The Belarusian censorship

Aliaksandar Tamkovich | Добавлено: 21 февраля 2008

I have written more than once about the encyclopedia “The Republic of Belarus”, that has been published now. We can only imaging the sum that was spent for this massive volume of white colour with an expensive polygraphy material – to my mind everything is just a waste. It is planned to publish six volumes, but if to judge by the first four ones, which have already been published, the second hand booksellers will soon improve their welfare. More brilliant example of the political censorship is hard to invent.

We will let alone the fact that in spite of the stated in the title name of the country – Belarus – the national encyclopedia is published in Russian – the language other than the national one. Like the experienced cards-cheaters can do, such methods are used to put Belarusian language in the negative position. The answer to the question, why it has been done, is the following: everything that is initiated by the opposition, including first of all Belarusian language, produces on the Belarusian officials with a poor knowledge of Belarusian language an effect of a red peace of cloth on a bull. The present authorities treat similarly the ideas of the opposition regarding Belarusian history, national language and culture.

As far as the journalism is concerned, all the journalists are divided into “ours” and “theirs”, more precise “the true” and “the untrue”. We should remember that the tendency to divide people started in the late 1990s. There had not been any classifications earlier. Pardon. I have forgotten. There had been one, nevertheless. The journalists had been divided into “the bad” and “all the rest”.

That division had not been an obstacle to the oppositionists like Shushkevich, Kaliakin, Viachorka and Liabiedzka to be published in the state Media of that time. Today it’s hard to believe that even articles of Zianon Pazniak, who had to emigrate from Belarus later on, had been published. The oppositionists have not changed since that times, but their names are not mentioned in the state press today, even with a negative sense. The changes have occurred in the mass media themselves.

I remember when during the Parliamentary Elections of 2000 one of the candidates –the ex-prime-minister of Belarus Mikhail Chegir – wanted to publish his election program in the state newspaper “Respublica”. I considered this attempt was highly unlikely to be successful, but he was an optimist. Moreover, the editor-in-chief of “Resublica” had been a press secretary of the Chegir’s government. Mickail Mikalajevich Chegir came from the editorial office in a good mood as they promised to publish the program, but later they let him down. The ideological censorship before Lukashenka came to power had been nothing of the kind it became in 2000.

But let’s return to the abovementioned encyclopedia. Practically all people that disagree with the present authorities have not been included in the encyclopedia. It is not by chance, that there are no names of Ghonchar and Ghoncharik there, but there are names of many persons whose names had not been sound before 1994, the year when Lukashenka became the president. The former deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the XIIth gathering Aliaksandar Sasnou explained that these people wanted that only their names would remain for the history. This thesis is hard to disagree with. I would only note that with the help of the censorship methods the authorities not only get rid of the oppositionists – some of the officials hide their rather low professional level as well.

The low professional level of the officials is also a reason why the authorities got nervous about the new independent television channel that has a satellite broadcast, and why they do want to control Internet. Ideology plays a great role undoubtedly, but one thing is also very important: who will speak about the professional qualities (exactly about the absence of such qualities) of the present day officials? To rule the country using “oil-gas” policy is easier than to work under the circumstances when to follow only the oil-gas policy model is impossible. To break the mirror which may show all the negative sides is the easiest way to keep face.

I did it for many times, but think it is worth doing again – just remember the words of a famous Russian revolutionary Alexander Gertsen who wrote: “There is no freedom of speech without freedom of hearing”. Unfortunately, those people, who are on the top nowadays, refuse listening to anyone except themselves.