How the events were reported live outside Belarus
Reporting on Slavic Pride By Andy Harley
There was one thing I learned in the UK military way back in the middle of last century – that was the “KISS factor” – an acronym for “keep it simple, stupid.”
And that is the approach to the “live blogging” from the Gay Prides that create the most interest across the world – Prides that face a hostile government and where participants can expect the riot squad, not to mention skinhead thuggery.
In the case of last weekend’s Slavic Pride, staged in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, it was always known that there would be a “story.” Either the authorities would have surprised the world by sanctioning the parade (story there), or they would ban the march for a number of reasons – and when the organisers said they would stage something in defiance of the ban, there was going to be a “story.”
UK Gay News has had four years experience of covering Moscow Pride. All attempts to stage a Pride march have been banned by the homophobic mayor of the Russian capital who infamously described Pride marches as “satanic happenings.”
And each year in Moscow, Pride organisers have defied the mayor and tried to stage something, with the result that the notorious OMON (or OMOH in Cyrillic letters … any what’s that backwards in English letters?) have done battle with the gays who dare to try and stage something.
So how, in a hostile environment, does one “get the story” for and LGBT online publication – and fast? The easiest way is to use modern technology and a small band of reliable Pride participants who intend to take part, a few cell phones with cameras, a couple of laptops and an Internet messenger programme (UK Gay News normally uses Skype as it rarely crashes).
Add to that, a hotel room with internet access and one is in business.
For last weekend’s dramas in Minsk, I sat in the absolute safety of my home in England – and sat in front of a computer screen for hours on end as the “story” unfolded.
In a hotel room of the Minsk Crowne Plaza, which was the headquarters of the Slavic Pride organising committee, was a very trusted friend who we will call “Peter” and who is “media savvy.”
Out on the streets of Minsk were a handful of gay men and women with cell phones. They simply made a voice call or sent an SMS to Peter in “mission control” who then sent the information instantly to the UK via Skype where the latest update is pasted into the blog page and uploaded immediately to the Web site.
So easy, really.
We reckon that most updates were available to read online within about three or four minutes of a “situation” happening.
Looking back on the coverage from Saturday, there were 54 updates in 15 hours, with some 30 coming in the space of three hours when the police and riot squad literally attacked the small Pride parade, as video coverage shows. In between posting words, there was the preparation and posting of photographs – not as easy as handling words, and more time consuming.
So it was a busy day for everyone concerned – and potentially hazardous for those reporting “from the street.” It would be good to name them, but their well-being in a gay-hostile country has to be considered. It was they who were the stars.
However, it was rewarding for all those involved in “telling the story” in virtually real time as what was being reported and published was translated into four languages that I know of (French German, Spanish and, would you believe, Belarusian for a local gay-friendly Web site).
Few, if any, of the “big boys” in the international media have reporters based in Minsk, though the international news agencies like The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Press have local “stringers” in Belarus. But when one considers the direct quote of one local television journalist to another who was throwing eggs at the Pride participants – “Vassya, wait at least until we have finished our work … we have expensive equipment here” – one wonders about the “Fourth Estate” in that country.
Also, the Belarus news agency reported that there were “about half a dozen” taking part in the unauthorised parade when there were in fact around 40 brave participants – and 12 of them were brutally arrested!
With Slavic Pride now over, there is little time for rest. At the end of the month it is Moscow Pride and plans have to be made.
On this occasion, I will be travelling to Moscow. There will certainly be a “story” there, but exactly what will take place remains to be seen. I was there four years ago for the first attempt to stage a Pride. Along with others, I was tear-gassed by skinheads who managed to get past police guarding the entrance of a state library during a talk given by the nephew of Oscar Wilde, attacked by the OMON while taking photographs at a “media photo op” and more obnoxious gas thrown in the street again by skinheads directly in front of the Moscow police who did nothing.
Despite the things that can happen in less enlightened counties at Gay Pride, I have to admit that I was sorry I wasn’t in Minsk last weekend (and in some macabre way, I am looking forward to Moscow).
And it is a pity that no international Non-Governmental Organisation that campaigns for LGBT tights was there in Minsk. No European politicians were there. No foreign Embassy was interested. And just a couple of foreigners turned up, if you exclude about 20 Russians.
The truth of the matters is, perhaps, that Belarus is not “sexy” enough. Had what taken place in Minsk happened in London, Paris, Washington …
Andrew Harley, UkGayNews.org.uk
