Belarusian nationalism

Belarusian nationalism is the nationalism that asserts the nationality of Belarusians.[1] It originated in the first decade of the 20th century.[2] The Belarusian People's Republic, declared on 25 March 1918, was the first manifestation of Belarusian statehood.[2]

Flag of Belarus from 1991 to 1995.

Belarusian nationalism was faced with the problem of a lack of a Belarusian state prior to the 20th century.[2] This led to the Belarusian nationalists trying to find a Belarusian state in the past.[2] Belarusian nationalists claimed that the states of Polotsk and also the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were actually Belarusian, which was untrue.[2][3] Some Belarusian nationalists claimed the founders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were actually Belarusians and not Lithuanians.[2] This pseudohistorical theory that Belarusians created the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is called Litvinism.[4][5]

Many Belarusian nationalists, especially the BPF Party and Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic claim a large part of Lithuania (Vilnius County) as well as large parts of Russia (Smolensk Oblast and Bryansk Oblast), Latvia (Daugavpils District, Daugavpils and Krāslava District) and Poland (Podlaskie Voivodeship).[6][7][8] Moreover, Belarusian nationalists claim that Lithuania is actually Samogitia (Belarusian: Жамойць, romanized: Žamojć).[6]

Interwar

The Belarusian People's Republic, established in 1918, was occupied by communist Russia that same year, with its claimed territories later split between Polish and Russian occupiers into Western and Eastern Belorussia following the Polish–Soviet War.[6][9]

  • Belarusian national white-red-white flag on a house of National Secretariat of Belarusian People's Republic, (Minsk, 1918)
  • Third charter of Belarusian People's Republic (Minsk, 1918)
  • Government of Belarusian People's Republic (Minsk, 1918)
  • Belarusian housars in front of the house of Tribunal in Hrodna (1919)

World War II

Belarusian nationalism was endorsed by the German occupiers of Byelorussia during World War II.[10]

Post-Soviet era

On 25 August 1991, the independent Republic of Belarus was proclaimed.[6]

Current Nationalist organizations

Today there are several organizations with the ideological basis of Belarusian nationalism, including the BPF Party, the CCP BPF, Young Front and the Right Alliance. However, since the 2000s, Belarusian nationalism, where nationalists opposed the government of Alexander Lukashenko, has declined with few nationalist organizations currently existing. Lukashenko during his time as president has been described as anti-nationalist. The once prominent nationalist politician, Zianon Pazniak, has been described as authoritarian and politically radical and was blamed as one of the reasons for the opposition's defeat in the 1990s.[11]

Funeral procession for the Belarusian activist Michail Žyźnieŭski surrounded by Belarusian White-Red-White, Ukrainian and flags of the UNA - UNSO organization on Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv. Žyźnieŭski was killed during the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv.

Following the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, a number of Belarusian nationalists fought along Ukrainian government troops.[12][13][14] The Monument to the Belarusians who died for Ukraine was opened on 28 March 2016 in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.[15]

References
  1. Zaprudnik & Silitski, Jr. 2010, p. 45.
  2. Motyl 2000, p. 44-45.
  3. Rudling 2014, p. 13.
  4. Bakaitė, Jurga (27 December 2011). "LRT FAKTAI. Ar lietuviams reikia bijoti baltarusių nacionalinio atgimimo?" (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian National Radio and Television.
  5. "Opinion: Why are our neighbours poaching our history?". Lithuania Tribune. 17 July 2014.
  6. Pazniak, Zianon (16 August 2004). "BELARUS IS AN EASTERN OUTPOST". New York. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Dawisha, Karen; Starr, S. Frederick (1994). National Identity and Ethnicity in Russia and the New States of Eurasia. p. 165. ISBN 9781563243547.
  8. Pancerovas, Dovydas. "Ar perrašinėjamos istorijos pasakų įkvėpta Baltarusija gali kėsintis į Rytų Lietuvą?" [Can Belarus, inspired by the fairy tales of rewritten history, invade Eastern Lithuania?]. 15min.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  9. Smok, Vadzim (9 December 2013). Belarusian Identity: the Impact of Lukashenka's Rule (PDF). Minsk-London: Ostrogorski Centre.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  10. Ioffe, Grigory (29 August 2019). "For the Sake of a Brighter Future, Belarusians Argue about the Past". Archived from the original on 13 April 2021.
  11. Is There Nationalism in Belarus? // BelarusDigest, 5 March 2013
  12. Belarusian ‘Vayar’ vs. ‘Black Hundred’ // InformNapalm
  13. Belarusians are fighting in Avdeevka? // WeapoNews.com
  14. Belarus Slowly and Carefully Walks Along the Ukrainian Path // stalkerzone.org
  15. Monument to Belarusians who died for Ukraine was opened in Kyiv // Belsat TV

Literature
  • Bulhakaŭ, Valier (2007). Гісторыя беларускага нацыяналізму [History of Belarusian nationalism] (in Belarusian). Vilnius: Institute of Belarusian Studies.
  • Fabrykant, Marharyta (2019). "Russian-speaking Belarusian Nationalism: An Ethnolinguistic Identity Without a Language?". Europe-Asia Studies. Vol. 71, no. 1.
  • Hroch, Miroslav (2015). European Nations: Explaining their Formation. London.
  • Krushinsky, S. (1953). Byelorussian Communism and Nationalism: Personal Recollections. Research Program on the USSR. New York.
  • Marples, D. R. (1996). Belarus: From Soviet Rule to Nuclear Catastrophe. St. Martin's Press.
  • Marples, D. R. (2013). Belarus: A Denationalized Nation. Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Motyl, Alexander J. (2000). "Belarusian nationalism". Encyclopedia of Nationalism, Two-Volume Set. Academic Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 9780080545240.
  • Rudling, Per Anders (2014). The Rise and Fall of Belarusian Nationalism, 1906–1931. University of Pittsburgh Press.
  • Rudling, Per Anders (5 December 2017). ""Unhappy Is the Person Who Has No Motherland": National Ideology and History Writing in Lukashenka's Belarus". War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Springer International Publishing. pp. 71–105. ISBN 978-3-319-66523-8.
  • Vakar, Nicholas P. (1956). Belorussia. The Making of Nation. Cambridge, Massachusetts.[a]
  • Zaprudnik, Jan (1993). Belarus: At a Crossroads in History. Westward Press.[b]
  • Zaprudnik, Jan; Silitski, Jr., Vitali (2010). "Belarusian nationalism". The A to Z of Belarus. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781461731740.

Notes

a. ^ The American historian Alexander J. Motyl labels this as a pro-Russian interpretation.[1]

b. ^ The American historian Alexander J. Motyl describes this book by Zaprudnik as nationalist.[1]

See also
  1. Motyl 2000, p. 45.
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