At the age of 27, Igor stunned his native Polotsk with the rock band Sumarok, graduated from journalism at the Belarusian State University, declared himself in the regional press, became more active in the 2020 election campaign and came under the watchful eye of people in uniform (and without), which eventually forced him to leave Belarus.

In Bialystok

- It has been almost a year since you found yourself in Bialystok.

Why and how did you leave Belarus?

- I wanted to say that it is not a year yet, but I looked at the calendar - horror, really.

I left Belarus on the night of July 16-17, 2021.

By train to Smolensk, from there by various means of transport to the border with Ukraine, the border crossing was on foot, then hitchhiking to Kiev.

He spent a month there waiting for a Polish visa - he did not plan to leave Belarus and was close, he was not preparing anything.

He later moved to Białystok.

Blind.

I used to travel here - I didn't go abroad very often, I didn't pull much.

But I knew that there must be many Belarusians here.

So, I can be useful and maybe there will be a stir.

Why did he leave? .. Then there was another wave of repression against the Belarusian media.

I worked as a journalist for the independent regional newspaper Maladzyechna. My colleagues and I covered almost all the protest activity in the region, and it was only a matter of time before they came to the editorial office.

In addition, at some point began to appear signals that my identity came to the attention of law enforcement officers: and for music, and for journalism, and other activities that are not particularly advertised.

And then they started detaining everyone who was just in the initiative groups of potential presidential candidates - and I was collecting signatures for Viktor Babaryk… In short, the family council decided that I should leave, at least temporarily, and if everything goes smoothly - always you can come back.

And so on the night from Friday to Saturday I went.

And on Monday they came to the editorial office and home to me and colleagues.

Zoya Khrutskaya and Anastasia Utkina, with whom we worked in the "WG", later said that the security forces asked a lot about me.

Now the girls are also here in Bialystok - we continue to work together.

Igor Palinsky.

Photo: Anastasia Utkina

- How did you start your life in the new country?

How did you manage to set up a minimum of well-being for the family?

Who and what helped?

- I was very lucky that in Belarus I went on the antediluvian "Escort", dreamed of buying something at least a little more lively, and recently collected money.

He raised a couple of thousand dollars - they helped to find housing here in Poland for the first time.

Almost immediately he started working part-time, doing everything he could - editing all sorts of things, editing some video lectures.

Belarusians from the Bialystok diaspora and the Bialystok window "Window to the East" helped a lot - with advice on where to turn in certain matters.

Thanks also to the Belarusians of Podlasie - with some of them, in particular with Yaroslav Ivanyuk, the founder of the online library Kamunikat, was acquainted, with others met or virtualized here.

Medial "Bridge"

- In addition to working directly for daily needs, you are very active in all kinds of public Belarusian affairs.

Why?

- On the night of departure, I realized that I would be severely stormed outside the house.

He almost never left Belarus for more than a couple of days - except when he was still in school, he went to a sanatorium in Druskininkai.

I will say pop, but Belarus for me - how to breathe.

Therefore, without hesitation, I tried to join the Belarusian activity that is here - as the least I can do.

Like something that connects me to home.

After making more and more acquaintances and new people came - the wave does not stop - began to arrange something new.

- Please, tell us how coworking (why, by the way, they didn't call it something in Belarusian?) "MediaMost", "Language again" originated in Bialystok with your participation?

- At some point in Bialystok, a critical mass of journalists was formed, and two tasks arose.

Those of them who continued to work remotely in their media after the forced relaxation did not have a comfortable corner.

With the Internet, technology, work atmosphere - that's all.

And Hrodna journalist Ruslan Kulevich gathered all the colleagues he could, presented the idea of ​​organizing such coworking.

We call it "Mediaport" - by the way, there is a similar site in Warsaw.

The local authorities helped by offering a room in the center with a minimum rent.

Igor Palinsky.

Photo: Anastasia Utkina

The second task is divided into two layers.

Some media outlets where journalists worked ceased to exist, or it was impossible to work for them from abroad.

And in Bialystok, where a huge number of Belarusians - at least ten thousand - there was no media that would meet the basic needs for information.

That there was news, reports, guides, posters of events - that's all.

Plus there is Hrodna close to Bialystok.

They came up with a media that would be a kind of bridge for these border regions - Podlasie and Panyamonnya.

That's what they called "Bridge", the name, in my opinion, is successful.

It is not always easy to start from scratch, but such a high team has gathered!

People from different regions, with different experiences and knowledge… Launched in January.

We see that "Bridge" is read.

The appearance of such a Belarusian platform in Bialystok opened up opportunities to organize events.

Exhibitions, book presentations, small concerts - we do it all.

And at one point Ekaterina Derman, an activist of the Belarusian diaspora in Bialystok, suggested in our "Mediaport" to do "Language again": they say, as it is - in a city where one of the largest Belarusian diasporas, but no courses? .. In partnership with the Tutaka Foundation have already held four meetings.

Among the guests were singer Ekaterina Vodanosova, former member of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus and journalist Sergei Navumchik, poet Angel Espinosa Ruiz.

I am one of the presenters, in recent classes I performed as a musician.

- How many Belarusian refugees are involved in these projects?

- Mediaport, as practically the center of Belarusian life in Bialystok, attracts many people - journalists, activists, artists.

The other day we opened the exhibition of the artist Vladyk Bokhan "Red Line".

We met him at one of the actions near the Belarusian consulate in Bialystok.

With the beginning of the war in Ukraine, when refugees began to arrive in Poland, a Belarusian-Ukrainian meeting was held.

Sometimes the Belarusian diaspora gathers, we sign postcards to political prisoners.

Often different people come, offer different ideas - if we see that we can contribute to their implementation, we try to do it.

Igor Palinsky.

Photo: Anastasia Utkina

Poles and Belarusians

- How did the voivodship authorities react to your ideas?

In general, what is your relationship with them?

- The authorities of Bialystok are very friendly to the Belarusian activity.

The deputy president of the city came to the opening of the Mediaport.

Representatives of the authorities and deputies are taking part in the rallies.

However, we have little communication - because there is simply no need.

There is no such thing as for every sneeze by agreement.

These are just managers.

- Has the attitude of the local Polish authorities to Belarusian organizations and their affairs changed with the beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine?

And how did these events affect your future plans to organize the lives of Belarusian refugees?

- Of course, with the beginning of the war, the Belarusian issue receded into the background.

And the Belarusians themselves joined the action in support of refugees from Ukraine.

He himself went to the Polish-Ukrainian border in the first days of the war, brought aid to the refugee camp in Przemyśl, helped a little with transport.

In "Mediamost" we talked a lot about the discrimination faced by Belarusians in Poland because Lukashenko supported Putin in the war.

Perhaps our voice has contributed to the fact that now the situation has improved.

In Bialystok, I do not know of any cases where Belarusians would face problems such as cut wheels due to Belarusian license plates.

We planned to launch "Language Again" in early March, but, of course, plans were postponed, started only before Freedom Day, and then the team had some discussion - whether it's time for such an initiative.

Decided what to do.

Igor Palinsky.

Photo: Anastasia Utkina

Another project - Koska.media - my colleagues from the "Regional newspaper", Zoya Khrutskaya and Anastasia Utkina, we wanted to launch on February 24.

Prepared everything, some content was accumulated… But woke up in a new reality.

The whole world woke up to the new reality.

Had to work a lot with the concept.

The new launch date is June 1, this is the announcement.

It will be a media where we will comprehend the problems of civil society in Belarus, look at successful examples of solving similar problems in the world and together with experts look for ways that would best suit Belarus in today's realities and those that will be in the "tomorrow" we dream and aspire to.

Return to music

- Your life consists not only of work, public projects, but also of personal creativity.

You are a musician, a poet.

How are you doing now?

- In less than a month Sumarok will be 13 years old.

It is unbelievable, in all honesty, that so much time has passed since the day when we teenagers sat on the roof of one of the high-rise buildings in Polotsk and dreamed about how we would conquer the stage.

The guitar was one of the first things I bought in Poland, because all my instruments remained in Belarus.

Then I bought two electric organs - I have such a point.

After moving, he gradually began to write something.

I'm looking for musicians who would be on the same page, so that the new songs get an electric sound - so far, except for the acoustics.

- Do you perform often?

Who are your main listeners and fans?

- In Poland, I have had several performances since moving, the first - before the New Year in Warsaw, in the Belarusian bar BeerStation Praga.

He sang a little at events in Bialystok, for example at the opening of our "Mediaport".

Who has listeners?

Completely different people come to the concerts.

Different ages, occupations, interests… I don’t have a clear portrait: I sing for everyone.

And once responds - so it's not in vain.

Sumarok single cover.

Photo: Ales Kirkevich

- What is written and played to Belarusian musicians during the war abroad?

- In the first weeks I didn't pick up a guitar at all.

After all, it seemed: what is it like to sing, when rockets are flying here, very close? .. I am convinced that music should help.

I sang with Ekaterina Vodanosova at the same Belarusian-Ukrainian meeting in Bialystok, and at the recent "Language Again", where the guest was the poet Angel Espinosa Ruiz, I sang, among other things, songs based on her poems.

There are four of them: the first was recorded in 2018, "The stars were against us", and three new ones appeared this year.

One is the dedication to Ukraine.

Another is to Belarusian women political prisoners.

And the third is a sketch called "What's left".

The other day I caught the appropriate mood, locked myself in the studio - we have a little one in the "Mediaport" - and made a record.

Guitar, voice, organ.

Thanks to my friend Ales Kuptsevich, with whom we have been working on the sound in recent years,

it’s all packed into a finished single.

The night of May 10-11 was released.

The song from 2020 has accumulated on a small album.

And most of all now I would like to record it in Belarus and travel with presentations in Belarusian cities.

This is such a small, naive, but important part of the internal motivation to do everything possible to strive for the victory of common sense in Belarus.

Everyone will be able to do it drop by drop.

After the interview with Ihar Palynski was prepared for publication, he told us the following: “In mid-May it became known that the court in Hrodna recognized MOST as an extremist publication.

The decision was made on April 28.

But, of course, we continue to write the truth and try to unite people on both sides of the border - to do everything that is our mission. "