Ales Bialiatski to deliver Freedom Lecture in Amsterdam

Nobel Prize winner and Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski will deliver a Freedom Lecture at De Balie in Amsterdam on September 5. The lecture will focus on the struggle for democracy and human rights in Belarus.

Bialiatski, who leads the organization Viasna, will share personal accounts of his time as a political prisoner in President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s penal colonies, including his experiences with forced labor. The event will also feature philosopher Olga Shparaga discussing feminist solidarity and artistic resistance within the Belarusian democracy movement.

The program includes an audiovisual performance featuring live music by the band Pavetra and literary testimonies from Belarusian lawyer and writer Maxim Znak. This performance serves as a preview for ‘A Percussion Piece,’ a large-scale art performance scheduled for September 19 at the NDSM-kade in Amsterdam to show solidarity with Belarusian political prisoners.