Speaking Belarusian In Belarus: Is It Legal?

The Belarusian language has historically been oppressed at the state level, with Russian being the dominant language in Belarus. While Belarusian is one of the two official languages in the country, Belarusian speakers often face discrimination and even danger. This has led to a decline in the number of Belarusian speakers, with Russian being the primary language for most of the country's population. The situation has been further exacerbated by the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has suppressed the use of the Belarusian language and promoted the integration of Belarus with Russia. As a result, Belarusian speakers may face challenges and even risks when speaking their native language in Belarus.

The Russian language is the most commonly used language in Belarus

While Belarusian is one of the two official languages of Belarus, alongside Russian, the Russian language is the most commonly used language in the country. This is due to its historical dominance in media, education, and other areas of public life, which has continued into the post-Soviet era.

The widespread use of Russian in Belarus is a result of its history as part of the Soviet Union and the country's subsequent development. After the Partitions of Poland and the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, most ethnic Belarusian lands became part of the Russian Empire. From 1772, Catherine the Great issued decrees stating that sentences, decrees, and orders in the annexed territories were to be issued exclusively in Russian. This was followed by further decrees enforcing the mandatory use of Russian in the judicial system.

During this period, there was also a shift from the use of Church Slavonic religious writings to an archaized version known as "rebulgarisation," which made the texts even less comprehensible to the local population. This, along with the political rise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, contributed to the emergence of a written language based on local East Slavonic vernaculars. While pro-Russian historians claim this as part of the history of the Russian language, pro-Belarusian historians argue that it was an "Old Belarusian language."

In the 19th century, poets and intellectuals inspired by the Romantic movement contributed to the development of a modern Belarusian literary language, which was only partly connected to the official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, the Russian Empire treated Belarusian as a dialect of Russian, and any steps towards Belarusian linguistic and cultural emancipation were blocked after the January Uprising of 1863. It was only after the 1905 Russian Revolution and the liberalizations that followed that a ban on printed texts in Belarusian was lifted, and efforts for the creation of a modern Belarusian literary language intensified.

During the Soviet period, particularly in the 1920s, there was a brief period of Belarusization, aiming to increase the use of the Belarusian language in public life. However, this was short-lived, as in the early 1930s, Soviet leaders began an ideological struggle against "local nationalisms," resulting in repressions and the physical elimination of the pro-Belarusian intelligentsia. In 1934, Russian was declared the language of interethnic communication for the entire Soviet Union, and in 1938, it became an obligatory subject in all schools in non-Russian Soviet republics.

After World War II, most educational institutions in Belarus were converted to using the Russian language. The industrialisation and urbanisation of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) also contributed to the spread of Russian, as specialists from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) often held leadership positions in the post-war BSSR. This influenced migrants from the Belarusian countryside to give up their dialectal Belarusian and adopt Russian.

In 1959, a law was passed allowing pupils in schools with Russian as the medium of instruction to opt out of Belarusian as a school subject. This, along with the introduction of Russian as a school subject in all first grades of "non-Russian" schools in 1978, further weakened the position of Belarusian.

Despite the existence of two official languages in Belarus, Russian continues to be the dominant language in everyday life, with Belarusian holding a marginalised status. While it is recognised as the state language, Russian is used in approximately 95% of state operations, and Belarusian is largely absent from education, state media, and government affairs.

The Belarusian language is consistently oppressed at the state level

The Belarusian language has faced consistent oppression at the state level. While it is one of the two state languages in Belarus, Belarusian speakers regularly face discrimination and even danger. The language has been described as "endangered", with only 2.4 million people commonly using it, compared to 6.7 million people who use Russian. This suppression of the language is not new, but rather a continuation of historical suppression.

The roots of this suppression can be traced back to when Belarus was a part of Russia and later the Soviet Union. During this time, the Belarusian language and culture were attacked, with intellectuals and cultural elites purged and books by Belarusian authors burned. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Belarusian language experienced a brief renaissance, becoming the main language in schools and institutions. However, this was short-lived as the newly elected President Alexander Lukashenko took steps to suppress the language. Lukashenko viewed Belarusian as inferior to Russian and expressed distaste for it, claiming that only "lofty" ideas could be expressed in Russian.

Under Lukashenko's regime, the rights of Belarusian speakers have been consistently violated. There have been reports of people being detained, beaten, and even killed for speaking Belarusian. Human rights activists who have campaigned for the promotion of the Belarusian language have faced persecution and have been unable to return to their homes. Additionally, publishing houses specializing in Belarusian literature have been targeted, with books confiscated and publishers arrested on politically motivated charges.

The suppression of the Belarusian language has also been evident in the education system. Since Lukashenko took office, hundreds of Belarusian schools have been closed, and the number of students studying in Belarusian has significantly decreased. The language has also lost ground in other areas, including libraries, press, and book printing. Official statistics show a rapid decrease in the number of speakers of the titular nation's language, which is a consequence of consistent Russification forced by the state.

The Belarusian language is closely tied to the country's national identity, and its suppression threatens the very existence of Belarus as an independent country. Despite the challenges, many citizens are actively rethinking their identity and defending their right to assert their Belarusian belonging.

President Alexander Lukashenko suppresses the Belarusian language

President Alexander Lukashenko has suppressed the Belarusian language since he came to power in 1994. The authoritarian leader made Russian an official language, alongside Belarusian, and did away with nationalist symbols. Lukashenko derides his native language, saying, "nothing great can be expressed in Belarusian. ... There are only two great languages in the world: Russian and English." He has also stated that people who speak Belarusian cannot do anything because it is a “poor language".

Official business is conducted in Russian, which dominates the majority of the media. Lukashenko speaks only Russian, and government officials often don't use their native tongue. The dominance of Russian has resulted in Belarusian hardly being heard on the streets of Minsk and other large cities anymore.

The suppression of the Belarusian language is not a new phenomenon. Russia under the czars and in the era of the Soviet Union imposed its language, symbols, and cultural institutions on Belarus. However, with the demise of the USSR in 1991, the country began to assert its identity, and Belarusian briefly became the official language.

The Belarusian language is a symbol of national identity, and speaking it is seen as a show of opposition to Lukashenko. This played a key role in the mass protests after the disputed 2020 election, which gave the authoritarian leader a sixth term. In the harsh crackdown that followed, half a million people fled the country.

Despite the suppression, the Belarusian language is making a comeback in exile and on the margins, rallying resistance to the man who disparaged it. Young Belarusian migrants and refugees are seeking out novels and lessons in the language they were never formally taught back home. The leader of the government-in-exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has increasingly made public statements in Belarusian rather than Russian.

Russian is the language of international communication

While Belarusian is one of the two state languages in Belarus, Russian is also recognised as an official language in the country. Russian is the language of the majority in Belarus, with nearly 6.7 million of the country's 9.2 million people speaking it as their native tongue. This is in contrast to the 2.4 million people who commonly use Belarusian.

Russian has been designated as the "language of international communication" in Belarus. This status was granted following the 1995 referendum initiated by President Alexander Lukashenko, which also led to the adoption of Russian as the second state language. The referendum was held in unlawful conditions, with 19 deputies going on a hunger strike to protest its conduct and being beaten and forcibly removed by security forces.

The dominance of Russian in Belarus can be attributed to historical and political factors. Belarus was a part of Russia from 1776 to 1991 and, during this time, the Belarusian language and culture were suppressed. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Belarusian language experienced a brief revival, becoming the main language in schools and institutions. However, this transition was challenging for many, and President Lukashenko seized the opportunity to promote Russian.

Today, Russian is the dominant language in education, media, and advertising in Belarus. The enrolment in Belarusian-language schools is negligible, with less than 4% of students, and less than 20% of the population speak Belarusian in their daily lives. Belarusian speakers face discrimination and even danger for using their native language. There have been reports of Belarusian speakers being detained, beaten, and fined by law enforcement officers simply for speaking Belarusian.

The suppression of the Belarusian language has been described as a form of cultural genocide, with President Lukashenko accused of carrying out a systematic attack on the language and culture of Belarusians. Despite the challenges, some Belarusians are actively rethinking their identity and defending their right to speak Belarusian, even in the face of persecution.

Discrimination and danger faced by Belarusian speakers

While Belarusian is one of the two state languages in Belarus, Belarusian speakers face discrimination and even danger in their day-to-day lives. This discrimination is not a new phenomenon and has been consistently oppressed at the state level. The language has weathered centuries of challenges, emerging as a symbol of resilience and cultural heritage.

The discrimination faced by Belarusian speakers ranges from verbal abuse to arrests. For example, in the late 1990s, two men were skateboarding and speaking Belarusian to each other when policemen approached and surrounded them. The officers stated that they were going to teach the men to speak the "right language". One of the men replied that Belarusian is the official language and was hit with a police baton for it. Both were then detained. In another instance, several musicians were accused of having an empty vodka bottle at their table and, after replying in Belarusian, were told by the police that "all Belarusian-speaking people were scumbags". One of the musicians was beaten and left with a broken leg.

Discrimination against the language is also present in education. Despite Article 82 of the Education Code, which states that citizens of Belarus have the right to receive an education in Belarusian or Russian, parents often face obstacles when trying to send their children to Belarusian-language schools. In one instance, parents collected enough signatures to open a Belarusian-language group in a kindergarten but were denied by the administration. They eventually had to file a lawsuit and, even then, the group was opened in a location that was far away and uncomfortable for the parents. In higher education, some professors forbid students from taking exams in Belarusian and some university management teams do not allow students to defend their diplomas, which were written in Belarusian, forcing them to rewrite them in Russian.

Discrimination is also present in the workplace. Some people have been forced to change the language they use to communicate at work and have faced consequences such as losing their jobs for refusing to do so.

In addition, the language is also being erased from the public sphere. For example, street and museum signs in Orsha are designed only in Russian and English, and the history of Belarus is taught in Russian even in Belarusian-language schools. Belarusian speakers are also facing challenges in accessing information in their native language. For example, books, methodological materials, and word cards for children are expensive and hard to find.

The discrimination and danger faced by Belarusian speakers have led to a decline in the number of speakers. Between 1999 and 2019, the share of Belarusians who consider Belarusian to be their native language decreased from 86% to 61%.

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