A warning strike titled This Could Be the Last Time will take place across the country on Sunday, as the culture sector continues its protest against the handover of the Culture Ministry to the Nemunas Dawn party.
“Most strikes mean shutting down. This time, it is a warning, so we are urging people to do the opposite. Let us open up, let us open our institutions, squares, and courtyards, and to organise events. Let us show Lithuania how much culture it has, and how free and diverse it is,” the organisers said in a press release.
Protesters will play the symphonic poem The Sea by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis in various towns across the country, with the demonstrations continuing despite the controversial Culture Minister Ignotas Adomavičius announcing on Friday that he would be stepping down.
On Sunday, folk artists will gather in the Grand Courtyard of Vilnius University. A live broadcast from the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra Hall will also feature Čiurlionis’ The Sea.
“Politicians often single out ethnic culture in their rhetoric, but we oppose its use for political manipulation. Ethnic culture is an integral part of culture as a whole, and reducing it to a cliche-based image is unacceptable,” the folk culture community wrote on social media.
The Ieva Simonaitytė County Public Library in Klaipėda is joining the protest action by opening exhibitions to visitors on Sunday.
“Libraries, in essence, implement projects that strengthen democracy and foster civil society. We do a lot of work with residents in this area, and I believe that sometimes it is not only about educating and teaching, but also about acting ourselves and setting an example,” library director Laura Šimkevičė told the BNS news agency.
In Klaipėda, students and young people will also march from Lietuvininkai Square to Theatre Square, where a solidarity rally will take place with representatives of the city’s cultural sector.
Protesters are also planning to hold a rally in Kaunas, the country’s second-largest city, as well as in Panevėžys, northern Lithuania.
Čiurlionis’ The Sea will be performed in theatres across the country, including the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the National Kaunas Drama Theatre and the Klaipėda Drama Theatre.
According to MO Museum communications manager Agnė Vidugirytė, the current situation is a threat not only to the cultural sector but to the state as a whole.
“On the museum steps, we will restate with our bodies the values we firmly and loudly uphold in these dangerous times for our country’s future: Nemuno Aušra cannot control the Ministry of Culture,” Vidugirytė told BNS, adding that the museum will take part in the demonstrations.
The independent art initiative Verpėjos, based in Varėna district in southern Lithuania, will also gather at the Marcinkonys Station Gallery.
Meanwhile, Lithuanian filmmakers are screening 30 directors’ works in 25 towns and cities.
“We were saddened by the strategy chosen to divide society. The film community works across the whole of Lithuania and about the whole of Lithuania, so we wanted to find a festival format that reflects that,” director Laurynas Bareiša, one of the organisers, told BNS.
The country’s film community – including Kino Pavasaris, the Vilnius Short Film Festival, Inconvenient Films, the Vilnius Documentary Film Festival, the comedy film festival No Drama, and the BLON video games and animation festival – is also organising an event titled Strike Cinema.
Protests were already held last week across Lithuania after the Culture Ministry was handed over to the populist Nemunas Dawn party as part of a cabinet reshuffle.
Some non-governmental organisations and cultural organisations also said they did not want the president, prime minister or culture minister to attend their events, rejecting their patronage.
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