Culture of Belovezhskaya Pushcha to be ruined

Culture of Belovezhskaya Pushcha to be ruined!

Heorhi KAZULKA, Specially for the website "Belovezhskaya Pushcha – 21 Century", June 27, 2007

The blown up House of Culture

An event happened in Belovezhskaya Pushcha which has not been remembering there since the Second World War. A House of Culture was blown up in the village of Kamenyuki, the administrative center of the National park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha". It was blown up in the true sense of the word, by means of dynamite. However, employees of the Ministry of Emergence, that means Belarusian authorities, not partisans and not even army soldiers, have made this.

The history of this event in brief is as the following. The big House of Culture was built in the village of Kamenyuki in the meddle 80-th within the state program of development of the countryside. It had a big concert and cinema hall, as well as a gymnasium. A music school and a village municipality also took place there. Everything was more or less well, despite of a serious economic crisis in the country, until a crime headed by infamous Galina Zhuravkova went to lead the President’s Property Management Department in Belarus. Exactly after this event managers of the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" (let’s remind that all reserves and national parks are subordinated to the Property Management Department in Belarus) were changed and completely another people, strange for this area, ignorant of wilderness protection and indifferent to the future of the unique forest and the local population, have come to rule the Park. As a result, the House of Culture was frozen nearly in the first winter, instead of its major rapier. Its heating system was destroyed and the House then became abandon at all. The building turned to be danger for people. All departments were gradually moved to next buildings. A cultural program was stopped in the village.

The abandon House of Culture, 2006

The House of Culture was ownerless for many years gradually being destroyed. Authorities didn’t confuse of the fact that the abandon building created an unattractive view for tourists passed by. However, the village of Kamenyuki has turned to get grey, dilapidated and unattractive for the last years (note this went on in the time of “unprecedented-rapid” economic growth in the country which is day and night informed from the governed TV and radio!). An official statement of the National Park’s administration to justify the case was “damage-possible conditions dangerous for the people’s life”.

A lack of functions of the House of Culture for many years, even dancing and sport was impossible, is one of the reasons which provoked the young progressive people to leave the village. Those stated who basically used drinking vodka in bushes instead of any cultural program. The village of Kamenyuki got degraded literally before our eyes. Commissions and experts repeatedly visited and investigated the House. Disputes were whether to repair or what? A final verdict "to ruin, restoration impossible", was finally made.

And this has happened. Experts on explosion from the Ministry of Emergency have prepared the building for guided blast and have blown up it!

A theory is the criteria of the practice. The building which was in “dangerous-possible conditions” proved to be as well-constructed and stable as few blasts were necessary for two days to ruin it.

Commenting this fact, one of the builders who wished to be anonymous just began to laugh "To break is not to build. In the time of space technologies, fantastic things, not mention a crack in the building base or wrong-put ceiling to change, are possible to do. Let’s remind a school building in the district town of Kamenetz, which was very dangerous for pupils and which was repaired thanks to modern technologies. And everything is OK. Note the pupils are there. The dangerous conditions are in heads of your bosses, not in the building…"

The record "talibs" on the wall
of the former bulding of culture,
2004

As to me, it’s difficult to be not agreeing with this statement. This is because the true reason of the tragedy of Belovezhskaya Pushcha for the last seven years is not from natural cataclysms. This is from the phenomena which local inhabitants have briefly and clearly called “talibs” (read more detailed in the article by Alexander Khilimon ""Talibs" are sole managers of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha"). It means bad management, lawlessness and crime which are under the patronage of top managers and under the cover of authorities. When restoration of the law will occur, common sense will come here as well, after competent and moral specialists will take management. As for this moment, all of these remind me frames from historical war chronics when occupants came to a foreign territory with self-beneficial purposes and said to explain this as they have come to make a local population "happy"… This is because there is no any serious care about needs of the local population and about sustainable development of the area of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. And our problems grow from this.

However, the business is over, that means the House of Culture is in ruins. People say that a new building, a palace of culture, not a house, will be erected on this place. People say that it will be a part of the so-called agro-town planned (a special governmental program of house-building, of standard houses in the countryside is under this name in Belarus). The village is waiting for face-lift. This is especially topical as the administration of the National Park is going to celebrate the 600th anniversary since the beginning of nature protection in Europe (special investigations carried out by historians last year have revealed that first acts on nature protection were issued in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1409).

Secret illegal clear cutting
of living forest on the protected
territory, 2002

However, the local population has a quite skeptical attitude to this program. First, what is talking about any celebration if the currently managing administration has actually made an act of vandalism towards the nature of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, while the local population is under persecution and limitation of their human right’s. Secondly, the administration has already announced that new houses will be given for "specialists", that means basically for temporary coming "talibs", although many of those are specialist to such an extent as local cows are astronauts.

Meanwhile since darkness is coming locals secretly take bricks for their economies. However, it was then forbidden to do this and the guard of the National Park was charged to supervise for ruins. And the administration of the Park being after first "baptism of tire” grounds the explosion of a second building which is also off the repairing". A stock-raising farm-building for 800 castles constructed in the village of Dobrovolya at the north part of the Pushcha in 80-th is this case. This building was earlier owned by the collective farm "Pogranichnik" but a few years ago the collective farm became the part of the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha". This information was received from confidential sources, from the people who live in the same area. Well, to break isn’t to build, especially when finances are allotted from the state budget being out of careful calculation of economic efficiency of planned activities.

Heorhi Kazulka,
Ph.D. of Biology,
Belovezhskaya Pushcha

More detail about the situation concerning the house of Culture in the past and about how it was blown up, please read and look at photos in the section "Photo-fact" at the pages:

Write Your opinion / comment / idea to the Website's Forum