Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”
Number 4
December 2013
Abstracts
Mikola Krukouski: TheCyclical Character of the Socio-Cultural Development of Society and Its Causes in Terms of Theoretical Culturology. Published in Belarusian. Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”, #4, December 2013. www.sakavik.net
The issues of cyclical culture development are regarded. The author proves the thesis by means of many examples from history of culture of different epochs. In particular, under the conditions of a post-industrial society, relations between modern people and artistic sphere are producing an increasingly tangible and negative influence of post-modernistic ideas. In a whole interaction between global cycles and specify of human values is one of actual problems in many different sciences, but especially in theoretical culturology.
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Alexandr Zgerski: Placebo for Belarusians. Published in Belarusian. Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”, #4, December 2013. www.sakavik.net
In the 90-s of the twentieth century the “Great Soviet Empire” collapsed. Hopes of soviet dissidents and those people who had been thinking and acting in a way that differed from “ruling party’s line”, hopes of democratization and liberation in a social and individual area of life came true. So called “ParadeofSovereignties” took place and national republics began to build their own world inside of their state borders. Each newly formed country had different starting conditions, unique historical and cultural features of their previous development and each of them undergone their personal highs and lows and mistakes on this path.
Belarus, the same as other neighbouring countries, got a chance to rebuild its national home. Belarusians are often being characterized as tolerant and conservative people. Maybe these definitions aren’t bad but excessive conservatism played a low-down trick with us. In 1994 considerable part of population of Belarus was frightened of growth of corruption and uncontrolled and wicked process of privatization. So, Alexander Lukashenko and his lines of economic development that can be described with motto “Back to USSR!” were chosen. But time passed and now we can see that president’s electioneering bribe differs much from that what we have today.
Nowadays Belarusians got authoritarian system of government, planned economy, subordination of mass media and persecution of civil and political associations. This crisis leads to tension, anxiety, sense of weariness and uncertainty among our people. In search of way out of crisis and changeable political situation outside the country lead to the necessity of solving problems in such areas as national identity and national awareness including problems of value guidelines, problems of choice of political and economic development, self-awareness in a motley and complex universe of modern national states. Intellectual elite of Belarus, as it should be, has quite a diverse visions of the situation and formulas of finding the way out of the situation. Often it comes to pessimistic prognosis such as inevitable loss of national identity and then, as a result, loss of sovereignty.
In article “Placebo for Belarusians” another attempt of reinterpretation of the Belarusian situation is being made. Basing on the Benedict Anderson’s statement which says that “nation-ness is the mostuniversallylegitimatevaluein the political life of our time” appropriateness of pessimistic findings about nonviability of Belarusian community are being called into question. It’s about possibility and necessity of changes for the better in historical and cultural education of Belarusians, education which is now being included in authoritarian schemes of governing.
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Viktoryia Kozlova:Implications of the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine on Belarus. Published in English. Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”, #4, December 2013. www.sakavik.net
Ukraine has been negotiating for over 15 years with the European Union (EU) over improving mutual cooperation and possibly becoming a member state. Unfortunately, the official government of Ukraine has been highly divided on the topic of EU accession. In the last five years, however, this has not stopped the negotiations and application for the Association Agreement. Recent protests in Ukraine in December 2013 clearly exemplify citizen’s disappointment. It is important to find out what exactly the Association Agreement entails since Ukrainian government, for now, has chosen not to sign it. This article questions the effects of the Association Agreement for the EU and Ukraine, and then analyzes the implications it could have on Belarus.
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Piotra Murzionak: Belaruskasc and Mentality of Civilized Countries. Published in Belarusian. Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”, #4, December 2013. www.sakavik.net
It is evident that Belarusian mentality or Belaruskasc exists for ever. However, the question is how it had changed during the last century and in what degree it correspondents to the mentality of modern society. It is clear that the development of Belaruskasc is substantially delayed due to specific conditions of being on the border line of colliding between the East and the West or between Bysantium and Rome. The episodic development of Belaruskasc in the 20th century was possible mainly due to beneficial external factors. Belarusian nation is still not established. It is very problematic that the impovement and progress in Belarusian mentality/ in Belaruskasc nowdays might be occurred in russian-speaking environment. The language problem is not only the problem of belarusian population but the problem of belarusian elite who is going to establish the strategy for mentality education for Belarusians while itself has to think in Belarusian. Despite of the country independence, solid ethnic and historical base the country is still beyond the “Berlin wall”, without any attempts to a dialogue with civilized societies.
Mentality being a key factor for nation-building is not the important issue for Belarusian state. It appears Belarus demonstates a religion intolerance providing some preferences only for Orthodox church. Belarusian government creates an environment where 91.5% of population are not interested in external and internal politics of the state at all. Additionally, Belarusians are mainly intolerant to the representatives of other ethnic groups, “unknown” religions, sexual minorities, and do not support an abondance of death penalty. Some explanation of such intolerance but not its rehabilitation might be found in the discussed phenomenon of Belarusian mental surviving which is a sort of mental instinct developed for centures of suppressions and which helped to protect a minimal level of Belaruskasc.
It is assumed that population education and even quality of life might be close to European standards but mentality. The national elite has not enough resources to support the development of required mentality level. Ideally, this is a task for the state itself. A support of external insitutions is imporatant but not conclusive. The role of electonic mass media in the development of Belaruskasc and the creation of special strategy for that are discussed.
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Tadeush Struzhetski: The Ancient Organs Sound Again. Published in Belarusian. Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”, #4, December 2013. www.sakavik.net
The information about festival of organ music in the ancient north-west area of Belarus (October 19-20, 2013) is provided. Five organ concerts were held in Pastavy region, Vitebsk district. There are organs in a few catholic churches in this area: Pastavy, Luchaj, Lyntupy, and Kamai. The soloists were I. Alounikau, K. Mikalaeva, K.Sharau, and K. Paharelaja. It is thought this festival will be traditional to develop the clasical music in the country.
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Nelson Mandela: Inaugural Speech (May 10, 1994). Published in web-magazine “SAKAVIK”, #4, December 2013. www.sakavik.net Translation from English into Belarusian by Piotra Murzionak
The translation of inaugural speech of Nelson Mandela as the President of South African Republic into Belarusian is provided.
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Piotra Murzionak: An Update on the Performance of Project “RAZAM”. Published in Belarusian. Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”, #4, December 2013. www.sakavik.net
It is reported the conditions of project performance continue to be the same. The new format of educational material presentation (as slide-shows) is suggested.
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Next issue will be published in March 2014
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Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”
Number 3 (PDF in Belarusian)
September 2013
Abstracts
BELARUS. 2013. DATE WITH THE HOMELAND
Piotra Murzionak
Belarus looks like a modern European country. Belarus has beautiful people, villages and cities, gorgeous nature. Over the past 15 years, the country has become much more beautiful and more prosperous.Obviously, the achievements it has are the result of normal evolution of society and the result of the efforts undertaken by the government as well. Not to recognize the latter means to start a dispute about what would happen if the development of the country was going the other way.
The state has invested a lot of money to support the village, which in turn led to a significant increase in quality of life of peasants and in growing of agricultural production.Contribution to the life style of peasants has changed slightly, but it should be noted that in the village there is a new category of ‘salaried’ workers, and that for seasonal work the necessary professionals from the city are mobilized through administrative resource.The share of the private sector in the economy of Belarus is small, no more than 3% in the village and around 20% in the city. It is likely that the difficulties associated with changes in the structure of economy is yet to come. Much has been made in the restoration and construction of tourist facilities, including museums and ancient abandoned palaces.
External ‘cleanness and order‘ are in contrast to chronic, unresolved problems in the society. There is a full Belarusian language disaster in the state – the real, equal use of native language is absent because of the immoral government inactivity.On the other hand, the language issue is now noticeable even in the villages, where children speak ‘Russian trasyanka‘, which evidences a parental consent to such unnatural linguistic transformation. In part, belarusophobs contribute to the slow extinction of Belarusian language.Despite the absence of an official ban on the use of the Belarusian language the manifestations of belarusophob’ activities can be observed very often (see examples above for street names in Polotsk, program of the ballet ‘Vytautas’,advertising andrailway station names, etc.) .
It is difficult to say that there is a moral unity in the Belarusian state. In the country, people are suffering for their political views. The vast majority of the Belarusian population, perhaps with the exception of youth,is not interested in the future of their country andtheir children, and live for today what probably suits them. Perhaps, an additional negative impact on tolerant Belarusians gives indifference which follows from the government vibrations between east and west. The state propaganda machine,using the old approaches of the Cold War, also contributes to that. It is possible that today’s public sentiment would be consistent with the construction of a neutral state, which in fact spelled out in Article 18 of the Constitution: ‘The Republic of Belarus has a purpose to make itsterritory of a nuclear-free zone and the neutral state’. However, the other moral principles are used in determining the direction of development of the state (the construction of ‘Stalin Lines‘, an anti-Western propaganda)which greatly postpones the opportunity for Belarus to join the family of European nations where there are different moral values.
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Iryna Khadarenka
The essay is dedicated to the problem of national identity and transformation of commonmentality at the present time. It is recognized a large influence of values and cultural traditions to social life and economic conditions of any society. The special attention is paid to the key role of patterns in a collective consciousness which determine the direction of human behavior and further development. The author mentioned that namely this sphere becomes the place of power struggle today. Some typical mental and verbal stereotypes of modern Belarusians are also analyzed.
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AT FIRST GLANCE THE OFFICIAL MEETING WITH BELARUS LOOKS POORLY
Pavel Sevjarynets
This article is an introduction to the chapter titled “Belarusian culture” from the book “I Love Belarus” by Pavel Sevjarynets. Whether you would read it in Belarusian you would find that the Belarusian culture is so nice and unique as Belarusian language is. This introduction as the entire book was written with so much love about the existence, culture, and traditions of Belarusian people.
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EASTERN SLAVIC BELARUSIAN-UKRANIAN CIVILIZATION. HYPOTHESIS AND FACTS
Piotra Murzionak
The article explains the existence of separate Eastern Slavic civilization in the modern European territories of Belarus and Ukraine. Slavs, migrated in Eastern Europe in 5-9 centuries BC, under the influence of various factors separated and formed two civilizations – Eastern Slavic (Belarusian-Ukrainian) civilization, and Eurasian civilization. The disengagement of the Eastern Slavs was determined by the characteristics of their tribes, the natural conditions of the Eastern European plain and the Eurasian steppes, assimilation with local tribes, the internecine wars between the lands and kingdoms, the influence of the Mongol Empire, the emergence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as the unifier of the Eastern Slavs. In the development and interaction of these civilizations might be observed three periods, ‘dakieuski and kieuski,’ emergence period, and modern period.
It seems that the ethno-national division of the Eastern Slavs began in the 10-11 century regardless of the processes of formation of Kievan Rus’ and even before its collapse. This division took place between the Slavs who lived in what is now Ukraine and Belarus, and Slavs migrated in the North-East District/Edge (territory of the future Muscovy), where they mingled during the ‘first wave’ of assimilation with Finno-Ugric Peoples (Mordva, Mari, Ves, Meščera, Muroma). The second wave of assimilation with Turkic peoples for centuries, as during the reign of the Golden Horde and in the later periods, even more separated Muscovy Slavs from the Slavs of modern Belarus and Ukraine. Eurasian culture of Muscovy/Russia is based on mutual understanding, lifestyles, mentalities, traditions and knowledge of Slavic and Finno-Ugric and Turkic peoples. We can assume that Russia, including over the long history of the Eurasian territory and its population, is the successor of the Eurasian movement from east to west. However, many Russians still consider Russia, contrary to the facts, exclusively Slavic nation, and do not recognize the separate existence of Belarusian and Ukrainian ethnic groups.
Infighting between the principalities of Kievan Rus’ was one of the major factors in its decay, but on the other hand led to a strengthening and separation of existing at the time centers(Principality of Polotsk, Galician-Volyn principality) and create a new feudal formations of future Muscovy (Republic of Novgorod, Rostov-Suzdal principality). Slavs of modern Belarus and Ukraine is largely preserve their identity and civilization through the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) which actually united the Eastern Slavs after the collapse of Kievan Rus’. Such a unifying role could not perform Muscovy while itself was in vassal depending on the Golden Horde of Mongols.
The Eastern Slavic civilization is nearly three centuries older over the Eurasian, both because of the slow migration of the Slavson the future lands of Muscovy (as evidenced by a much later formation of Suzdal in comparison to the principalities of Polotsk and Kiev)and due to vassal dependence of Muscovy from the Tatars over 240 years. The population of Belarus and Ukraine exists for almost eight centuries and itis largely ethnically homogeneous and has been residing in the same territory while the Slavs of North-East Edge were assimilated at first with Finno-Ugric tribes, and later with Turkic peoples and expanded its territory dozens of times.The principal difference between two civilizations is observedwhile calculating the ratio of the Slavs to other ethnic groups and the ratio of Christian believers to the faithful Muslims.
Obviously, the enrollment of Belarus and Ukraine to the orthodox, eastern or Eurasian / Russian civilization (despite a number of characteristic features of Western civilization) is made on the basis of myths and conclusionsmade as the result of the interpretation of historical facts of view of geopolitics (the myths of the trinity of three Slavic nations, ‘the Great’, ‘Malorosov’ and ‘Belarusians,’ approval of the Slavic character of the Russian Empire,the continuity of the history of Kievan Rus to Russia, a claim for the role of Muscovy in the union of the Eastern Slavs). The development of civilization requires a long time and it is clear that Eastern SlavicEuropeanor Belarusian-Ukrainian civilization will take proper and appropriate place in an era of global change in the world through the understanding and co-operation of its constituent parts which still have a lot in common with each other.
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Web-magazine “SAKAVIK”
Number 2 (PDF in Belarusian)
June 2013
Abstracts
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Piotra Murzionak
The article postulates the existence of distinct East Slavic european civilization in the modern territories of Belarus and Ukraine. The analysis shows that under the influence of various factors the Slavs after migration in Eastern Europe in the 5-9 centuries AD divided and formed two civilizations – East Slavic (Belarusian-Ukrainian civilization) and Eurasian civilization. The disengagement was due to the tribal characteristics of the Eastern Slavs and the natural conditions of the East European Plain and the Eurasian steppes, the assimilation with local tribes, the internecine wars between the lands and kingdoms, the influence of the Mongol Empire, the emergence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a unifier of the Eastern Slavs. East Slavic civilization was formed in the 13-14 centuries whereas the formation of the Eurasian civilization began in the 13-15 centuries. The interaction of East Slavic european and Eurasian civilizations during ‘pre-Kievan and Kievan’ period, ‘ transition ‘Mongol’ period, and the modern one is described.
The proof of the existence of the East Slavic civilization is the development of the Belarusian and Ukrainian ethnic groups and states over the past eight centuries. It seems that the ethno-national division of the Eastern Slavs began in the 10-11 centuries regardless of the processes of formation of Kievan Rus’ and even before its collapse. This division took place between the Slavs who lived on the territory of modern Ukraine and Belarus, and the Slavs migrated in the North-East District (territory of the future Muscovy) where the latterassimilated with local Finno-Ugric Peoples (Mordovians, Mary, Ves, Meshchera, Muroma) (‘the first wave of assimilation‘). Infighting between the principalities of Kievan Rus’ was one of the major factors in its decay, but on the other hand led to the strengthening and isolationof existed at that time centres (the principality of Polotsk) and to the creation of new feudal formations of future Muscovy (Republic of Novgorod, Rostov-Suzdal principality).
A critical point in the division of the Eastern Slavs was the Mongol-Tatar occupation. Under the Mongol influence the Eurasian culture of Muscovy / Russia was later formed which was based on the interdependence of lifestyles, mentalities, traditions and knowledge that had Slavs and peoples of the Mongol Empire. The second assimilation wave with the Turkic peoples for centuries separated Muscovy Slavs even more from the eastern Slavs that lived in the territories of present-day Belarus and Ukraine. This division was primarily the result of the interaction and collision of demographic movements of the Slavs from the West to the East and Eurasian peoples from the East to the West. This process continues until now. We can assume that Russia, including over the long history the Eurasian territory and population, is the successor of Eurasian movement.
Eastern Slavs of Belarus and Ukraine is largely preserve their identity through the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) which actually was the unifier of the Eastern Slavs after the collapse of Kievan Rus’. Such a unifying role could not be performed by Muscovy as it was itself in a vassal dependence from the Mongols of the Golden Horde. Belarusians and Ukrainians made up the bulk of the GDL population. Since 1569 the GDL had within the Commonwealth the great and true autonomy. Even 30 years after the capture of GDL at the end of the 18th century the GDL statute was still acted and the Institute of the nobility and the Uniate Church were existed as well (for example, more than 70% of Belarusians were the Uniats at that time).
The place of the East Slavic civilization among other civilizations in the era of globalization is discussed. Obviously, the enrollment of Belarus and Ukraine to the orthodox, eastern or eurasian / russian civilization is made on the basis of myths and conclusions due to an interpretation of the historical facts from the point of view of geopolitics. This article criticises partially the theories about the role of the vikings in the development of the Eastern Slavs, the trinity of the three eastern Slavic peoples, the Slavic character of the Russian state, the continuity of the history of Kievan Rus to Russia, the role of Muscovy in the union of the Eastern Slavs. The forced annexation of East Slavic civilization to the Eurasian one in 19-20 centuries only temporarily changed its european status for eurasian. The development of civilization requires a long time and it is obvious that the East Slavic European or Belarusian-Ukrainian civilization with understanding and combined action of its components will take an appropriate place in the world in the era of global changes.
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Viktoryia Kozlova
Many Western countries have attempted to foster directly and indirectly political change in Belarus, however none of them have succeeded. The question rises – why there has not been any change? This article refers to three types of changes – political, economic and social. The question can only be answered once one understands the Belarusian culture, people, and society. The argument is that the people themselves lack the resources, knowledge and ambition for the change.
A majority of the people struggle to live on a daily basis. There certainly are some wealthy people, however they have accomplished that under the current regime and dramatic change may jeopardize their current economic well being. Citizens live calculating everyday how much they can spend today on food or on other day to day necessities. They are occupied thinking how much they will be bringing in financially until next month and consumed with considerations whether they will be able to afford a warm jacket for their children or not. These types of thoughts occupy the majority of the citizens on a daily basis. In order to create change in Belarus there will need to be some expenses – travelling to the capital, reading the newspaper (or internet), and paying the appropriate political party. Since survival is their main priority, the thought of participating in political change in Belarus is not on their mind. It is difficult, if not impossible, to be hopeful and dream of a different and better tomorrow.
Secondly, many of the people lack sufficient knowledge to understand how political, economic and social transformation may occur. There is a young generation that is gaining more knowledge about the world through social sites. They do see that in other countries life seems better then in Belarus. Most of the youth want the change but they are occupied with their studies, working or raising families. All three of these considerations take the majority of their energy. They require attention, money and diligence. So even though young generation may have some of the knowledge they choose not to participate in political or social change, as survival is more important to them.
Ambition and want for change is the most critical element. If, some of the people simply do not care in what society they live – they will not contribute to the change. Simply wanting change will not create it either. Many do want change but they do not do anything about it. According to the countless recent examples – those who did have ambition and worked forchanges, were severely punished for it. In addition, there are numerous examples unknown to the international community, which are undisclosed since their exposure could result in additional punishment of a small circle of people. There is a large group of people outside of Belarus who wish for change and have the ambition to affect change. Unfortunately this does not, and most likely will not, contribute in any way for a change in Belarus for two main reasons. First if the change was to begin, under many international sanctions and threats the Belarusian government would have had to give in. However, Belarus is structured in such a way that it can still survive (and I mean barely survive) without the Western community. Second the contributions made by Non-Governmental Organizations are very limited due to their fear of expulsion or Belarus’s non-reaction. They are simply ineffective when it comes to contributing to change because Belarus does not operate under the influence of others.
In conclusion a lack of change in Belarus exists due to a lack of resources, knowledge and optimism. Once there is change in some of these factors, a possible transformation may occur. Until then Belarus will continue to go on with its own pace.
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Educational Project “RAZAM” (“ALTOGETHER”)
Piotra Murzionak
It is supposed to create a database on belarusian history and culture for educational purposes. A database will consist of short one-page information with most prominent event in the life of belarusian people. There are three stages in the realization of project “RAZAM” (“ALTOGETHER”): data collection (until December 2013), data verification (January-March 2014), and data distribution (starting from April 2014). A critical point is a distribution and it is thought a number of institutions will take a participation in the overspreading of unique and unified information – altogether – at the same time – under one title. Among those institutions might be electronic mass-media, periodicals, resources of political parties and non-government organizations, individuals. The goal of project is to reach at least 30% recognition among the belarusian population. Readers’ participation in the creation of database is welcomed. A short description and examples of educational materials are attached.
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Web–magazine “SAKAVIK”
Number 1 (PDF in Belarusian)
March 2013
Abstracts
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Piotra Murzionak
There is no evidence today to suggest that there is a strong Belarusian nation. Such characteristics of the nation as a territory, ethnic Belarusian groups are present, while others, use of native language and recognition themselves as Belarusians, are very weak or even absent. Despite the relatively large homogeneity of Belarusians in the country, which is a good basis for nation-building, Belarusian nation as a whole is not strong, “dumb”, suppressed by Russian mass culture, without manifestations of national will and honor. A part of the national conscious people is pretty thin and it is only sufficient yet to support the Belarusian idea at a minimum level and it is insufficient to change the consciousness of society as a whole. In addition, there is no overall strategy to work together in the development of the Belarusian nation. As time passes, lost momentum and the generation that still feels themselves as Belarusians. Thus, we can say that under any circumstances for the actual construction of the nation state in the near future there is no serious basis.
It is also obvious that it is impossible to build the nation-state without the state. Now there is no indication that the denationalized government has a desire to perform some changes. Development of Belarusian culture, despite some declarative statements, is not a real state policy. If no changes occur in the 10-20 years, the society will be a denationalized civil state. Russification, which began 200 years ago, continues in Belarus so far. Modern Belarusian government exploiting the eastern vector of foreign policy, which is not based even on pan-Slavic, but on neo-Soviet ideology, suppresses the development of nation, which in turn leads the population of Belarus into assimilation by Russian politics and culture. In fact, Belarus is on the way of building a Russian-speaking civil state, which in turn can result in a real loss of its sovereignty by associating with other Russian speaking territories. Possible savings and the development of Belarusian culture in Russian-speaking environment – it’s a rhetorical question, and quite ridiculous.
Our neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania for 20 years have done a lot in nation-building and in many ways can be an example for us, as well as Poland, from which we have substantial support. Nation-building has become possible even in countries such as Latvia and Kazakhstan, where the proportion of ethnic titular nations was critically low. Ukraine solves almost the same problems as Belarus in the development of state and nation. On what will be the result of solving the existing conflict between Ukraine and Russia will partly depend external conditions of existence of Republic of Belarus. Almost all neighboring countries, except Russia, sympathy and help in the development of democracy in Belarus, thus contributing to the creation of new opportunities for the development of the nation. Twenty-two years ago Belarusians finally broke out of 200-year tutelage of the Russian Empire and got a real chance to return to the state, which they have had for centuries. But as always, on the part of Russia the danger still comes for the Belarusian independence. And although there are a number of conditions and facts that do not allow such a scenario to think about, but absolutely exclude this possibility no one can. The same can be said about the economic independence and autonomy despite the balance of the Belarusian economy between Russia and the rest of the world at this time.
Apparently, national leaders have to recognize that in the current conditions the possibility of building a real national state remains only theoretical. In terms of the language the nation-state could be established in the future on ‘Ireland type’ or ‘Czech type.’ But the theoretical possibility can’t be realized in the next decades, as it requires time and significant consolidation and education of the population of Belarus. It does not depend on who is in power, because it is impossible to carry out these tasks in a short period of time. This means that it is necessary to develop both short-and long-term projects aimed at achieving the conditions and changes to build the nation-state. And it’s not just the language. The nation can’t be built if Belarusians will not know the ancient history of his people: that Adam Mickiewicz is their national poet, as he is considered by the Poles and Lithuanians as well; that Belarusians can be proud of many prominent countrymen both past and present who were unjustly appropriated by neighbors who are shamefully silent on this point and do not want to share now; that we are distinctive, ancient nation able to solve own vital problems as free and equal nation among the other nations.
National elite remains the storage of values that already gained, their enrichment and long-term implementation in the national consciousness at least during one generation. What is being done in this area to date this is very good, but not enough. It seems that an important role in creating an information space can play Belarusian diaspora. Without the education of majority of Belarusian population theoretical possibility of nation-state building can’t be realized.
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Belarusian Identity:Key Factors and Points of Ambiguity
Halina Tumilovich
Nowadays Belarusian issue, particularly in regard to the study of problems identity, became extremely important.This is not a coincidence, because the modern world wants to know who are the Belarusians that suddenly appeared as something special along with the birth of the Republic of Belarus on the international political map.In addition, the study of identity most often used in combination as “national identity” still remains one of the most pressing study problems in the social sciences.Finally, special attention should be given to the Belarusian case in terms of its features.However, the Belarusian identity is challenged today like the reality and like the concept, which is explained, in turn, not only by features of the Belarusian case in particular, but by a general theoretical debate over the fundamental concepts such as “identity” and “nation”.
In order to study Belarusian identity different conceptual approaches should be applied, i.e. as the concept of “identity as a given”, and the “identity as a construction.”In addition, it is necessary to use an approach, of which the starting point is the study of identification processes in each case.This will determine the role of the Belarusian language as well as to analyze the impact of historical and geographical / geopolitical factors on the content of identity and the ways of its formation.It is in this vein, we propose an analysis providing reasons clarifying the Belarusian case.
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Unconsciously Dangerous Consciousness
Vital Voranau
The article draws attention to the approach adopted in problematic demarcation of the Belarusian society by a factor of consciousness. Overview of the topic starts with the presentation of the conscious and unconscious parts of the psyche which are interpreted from the point of view of psychoanalysis and science in general. The author substantiates the use of the term “svyadamit”(a conscious and knowledgeable person) presenting his view of the existing division for “svyadamits” and “non-svyadamits” and sets out the associated threats.
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Viktoryia Kozlova
This paper analyzed various actions of the international community, including diplomatic and informal negotiations, and unilateral and multilateral approaches to sanctions against authoritarian regimes. A case study of Belarus was developed and analyzed in relation to the paper’s hypothesis. The themes of diplomatic and informal negotiations, and unilateral and multilateral approaches to sanctions were applied to case study of the Republic of Belarus. Essentially, the case study allowed the reader to further understand the importance of the international community’s actions and their impact on democratization process. It is clear that whether the actions are taken through diplomatic or unofficial negotiations, or sanctions, if they are taken multilaterally they are more likely to be effective.
КУЛЬТУРА, НАЦЫЯ 