Belarusian Prisons or Prisons for Belarusians?

In Belarusian independent media, we read and hear the following definitions: «Belarusian regime», «Belarusian dictatorship», «Belarusian security forces», «Belarusian prisons», «Belarusian leader». If one thinks about it even a little, all these definitions are completely false and incorrect. Because everything mentioned, all the listed categories, today have precisely and clearly an anti-Belarusian character and are directed precisely against everything nationally Belarusian.

The fact that local representatives form the basis of this totalitarian dictatorship is also true, but it is only part of the truth.

A characteristic and vivid example here is the situation around Andrzej Poczobut. When describing his imprisonment and release, we consistently heard and read something like this: «One of the leaders of the Polish minority was released from a Belarusian prison». Thus, a clear narrative is formed in everyone's minds: «In Belarus, Belarusians seize, arrest, torture, and persecute Poles in various ways». This is true, but it is not the whole truth, because in Belarus, to no lesser, but even a greater extent, Belarusians themselves are seized, arrested, and persecuted, primarily the bearers of the Belarusian language and culture; all Belarusian-language communities have been eliminated, and Belarusian-language schooling has been destroyed. But no one wants to know the second and essential part of the truth. And therefore, let Belarusians not be surprised later that, according to recent sociological surveys, they are called among the most hostile nations in Poland.

Another factor in this sad situation is also that the majority of the Belarusian emigration continues to use the Russian language in everyday life, which is identified with the language of the eastern aggressor.

«Belarusian dictatorship» and «dictatorship in Belarus», «Belarusian prisons» and «prisons of Belarus» — definitions that sound similar but have significantly different semantic meanings.

Representatives of Belarusian political circles sometimes rhetorically ask — why the Western democratic community does not even raise the question of recognizing the Republic of Belarus as a temporarily occupied territory by another state. But who will care about Belarusians and our country if we ourselves recognize this occupation as some «our regime».

In other states, they cannot understand how the dictatorship in Belarus differs from similar regimes in other states. If we take the dictatorships of the former peoples of the Soviet Union, nothing similar existed anywhere. In Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan, no one destroys the schooling, language, or culture of the titular nation. Quite the opposite. And therefore, the dictatorship in Turkmenistan is clearly anti-democratic, but it is not anti-Turkmen. The strict authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan is anti-democratic, but it is by no means anti-Azerbaijani. But the power in Belarus is clearly anti-democratic and even more clearly precisely anti-Belarusian.

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