Two 19th-century poems from Belarus have been labeled “extremist”, in an indication of an expanding crackdown on government criticism.
The poems by Vincent Dunin-Martsinkevich discuss a nationalist revolt against the Russian Empire.
Since the widely believed to be rigged 2020 elections, authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has tightened his hold on power.
He has since aided Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
Since many of the regime’s opponents are nationalists who object to Mr. Lukashenko’s pro-Russian stance, experts described the banning of the poems as a step toward totalitarianism.
Most of them are currently detained or have left the country.
The two poems The Winds are Floating and Conversation of an Elderly Man, as well as a foreword to the author’s collected works by literary critic Yazep Yanushkevich, were listed as “extremist material” in a statement released by the prosecutor’s office in the country’s capital Minsk on Thursday.
The poems were written by Poles and Belarusians in what was then Poland and a part of the Russian Empire during the Kastus Kalinowski uprising in 1863.
When this happened, Dunin-Martsinkevich was charged with spreading information “harmful for the authorities”.
His direct involvement in the uprising was never proven, despite the fact that he was detained and arrested.
These days, his plays are frequently performed and his works are included in the schools’ curriculum. In his hometown of Bobruisk, in the southeast of Belarus, he is honored by having several streets named after him.
According to the independent publication Nexta, books by several 20th-century writers, including Larisa Geniyush, Vladimir Neklyayev, Lidiya Arobey, and Natalya Arseneva, had also been banned.
Source-BBC
