table was organized by the Assembly of NGOs as a follow-up of the round-table “Belarusan Cultural Hero: a Knight at the Crossroads” held in Minsk earlier this year.

On June 25th, the Assembly of NGOs held a round table “Defend What is Yours: Cultural Activism and Belarusan National Identity” in Minsk, gathering together 20 leaders of cultural NGOs and representatives of Belarusan culture and art. They discussed ways and means to protect and strengthen the Belarusan identity with the help of civil society and discussed the possibility to develop a cultural strategy for the Belarusan civil sector.

During the meeting, the participants listened to several reports, including Vaclau Areska’s “How to protect what’s yours? From Theory to Practice”, Vinchuk Viachorka’s “Belarusan and Ukrainian experience in protecting the cultural space”, Aliaksei Hlusko’s “Development of traditional culture as a factor of strengthening national identity”, Paval Belavus’ “Our symbols”, Ihar Prakapovich’s “Regional Belarusan cultural movement: challenges and possible directions of development”, and Iryna Laurouskaja’s “Project – Program – Implementation: organizing the monitoring of the protection of the Belarusan historical and cultural heritage.” In addition, the participants discussed the experience of civil activists in Slovakia who work in the field of culture.

Based on the results of the discussion, recommendations for the Belarusan civil sector, cultural initiatives and national culture patrons will be published. In a longer run, it is planned to develop cultural strategy, which will be available to all activists and civil society bodies.

Let us recall that this discussion is a follow-up of a round table “Belarusan Cultural Protagonist: a Knight at the Crossroads” held in Minsk in March.