{"id":196035,"date":"2026-07-16T20:57:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/196035\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:57:29","slug":"opposition-leader-condemns-crackdown-on-belarusian-culture-as-attempt-to-erase-identity","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/196035\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition leader condemns crackdown on Belarusian culture as attempt to erase identity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

July 16, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja has condemned the recent closure of several national-themed stores of Belarusian brands and the cancellation of cultural events, stressing that no bans will ever change who Belarusians are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBelarusian culture lives in the most ordinary things: embroidery on a shirt, a song remembered from childhood, a word only Belarusians truly understand. That is why it is so painful to see the Belarus regime trying to drive this sense of identity out of people\u2019s lives,\u201d the politician said on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apparel brands Honar and LSTR Adzie\u0144nie, as well as the souvenir shop Rahna, announced their closures in July without giving any reasons. Observers suspect that the shops were forced to close under pressure from the authorities. For example, LSTR Adzie\u0144nie unveiled a new collection just days before announcing its closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honar was selling out the remaining items from its inventories in Minsk on July 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian authorities also cancelled several summer festivals linked to folk traditions and Belarusian history, while the state-sponsored Slavianski Bazar festival will host performers who support war, violence and imperialism, Cichano\u016dskaja noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is how Belarusians are told to feel ashamed or afraid of what is ours: our language, history, traditions, songs and clothes,\u201d she said. \u201cBut our culture cannot be erased. It lives in each of us. It can be quiet or outspoken, traditional or modern, in an embroidered shirt or a hoodie, in a folk song or a new one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Nobel Prize winner Ale\u015b Bialacki described the closure of Belarusian-themed shops in Belarus as a manifestation of the government\u2019s Russification policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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