Right before Easter, the Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva received a letter from the Executive Committee of the city of Minsk, which stated that “the allocation of Nasha Niva in Minsk wasn’t appropriate.” The motivation was that “on 22 March, the editor-in-chief of Nasha Niva was put under administrative arrest for 10 days”. This editor-in-chief, Andrej Dynko, right in the middle, was detained while getting off a bus on 21 March, at the time of the post-election protests. Later he was convicted of “foul language”. Here, the newspaper’s editorial board makes an appeal. (18-APR-06)

Recently, the Nasha Niva has been under increasing pressure. Since 1 January, distribution of the paper has been banned under various pretexts by the monopolists Bielsajuzdruk, Minharsajuzdruk, Minablsajuzdruk and Bielposhta. They also didn’t include the newspaper in the subscription catalogue. On 10 April, after a considerable delay, the Ministry of Communications didn’t comply with Nasha Niva’s request to grant a license for an independent subscription. The letter from the Executive Committee in Minsk, prepared by the Department of Ideology and signed by vice-chairman M. Ciciankou, was mailed on the same day.  This means a ban on Nasha Niva’s existence. 

Official legislation irrelevant
A cynical detail is that the authorities are closing down Nasha Niva on the eve of its 100th lukashenko wants silenceanniversary.  In 1915 the first ‘NN’ was closed after Vilnius was occupied by German troops. In 2006, the same procedure is carried out by the Lukashenka administration. Nasha Niva never broke the law and the paper hasn’t even had notifications from the Ministry of Information for the  last four years. In the past, legal proceedings were somewhat transparency, but in contemporary Belarus a mere decision of the Department of Ideology is enough. Even though according to the law, the activities of an enterprise cannot depend on administrative penalties imposed on its manager.

Belarusian under pressure
Herewith the last Belarusian-speaking lyceum is closed which results in an continuously increasing pressure on the Belarusian language. Rock groups that sing in Belarusian are banned from the radio and TV. The process of closing the Union of Writers has been launched. Dozens of newspapers are banned and starting up radio- and TV-stations in Belarusian language is illegal. The extermination of cultural alternatives is elevated to the rank of state policy. Single-level Soviet identity is imposed to people. The case of Nasha Niva is not only a question of saving the newspaper or the independent press in general. The Belarusian cultural identity is at stake.  Age-old cultural traditions of a whole nation must not become extinct in Europe in the 21st century.

Appeal
Under these conditions we ask the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture to appeal to UNESCO in order to include Nasha Niva in the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.  Lithuania has the moral right to do this, since Nasha Niva was issued in Vilnius between 1906 and 1915 and 1991 and 1996. The 100th anniversary of the paper, which has promoted Belarusian literary language, Belarusian classic literature, and the idea of a Belarusian state, is the right occasion to do this. We also ask the governments of other countries, international and non-government institutions, which have the opportunity, to support this appeal to UNESCO. This symbolic step may be the last thing the world can do for the Belarusian press.

Support
We also appeal to the international community to immediately intensify their support to all independent Belarusian mass medias. Legal proceedings, including appeals to the decision of the Executive Committee, can last from months to years. In spite of such uncertainties, the paper will be published in its current format as long as possible, but it is impossible to say for how long. However, the closing of the enterprise Nasha Niva does not mean closing the web site of the paper.

Transferring newspaper abroad
Since publishing Nasha Niva in Belarus is “not appropriate”, it would be logical to consider the matter of transferring the newspaper abroad. However, that would entail legal and financial complications. Due to the ban on distribution, Nasha Niva is currently being published thanks to donations from private persons. We have received 4,000 donations from all over Belarus since the beginning of the year. However, if the paper is closed and then transferred and registered abroad, the reader will have no direct opportunity to make a money order for the paper. Until the paper is issued as it used to, please, keep on sending donations. We will be looking for a solution, considering the developments.

Nasha Niva is being closed, but Nasha Niva has to go on. Both as an edition read by thousands of people and as a national symbol.