Russification of Belarus

The Russification of Belarus (Belarusian: Расеізацыя Беларусі, romanized: Rasieizacyja Biełarusi; Russian: Русификация Беларуси, romanized: Rusyfikatsiya Byelarusi) is a policy of replacing the use of the Belarusian language and the presence of Belarusian culture and mentality in various spheres of public life in Belarus by the corresponding Russian analogs. Russification is one of the major reasons of low rate of adoption of the Belarusian language by Belarusians.[1]

Cityscape of Polotsk from 1812, 1912 and 2006. The majority of historical buildings built during the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were demolished by Tsarist and Soviet authorities.

In Belarus, Russification was carried out by the authorities of the Russian Empire and, later, by the authorities of the Soviet Union.[2][3][4][1] Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has renewed the policy since coming to power in 1994,[5][6][7][8][9] although with signs of a "soft Belarusization" (Russian: мягкая белорусизация) after 2014.[10][11][12]

Components of Russification

The Russification of Belarus comprises several components:

Russification in Belarus under Lukashenko

Education
Minsk, Belarus, 2011: old street sign in Belarusian language (right) replaced with new one in Russian language (left).

In Minsk city for the 1994-1995 academic year, 58% of students in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language. After the beginning of Lukashenko's presidency in 1994, the number of these classes decreased. In 1999, only 5.3% of students in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language in Minsk.[17]

In the academic year 2016-2017 near 128,000 students were taught in Belarusian language (13.3% of total).[18] 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 closure of about 100 small schools in Belarus, most of which use Belarusian language in teaching. There is a trend of transfer the students of these schools to Russian-language schools. Thus, there is a loss of students studying in Belarusian.[19]

As for the cities, there are only seven Belarusian-language schools, six of which are in Minsk (in 2019). In other words, the capital city, regional and district centers of the Republic of Belarus has seven 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)[20]

See also

References
  1. 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
  2. Early Belorussian Nationalism in [Helen Fedor, ed. Belarus: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.]
  3. Stalin and Russification in [Helen Fedor, ed. Belarus: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.]
  4. Why Belarusians Don’t Speak Their Native Language? // BelarusFeed
  5. Belarus has an identity crisis // openDemocracy
  6. Vadzim Smok. Belarusian Identity: the Impact of Lukashenka’s Rule // Analytical Paper. Ostrogorski Centre, BelarusDigest, December 9, 2013
  7. Нацыянальная катастрофа на тле мяккай беларусізацыі // Novy Chas (in Belarusian)
  8. Галоўная бяда беларусаў у Беларусі — мова // Novy Chas (in Belarusian)
  9. Аляксандар Русіфікатар // Nasha Niva (in Belarusian)
  10. "Belarus leader switches to state language from Russian", BBC, July 10, 2014
  11. "Belarus in the multipolar world: Lukashenka bets on himself". New Eastern Europe - A bimonthly news magazine dedicated to Central and Eastern European affairs. January 21, 2020.
  12. Ivan Prosokhin, "Soft Belarusization: (Re)building of Identity or “Border Reinforcement”?" doi:10.11649/ch.2019.005
  13. Страчаная спадчына. — Менск, 2003. С. 54. (in Belarusian)
  14. 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)
  15. 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)
  16. Kapylou I., Lipnitskaya S. Current status and related problems of national toponyms standardization in the Republic of Belarus // Studia Białorutenistyczne. Nr. 8, 2014.
  17. Антонава Т. Моўныя пытаньні ў Беларусі // Зьвязда, 10 красавіка 1999 №59 (23660), 4–5 pp. (in Belarusian)
  18. Марціновіч Я. Моўная катастрофа: за 10 гадоў колькасць беларускамоўных школьнікаў скарацілася ўдвая // Nasha Niva, May 31, 2017 (in Belarusian)
  19. Алег Трусаў: Скарачэнне беларускамоўных школ можа прывесці да выраджэння нацыі Archived September 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine // Берасьцейская вясна (in Belarusian)
  20. Вучыцца на роднай мове. 8 фактаў пра беларускія школы // Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (in Belarusian)
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Further reading
Main article: Bibliography of the history of Belarus and Byelorussia
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