Russification of Belarus

Russification of Belarus is a policy of suppressing the use of the Belarusian language and the presence of the Belarusian culture and mentality in various spheres of Belarusian public life by corresponding Russian analogs.

Polatsk in 1812, 1912 and 2006. The destruction of the city historical and architectural values by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The Russian Imperial authorities have destroyed the church of the Franciscans up to 1865, the monastery of Basilians up to 1912. The Soviet authorities destroyed the church and convent of Dominicans in the 1940s; partially destroyed Bernardines church in the 1940s; blew up the church of the Jesuits in 1964.
Pro-Russian[1] authoritarian[2][3][4][5] president of Belarus Aliaksandar Lukashenka

The policy was carried out by the authorities of the Russian Empire and by the authorities of Soviet Russia.[6][7][8][9] With the gaining to the power of pro-Russian authoritarian Aliaksandar Lukashenka in 1994, the Russification policy was renewed.[10][11][12][13][14]

The Russification of Belarus comprises several components:

Russification in Belarus under Lukashenka

Education

An example is the Russification of education process in Belarus.

In the 1994-1995 academic year, 58% of scholars in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language (Minsk city). After gaining to power of Lukashenka in 1994, the number of these classes was purposefully decreased. As the result, only 5.3% of scholars in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language in Minsk in 1999.[20]

In academic year 2016-2017 near 128,000 scholars were taught in Belarusian language (13.3% of total).[21] The vast majority of Belarusian-language schools located in rural areas that are gradually closed through the exodus of its population to the cities. Each year, there is a close of about 100 small schools in Belarus, most of which use Belarusian language in teaching. There is a trend of transfer the schoolars of these schools to Russian-language schools. Thus, there is a loss of schoolars studying in Belarusian.[22]

Concerning to the cities, there are only seven Belarusian-language schools, six of which are in Minsk, the capital of Belarus (in 2019). Thus, the capital city, regional and district centers of the Republic of Belarus has six Belarusian-language schools in total:

  1. Gymnasium № 4 (Kuntsaushchyna street, 18 – Minsk, Frunzyenski District)
  2. Gymnasium № 9 (Siadykh street, 10 – Minsk, Pyershamayski District)
  3. Gymnasium № 14 (Vasnyatsova street, 10 – Minsk, Zavodski District)
  4. Gymnasium № 23 (Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, 45 – Minsk, Savyetski District)
  5. Gymnasium № 28 (Rakasouski Avenue, 93 – Minsk, Leninsky District)
  6. Secondary school № 60 (Karl Libkneht street, 82 – Minsk, Maskowski District)
  7. Secondary school № 4 (Savetskaya street, 78 – Ivanava city)
Number of Belarusian-language schools in the capital city, regional and district centers of Belarus (2019)
Settlement Number of Belarusian-language schools Total number of schools Percentage of Belarusian-language schools
Minsk 6 277 2.17%
Brest 0 37 0%
Vitsebsk 0 48 0%
Hrodna 0 42 0%
Homel 0 53 0%
Mahilyow 0 47 0%
District centers in total
(except the capital and regional centers)		 1* ~ 920 0.11%
* in Ivanava (secondary school № 4)[23]

See also

References
  1. Lukashenka: There is no more pro-Russian person in Belarus than the President. I have been proving this for 15 years, you have never had a problem with Belarus. // Tut.by (in Russian)
  2. Matthew Frear. Belarus under Lukashenka. Adaptive Authoritarianism. 1st Edition. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 194 pages.
  3. Aliaksandar Lukashenka // Encyclopædia Britannica
  4. Belarus: 20 years under dictatorship and a revolution behind the rest of Europe // The Guardian
  5. Belarus strongman Lukashenka marks 25 years in power // Deutsche Welle
  6. Early Belorussian Nationalism in [Helen Fedor, ed. Belarus: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.]
  7. Stalin and Russification in [Helen Fedor, ed. Belarus: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.]
  8. Why Belarusians Don’t Speak Their Native Language? // BelarusFeed
  9. Yuliya Brel. (University of Delaware) The Failure of the Language Policy in Belarus. New Visions for Public Affairs, Volume 9, Spring 2017, pp. 59—74
  10. Belarus has an identity crisis // openDemocracy
  11. Vadzim Smok. Belarusian Identity: the Impact of Lukashenka’s Rule // Analytical Paper. Ostrogorski Centre, BelarusDigest, December 9, 2013
  12. Нацыянальная катастрофа на тле мяккай беларусізацыі // Novy Chas (in Belarusian)
  13. Галоўная бяда беларусаў у Беларусі — мова // Novy Chas (in Belarusian)
  14. Аляксандар Русіфікатар // Nasha Niva (in Belarusian)
  15. Andrei Kazakevich (PhD in political science, director, Institute of Political Studies), Vadim Vileita. National Identity as a Necessity for Democracy // Eastern Europe Studies Centre, Nordic Council of Ministers
  16. Страчаная спадчына. — Менск, 2003. С. 54. (in Belarusian)
  17. Волкава В. Мінск 21 лютага 1918 г. вачыма нямецкага салдата (па матэрыялах газеты "Zeitung der 10. Armee") // Беларускі гістарычны часопіс. № 2, 2018. С. 11. (in Belarusian)
  18. Соркіна І. Палітыка царызму адносна гарадоў Беларусі ў кантэксце гістарычнай памяці і ідэнтычнасці гараджанаў // Трэці міжнародны кангрэс даследчыкаў Беларусі. Працоўныя матэрыялы. Том 3. 2014. С. 376. (in Belarusian)
  19. Kapylou I., Lipnitskaya S. Current status and related problems of national toponyms standardization in the Republic of Belarus // Studia Białorutenistyczne. Nr. 8, 2014.
  20. Антонава Т. Моўныя пытаньні ў Беларусі // Зьвязда, 10 красавіка 1999 №59 (23660), 4–5 pp. (in Belarusian)
  21. Марціновіч Я. Моўная катастрофа: за 10 гадоў колькасць беларускамоўных школьнікаў скарацілася ўдвая // Nasha Niva, May 31, 2017 (in Belarusian)
  22. Алег Трусаў: Скарачэнне беларускамоўных школ можа прывесці да выраджэння нацыі // Берасьцейская вясна (in Belarusian)
  23. Вучыцца на роднай мове. 8 фактаў пра беларускія школы // Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (in Belarusian)
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