Yes, the government digs the slam. Well, some in the government do!
Here's a small bit from a longer article that's at:
http://www.america.gov/st/arts-english/2009/February/20090205154536maduobbA1.569766e-02.html&distid=ucs Young Belarusian Poets Impress at First English Language Slam
Slam seen as a symbol of free expression
By Meghan Loftus
Ithaca, New York — The written word came alive as young poets from across Belarus participated in the first English Language Youth Poetry Slam in Minsk on December 10, 2008.
Writing about love and her desire one day to have children, Kate Nuprejchik, an English teacher, won the Grand Finale special prize. “Love is something very magical,” Nuprejchik said. It’s also the subject of her poem, Comes and Leaves, about a one-sided love, which she wrote when she was a teenager.
“The years have passed more than ten/No need to cry — he’ll come again. And nothing’s left for her but wait/To open him her wide soul-gate,” she wrote in the poem.
For Nuprejchik, performing the work was a new experience. “The poetry slam was really something very exciting and thrilling. I’ve never participated in such a competition. It was full of interesting and unknown emotions,” she said. And although it was a competition, Nuprejchik felt comfortable getting up in front of the hundred or so audience members who had gathered to hear 42 poets perform their work. “It was carried out in the spirit of partnership and cooperation,” she said.
The article also links to another pretty sweet 2006 article on slam called "Poetry Slam Rocks Literary World" at:
http://www.america.gov/st/arts-english/2006/March/20060313182415cpataruk0.5137751.html
