Andrei Novik: Lukashenka's Principles Are Now Penetrating Diaspora's Life

The actor told what Belarusian culture in exile is facing.

Playwrights, directors, actors, artists and other theatre people who were forced to leave Belarus self-organized in Warsaw in the theatre bureau named BY Theater. The organizers are doing everything possible to promote a free modern Belarusian culture, but this way there are obstacles even from the Belarusians themselves.

Charter97.org spoke with Andrei Novik, a director, theater and film actor, about the situation with Belarusian culture in exile:

— Fortunately, our theatre is still existing and even developing. In May, we played five performances. Now, in June, we will have a short break. Summer is absolutely not a theatrical season, so theatres always go on vacation. If possible, we continue some rehearsals and work on new projects.

Just the other day, the list of participants of the FAMA festival in Świnoujście (Poland) was announced, and we were also invited there. Within the framework of this festival, which will be held on August 19-24, we will perform the play "Z@mova" ("The Spell").

Unfortunately, a trip to Vilnius in July for the Week of Belarusian Culture was disrupted, because the bodies, which are designed to preserve and develop culture, are, alas, not particularly interested in it. We calculated our physical and financial capabilities, after which we were forced to abandon this event.

At the moment, we do not have any funding and support, so we can count only on ourselves, on fees from ticket sales. But the process goes, as they say, step by step. We will continue to do something, develop and, I hope, in September we will join with new forces, ideas and projects.

— In May, you published an open appeal, from which it follows that you are going to court. Could you please tell us more about this situation?

— I think that many have read our open appeal, in which we described everything in detail. We continue to seek some kind of justice and truth. Under our appeal, a very large number of people wrote words of gratitude, for the fact that we are not silent, but speak. Stories with similar cases have also been emerging since 2021, but people were just afraid to talk about it.

What happened: Last year, the BY Theater creative group staged and premiered the play called "Ulenspiegel". To finance the project, a European donor transferred an advance payment of 49,000 euros to the Stowarzyszenie Białoruski Młodzieżowy Hub (Belarusian Youth Hub) for the creation and premiere of the play. The second part of the grant provided for the financing of touring activities with this performance and amounted to another 26,000 euros. To date, the work of the group has never been paid.

As it turned out, we are far from the first and, it is frightening to admit, apparently, far from the last who found themselves in such a situation. We continue to search for a law company or private lawyer who would be interested in helping us to find justice, since we ourselves are not able to pay for the full work of lawyers, this is a lot of money.

From the open appeal of the group: "It is shameful to observe how some 'fighters for democracy', unable to admit mistakes and be responsible for their actions or inaction, seek to continue to 'help' the nation. [...] Since 2020, Belarusians have not managed to create a single financially transparent organization open to the diaspora and managed by the diaspora in any sphere of public life.

Unfortunately, the 'Lukashenka principles' are beginning to actively penetrate the life of the diaspora. Already here, we will again try to get used to "mind our own business" by those for whom we — forced or conscious immigrants — are just a "pocket base", "democratic values" are just a commodity, and the "institution of reputation" is an untenable invention.

We are trying to gather a coalition of creative groups, collectives, initiatives that are completely unrelated to politics. It will be a group of like-minded, creative people who still want transparency, openness and honesty, who want to see where the money went, how it came, to whom it was transferred, and so on.

In order to avoid such situations, it is already necessary to rely on the organization of such a group, a coalition, in order to work together, cooperate and develop, in order to eventually reach the level of such an international implementation body so that creative people can work openly, honestly and clearly.

In the comments, the people involved say that either “no one is to blame” or others are guilty. Everyone points at each other. It is, of course, sad that all are "saints". This has been going on for more than three years. As it turned out, many different groups of people have already found themselves in a similar situation. But at the same time, everyone says that "they are good", that "they are the right ones", no one is to blame.

That is why we are trying to achieve justice through the capable authorities, that is why we are looking for support from law companies or private lawyers.

We just want to get some truth. Naturally, we are not going to unfoundedly accuse anyone. The fact remains that this happened. Who exactly is guilty and how they did it — this should be understood by people with the appropriate qualifications.

We will be very grateful if anyone responds, you can email us ([email protected]) with suggestions for interaction or cooperation. And, of course, we will be glad if there are people who can support us financially so that we can continue our activities, put on new performances and arrange tours.