Opinions & Interviews
Lukashenko recalls early days of Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk
VITEBSK, 13 July (BelTA) – Back in the day, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union suggestions were made to host the international art festival Slavianski Bazaar in different cities and countries every year. Only a handful of people opposed the idea, including Yelena Spiridovich, who is now an Honored Artist of Belarus and a winner of the special prize “Through art to peace and mutual understanding”. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during the opening ceremony of the 32nd international art festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk on 13 July, BelTA has learned.
The head of state recalled the history of the festival at the beginning of his presidency: “I remember my first steps onto this stage. Back then I was feeling some… You know what a person feels when they come out in front of a huge audience. There are 7,000 people here [in the Summer Amphitheater] and millions are watching. As usual, I approached our prominent hosts. And some young girl (she is an adult today) was trying to overload me with information because she understood that it would be difficult to meet with the president, particularly back then. I didn’t listen to everything she said. And I remembered Yelena saying: ‘Aleksandr Grigoryevich [Lukashenko], please, save Slavianski Bazaar’.”
The head of state noted that times were complicated back then. Not even because the Soviet Union had collapsed or money had been in short supply or something else. “The thing is various dealers came forth and tried to disperse this Slavianski Bazaar across cities and towns. Only a handful of people, including Yelena, felt that it would destroy the festival. I realized all of it after I came back after this first festival.”
The president stressed he had not recalled the event in order to emphasize his role: “It is emphasized enough. What I did or didn’t do, bad things or good things. It is all on you. It is the fate of presidents. But I’d like to emphasize that there were only a few people… Three, maybe four, maybe five people, whose souls were welded to our festival. They latched onto the festival and were asking everyone they could to save the festival.”
“We’ve presented this prize [to Yelena Spiridovich] for a reason. It may be a bit late. We sometimes presented these prizes to people, who are on the other side of the barricades now. It is life. All things may happen. But we presented these prizes in recognition of the art that these people had gifted to us and to these organizers. This is why there is no need to be modest, Yelena. You deserve this award. And all of those, who stood up back then (several people next to you), those, who were saving this bazaar, have to understand that it is also their award. No offense, please. An award of the very few people,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.
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