Panel discussion "Thinking Belarus. Intellectual programs as a practice of social transformation."

The Tenth International Congress of Belarusian Studies

Sunday, October 2, 10.00–12.00

CR-SH (Daukanto str. 28, Small Hall)

Panel discussion

"Thinking Belarus. Intellectual programs as a practice of social transformation."

Programs, strategies, and projects are usually expected and demanded from political actors. But we also know examples of programs set by intellectuals. Jerzy Gedroyc and the magazine "Kultura" changed not only Poland but also Eastern Europe. In 1994, Uladzimir Matskevich announced the program of Cultural Policy in Belarus, the main thesis of which was the principle "Think Belarus,“ and the essence was the country's transformation from a Soviet republic into a modern independent European state.

There will be discussed in the panel:

• possibilities and results of intellectual programs of social and cultural transformations;

• results and effects of the Cultural Policy program;

• the current state of Belarusian society and the subjectivity of intellectuals in the processes of social transformations.

Speakers of the discussion:

• Natalya Vasilevich, theologian, moderator of "Christian Vision";

• Andrei Kazakevich, doctor (PhD) of political sciences, director of the Institute of Political Studies "Political Sphere";

• Gintautas Mažeikis, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, professor at Vytautas Magnus University;

• Iryna Sukhii, eco-defender, member of the Council of the public association "Ekadom"; co-chairman of the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership;

• Tatsiana Shchytsova, doctor of philosophy, professor at EHU;

• Andrey Yegorov, methodologist, master of political sciences, general director of MAO „EuroBelarus."

Moderator: Oksana Shelest, Candidate of Sociological Sciences, senior analyst of the Center for European Transformation.