{"id":91975,"date":"2024-06-21T13:16:16","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T10:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/91975\/"},"modified":"2024-06-21T13:16:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T10:16:19","slug":"bykau-still-a-challenge-to-belarus-authoritarian-government-20-years-after-death","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/91975\/","title":{"rendered":"Byka\u016d still a challenge to Belarus\u2019 authoritarian government 20 years after death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The great writer is not truly appreciated in his homeland by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s government.<\/strong>

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\n (Ja\u016dhien Kokty\u0161 \/ Sputnik.by)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Renowned novelist Vasil Byka\u016d was born 100 years ago in the village of By\u010dki, U\u0161a\u010di district.

In the USSR he was a national classic; at the dawn of Belarusian independence, a supporter of democratic change and an opinion leader; and under \u0141uka\u0161enka, an opponent of the government and a political emigrant. He remains a dissident after his death.

His 2003 funnel in a casket under the opposition white-red-white flag was a manifestation of dissent in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two decades later, despite his popularity and fame in Belarus and abroad, there are no main streets named after him and no monuments on central squares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His anniversaries are not celebrated by the government, and films based on his works are less likely to be found on a movie poster than on an archive shelf, because the government does not recommended them for screening.

Since 2020, Byka\u016d is considered almost a heretic in Belarus. The government would not advertise events marking his centenary and closed early an exhibition of his drawings. Some regime stalwarts went as far to call the writer, a Soviet gunner during World War II, a Nazi and demanded that his novels be removed from the school curriculum.

The government is becoming increasingly hostile toward Byka\u016d not only because he criticized the authoritarian regime, but also because he challenged abuses of power in the Soviet era both in his works and statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government privatizes Soviet war history<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Byka\u016d has many ideological, moral and aesthetic differences with the present-day government, the most obvious being his view of war.

War is a key theme in his works, but his plots always focus on people and their suffering. Byka\u016d is an anti-war writer.

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His personal experience has made him so. He saw the horrors of fighting first-hand and suffered a serious wound, after which he was mistakenly entered on the list of those killed in action.  He once confessed that he “hated war throughout his life.”

The main message of Bykov’s war novels is not about poster heroism, but about thirst for life, hard moral choices and humanity in the most tragic circumstances.

\u0141uka\u0161enka, who loves to talk about war, usually promotes the “feat of arms of the people” with pathos and war romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1941-1945 war has been used by the government for ideological purposes, as a triumph, not a tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official celebrations have become more festive and aggressive. After supporting Putin’s attack on Ukraine, Minsk has engaged in militarization. Office workers are already seen parading around in khaki, schoolchildren are learning to assemble assault rifles and children in kindergartens are being taught to march in a formation.

The regime is openly privatizing the victory, calling itself and its supporters successors to the victors and describing opponents as ideological followers of Adolf Hitler. It is not difficult to guess to which group Byka\u016d belongs. He supported democratic movement and national renaissance in the late 1980s and went to opposition rallies with participants waving white-red-white flags, currently banned as Nazi symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n Byka\u016d sculpture at the State Belarusian Literature History Museum\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Pozirk)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka’s personal grudge<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For a long time it seemed that Byka\u016d was oppressed because \u0141uka\u0161enka loathed him personally. And to some extent it was true. The ruler disliked the classic from the very beginning of his political career, and the feeling was mutual.

The writer was not shy in his assessments of \u0141uka\u0161enka long before Articles 367 and 368 would added to the Criminal Code to penalize critics for insulting the head of state.

In 1993, reacting to \u0141uka\u0161enka’s promise to revive the USSR, the writer accused him of being “ready to unite with the devil” to gain power.

In 1995, Belarusian Popular Front members protested against a referendum to adopt Soviet-style symbols, elevate Russian to a state language, approve integration with Russia and give \u0141uka\u0161enka sweeping powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the president sent police to beat striking MPs in the parliament, Byka\u016d published an article headlined, “The country ruled by junta.”

In 2002, in his autobiographic book The Long Road Home<\/em>, the writer described the ruler as “a cruel, insolent, pragmatic manager of a state farm” who had deceived the gullible people in the 1994 election.

As a supporter of independence and EU membership aspirations, Byka\u016d immediately saw \u0141uka\u0161enka’s desire to hold on to power as long as possible. He was not mistaken, nor did he remain silent. He joined the opposition. The government-controlled media lambasted him, while state publishers ignored his works. The government paid him a $13 monthly pension, and eventually forced him into exile.

But it would be wrong to reduce the persecution to \u0141uka\u0161enka’s malice alone. More and more officials in \u0141uka\u0161enka’s circle acquired the traits that are easily recognizable in Byka\u016d’s insightful novels, especially those written during the perestroika and post-Soviet period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Stalinist Belarus, writer has no chance for recognition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Soviet censorship did not prevent Byka\u016d from telling the truth about the war in his works. In Lieutenant’s Prose<\/em>, heroism and sacrifice are juxtaposed with cowardice, betrayal, revenge and opportunism.\u00a0 And the root often lies not so much in the evil of human nature as in the nature of the state.

As far as the censors allowed, Byka\u016d criticized collectivization, repression and security agents. With the advent of glasnost, he focused his strongest words on Bolshevism and Stalinism.

He put Josef Stalin on a par with Adolf Hitler, admitting in his memoirs that during the war he feared not only German soldiers, but also the Soviet “superiors and punitive bodies.” He said that “enemies can misfire,” but “friends will not miss.”

After 2020, the Belarusian government has reverted to Stalinist practices, so Byka\u016d has no chance for official recognition.

The mass reprisals that began after the 2020 disputed presidential election and still ongoing are being carried out like in Stalin\u2019s times with raids, roundups, purges, ransacked apartments, forced confessions, closed trials, torture in prisons and deaths of political prisoners.

Total fear in society, punishment for reading opposition websites and books, persecution for any dissent, encouragement of denunciations, all this is familiar. There are no firing squads, but long prison sentences are handed down in courts left and right.

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\n\n From the exposition of the State Belarusian Literature History Museum\n <\/div>\n \n
\n Pozirk<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One monument, two memorial plaques<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eleven years after his death, Byka\u016d has become an emigrant again. More events have been held abroad than in Belarus to mark his 100th birthday.

Only a few small events were planned in Belarus to honor the writer.

In early February, the State Belarusian Literature History Museum closed early an exhibition of the writer’s drawings for reasons still unknown.

The only monument to Byka\u016d was erected in 2021 in U\u0161a\u010di through crowdfunding.

There are only two memorial plaques in the country: one in Minsk and one in Viciebsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first was inaugurated in 2020 without state funding involved on the facade of the house where the writer lived since 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second was installed with some funding from the government in 2008 on the building of the former art school where he studied painting.
A dozen streets named after Byka\u016d run along the outskirts of district centers or villages. Authorities have ignored petitions to expand the great compatriot’s presence in Belarusian cities.

Meanwhile, on June 17, the government named Belarusian State University\u2019s lyceum after secret police founder Felix Dzerzhynski. Monuments are being erected in his honor, central avenues, streets and even a town bear his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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