By Dafni Tsimpre
Athens, Greece
In January of 2025, Alexander Lukashenko confirmed himself as president of Belarus for the seventh time. Despite his unpopularity in the region, he has ruled the country as a dictator since 1994. Among other political concerns, Belarusians are increasingly wondering: will the Belarusian language be able to survive?
From Krymchak, spoken in the region of Crimea, to Gaelic, spoken in Ireland, several languages have been slowly been dying out due to waning popular use. Belarusian, the language that most Belarusians consider their mother tongue, is the official language of Belarus alongside Russian. Historically, Belarus has been a polyglot state with a multi-ethnic population. Its most commonly spoken languages aside from Belarusian include Russian, Polish, and Yiddish (before the outbreak of WWII). Belarus became part of the USSR in 1922. As one of the many countries impacted by Stalin’s Russification drive, Belarusian language soon became a language limited mostly to rural communities. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Belarus attempted to establish its national identity, increasing the number of pupils being taught in Russian drastically. This halted after Lukashenko’s election in 1994, and in 1996 the Constitution of Belarus was amended to include Russian as an official language.
Today, Belarus is becoming increasingly dependent on Russia and has a close to non-existent relationship with the EU; only in January Lukashenko stated “I don't give a damn about the West”. As a matter of fact, since the 2020 Belarusian elections, Belarus has been sanctioned by the EU for repression, human rights abuse, and complicity to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
The status of Belarusian as a language depends largely on the political mood and how closely Belarus associates itself with its big neighbour. The country relies on Russia for financial support. Belarus gets a supply of discounted Russian oil and gas, saving itself an estimated 5 billion US dollars yearly from 2000-2008. This steady cheap supply of energy has helped the growth of the Belarusian industrial base. In 2021, Russian oil alone accounted for 90% of Belarusian oil consumption. However, in return for this, Russia has been in control of all of Belarus’ gas infrastructure since 2011 through Gazprom. Clearly, most of Russia’s political and economic sectors are strongly linked to those of Russia. The younger generation, in turn, is shifting to speaking Russian, as it is increasingly aware of the need to learn Russian to access career opportunities. Daily use of Belarusian is decreasing in the country's west and north. In 1994, an estimated 75% of secondary school pupils were taught in Belarusian; today, this number is about 10%. The language is often being replaced by the use of mixed dialects, specifically a Belarusian Russian mix (Trisianka), and then by Russian.
There are communities who feel the need to reverse the eastern European nation of 9 million people’s gradual loss of language identity. For many, speaking Belarusian is a symbol of defiance and freedom against the dominance of Russia which props up Lukashenko, and the media censorship he imposes. But speaking Belarusian can be dangerous. According to the EU, there are still political prisoners in Belarus, many of whom are completely isolated from the outside world. Some of them are imprisoned perceivably for demonstrating in favor of keeping the Belarusian language alive. One Belarusian teacher in Miensk said to the Time magazine in an interview, “the language has given me the power to say: I am not Russian, I am Belarusian,” showing the political nature language inherently possesses in the country.
According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, Belarusian is officially classified as “vulnerable”. The preservation of the Belarusian language is a challenge that involves cultural, political, and social dimensions. Belarus is the only former Soviet state that does not have a single university where classes are taught in its own native language. A concerted international effort, which, more combatively, supports Belarusian freedom fighters and, more diplomatically, supports neutral Belarusian cultural institutions, is needed to preserve the Belarusian language, enabling Belarusians to celebrate and promote their heritage.
Yet the survival of the language is not just a matter of protecting a culture: it is a matter of protecting human rights. Now more than ever we must halt the erosion before it extends any further and Belarusian becomes extinct.
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