News
Belarus will ban the sale of George Orwell's dystopian novel »1984» about the life in a totalitarian society, Nasha Niva reports citing a copy of the directive.
«Ban from sale all versions of the book »1984» by G. Orwell. Report on the implementation of the directive by May 19,» the news site quotes the text of the directive. Journalists have not published the document to protect the people who leaked it. It is not known how many bookstores and store chains have received the order.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, the dystopia and its catchphrases like »war is peace,» «freedom is slavery» and «Big Brother is watching you» have been actively discussed on social media. In April, Dmitry Silin, an activist from Ivanovo, decided to hand out Orwell's »1984» on the street for free, which led to an administrative case being filed against him for «fakes» about the Russian army.
In April, Alexander Lukashenko justified the need for a dictatorial regime in the republic. «We opened the border for them before the Catholic Easter, and after a few days, Radunitsa. Let people come from Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia to visit their relatives' graves, as they always have. I allowed them to come without visas. But they didn't let their people travel to Belarus. Why? Because people have been coming to us, to buy salt. They have no salt! The great West, the rich West – and yet no salt! And to stop people from saying that Belarusians live normal lives, they don't let them out. That's democracy for you. Well, thank God we have a dictatorship. You were criticizing me: dictatorship, dictatorship... But then we have order!», the president of the republic said.