Ich freue mich sehr, dass mit Vova und seiner Frau Nina zwei Gäste aus Belarus die Radtour bereichern werden. Wir werden durch ihre Teilnahme sicherlich einen vertieften Einblick in die aktuellen Demokratiebestrebungen im Osten Europas gewinnen. Vova hat uns ein paar Zeilen geschrieben, in der er sich kurz vorstellt:
Hello!
My name is Vova.
I am a Historian from Minsk, Belarus.
In my country history is a highly politicized craft and connected with a political position. So when we speak about historical knowledge/education we mean, more or less, political knowledge/education.
I am convinced that direct democracy and socialism are very valuable instruments and goals for our society. That mean, I have no prospects inside academic institutions in my home country. I found myself in the position of a NGO historian (or, to put it in nicer words: being a social movements historian). I try to work not only with touchy research topics, but also with unusual ways to promote knowledge of history.
That’s why I am going to join the bicycle tour lead by Thomas Handrich. I hope that after participating I will be ready to implement some of the conceptual thoughts and methods used by Thomas in my work at home. I plan to organize some shorter (2-3 days) bicycle trips with my friends in Belarus.
I am especially excited with that part of tour’s programme which is connected to the second half of the XX century, as that is where my research interests are.
Politische Radreisen 