Poems as Interventions in Political Crises: The Case of Belarus

Dec 8, 2021, 7:30 pm

Katholische Akademie, Herrengraben 4, 20459 Hamburg

Belarusian artists have long risked their lives when depicting their unbearable situation in subversive, dissident visual artworks, theater performances, and literary works. But since the summer of 2020, the political situation in Belarus has become particularly perilous: many of those who oppose the autocrat Lukashenka have either fled abroad or have been imprisoned. Having mobilized large parts of the population, the protest and opposition movement that emerged after the “stolen” election has been brutally quelled by the government and suppressed through massive acts of violence and repressions.

Social media poetry is once again an important stage for artistic articulation, as it can be published and received in spite of the ongoing reprisals. Poetical protest from Belarus is increasingly being directed toward Europe, which is, particularly in poems by the younger generation, personified, directly addressed, and accused of being too passive. Poems like these, often published on YouTube, speak to us from a country in bondage and waiting for a response. They are prime examples of poetry’s potential in political crises, the central theme of this Poetry Debates series.

This event will be held in German and English (with translations).

With
Alessandro Achilli, PhD (literary scholar; Milan/IT)
Julia Cimafiejeva (poet; Minsk/BY and Graz/AT)
Uljana Wolf (poet and translator; Berlin)

 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Claudia Benthien (Principal Investigator, ERC project; Hamburg)

 
Registration information for the on-site event and the live stream:

Free entry.

The event at the Katholische Akademie will take place according to the “2G” access model. This means that only people who can provide proof of vaccination or recovery together with an official passport will be permitted to attend. It is mandatory that each participant brings both documents to the Katholische Akademie and presents them at the entrance.

You can register for the on-site event via this online form: https://www.kahh.de/programm/veranstaltungen/der-fall-belarus/.

The event will also be streamed live on Dec. 08, 2021. Access info will be announced shortly on the website of the Katholische Akademie: https://www.kahh.de/programm/kalender/.