{"id":55228,"date":"2023-12-13T15:04:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T12:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=longreads&p=55228"},"modified":"2023-12-13T15:05:27","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T12:05:27","slug":"minsk-banning-books-fearful-of-rebel-spirit","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/55228\/","title":{"rendered":"Minsk banning books, fearful of rebel spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belarusian government has banned works related to the 1863-64 anti-Russian uprising, branding them as extremist content and excluding them from the school curriculum. Officials have been demonizing freedom fighter Kastu\u015b Kalino\u016dski, reversing the trend of the so-called “soft Belarusization” period. For democratic forces, this is a challenge to be addressed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n \"\"\n
\n \n
\n (Delfi.lt)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Haunted by uprising legacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of Information included works by several authors in the list of extremist materials – from the 19th<\/sup> century classic, Vincent Dunin-Marcinkievi\u010d, to modern poet U\u0142adzimier Niaklaje\u016d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vadzim Hihin, director of the National Library, boasted that it was his proposal to remove U\u0142adzimir Karatkievi\u010d\u2019s novel Spikes Under Your Sickle <\/em>from the school curriculum.

The reason is quite obvious – Dunin-Marcinkievi\u010d’s poems and Karatkievi\u010d\u2019s novel are related to the 1863-64 uprising led by Kalino\u016dski. The “extremist” poem Old Man’s Talk <\/em>was printed in the Latin script just before the uprising, and Spikes Under Your Sickle<\/em>, written a hundred years later, describes social tension that led to the unrest.

In the Soviet history, the Kalino\u016dski uprising was seen as the people\u2019s struggle against autocracy, while Dunin-Marcinkievi\u010d appealed to peasants not to trust the Russian tsar. That’s why Minsk streets named after both Dunin-Marcinkievi\u010d and Kalino\u016dski are largely the Soviet legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evolution of attitudes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the independent Belarus, attitudes to Kalino\u016dski have been gradually redefined. Instead of a socialist rebel against tsarism, he was increasingly perceived as a fighter against Moscow’s oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bud\u017ama Bie\u0142arusami <\/em>campaign and other nationalist initiatives cherish his legacy, while state propagandists, including Hihin, disown him, pointing at his ties to Poland.

The two camps found common ground during the so-called “soft Belarusization” in 2017-19. \u00a0Archaeologists discovered the remains of Kalino\u016dski and other insurgents in 2019, and the Lithuanian authorities organized their solemn reburial in Vilnius.

Unlike Lithuania and Poland, Minsk did not participate in the solemn guard of honor, but sent an official delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Ihar Pietry\u0161enka, who delivered a speech and emphasized the significance of the rebels’ message, “Who do you love – I love Belarus.”

Civil society activists played an important role in organizing the ceremony. Writer Andrej Horvat sent an open letter to the Belarusian foreign ministry urging it to take part and recognize Kalino\u016dski a national hero. Money was raised through crowdfunding for informal Belarusian mourning events in Vilnius. Belarusians heading for the ceremony formed huge queues at the border, and most flags on the streets of the Lithuanian capital on that day were of white-red-white colors of the Belarusian opposition.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n \"\"\n
\n
\n\n Belarusian flags at the reburial ceremony in Vilnius in November 2019\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Hrodna.life)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kalino\u016dski Regiment\u00a0 – nightmare come true<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly, after the 2020 protests, the government’s and civil society’s views of Kalino\u016dski radically diverged. The image of a fighter against Moscow-backed oppressors was too much too handle for \u0141uka\u0161enka, after the Kremlin had helped him to hang on in the face of public rising.

The government\u2019s perception of the 1863 uprising became even more politically charged in February 2022, when Belarusian volunteer fighters named their battalion (and later a regiment) after Kalino\u016dski. They keep fighting alongside Ukrainian troops against Russian aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unit is an incarnation of \u0141uka\u0161enka’s fears that oppositionists may gain combat experience to overthrow him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History as a tool<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hihin said that the reason for excluding Spikes Under Your Sickle <\/em>from the school curriculum was Karatkievi\u010d\u2019s misinterpretation of Kalino\u016dski’s personality. He claimed the novel contained too much fiction contradicting historical documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Hihin himself is notoriously biased in his historical assessments. One of his favorite characters is Mikhail Muravyov, the governor-general of Vilna who violently suppressed Kalino\u016dski’s uprising in present-day Belarus.

In Hihin\u2019s view, any official loyal to \u0141uka\u0161enka must consider Muravyov, not Kalino\u016dski, an example for any statesman.

Fortunately, Spikes Under Your Sickle <\/em>was replaced with another brilliant novel by Karatkievi\u010d, The <\/em>Dark <\/em>Castle Al\u0161anski, <\/em>and not by books by some Russian writers.

<\/em>Two years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian historian Andrej Va\u0161kievi\u010d noted that modern historians tend to overstate the rebel leader\u2019s militancy. “There is not a single proof that Kalino\u016dski used any weapons,” he told the journal Arche.<\/em>

The government\u2019s National Council on Historical Policy, established in Belarus in 2022, is not concerned with historical facts. Instead, it is “shaping the historical and state-centered worldview.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Hihin asked the council to back his proposal to remove Karatkievi\u010d’s novel from the curriculum, he argued, “We must put emphasis on literary works that fulfill the task of educating citizens of our Republic of Belarus.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in a new world<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The school curriculum has not been the main source of information for young people for a long time. Censorship and “extremist” labels only draw attention to the forbidden fruit.

To impose its vision of history, Minsk is not only banning “wrong” literature. It eradicates civil society and labels all popular independent media extremist as political reprisals continue unabated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is sad that the Kalino\u016dski gymnasium in Svis\u0142a\u010d, where he spent his childhood, was recently renamed in the honor of a Soviet underground fighter.

In a few years, young people who were children during the 2020 protests, will come to Minsk as students. They may not have not seen the protests, may not have read Tut.by<\/em>, and may not have seen thousands of people peacefully celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Belarusian National Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless the political system changes, the only youth organization they will be able to join is the government-run Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM), and the only books they will be able to buy will be those approved by the government.

This is a challenge for pro-democracy actors who would like to see a diversity of historical and cultural narratives in Belarus. It is possible to resist the government’s crackdown, but this requires new channels of communication with young people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belarusian government has banned works related to the 1863-64 anti-Russian uprising, branding them as extremist content and excluding them from the school curriculum. Officials have been demonizing freedom fighter Kastu\u015b Kalino\u016dski, reversing the trend of the so-called “soft Belarusization” period. For democratic forces, this is a challenge to be addressed. Haunted by uprising legacy The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":54747,"template":"","rubric":[14,13,22],"class_list":["post-55228","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMinsk banning books, fearful of rebel spirit | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Belarusian government has banned works related to the 1863-64 anti-Russian uprising, branding them as extremist content and excluding them from the school\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/55228\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minsk banning books, fearful of rebel spirit | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta 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