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.

BAZA currently publishes a monthly Belarusan-language newspaper - Bielarus, and an English-language quarterly periodical - Belarusian Review - devoted to issues pertaining to Belarus. BAZA and its members have made significant and continuing contributions to Chernobyl disaster relief efforts. BAZA has participated in hundreds of ethnic festivals and parades. BAZA's members are also politically active in promoting the interests of Belarus and Belarusan-Americans.

BAZA works in close cooperation with the Belarusan Canadian Alliance. The two organizations hold biennial conventions for Belarusans of North America, rotating the location. Attendance at the conventions usually numbers between 250-500 persons. BAZA also annually commemorates March 25 as Belarusan Independence Day, in recognition of the short-lived Belarusan Democratic Republic formed in 1918.

BAZA is the largest non-religious organization of Belarusan-Americans, with members throughout the country. Members include those who were among the organization's founders who emigrated to the United States in late 1940s and 1950s, as well those from successive generations, born both inside and outside the United States. Its members also include some of the few who managed to leave Soviet Byelorussia in the 1970s and early 1980s.

More recently, BAZA has seen a large growth in its membership, comprised of several groups -- ethnic Belarusans who have emigrated from the eastern part of present-day Poland, individuals who have sought political asylum in the United States as a result of the policies of the dictatorial regime of Alexander Lukashenka (Belarus' current, and illegitimate, president), as well as those who have left Belarus and obtained legal status in the United States through work visas and immigration lotteries.

Links:


http://www.baza-belarus.org - for BAZA

http://www.belarusianreview.org - for Belarusian Review

http://www.bielarus.org - for the newspaper Bielarus