The few days ago, I was “chilling” in the New York Research Library browsing through archives of “Nasha Niva”, the first Belarusian newspaper with illustrations. I was about to write an article about history of this newspaper since it is a truly unique periodical that featured new ideas and new writers - young, dynamic and confident in their cause. In three years since it was first published in 1906, Nasha Niva printed 960 items of correspondence from 489 villages, 246 poems by 61 poets and 91 stories by different authors. With time, Nasha Niva was becoming bigger and bigger, in 1910 alone it had 229 contributors from Vilna district, 208 from Minsk, 114 from Grodno, 65 from Mogilev, 27 from Vitebsk, 15 from Kovno and 8 from Smolensk districts. The members of Nasha Niva included such famous Belarusian poets as Janka Kupala and Jakub Kolas whose works would inspire generations of patriotic Belarusians.

And what was my reaction when I got news that Nasha Niva was closed by Lukashenka’s Regime! It felt like a hit below a waist…To close the newspaper whose work and dedication to the national revival wolud have made any nation proud?!

On what grounds Nasha Niva was closed by Lukashenka’s Regime?

Right before Easter, Nasha Niva had gotten a letter from Minsk city executive committee. According to the letter, the allocation of Nasha Niva in Minsk was inappropriate because the editor-in-chief Andrej Dynko had been put under administrative arrest for 10 days”.
It is worth while reminding that the editor was detained while getting off the bus #100 at Kastrychnickaja square on March 21, at the time of post-election protests, later he was convicted of “foul language”.

Well, what can I say? Another cheap shot from Belarusian officials who are trying to silence anything what does not follow a pro-Lukashenka line. Obviously, the regime understands all absourdity of its actions and reasons, however, it does not really bother them. There is no law that would stop them…However…

In one issue, Nasha Niva published an illustration depicting front pages of Lithuanian newspapers published back in the early 1900’s. Among them was a copy of Nasha Niva, and a comment read:

…All these newspapers are depicted on this illustration . Among them is Nasha Niva - the only Belarusian newspaper. Meanwhile, there are about 5 milion of Belarusians and only 3 million of Lithuanians. However, with great energy they(lithuanians) are reviving their national heritage…

The very first Belarusian newspaper is closed in Belarus…It is sad but the newspaper does have followers, people who continue to write about Belarus, its history, culture and political situation. And now, when most traditional and independent mediums such as newspapers and magazines are being shut down by Belarusian authorities, the time came for bloggers and new media. And seems that new voices don’t waste time and continue to follow and develop traditions of Nasha Niva in modern time. Their means and format might differ from those of Nasha Niva but they work with great energy and deep affection toward the same goal-democratic Belarus with revived national heritage…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 at 9:21 pm and is filed under Free Belarus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.