An extract from the project description: “…At the same time, it is becoming more and more obvious that it is not safe to do this and that there are no means left for expressing one’s disagreement, since disagreement in itself—in any form—is punishable. This performance is an attempt to test how far the repressive machine can go: will I be arrested for this? It is flirting with the system, first and foremost an attempt to convince myself that I have done at least something. The use of YouTube as a platform reflects the state of Belarus today: protest on the streets is impossible, while protest on the Internet is possible (?), but only in the form of silence. The title simultaneously refers to Orwell’s 1984 and to various similar YouTube tutorial videos.” 

Timestamps:

00:09 thinking about hundreds of political prisoners in Belarus 

00:30 repeating “Жыве Беларусь!” twenty times in a row 

00:59 thinking about the kidnapping of Maria Kalesnikava by Belarusian special forces 

01:20 thinking about police torturing people in the Akrestsina Detention Centre 

01:48 thinking about thousands of Belarusians who had to leave the country 

02:17 thinking about KGB threatening activists 

02:39 thinking about the destruction of the independent press in Belarus 

03:01 thinking about riot police killing people in Belarus 

03:15 repeating “Жыве Беларусь!” ten times in a row 

03:34 thinking about most ugly state propaganda 

04:00 thinking about forged presidential elections in Belarus in 2020 

04:17 thinking about Raman Bandarenka killed almost on camera

04:33 thinking about refugees crisis provoked by Belarus 

04:57 thinking about rewriting history in Belarus 

05:11 thinking about Maxim Znak 

05:29 thinking about arrests for white-red-white stickers 

05:59 repeating “Жыве Беларусь!” twenty times in a row 

06:22 thinking about rewriting history in Belarus 

06:48 thinking about provocation against Siarhej Tsikhanouski 

07:03 thinking about Vitold Ashurak 

07:21 thinking about long politically motivated sentences for students 

07:36 thinking about the mass strike of the workers in Belarus 

07:50 repeating “Жыве Беларусь!” thirteen times in a row