1 Summerhall, Edinburgh EH9 1QH

Please join Index on Censorship’s Mike Harris in conversation with Natalia Koliada, artistic director of the Belarus Free Theatre and spokesperson for Free Belarus Now.

In the wake of this week’s dramatic events in the Middle East, Mike and Natalia will discuss Belarus’s own internal struggle against a dictator. Why, when the Arab world has taken such monumental steps, is there still so little support for the people of Belarus, just two and half hours away? What comparisons can be drawn and lessons learned as Belarus steps up its movement for freedom?

Time Out has named the Belarus Free Theatre the “bravest theatre company in the world”. This underground company have reached international fame for defying the strict censorship and persecution they face in their country and their continued success in creating powerful contemporary drama. Natalia Koliada will speak about the vital role that the arts are playing in the fight against Europe’s last dictator.

Time: 4pm
Venue: 1 Summerhall, Edinburgh EH9 1QH
Free

Index on Censorship is one of the world’s leading organisations promoting freedom of expression, with editors across the globe. Index was founded as a magazine in 1972, when a group of writers, journalists and artists took to the page in defence of the basic human right of freedom of expression for writers in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries.