Three dignitaries active in countering the Belarus government, which has come under fire for human rights and electoral abuses, will speak at Wartburg College Thursday, Jan. 16.
Stanislau Shushkevich, the first head of the state of Belarus after it became independent from the Soviet Union; Ivonka Survilla, president of the Rada (council) of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in exile, and David Swartz, the first U.S. ambassador to independent Belarus, will explore the political situation during a panel discussion at 4 p.m. in McCaskey Lyceum.
They will discuss “Disengaging East-Central Europe from the East: European Security and North American Interests — the Belarus Model.”
Swartz, who spent 29 years as a foreign-service officer with other posts in the former Soviet Union, London, Zurich and Amsterdam, also will speak at the annual Michaelson, Briner and Kildahl Literary Symposium at 11:30 a.m. in McCaskey Lyceum.
Swartz, associate executive director of the Center for Belarusian Studies headquartered at Southwestern College (Kan.), will talk about “Diplomacy: Values, Assumptions, Sensitivities.”
Both events are free and open to the public.
Belarus has had fleeting forays with democracy during the past century squelched by authoritarian regimes.
The independence of the Belarusian Democratic Republic was declared at the end of World War I, but the invasion by the Soviet Red Army in 1918 forced its sitting government into exile. Survilla is the sixth president in exile of the RADA, the Belarusian National Republic's international parliament.
Survilla, an artist, journalist, and linguist, was born in Belarus, raised in France, and now resides in Canada. She has been involved in numerous arts and humanitarian endeavors.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Shushkevich was the first head of state of the newly independent Belarus. His government was voted out in 1994 by current president Alexander Lukashenko, who renewed ties with Russia.
Shushkevich, a scientist, professor and author, was one of the three signatories to the dissolution of the Soviet Union — together with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine — and unconditionally withdrew the Soviet nuclear arsenal from Belarus.
The United States and European Union have protested rigged elections and human rights abuses under the Lukashenko regime, which has imprisoned opposition leaders. U.S. sanctions against Belarus in 2008 and criticism of human rights led to both countries removing their diplomats. The U.S. and EU have imposed various economic sanctions as well as travel bans directed against Lukashenko, whose government has become increasingly oppressive since the 2010 presidential elections.
The Wartburg Humanities Think Tank invited Swartz, while Shushkevich and Survilla were invited by the Center for Belarusian Studies. Dr. M. Paula Survilla, Wartburg professor of music who holds the Slife Professorship in Humanities, is executive director of the Center for Belarusian Studies.
Live Link for 11:30 a.m. Event
http://new.livestream.com/wartburgknightvision/events/2695514
Live Link for 4:00 p.m. Event
http://new.livestream.com/wartburgknightvision/events/2695500