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CHAPTER 28 The Official Politics of Identity: Social Reification Strategy In the official cultural space there are some examples that can be considered in the context of representation of the national idea. As cases of such cultural support provided by official cultural activity to the national state ideology, this chapter considers the annual Slavonic Bazaar festival, the national historical “blockbuster” Anastasia Slutksaya (2003), and the performance of Dreams About Belarus (2007) on the stage of the Belarusian Academic National Theater. These examples demonstrate how the authorities try to use culture and the cultural sphere to popularize ideas of the official ideology of Belarusianness. However, it is not culture that carries the main functions. The major means of public representations of official Belarusianness looks different from those of the followers’ of alternative Belarusianness. The beginning of the Slavonic Bazaar festival in Vitebsk goes back to Soviet times. Today, the name itself serves to actualize and popularize the idea of Slavonic unity. Traditionally, Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian celebrities are invited. The event is decorated with elements of national (folk) culture (with exhibitions of traditional crafts of Belarusian artisans in the streets of the city). A competition among young musicians is included in the program. In general, however, the concerts of the Bazaar are a reproduction of the Soviet concepts of pop-music celebrities. One of the main leitmotifs of the performances and the greeting of post-Soviet popstars is reminiscent of a time when we lived happily in “one country and were one Soviet people.” Filmed in 2003 under the patronage of the president of the Republic of Belarus, Anastasia Slutskaya was financed from the state budget and initially announced as the first “national historical blockbuster.” It did not become a convincing national myth, although the ideology and national idea presented in the film were initially identified.This found reflection not so much in the events shown in the film as in the way they were presented. The director of the film Yuri Elhov said in an interview: “As regards the ideology, we thought about how to give the film a patriotic character. Not without reason, in one scene, Anastasia calls the people to fight ‘for the Slutsk land and the Orthodox faith.’ But we tried to completely avoid acute political angles. Because of their mentality, Belarusians have not had serious quarrels with anyone or serious wars for national independence in the course of history. […] There were no conflicts with either Russia or Poland in the film […] We avoided such political scandals. It was a matter of principle. We did not want to irritate anyone.”1 The image of the national past in the film is built on a denial of historical truth—one can say that national history “abandoned” the film. On the demand of the authorities, the authors of the film offered a national myth that did not contain what was in Belarusian history; neither historical Belarusian symbols—the emblem of Chase, nor Litvins, nor wars with the “fraternal Russian people.” As a result of the loss of all references to the past, the film became a “naive romantic legend from the life of a strange people in colored clothing.”2 Despite the fact that the film was placed into distribution and was seen everywhere including in remote Belarusian villages , because of emasculated relations with real history it turned into a more or less qualitative analogue of Hollywood fairytales. A certain interpretation of Belarusianness appears on the official theater stage, for example, in the performance of Dreams About Belarus at the Belarusian Academic National Theater.The performance was staged by Uladzimir Savitski after the play The Cradle of Four Enchantresses, by Uladzimir Karatkevich in 2007. Despite its direct dependence on official ideologists, this theater has managed to remain the most politically democratic from the perspective of its repertoire. On its stage one can see Prince Vitovt, written by Alexei Dudarev in 1993, where Russian–Belarusian history is interpreted in manner quite oppositional in relation to the doctrine of the Union State. Here one can also see a performance of Locals (Tuteishia) by Kupala, with a white-red-white flag in the finale, “the last safety valve of the nationally minded intelligentsia,” according to the Belgazeta weekly.3 The new performance Dreams About Belarus can be considered if not officially ordered, in any case officially approved, and staged by means of budget allocations in order to represent the idea...

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