Politics and politicians in Soviet Belarus: The case of Kiryla Mazurau // The Journal of Belarusian Studies. 2018 (Volume 8, Number 3). P. 90-98. (original) (raw)
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„Czasopismo Naukowe Instytutu Studiów Kobiecych” 2018, nr 2(5), s. 99-111; DOI 10.15290/cnisk.2018.01.05.06; orcid.org/0000-0002-3855-416X, 2018
THE IMAGE OF A SOVIET WOMAN-POLITICIAN IN THE BELARUSIAN MAGAZINE „RABOTNITSA I SYALYANKA” (1946–1991). In the Soviet state the solving of the gender question was based on the Marxist-Leninist idea of men and women equality. The activities aimed to involve women in the political life were carried out together with the realization of the economic and social tasks. In the second half of the 1940s the problem of the emancipation of women in the USSR was recognized as resolved. The women participation in politics became the widespread phenomenon. The image of a woman-politician formed in mass media indicates that the soviet authorities were interested in the participation of women of all soviet republics in politics. Analysis of the materials of the Belarusian popular women's magazine „Rabotnitsa i syalyanka” in 1946–1991 allows to reconstruct the image of the women-politician of the BSSR as it was seen by the communist party ideologists and state functionaries. The image created in the process of mediation was not a neutral reflection of real Belarusian women – it was a part of an ideological order. Like all the Soviet media the magazine was a part of the means of propaganda of the Communist party that’s why it created the ideal images of the woman-politician and translated them to the reader.
The Phenomenon of Belarus : A Book Review Essay
Eurasian Geography and Economics, 2006
native and citizen of Belarus, Yuriy Shevtsov (2005) has written a book for the purpose of introducing that country to the intellectual communities of Russia. 2 To be sure, Russians are aware of their western neighbor. Recent surveys (IISEPS, 2005) have shown that when foreign countries are ranked according to degree of friendliness, Belarus tops the list in Russia, and Russia in Belarus. Since 1997, the two countries have been building a union. Although it is still unclear what shape this union will eventually take, efforts to achieve it have generated publicity. Thus while Belarus is not terra incognita, all too many Russians do not recognize it as an ethno-national entity in its own right. Limited recognition of Belarus' separateness is caused in part by the overwhelming dominance of the Russian language in Belarus. Also, adept at stereotyping all former republics as inherently backward and vitally dependent on Russia, many Russians do not view Belarus as an exception. Another problem is that in Russia, President Aleksandr Lukashenka of Belarus' is a polarizing figure, a "divider, not a uniter." Despised by liberals, he is praised by national patriots for his allegedly Pan-Slavic pronouncements and loyalty to the Soviet legacy, including Stalinism. Yet neither end of Russia's political spectrum seems likely to take Lukashenka for what he most likely is: the president of a sovereign country whose aspirations may have something to do with that country's own peculiarities and mindset. This, in a nutshell, is the context that Yury Shevtsov confronts in his book. "We, Belarusians, are a separate people, and we are different from you" is the message this book sends to its Russian readers. A historian by training, Shevtsov is a gifted author with experience in journalism. In the introduction, he acknowledges that to refrain entirely from discussing Belarus' leader in a book devoted to that country may be a failing proposition. So much, however, has been already said about Lukashenka, "irritating quite a few people and almost everybody in advanced countries" (p. 8), that the country over which he presides has all but disappeared from view. "A leader, though, cannot but draw from the socioeconomic structure of his society, cannot but be part of its people's culture and part-and-parcel of local political tradition.. .. However, just because Alexander Lukashenka derives from the phenomenon of Belarus, the analysis of this phenomenon may avoid too intent a look at this politician" (p. 9). Shevtsov transforms this statement into a commitment, so that Lukashenka's presence in the book is reduced to a minimum. This, however, does not mean that components of Belarus' success under his leadership are spared attention. According to Shevtsov, one such component is the stability of the country's political system and another is its economic growth. Growth has been recorded annually since 1996, and in 2004, it was 11 percent (World Bank, 2005).
The Belarusian Postcolonial Revolution: Field Reports
Ab Imperio, 2020
In this essay Ilya Gerasimov introduces the five contributors to the thematic forum “The Belarusian Postcolonial Revolution,” who document and analyze different aspects of the Belarusian civil protest movement that arose in the wake of the rigged presidential election in August 2020. Essentially preliminary field reports, their contributions are valuable for analytical insights and professionally amassed and verified empirical evidence. For many years, Belarus was used by scholars as an example of impotent post-Soviet transition, unable to acquire a new social vision and subjectivity. In his introductory essay, Gerasimov argues that the concept of postcolonial revolution, once formulated on the example of the Ukrainian Euromaidan, is best applicable to the ongoing profound transformation of Belarusian society. This makes the forum materials invaluable as records of participant observations of a postcolonial revolution unfolding in real time.
Society vs the elite. Belarusian post-Soviet experiences
New Eastern Europe, 2021
After the collapse of the USSR, opposition groups in the republics found themselves unprepared for the new political and economic reality of independence. The anti-Soviet elites were expected to present a concrete socio-economic programme for the country. This was despite the fact that the group was deprived of earlier political or administrative experience. Its political capital was only limited to a vision of nation-building.
ABOUT THE BELARUSIANS AND RUSSIANS IN BELARUS − REFLECTIONS ON THE BELARUSIAN SOCIETY
Ethnologia Polona, 2015
This article presents contemporary Belarusian society and focuses on the Russian minority and their place in Belarus today. The author’s reflections are based on current Polish, Belarusian and Russian literature on the subject as well as on ethographic material collected during ethnographic research conducted in Minsk and surrounding areas between 1997 and 2000.