Captive Nations March.

July 19-th 2009 New-York willl be hosting Captive Nations MArch as a part of the Captive Nations Week, proclaimed back in 1959. Belarusan Americans are one of the traditional participants (unfortunately).

9:00 am - all out meeting on 5-th Avenue and 59-th str (next to the fountain near Plaza Hotel).

10:00 —Saint Patrick Cathedral

11:00 —March down the 5-th Avenue till the intersection with 72-nd str.

12:00 — Official opening of the Captive Nations Week (Central park).

The Captive Nations Week was established by the United States Congress in 1950-s for nations enslaved at that time by the Soviet regime. Belarus unfortunately remains captive even after the Soviet collapse, this time by the pro-Russian dictatorial regime.

It is not a secret that most of us are thinking about future (I sure hope so). At some point we start thinking about changing status and everything else like that: should I do it? should I not?  If you find yourself in such a situation when you cannot go back home and need to start settling down in the United States you really need to find yourself some legal representation - a.k.a lawyer. We see situations like that all the time - and trust us - this is normal. No normal human beign can or should live under Lukashenko's "north korea's style" leadership.

We are constantly hearing different stories from out members about good and bad lawyers. Sometimes people pay large sums of money to a lawyer and end up having no fair representation.  Here we created simple database of attorneys/lawyers who you should use and a list of those from whom you should probably stay away.

The Belarusan-American Association is a non-profit organization, registered in the State of New York. The organization is referred to as "BAZA" among Belarusan-Americans, based on the acronym from the Belarusan-language name of the organization. BAZA was founded in 1949. Its mission is to promote Belarusan cultural and educational activities in the United States and to support an independent and democratic Belarus, wherein there is respect for human rights, as well as for the Belarusan language and culture. BAZA has a national umbrella group of officers, as well as local chapters in, among others, Ohio, New York and New Jersey.

Over the years since its founding, BAZA has engaged in a broad variety of activities. It has published periodicals, newspapers and informational bulletins, participated in hundreds of educational forums, art exhibitions, and other similar activities. BAZA has sponsored a number choral groups, student associations, as well as Saturday Belarusan language and culture classes for children in a number of U.S. cities. Its youth groups have formed folk dance groups and sports teams.