Unfourtunately BMS has to stop updating. This is because of lack of time, resouces and mostly the lack of interest among the visitors. You are welcome to use the information published on this site so far. Hopefully BMS will start functioning again, but I cannot say when. If you have questions or suggestions - contact me (administrator).

2000-10-16

This Saturday a manifestation against the undemocratic parliamentary elections was held at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm. The manifestation was arranged by the Social-democratic Party and was supported by eight different organisations. The speakers were Urban Ahlin (vice secretary of the Social-democratic Party), Lennart Rodhin (SILC) and Linus Larsson (Peace Quest). They told the public about the situation in Belarusian politics and about the election that would take place on Sunday.

2000-09-08

A delegation of Swedish social-democratis that is currently working in Minsk is helping their Belarusian collegues to prepare for the parliamentary elections in October this year. Belarusian Social-democratic party "Narodnaya Gramada" has finally decided to take part in the elections, despite the decision of the Assembly of Democratic Forces. According to the newspaper Göteborsg-Posten the delegates are primarily teaching Belarusian politians how to avoid lying to the voters, how to present their openions in a better way and generally to handle the election process.

2000-08-06

The Council Of Europe is not likely to send observers to the parliamentary elections in Belarus in the autumn 2000. A comittee from the Council has been to Belarus with a four-day visit. Their report announces that the election campagne is not fitting into any democratic norms, and therefore cannot be accepted. The Assembly of Democratic Forces, which is a union of Belarusian democratic parties in opposition, has already in July announced that they will not take part in the elections due to the violations of democtatic norms. It seems that the sortiment of candidates this autumn can be as poor as Lukashenka's men only. But whether the Council of Europe accepts it or not, the leader of Belarus intends to have the elections as it was planned. Lukashenka already has experience of such elections from the referendum of 1996, which certainly turned out to be a success for him.

2000-06-25

Belarusian Messenger in Sweden is taking a vacation in Belarus, leaving his outpost in Sweden abandoned. But only for one month. On July 26, 2000 I will be back to this mess, trying to give it some shape. Everybody is still welcome to visit BMS and hope you have some use of the information stored here. In July I plan to enlarge the photo gallery with some fresh (and less fresh) material. Also Belarusian history overview is to come. Welcome back to BMS soon!

2000-06-03

The demonstration outside the Belarusian embassy in Stockholm that was planned by the Swedish Liberal Youth (LUF) didn't take place in May due to unknown reasons. The suggestion was made by Michael Sender and was to be studied by the leadership. However the answer came only after a few weeks and LUF is now planning the action for the end of June instead.

2000-05-16

Today a delegation from the Social-democratic party of Sweden leaves for Minsk. The journey is meant to strengthen ties with Belarusian Social-democrats and study the political development. The delegants will also meet the OSCE ambassador, observe the installation of a new Swedish council, visit all opposition parties and independent press. The cities to be visited are Minsk, Saligorsk, Brest, Magiliou, Vitsebsk, Gomel, Grodna and Pinsk. The delegation is lead by the vice secretary general of social democrats Urban Ahlin.

2000-05-14

Now the Eurovision song contest is over and... What a shame! Belarus did not participate! Could that be caused by the lack of resources? If so, than what kind of resouces? Belarus has lots of good artists, so I think the problem is purely financial. Looks like there is no money left for music after all the investment in ice hockey, which is not doing so well, if to be fair (7:0 to Sweden).

BMS is right now in a state of relaxation. We have no visitors, but are not in the mood to do something about it. But BMS is far from dead, if that's what you thought.

2000-04-30

The Swedish newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad wrote yesterday, that two Jewish families from Belarus were offered asylum in Sweden. The families claimd themselves unsafe in Belarus, as they have been systematically persecuted because of their ethnic affiliation. The Swedish Foreign Comittee finds Belarus a country with hight antisemitic tempers, where minorities aren't fully protected by the law.

2000-04-21

This issue has been lost, which I appologise for. The contents were mainly that Swedish Liberal Youth is planning a demonstration outside the Belarusian embassy in Stockholm in May. There will be more issues about this later.

2000-04-19

A new category of BMS has opened under "About Belarus" menu. It holds a list of large Belarusian organisations and parties with short descriptions and links to their web pages. There are also two new picture galleries.

2000-04-03

Today the Swedish Social-democratic Youth League (SSU) held a meeting in Stockholm to discuss their campagne for independant Belarus. New ideas and strategies were discussed. Among them were plans on a two-day-long educating course about Belarus for SSU members. That was meant to encourage Belarus-related political activities in different regions of Sweden. Other plans were collecting funds to support the Social-democtratic youth in Belarus, co-operation with Belarusian trade unions and support of some projects aimed at development of democracy in Belarus. Find out more about the campagne at www.stopluka.nu

2000-04-03

The Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh expressed her concern about the conflict on March 25 (Belarusian Independence Day), when violence was used against a peaceful demonstration. Around 250 persons were arrested then, including two oppositional activists who recently visited Anna Lindh in Stockholm.
"A regime that is afraid of its citizens has no fortune in winning the trust and legetimicy among its people." says the foreign minister.

2000-03-28

The first Swedish-Belarusian informational web site is up and functioning. It is open for everybody, but is of special interest for those who care about Belarus or Swedish-Belarusian relations. Here you can find news from Sweden, but related to Belarus. There is general Belarus-related information from Sweden and even a picture gallery (coming soon). If you wish to discuss Belarusian issues with other people, there is a forum for you. Feel at home at Belarusian Messenger In Sweden!

2000-03-24

Swedish Popular Liberal Party together with the Liberal Youth League (LUF) started a campagne against repression and dictatorship in Belarus, which takes place in Lund. The initiative was taken by the deputy leader of LUF Mark Klamberg. The campagne is navigated against the union between Belarus and Russia and may even feature fund collection for the profit of Belarusian democratic opposition. The campagne takes place every Friday at 17:00 (CET) at Stortorget, Lund.