Listening To The Political Protests in Minsk, Belarus
Pavel Niakhayeu (BY 2021)
29min
Audio Walks for Armchair Listening Mini Series
In this audio-essay you’ll hear how Minsk sounded during the political protests of 2020-2021, how the protesters and the state are fighting for the space with voices, noises and music. The field recordings are the starting points for a discussion on the multifaceted role of sound in claiming the urban and political space in Belarus.
An audio-paper created for 'Walking as a Question' conference (Prespa, Greece, 4-17 of July 2021). Pavel Niakhayeu tells a (part of the) story of the political protests in Belarus through the perspective of a right to walk out your house to voice your protest. There were no Covid-lockdowns in Belarus, but walking in the streets at ‘the wrong time / wrong place’, the very act of coming out of your house is political and can have dramatic consequences – arrest, fine, beating, even death.