Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “I’ve just learned that security forces have detained Aleh Khamenka, the frontman of the band Palac. While I don’t know Aleh personally, many Belarusians do. His songs have become part of our memory. People kept coming back to them over the years and generations: in the 1990s, the 2010s, and even now.
But for the regime, only one thing matters – whether you’re willing to dance to the tune of dictatorship. Everything else has no value in their eyes. They no longer care about human lives or our culture. This isn’t the only palac (palace) the regime has gone after. For years now, historic buildings have been quietly removed from state protection and left to decay, with plans to demolish more palaces underway. And Aleh is far from the only cultural figure who has suddenly become “inconvenient”. Musician Yauhen Burlo, local historian Uladzimir Hundar, artist Henadz Drazdou, writer Alena Tserashkova, and many others are still behind bars.
They are trying to silence us. But when the voice of a people is silenced, the people themselves begin to disappear. It is our culture that makes us unique. That’s why it’s so important to speak our language, to listen, to remember – and to pass on these melodies and words to our children, so that our music never falls silent. So that a part of Belarus lives in each of us. Because what could be more destructive to a nation than the attempt to erase its history, culture, and identity?”
