Aliaksei Lastouski: In Belarus, there is no historical policy and no “soft Belarusization"

Aliaksandr Lukashenka's statements are an inexhaustible source for various kinds of research.

And sociologist Aliaksei Lastouski, one of the organizers of the 5^th International Conference "Nation in times of crisis", is one of such researchers: he was inspired to study historical and national policy at a state level and made a lot of interesting, sometimes even controversial, and, as he himself admitted, provocative conclusions.

To begin with, he quoted the head of state during the State of the Nation Address on the occasion of "what we have here is almost soft Belarusization”. Voiced by Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the concept of "soft Belarusization" has a negative connotation. As noted by Aliaksei Lastouski, pro-Kremlin news agency Regnum introduced this definition. Following the example of Regnum’s journalists this concept started to be used to mark the invented “problems” of the oppression of Russians and transformation of our political system to ethnocracy.

- Belarusization is viewed as a violent and imposed phenomenon that doesn’t meet Russia’s interests. It looks as a violation of the Belarus-Russia neighbourly relations and destroys the essence of the historical agreements and commitments that Belarus has in relation to its neighbours. Obviously, Belarusization violates the rights of Russians, living in Belarus, - the sociologist explains.

At the same time, he notes, Russian journalists avoid the phrase "Russian minority", preferring the title "Russian community". Belarusian authorities are accused of the attempt to deteriorate the relations with Russia through the use of historical events and eras (for example, the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), and individuals (Duke Algirdas, Tadeusz Kościuszko). Moreover, pro-Kremlin propagandists see “soft Belarusization” as a phenomenon containing "conspiratorial nature of reforms demanded by the West."

- Yet the Belarusian analysts are taking the meme launched in the Russian information space and start using it to describe the situation in Belarus, but with a different, positive semantics. Thus, "soft Belarusization" is included to the recent trends alongside with liberalization, - says Aliaksei Lastouski.

The researcher tried to understand what is the evidence of “soft Belarusization” based on from the historical policy perspective. According to him, there are very few such cases and they are of questionable value. For example, the well-known case of establishing the monument to the above-mentioned Duke Algirdas (let us recall that the duke had been trying to conquer Moscow for three times).

- But if one looks closer at what was going on, one can see that Vitebsk authorities had plans for several monuments – to Duke Algirdas, to Alexander Nevsky, and to Olga of Kiev. The plan was sent to the Institute of History, and historians approved the monument to Duke Algirdas. The government decided to first establish a monument approved by historians; now money for the monument to Aliaksandr Nevsky is collected in Vitebsk, - the researcher points out.

According to him, this indicates a lack of "desire to create some kind of monopoly on Belarusization of Vitebsk’s cultural space”.

A second example provided by Aliaksei Lastouski is about the refusal to recognize the War of 1812 a "patriotic war". And, of course, one cannot but mention the anniversary of the 1863 - 1864 Uprising. Political analysts interpret the release of the stamp with Kastuś Kalinouski and an exhibition at the National Library that is dedicated to the 1863 - 1864 Uprising as an intentional government policy to support the national culture, while not taking into account the prohibition of many activities related to the same anniversary of the 1863 - 1864 Uprising. Aliaksei Lastouski compared the celebration of the 1863 - 1864 Uprising in 2014 with the celebration in 1963 when the Communists were in power, saying that, in fact, the event was "treaded down" by the state.

- All this makes me wonder whether it is possible to say that there is a certain historical policy in Belarus. Somehow it is believed that the government knows what to do in the sphere of international relations, in the economic sphere, and in the sphere of ​​cultural and historical policy. It means that there is some idea or strategy that has been successfully implemented. But if you look at what is happening in the field of history, it would be more adequate to say that there is no historical policy in Belarus. The state has no idea what to do with the history and simply doesn’t do anything.

But there is an exception to the rule when, for example, it comes to some anniversary, for which we need to prepare. However, there is no conscious Belarusization at the state level, believes Aliaksei Lastouski. At the same time, he marks that the nationalization of historical consciousness is happening. New generations, who grew up in the Republic of Belarus and have a different attitude to their history, are coming. Though for now it is only happening at the level of mass consciousness.