For better understanding of what was the Belarusian Social Forum-2007 like, if it was successful or not, it is important to collate the facts above with afterwards subjective comments of participants of this forum, with the results of the first BSF in 2004 and, first of all, with the whole concept of social forum.

The social and libertarian movements in Belarus suffer from several serious problems such as

1. informational isolation both outside and inside the country
2. illegal status, thus synonymous of official ban and criminalization by the government, of most of the grassroots organizations
3. internal disorganization and lack of experience of self-organizing of most of the groups. Many of those initiatives are more “affinity groups” of less than ten persons or kinds of chaotic activist subcultures rather than “organizations”. As for specialized NGOs having officially legal status, those are rarely active or seem to exist only on paper.

Then, contrary to the common opinion, the vast majority of the grassroots initiatives and groups (anarchist or not) are not part of the so-called “united opposition” to the dictator A. Lukashenko. Even if they actively participate in big oppositional street demonstrations in Minsk, leftwing and libertarian grassroots activists and groups draw little interest of opposition mainstream media on their issues and ideas.

In this situation, the original idea of the BSF, proposed by some anarchist activists in 2003, was to bring together every one or two years as many as possible representatives of little and informal social initiatives. The aim was to become collectively visible and bring each other a mutual informational support. In line with the World Social Forum phenomena, this was done under the publicly “advertised” label of Belarusian Social Forum. The interest for anarchists was also to involve in common discussion some “specialized” organizations and initiatives who don’t call themselves “anarchists” but are also critical towards both the nationalist/liberal opposition and the government. An organizing committee was created and included about 20 persons representing different groups. If most of them were overtly anarchists, there were also people linked to young social democrats, “non party” communists, trade unionists and specialized NGOs.

During about half a year before the first forum (2004) the committee regularly gathered in the office of the social democratic youth association “Maladaya Hramada” (anarchists had no place to gather). A BSF internet page was created and hosted on Navinki Media Center site. Behind technical aspects, the problems discussed by the organizing committee were:

1. How to draw public attention (“advertise” it, attract people) to the forum, to its issues and at the same time not to draw “too much” attention of the authorities before the meeting itself? We were aware that the authorities would necessary try to do everything in order that we don’t find a place where to gather if they knew exactly what and where would happen. That’s why it was decided that the “technical” organizing staff and the meeting place must be discreet before the meeting itself. But no media service was created (the organizing committee being too heterogeneous) which led to further problems in communication with mainstream journalists.
2. How to protect the anonymity of individual participants? If several libertarian activists are publicly known (for instance: Navinki Media Center staff; “old generation” anarchists, one anarchist was even elected local councilor in a district of Gomel), many young activists are interested to remain personally anonymous. This problem has remained unresolved until now and seems to dissuade several people from participating (especially antifa activists).
3. How to stay open and at the same time prevent fascists or rightwing persons or groups from participating? A registration form (conceived to download on the BSF internet site, send by mail to organizers and then wait for their reply) was created in order to know who’s who (however, personal data were not necessary) among new participants. The only and very explicit criteria to exclude people or groups was the Chapter of principles of the BSF. This “two steps” application was conceived for security and discretion of the place of the forum even if it seemed a bit “bureaucratic” from outside.

Nevertheless, about 150-200 persons took part in the event (including 120 delegates that registered officially!) – either as individuals or representatives of groups. The first BSF was considered as a success in the afterwards comments of most of the participants.

As I know, a similar schema of organizing the meeting was used in 2007 with some differences however. First, the conditions of organizing public political events in Belarus have considerably worsened in 2006-2007. Now every “non registered organization” is explicitly considered as criminal by the law in Belarus. As a result, the preparation of the BSF-2007 had to become a bit more discreet and thus unwillingly restricted the participation. But even such discretion did not preserved us from a police raid during the forum. Second, in relation with this narrowing of the public space, an under-ground libertarian movement in Belarus has considerably grown up numerously and diversified. Initiated by the LINUX users group and announced during the first BSF, Belarus Indymedia resource started as well as other activist sites and blogs, thus creating quite autonomous libertarian media spaces. DIY, “Food not Bombs” and “Critical Mass” projects, “Anti-Psychiatry”, Antifa, “Animal Liberation” and other libertarian and leftwing “specialized” initiatives are developing all over the country. Third, the split between anarchists and old liberal opposition (social democrats and independent trade unions included) has become even deeper since 2004.

In this context, when the BSF-2007 was initiated, people began to ask to whom would be addressed the message of this meeting. As actually there is no secure public media space any more that we can use in Belarus. This skepticism was partly justified afterwards by little interest that participants had in 2007 to send their written communications for the BSF site. And also by the fact that Belarusian opposition mainstream media did not cover the BSF-2007 at all. That’s why, in opinion of many participants and observers, the Belarusian Social Forum-2007 was a failure as a collective instrument for “advertising” leftwing and libertarian social issues and alternatives in wider Belarusian society. Many participants had the impression to talk into space at the forum, so few people from “outside” would hear them.

Nevertheless, the other of the two main goals of the forum was achieved. The BSF was used by isolated local libertarian activists and groups as a unique opportunity to gather, exchange experience and discuss projects with dozens of people with similar opinions. For many participants it was a new little step forward in learning the experience of self-organizing and making links. Some country wide and international libertarian projects (see the table at the top) were born, discussed and announced during the forum. Let’s hope that these new plans will be followed by new actions soon. If they are then the BSF experience will be worth continuing.